Amsterdam Family Reunification: The MVV Route via IND, Legal Timeline vs Reality

The Official Rule

If you want to bring a partner, spouse, or child from outside the EU, EEA, or Switzerland to live with you in Amsterdam, the sponsor (that’s you, if you’re already living in the Netherlands) applies through the IND, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service. For most family members this runs as one combined application called TEV (Toegang en Verblijf, entry and residence): a single decision that covers both the MVV (the provisional residence visa needed to travel to the Netherlands) and the residence permit itself.

The legal decision period is 90 days. That’s the maximum time the IND has to decide once your application is complete, and it’s the number you’re entitled to hold them to if things drag on with no explanation.

Income is the other hard requirement. As the sponsor, you need a stable, sufficient income, and the exact figure changes twice a year. According to the IND’s own required-amounts page, for a sponsor bringing a partner the minimum gross monthly SV-income (social-security wage, not your gross salary line, check your payslip for “SV-loon”) is:

Only your own income counts, not a future combined household income you’re hoping to build once your partner arrives, and not your partner’s earnings from abroad. The IND also looks at whether the income is sustainable: an indefinite contract is stronger evidence than a three-month one, and a recent job change or a gap can trigger extra questions even if the monthly figure clears the bar.

You also need to show you have suitable housing for the family member joining you, which in Amsterdam’s tight rental market is often the quieter but very real second hurdle behind the paperwork.

Why the 90-Day Number Isn’t the Real Number

Here’s the gap that catches people off guard. According to immigration lawyers tracking IND processing in 2026, family reunification files that are complete and straightforward often get a decision within 6 to 12 weeks, comfortably inside the legal 90-day window. But “complete and straightforward” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

The same source is blunt about why real cases run longer: the decision period pauses entirely whenever the IND requests extra documents, and it only resumes once you’ve supplied them. Civil documents from your home country (birth certificates, marriage certificates, single-status declarations) usually need formal legalization and, in many cases, a certified translation, and any hiccup there is one of the most common triggers for a pause. NLCompass’s practical guide puts realistic total timelines for the standard family reunification pathway at around 9 to 10 months once you count document preparation, the IND decision itself, and collecting the MVV at a Dutch embassy or consulate abroad before travel. Add in the possibility of one or two rounds of missing-document requests, and the wider range circulating among people who’ve actually been through it, roughly 4 to 12 months start to finish, holds up.

The practical lesson: don’t treat 90 days as a promise, and don’t treat it as the whole picture either. It’s the point at which you’re legally entitled to push back if you haven’t heard anything, not a forecast of when your family member actually lands at Schiphol.

What Real People Say

Guides written by people who’ve actually gone through the process (or advise clients through it) keep repeating the same handful of specific traps, and they’re worth taking seriously precisely because they’re avoidable:

• Single-status declarations expire fast. NLCompass warns that a declaration confirming your partner isn’t already married to someone else is typically only valid for about six months, so ordering it too early in the process means it can expire before the IND even gets to your file. Order it late, not early.
• Relationship evidence needs to look lived-in, not assembled. For unmarried or unregistered partners especially, guides recommend gathering photos spanning real time, message history, travel records together, and any joint financial ties (a shared bank account, both names on a lease or utility bill) well before you apply, rather than pulling something together the week of submission.
• Income stability matters as much as the number. A monthly figure that technically clears the threshold can still trigger scrutiny if your employment contract is short-term or you’ve recently changed jobs. If your work situation is anything other than a stable, ongoing contract, it’s worth getting a read on your specific case before you submit.

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Step by Step

1. Check you meet the income and housing requirements first. There’s no point starting the paperwork chase before you know the sponsor income bar is realistically met.
2. Start gathering and legalizing civil documents early, but hold off on time-limited ones like single-status declarations until closer to submission.
3. Apply through TEV (the combined MVV plus residence permit procedure) via the IND, either online through the IND’s own portal or with help from an immigration lawyer if your situation is complex (a previous marriage, a criminal record check, a child from a different relationship).
4. Respond fast to any request for extra information. Every day you take to reply is a day added to your total timeline, since the clock is paused, not just slowed.
5. Once approved, your family member collects the MVV at the Dutch embassy or consulate in their home country and travels to the Netherlands within its validity window.
6. After arrival, register the Amsterdam address at a Stadsloket (BRP registration). This is the next link in the chain, and Amsterdam’s own appointment backlog can add real weeks here too, worth reading alongside this guide.

What You’ll Need

• Valid passport for the family member joining you.
• Proof of the sponsor’s income (payslips showing SV-loon, employment contract).
• Proof of relationship: marriage or partnership certificate, or evidence of a genuine long-term relationship for unmarried partners.
• Legalized and, where required, translated civil documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, single-status declaration if applicable).
• Proof of suitable housing in Amsterdam for the family member.
• The completed TEV application form, submitted through the IND.

Compliance Note

This page explains the general rules as published by the IND and reported by immigration practitioners as of 2026. It is not immigration advice for your specific situation. Income thresholds change twice a year, and individual circumstances (previous marriages, criminal record checks, unusual income structures) can change what’s required or how long a decision takes. Always confirm current figures and your own case details directly with the IND or a licensed immigration lawyer before applying.