The six weeks

You file an objection with the immigration service within six weeks of the decision. The same deadline applies to a refused application for approval as an employer. If you miss the deadline, the case usually ends there, however strong your arguments are.

What an objection is

With an objection, you ask the service to look at the case again. The same service handles it. An appeal goes to court. In an objection, you may add new evidence. Many refusals are based on a document that was missing, unclear or read differently than intended. Supplying that document properly often solves the case.

If the service rejects the objection as well, the case can continue to court.

What strengthens an objection

  • Read the reasoning first. The letter names the condition that you failed to meet. An objection that answers a different question rarely succeeds.
  • Supply the evidence in one go, complete, with a short explanation of what each document shows.
  • Deal with the reason for the refusal. For the business owner permit, three areas are assessed. Improve the weakest area, because that usually changes the outcome.
  • Get help early. An immigration lawyer reads dozens of these decisions a month and recognises which arguments have weight.

The rule for cases that stall

A separate rule applies for holders of Turkish citizenship. This applies if an application as a self-employed person has been pending for three years or longer, with lawful residence throughout. The delay must also lie outside your own conduct. In that case, the permit may be granted on this basis. This comes from the agreement between the European Union and Turkey, and it applies only in that specific context.

What to do while you wait

Keep your registration and address details up to date, and watch every deadline of your current permit. You may work only when a permit allows it. This also applies to work for your own company.

A complete first application costs less than an objection. See the scoring test and becoming an approved employer for the requirements per permit.

Each year, every Dutch BV files the same set of documents. These are the VAT returns, the corporate tax return, the annual accounts at the KVK and the UBO check. We do all of it for you. See corporate secretarial services in the Netherlands.

A Dutch BV files the corporate tax return by 1 June, the VAT return every quarter and the payroll tax return every month. The annual accounts are due within twelve months. See running a Dutch BV: taxes, filings and every deadline.

Your company and your residence permit

We arrange both. We set up your company: the entity, the salary and the tax position. An immigration lawyer from our network prepares your residence application and files it with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). The lawyer follows the case law and the forms every week. We plan the company and the application together, so your company meets what the IND asks for.

We arrange the company side and work with specialists for the rest: see how our partner network works.