FAQ Immigration

Immigration law and its regulations fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice and Security, the Department of Immigration and Naturalisation service (IND). They are part of the aliens act. Hanze UAS has been officially appointed and responsible to carry out and follow their policy in relation to immigration matters for students. For Hanze UAS it is the International Office (IO), more specifically: the Immigration team that handles all immigration related matters for students. The Immigration team will point out the requirements and guide you through the rules and regulations to safeguard a correct and timely start in Groningen. The team will also remind you of the conditions to keep your residence permit valid. It is however a student's responsibility to meet the requirements for as long as a residence permit for study purpose is needed.

We strongly advise students to read about the Modern Migration Policy (MoMi).

For all questions regarding immigration, you can send an e-mail to [email protected]

Students who start in September

Once you have been (provisionally) admitted to a study programme at Hanze UAS, you will receive the immigration instructions via e-mail (no earlier than March).

When you have been fully accepted and have completed your immigration file (uploaded all documents correctly and transferred your financial guarantee), we will start to send your application to the IND (no earlier than June).

Immigration deadline: The deadline for you to complete your immigration file is the 1st of July.

Students who start in February

Once you have been (provisionally) admitted to a study programme at Hanze UAS, you will receive the immigration instructions via e-mail (no earlier than the 15th of October).

When you have been fully accepted and have completed your immigration file (uploaded all documents correctly and transferred your financial guarantee), we will start to send your application to the IND (no earlier than the 1st of November).

Immigration deadline: The deadline to complete your immigration file is the 1st of December.

In order to start an immigration procedure, you will have to comply with the following requirements:

• You are fully admitted to a study programme at Hanze UAS
• You will stay longer than three months in the Netherlands
• You have sufficient financial means according to the guidelines of Hanze UAS and the IND (read below 'Financial guarantee')
• You have filled in and uploaded the required documents in 'Hanze Apply'
• You have fulfilled all the above mentioned requirements before the immigration deadline. 

Hanze UAS has to prove to the IND that you can pay the tuition fee and that you have sufficient funds to live off before an immigration procedure is started. In order to prove this we ask our future students to transfer both the living costs as well as the tuition fee*. The sum of these costs we call the Financial Guarantee and has to be transferred to the bank account of Hanze UAS. Upon arrival the remaining sum (after deduction of the tuition fee, costs for the immigration procedure, compulsory insurance and costs for a TBC checkup) will be returned to you.

Follow the link for an overview of the exact amounts and further information on the financial guarantee.

We understand that you would like to know all about our refund policy before transferring the financial guarantee. It is, after all, a large amount of money!

Follow the link for more on our refund policy.

Throughout the process the International Service Desk will keep you informed on the progress of your visa and/or residence permit application through 'hanze apply'. We will send you an email to inform you when your MVV (authorisation for temporary stay) and/or residence permit application is sent to the IND. As soon as we have received the decision from the IND, we will send you a second email in which we explain how and where to pick up your MVV or how to proceed when you followed one of the other immigration procedures.

The IND charges € 210,-  for an immigration procedure for study purpose. You can find the other fees on the website of the IND.

Additionally, there are other costs which will be taken out of your financial guarantee:

At the beginning of September or February (depending on whether you start in Sept. or Feb.), we will organise our Immigration Day. On this day the IND will visit our campus to hand out residence permits.

Date Immigration Day (Sept. start): 16th of October 2023

Date Immigration Day (Feb. start): TBA

You may find that the time scheduled is not enough for you to graduate. Three months before the expiry date of your residence permit you can contact [email protected] and ask for the procedure to extend the validity of your residence permit. Click here for more information on extending your residence permit.

When you graduate, you will need to deregister as a student. However, if you wish to continue your stay or return to the Netherlands in the next three years, you can do so with an 'Orientation year permit', also called 'Zoekjaar'. 

You can apply for this permit digitally when you have a DigiD. Go to www.ind.nl/english to find the application procedure and form. Remember to change your AON insurance into a 'search year insurance' once you graduate. For more detailed information visit the AON website.

Please note that your residence permit will expire three months after your graduation, even when it mentions a date further in the future.

Each year in June we will invite all students who are in the possession of a residence permit for study purpose to declare that they still meet all the requirements. 

Conditions to keep your residence permit valid while studying:

• You are still enrolled as a student and study actively.
• You have enough financial means according to the guidelines of Hanze UAS and the IND (read below 'Financial guarantee').
• You are still insured for at least healthcare and liability.
• You are still registered at a municipality in the Netherlands with the address for which you have a rental agreement. Inform the Immigration team ([email protected]) when you have to leave the Netherlands and deregister.
• You have to obtain at least 50% of the nominal number of ECTs per academic year. Contact your academic advisor and/or student counsellor ([email protected]) as soon as it's clear that you will not be able to obtain 50% of the nominal number of ECTs.
• You participate in the Yearly Check procedure in June.

One of the conditions based upon which Hanze UAS has been allowed to handle all immigration procedures, is that the IND is informed within a month after it has been observed that you no longer meet one of the above listed requirements.