Netherlands student visa fee
What a Netherlands student visa costs, taken from the government's own published fee page. The application fee is rarely the whole cost, so the charges that sit beside it are set out below as well.
At a glance
| Visa | Residence permit for the purpose of study, applied for by your institution, usually together with an MVV (machtiging tot voorlopig verblijf) entry visa. The structural point about this route is that YOU DO NOT APPLY. The educational institution applies on your behalf, and it can only do so if the IND has recognised it as a sponsor. That makes "is my institution a recognised sponsor?" the first question on the Dutch route, not a detail — if it is not, this permit cannot be applied for at all. |
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The fee, as published
€254.00 for study at all education levels, as published in the IND fee table for a first application or a change in the purpose of stay — the same amount applies to an extension. The IND states that fees are changed each year on 1 January and that the published amounts are valid from 1 January to 31 December, so an application filed either side of new year can face a different figure. The institution normally pays the IND and recharges you; the IND also notes that an application is only assessed once the whole amount has been received.
What the application fee does not cover
Almost every student visa route has costs beyond the application fee itself, and they are a material part of the budget rather than a rounding error.
- Health surcharge or insurance, which several countries require up front for the whole course length.
- Biometrics, where it is charged separately from the application.
- Document costs — attestation, notarisation, certified translations, courier.
- The financial requirement itself, which is money you must hold rather than spend, and is usually the largest number in the process.
- Dependant applications, each charged separately.
Before you budget from this page
- Check the date this page was last verified, printed at the foot.
- Open the official source linked there and confirm the current figure.
- Check whether your route — the specific visa subclass or category — carries the same fee.
- Add the surrounding costs above before deciding what the visa stage will cost you.
Visa fees are revised on government timetables rather than annual ones, and a figure that was right last quarter can be wrong this one. The date at the foot of this page is the honest limit of what we can tell you.
Fees — FAQs
2 questions
Application fees are generally not refunded on refusal. That is the usual position across student visa routes, and it is why getting the application right the first time matters more than the fee itself.
Yes, these fees are paid online during the application in nearly every route. Budget for the exchange rate and card charges on the day.
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Sources
Checked against these sources on 10 November 2026.