What Happens After the Dutch Startup Visa Year?

The year is the product

RVO describes a temporary residence permit valid for 1 year. During that period you start the company. After a year you can apply for a residence permit as a self-employed person. You must receive a statement from your start-up facilitator or meet the standard self-employed requirements.

The IND fees page has a line for “Change in purpose of stay: self-employed after start up” at €423 in 2026. That wording is the point: change of purpose, not extension.

Do not describe the start-up permit as renewable or extendable.

What “ready” usually means

There is no public RVO scoreboard of how many customers you must have on day 365. The self-employed scheme has its own test. The Point of Entry founder guide describes that later scheme as a scoring system with three headings (personal experience, business plan, added value) and notes that a facilitator declaration, if given, can count for points. The facilitator is not obliged to issue it.

Confirm the live self-employed rules on the IND self-employed page. If that page and RVO ever diverge, follow the IND for the permit decision.

Work backwards from your permit end date. Decision periods apply to the new application. See IND decision periods.

If you are not ready

Read What happens if my start-up does not succeed. Other residence bases (employment, family, study, zoekjaar if you still qualify) are separate IND products. None of them is an informal extra start-up year.

Family members who joined you are tied to a lawful sponsor basis. When yours ends, theirs is at risk unless they have their own.

What to do in month one, not month eleven

Put the self-employed file on the same calendar as product work: bookkeeping, customers, and a facilitator conversation about whether a statement is even possible. A Strategy Session at the start of the year is cheaper than a scramble at the end. NLVentureDesk cannot keep you in The Netherlands when the permit expires.