For the assessment of the application, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (the IND) consults with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. There are five conditions that you'll have to satisfy:
- Working together with a reliable expert facilitator
The cooperation with a facilitator must be set down in a signed agreement between the startup entrepreneur and the facilitator. You should find the facilitator yourself. There is a
list of recognised companies who you can approach for this.
The facilitator must meet the following conditions:
- Have experience in guiding innovative startups;
- Be financially stable;
- May not, in any case, be in receivership or bankrupt and must have no negative equity;
- May not have a majority interest in the startup company;
- May not be a family member up to the third degree. This means they cannot be child, parent, grandparent or aunt/uncle of the startup entrepreneur;
2. The product or service is innovative
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency will assess your product or service.
The product or service is innovative if at least one of the 3 conditions is met:
- The product or service is new to the Netherlands;
- A new technology for production, distribution or marketing is involved;
- There is a new innovative organisational and process approach.
3. The startup entrepreneur has a plan to advance the idea to a business
You have to provide a step-by-step plan, which contains information relating to the organisation. You must have an active role in it. You cannot simply be a shareholder or financier.
The business plan must contain information about:
- The structure of the organisation;
- The roles and tasks;
- The legal form;
- The personnel;
- The purpose of the enterprise;
- The idea for the product or service with a full description and why it is innovative (see condition 2);
- The activities in the first year. A description of the planning and activities for the business. The steps to be gone through in setting up the company.
4. You are entered in the
Business Register of the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce.
This is important in order to be able to make decisions regarding the future enterprise.
There are 3 possible moments to register with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce:
- No later than 1 week after starting your business;
- 1 week prior to starting your business;
- Earlier. In that case, the registration (with the KVK number) will become official 1 week prior to the start of your business.
5. There is sufficient money (resources) to reside and live in the Netherlands
You cannot rely on public funds, such as welfare benefits. You can use a bank statement to show that there is enough money in your account. The amount available must be at least 70% of the standard amount for single persons under the Minimum Wage Act (workers aged 22 or over entitled to a minimum of €1.615 per month). Another person, such as the facilitator, may also fund the residence by providing money to you. The amount must be available for your entire period of residence (maximum 1 year).