The Netherlands investors residence scheme was initiated in 2013 with the Modern Migration Policy Act 2013 and amended in 2014 and 2016. The Netherlands is one of the exciting countries and most prosperous to live, work, study and invest in Europe.
As of May 2018 since the launch of the scheme over five years, only 12 applications were received under the investor visa scheme and only 4 applications approved with each applicant investing €1.25 million euros, according to Ministry of Justice evaluation report. Some 10 applications received applications received until 2016 and two more until 2018.
Despite Netherlands being one of the best countries to invest in, the investor visa scheme has failed to gain traction and not popular among foreign investors. One of the main reason for this is high investment condition of one and half million euros. Ireland comes close requiring 1 million euro for investor visa, whereas Spain, and Italy requiring only €500,00 for a golden visa.
Under the scheme, foreign investors are required to make an investment of EUR 1 250 000, deposited in a Dutch or EU member state bank account, and invested in dutch economy creating atleast 10 jobs within five years and bringing added value to the economy.
In July 2016, several amendments were made to improve the scheme such as
- Residence permit issued for three years validity
- Simplified points based system (PBS)
- Removing the requirement of auditors report.
The general competent authority for the granting of residence permits is the Ministry of Security and Justice. The implementing authorities of the scheme are the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) which operates under the authority of the Ministry of Security and Justice.
The fee for the first-time application is EUR 2,137
The Justice Ministry said in 2016, the scheme has failed to meet the expectations with a very low intake of applications.
In an interview, the Ministry for Justice said on 25 May 2018 it is rather likely that the scheme may be stopped. There is an evaluation of the 2013 legal migration reforms on-going which is likely to be finalised by the end of the year of 2018.
IND has an official web page here
