Netherlands visa for visiting family and friends

If your host is a family member, add proof of the immediate family relationship. Family members of EU citizens covered by free movement follow facilitated rules.

If you stay with your host, use IND form "Proof of sponsorship and/or private accommodation", signed by the host and legalised by the Dutch municipality where they are registered. If the host also covers costs, medical care and repatriation, they tick the relevant boxes and add three recent payslips and an employment certificate or contract valid at least 12 months.

EUR 55 per person per day. If the host pays everything, their income documents replace yours; if another relative pays, add their bank statements and payslips.

You lodge the application at the Dutch embassy or consulate responsible for your place of legal residence, or at the external service provider it uses. Applicants who gave fingerprints for a Schengen visa in the past 59 months may not need to appear again, and some missions then accept a file lodged by someone else with a signed authorisation; children under 12 give no fingerprints. Ask where you apply how the passport is returned, keep the reference number to track the file, and report errors on the visa sticker to the mission straight away.

A refusal letter states the reasons. You can lodge a free objection (bezwaar) with the IND within four weeks, counted from the day after the decision. Write in Dutch, English, German or French to IND Visadienst, Postbus 2, 9560 AA Ter Apel, or by secure e-mail, with your name, date of birth, address, the date, why the decision is wrong, your signature, a copy of the decision and translated supporting documents; for a family or friends visit the host can object online instead. The IND decides within six weeks, extendable by six, although objections currently take about six months. If you win, you collect the visa where you applied and must enter within six months; if not, you can appeal to court. You can also simply apply again with the missing documents, but the visa fee and any service fee are not refunded.