What the year gives
- Twelve months of residence to look around, work, or build something of your own.
- Free access to the labour market during that period, so a work permit for you stays unnecessary throughout.
- A lower salary level afterwards. Someone hired as skilled staff following this year qualifies at €3,122 gross per month rather than the standard level, which is set out in salary levels in 2026.
That reduced level is the quiet advantage. It puts a graduate within reach of employers whose budgets fall short of the standard amount, and it stays available when the job begins.
The limit to plan around
The permit runs for a maximum of one year and extension falls outside the rules. More importantly, it counts as a temporary purpose of residence, alongside seasonal work, exchange, au pair arrangements and transfers within a group. Years spent on a temporary purpose stay outside the five-year count for permanent residence.
So the year is genuinely useful and genuinely finite. Treat it as a runway rather than as a first step of five.
The two ways out
- Employment. An employer hires you as skilled staff at the reduced level. From that permit onward, the years do count towards permanent residence.
- Your own business. The route runs through the scoring test in the permit for business owners, or through the mentor route in the route for new businesses.
What to do in month nine
Start the next application. The switch has to be in motion before the year closes, and an application filed on the final day leaves the service too little room to ask for extra documents. The full timeline sits in the five-year path.
Where this advice stops
Holdwise builds the company structure: the entity, the salary, the tax position. The residence application itself belongs with an immigration lawyer, who follows the case law and the forms week by week. Arrange both in the same conversation and the two sides fit together; arrange them separately and one usually has to be redone.