What Happens if My Startup Does Not Succeed During the First Year?
If the company does not work, the start-up permit still ends after one year. Failure is not a reason the IND adds time. You need another lawful residence basis, or you leave.
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What the rules give you
The scheme is a year to start an innovative company with a facilitator. It is not unemployment insurance and it is not a trial that the IND extends because the market was hard.
If the business is still viable enough for the self-employed scheme, that is the conversation. If it is not, the facilitator statement RVO mentions for the later application is unlikely, and you still have to meet standard self-employed requirements without it.
What we will not claim
We will not invent a grace period, a “failure visa,” or a statistic for how often founders stay after a dead company. We will not tell you to remain after the permit expires.
If the IND is already investigating whether you still meet the purpose of stay during the year, that is an IND matter. Read your mail. Use IND after your application and, if you receive a decision you disagree with, the objection path the decision letter describes.
Options that are real (and separate)
- Self-employed permit, if you still qualify. IND self-employed
- Employment with a recognised sponsor or another work permit, if an employer will hire you and you meet that scheme
- Family residence, if you have a sponsor who meets IND family rules
- Leave when you no longer have lawful stay
A zoekjaar (orientation year) is its own product with its own eligibility. It is not a consolation prize for a failed start-up. If you already hold zoekjaar, use the zoekjaar page before the clock runs out, not after a start-up year has already been used.
If the idea is already clearly not going to survive RVO’s tests, the cheaper moment to stop is before the IND fee. That is an eligibility conversation, not a failure conversation.
