Fancy a Dutch startup visa? Beware of this palaver!

After months of brainstorming, networking and pulling all-nighters, you’ve finally conjured up an “innovative” idea that lives up to a recognised facilitator’s expectation. It’s been elbow-grease to prepare for all the required documents. With help from your recognized facilitator, you’ve submitted your application for granting a startup visa. Within a couple of weeks of submitting the application, the IND has asked you to pay the visa application fee. The application process is ticking along. You feel confident that the IND will approve your application, as you think that having a recognised facilitator is the be-all and end-all. Nevertheless, the IND has unexpectedly refused your startup application, as the RVO of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs contends that your business idea is not innovative. This ordeal happens to some start-up visa applicants. For example, in a recent opinion, the RVO writes:

“The concept is not new to the Netherlands. In fact, there are several [companies] active in the Dutch market that have been around for much longer and offer the same services as those provided by the startup. The startup combines existing elements, without demonstrating any smart or creative adaptations or combinations for cross-sector applications. As a result, the applicant has therefore failed to demonstrate that the product or service is new to the Netherlands …”

The RVO does not mention which other companies are. Neither does the RVO shed any light on the differences and/or similarities amongst these companies.

The legal status of RVO advice

On 14 March 2025, the Court of the Hague gave a ruling, in which the Court holds that an advice given by the RVO is an expert opinion, which can only be refuted by another expert opinion. The problem is that it is very hard to find an expert who can advise on the innovativeness of a business idea, let alone the issue as to how someone can be accepted by the Dutch Government as an innovation expert.

Submission of more documents during the phase of administrative review

Pursuant to Dutch administrative law, when an applicant disagrees with an IND decision, they can file an administrative review petition (“bezwaarschrift”), asking the IND to review their decision. It is a general principle that, during the phase of administrative review, the IND should take all the new circumstances into account. However, in its judgment of 12 July 2023, the Court of the Hague holds that the documents submitted by the appellant “contain no new information or carry no weight.” The Court sides with the IND concluding that the submitted documents do not provide grounds for requesting a new RVO opinion, as a result of which “requesting a new opinion from the RVO is pointless,” says the administrative judge. 

The aforementioned judgments show that having a recognized facilitator is, unfortunately, not the be-all and end-all. An applicant for a startup visa needs to focus more on making their business idea innovative. It doesn’t have to be the best thing since sliced bread, but it needs to mesmerize the RVO.

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Should you have any questions about Dutch immigration law, please feel free to book a consultation with us. 

Date of publication: 24 May 2026