How to renew your Dutch self-employment residence permit?

A self-employment permit (“arbeid als zelfstandige”) is issued for a period of two years. After two years, it can be further extended for a period of five years. However, when asking for an extension, the IND will examine a myriad of issues. For example, have you been capable of generating sufficient income to provide for yourself? Has your company’s business been suspended or terminated?

Income requirements

When it comes to the income requirements, depending on the legal form of your business, the IND has different documentation requirements. For example, if you are a freelancer or an owner of an “eenmanszaak” (also known as “sole trader” in the UK or “sole proprietor” in the US), it is very likely that the IND will want to review your company’s annual reports (“jaarrekening”) of the two previous years. The IND will compare your company’s gross profit for a specific year with the minimum annual wage of that specific year. If your company’s gross profit was lower than the applicable annual minimum wage, the IND may contend that you lack sufficient/sustainable income to provide for yourself. Fortunately, thanks to a judgment given by the Dutch Council of State in 2022, we have been helping various clients extend the validity of their self-employment permit successfully, despite their unsatisfactory profit margins. In its 2022 judgment, the Dutch Council of State holds that the IND should take a plethora of financial aspects (eg. savings) into account, and that the established case law of the European Court of Justice does not only apply to “family reunification” applications but also to self-employment extension applications.

Continuity of your business

It happens often that a successful entrepreneur chooses to convert his/her business into a limited liability company (or a group of limited liability companies). This decision is often made due to fiscal considerations. Nevertheless, sometimes, a foreign entrepreneur overlooks the implications of such an (intended) change for his/her residence permit. Normally, a foreign entrepreneur is allowed to have other side business activities in addition to the main business activities (on which his/her initial application for self-employment visa hinged). However, if an entrepreneur suspends or terminates his/her main business activities, the IND will make a fuss about this suspension/termination. As a result, the IND may insist on forwarding a renewal application to the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs for further review. An entrepreneur visa holder probably recalls how complicated that review is. Thus, it is always sensible to be extremely cautious about a potential change to the nature of the main business activities (on which the initial self-employment application relied).

Treaty based permit extension

If you are a Treaty based entrepreneur visa holder (such as, the Dutch American Friendship Treaty), when asking for the extension of a self-employment permit, the IND applies different criteria. The IND will, for example, examine the issue as to whether the company’s equity has always been above the required amount. Moreover, if the annual reports show dissatisfactory numbers, the IND may want to examine the issue as to whether the holder has conducted genuine business activities. For example, the IND may ask for a detailed overview of the entrepreneurial activities carried out by the visa holder and/or other supporting evidence (eg. invoices and advertisements etc.).

Contact Mynta Law

A renewal application can be submitted three months in advance. If you are concerned about your company’s sale numbers and/or gross profit margins, please feel free to contact Mynta Law and book a consultation with one of our lawyers. We can examine the merits of your case in greater detail and develop a strategy, with a view to enhancing the chance of success of your “self-employment” permit extension application.