Overview visa procedure
In this video, you can see step by step how your visa procedure will go, from the moment of your enrolment to your arrival in Rotterdam.
Which permits are required?
Depending on your situation, you will need one or both of the following permits:
- MVV = Entrance visa to enter the Netherlands. The MVV is only valid for 3 months and will be collected in your home country or the nearest country to your home.
- VVR = Study Residence Permit. The VVR will be valid for your entire study period and will be collected in the Netherlands after arrival.
MVV and VVR |
VVR only (no MVV required) |
|
Students from all countries except EU/EEA countries and Switzerland |
Students from Australia, Canada, Japan, UK, Monaco, New Zealand, South Korea, USA and Vatican City State. Students with a valid residence permit from a Schengen country. |
A MVV and/or VVR application costs 243,00 Euro and is non-refundable after the application has been submitted. Students with Sanmarinese and Israeli nationality are exempt from paying the MVV and/or VVR costs.
When you are admitted for a study programme at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, you will be informed about the MVV / VVR procedure by the Student Support office.
Team student support will apply for your visa and/or residence permit after receiving the following items:
- Payment of tuition fee (applicable to full degree students only) and the visa application fee.
- Authorization form IND
- Proof of sufficient funds
- Antecedent certificate
- Copy of your passport (the personal page and all stamped pages)
- TB declaration. If your nationality is not on this Tuberculosis exemption list, then you need to take a Tuberculosis test in the Netherlands.
Intake February 2026
The deadlines for us to receive the required visa documents via Osiris are as follows:
- Non-EU applicants: before the 15th of November
- Non-EU applicants with a Dutch residence permit with the purpose of study: before the 1st of December
- Non-EU applicants with a Dutch residence permit that wish to change their residence into purpose of study: before the 1st of December
The deadlines for us to receive the payment of the invoice are as follows:
- Non-EU applicants: before the 1st of December
- Non-EU applicants with a Dutch residence permit with the purpose of study: before the 15th of December
- Non-EU applicants with a Dutch residence permit that wish to change their residence into purpose of study: before the 15th of December
[We recommend not to book your flight until you have received the positive advice/approval letter, and you have checked that no travel restrictions apply.]
Please be informed that your application for the chosen study programme must be screened and approved by the Admissions Team before we can pick up your visa application file.
Without the approval of the Admissions Team, we will not be able to process your visa application file!
The deadlines to submit your application and application documents to the Admissions Team are as follows:
- Non-EU applicants: the 1st of October
- Non-EU applicants with a Dutch residence permit with the purpose of study: the 31st of October
- Non-EU applicants with a Dutch residence permit that wish to change their residence into purpose of study: the 31st of October
For more information, please contact the Admissions team by email to coia-admissions@hr.nl
Exchange
Exchange students need to submit their documents and pay the invoice before the 1st of December.
Before arrival
Our school is registered as a recognised sponsor at the Dutch immigration office (IND). This means that we apply for a MVV and/or VVR on your behalf at the IND. This process is done before you arrive in the Netherlands. As your recognised sponsor we require that you provide us with proof of sufficient funds to cover your living expenses while studying in the Netherlands.
Proof of sufficient funds for February intake
The amount of the proof of sufficient funds is set by the IND. The amount can be found on the IND website.
Bachelor and Master students
In order to obtain a study residence permit, the IND requires proof of sufficient funds of at least €13.140,00* on a yearly basis for living expense plus proof that you have sufficient funds to pay the tuition fee for 1 year.
Pre-master 6 months students
Students who are going to do the pre-master 6 months also need to show proof of sufficient funds for 1 year which is €13.140,00* plus proof that you have sufficient funds to pay the tuition fee for the pre-master 6 months and a half of the master tuition fee 2025/2026.
Exchange students
Exchange students need to show €1095,00* for every month that they will be studying at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.
How to prove your sufficient funds
The proof of sufficient funds can be shown in two ways:
- Bank transfer to the school’s bank account
- Scholarship award letter
1. Bank transfer to the school’s bank account
This means you will deposit the amount in our account to prove you have sufficient funds to cover your living expenses in the Netherlands.
Bachelor and Master students
You will receive an invoice of €13.140,00 plus the amount of the tuition fee for the whole academic year and the visa application fee of 243,00 Euro.
Pre-master 6 months students
Students who are going to do the 6 months preparation programme, will receive an invoice of €20,115,00 plus the tuition fee for the 6 months preparation programme and the visa application fee of 243,00 Euro.
Exchange students:
You will receive an invoice with a total of €1095,00* x the number of months that you will be studying at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.
Refund of the living fees:
After the start of your study program at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, we will inform you how the proof of sufficient funds will be refunded to you.
Please be aware that the refund process takes about 2 months.
You will not have access to that amount before that so make sure you will have sufficient extra funds for the first few weeks in The Netherlands
Please note that you will need to open a Dutch bank account as the money can only be refunded to your Dutch bank account. During the introduction week we will inform you how you can open a Dutch bank account.
2. Scholarship award letter
The scholarship award letter must show the following:
- the date;
- the institution granting the scholarship;
- your personal details (initials, surname and date of birth)
- the start and finish of the scholarship (start and end date);
- the amount you receive;
- Optional: the name of the scholarship programme.
- Does the educational institution grant you a scholarship on behalf of a different institution? For example, an organization or company? Please then show the agreement between your educational institution and the institution in question.
- The scholarship letter must be drawn up in Dutch, English, German or French. If it is not in these languages then the document needs to be translated by a sworn translator to English. Please make sure all the information is correct. You need to show the original documents as well as the translation.
If your scholarship does not cover the required amount of €1095,00 for every month you will be staying in the Netherlands then you can also make use of the following options in combination with the scholarship letter:
1. Money in your own account
2. Financial support by a third party living abroad
3. Financial support by a third party living in the Netherlands
4. Financial support from a company
*Subject to change
Recognised sponsor
If you already have a Dutch residence permit from another Dutch school, we are required to take over as your recognised sponsor from your previous school. In order to do this, we require proof of sufficient funds, a signed Antecedent certificate, a copy of your passport (the personal page and all stamped pages) and a copy of the front and back of your current study residence permit.
Change of Purpose (COP)
If you are already residing in the Netherlands and wish to change the purpose of your current residence permit to a study residence permit, please send us an e-mail so we can apply for a Change of Purpose (COP) on your behalf. The COP application costs 243,00 Euro* and is non-refundable. In order to do this we require proof of sufficient funds, a signed Antecedent certificate, a copy of your passport (the personal page and all stamped pages) and a copy of the front and back of your current residence permit.
*Subject to change
The deadline for non-EU students already residing in the Netherlands with a valid Dutch residence permit is 16th of July 2025.
What is study monitoring
If you will be studying with a Dutch study residence permit, then the study monitoring will apply to you. This implies that in order to maintain your study residence permit, your study results need to be sufficient. You will need to pass at least 50% of the nominal study workload for each academic year.
Please note that pre master students need to obtain all ECTS. The study monitoring does not apply to exchange students.
You can refer to the IND website for more information.
If we apply for a Dutch study residence permit for you then you will need to prove each academic year that you have enough money to live and study in the Netherlands. This means that you will need to show that you have sufficient funds on a yearly basis to cover both your living expenses and your tuition fee in the Netherlands.
After each academic year (usually around November/December) the student support team from the Centre of International Affairs will contact all students with a Dutch study residence permit and students will then be requested to either prove or declare that they have sufficient funds.
You can read more about this topic on the financial means check page on the Dutch immigration office (IND) website.
Our university can only apply for a study residence permit for those coming to study at our university, not for spouses/partners and/or children. Therefore you would need to arrange the visa and/or Dutch residence permit of the family member(s) yourself. You can find more information about that on the Dutch Immigration Office (IND) website.
Once we have applied for an invoice for you, the invoice and payment instructions will be sent to you by email by our finance department. Please make sure that you read their instructions to ensure that our university receives the full payment of your invoice.
The swift code that you should use is mentioned in the payment instructions that you received from our finance department by email, together with your invoice. When entering the swift code, the matching address should be Coolsingel 119 Rotterdam (as mentioned in the payment instructions), or Gustav Mahlerlaan 10 Amsterdam, which is the head office. Please ensure that you use the correct account number when making the transfer.
No, as of 2019 our university no longer accepts bank statements as proof of sufficient funds, unless a student will receive a scholarship from an educational institution.
No, it is not a mistake. The MVV sticker is only valid for a period of three months as the purpose of the MVV is to allow you to travel to the Netherlands. Your residence permit which you will receive in the Netherlands will be valid for the entire period of your studies.
The refund procedure can be found on HINT. If for any reason your visa application is denied by the IND, you will receive a full refund prior to the start of the academic year, except for the visa application fee.
Please note that for the Pre-Master RBS Programme a different refund policy applies, which can also be found on HINT.