Visa requirements for Dutch citizens

The Netherlands belongs to the European free movement area, so Dutch citizens need no visa anywhere in the Schengen area and can use a national ID card.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, the Netherlands and 93 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

No country asks holders of the Dutch passport for a visa beforehand while its own citizens enter the Netherlands without one.

The reverse holds for 67 countries: holders of the Dutch passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for the Netherlands (Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus and 62 others).

13 countries ask holders of the Dutch passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 6 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in the Netherlands.

7 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in the Netherlands, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for the Netherlands, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Belgium (5).

The United States refused 17% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of the Netherlands in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 60 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 136 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Visa-free travel with the Dutch passport

By continent, the Dutch passport is visa-free in 43 countries in Europe, 30 countries in the Americas, 22 countries in Asia, 16 countries in Africa and 11 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Dutch citizens are allowed in Georgia (360 days), Antigua and Barbuda (180 days), Armenia (180 days), Costa Rica (180 days), Dominica (180 days) and Mexico (180 days).

Visa on arrival

Dutch citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt and 21 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Dutch citizens enter Azerbaijan, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cuba and 18 others. Australia, Canada, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and 4 others ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

The Netherlands’ neighbours

Germany and Belgium admit Dutch citizens without a visa.

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the German passport ranks 6th (161 destinations) and the Belgian passport ranks 6th (161 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 93 can enter visa-free and 105 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for the Netherlands.