Employment Or Self-Employment Residence Permit? Here's Where You Stand!

Wednesday 28 January 2026

Are you applying for a new Dutch residence permit and do you need to determine whether to go for an employment-based residence permit or a self-employment residence permit? Read on! With this article, Orion Immigration Law's partner Arend van Rosmalen LL.M. will help you decide!

Why Is It Important To Choose Correctly?

It is important to determine carefully whether you are employed or self-employed. Dutch immigration law distinguishes sharply between employed and self-employed people. An activity as a freelancer or business owner cannot make you qualified for an employment-based residence permit, nor the other way around. An incorrect choice between the two can therefore have severe consequences. Here are a few:

Rejection of your application: If you incorrectly present as a self-employed applicant (while actually being in regular employment) or vice versa, this could cause the rejection of your application. You are not qualified for the residence permit you have applied for.
Revocation of your residence permit: Even if you initially got an employment-based residence permit (because of genuine employment), a later change of circumstances can make it necessary for you to reconsider your position. Once you cease being employed (for example because you will start your own business), the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) will have cause to revoke your employment-based residence permit. To prevent this, you need to apply for a self-employment residence permit. The same logic also holds true the other way around, so if you initially got a self-employment residence permit and decide to stop the self-employed activity to start a regular job.
Residence gap: If your application for a new residence permit gets rejected, or if your residence permit gets revoked following a change of circumstances, you can easily incur a so-called "residence gap". A residence gap is an interruption in the legal nature of your stay in the Netherlands. You should avoid residence gaps. A residence gap most often causes you to lose all your accrued legal residence for the purpose of later obtaining a permanent residence permit or Dutch citizenship.
Fraud allegation: Whenever you apply for a residence permit, you need to give the IND all the information it needs to decide. If you present yourself as someone working in an employed capacity, but you actually are self-employed, or the other way around, you are taking a severe risk. Providing false or incomplete information when applying for a residence permit gives the IND cause to revoke your residence permit and to impose a two-year entry ban for the whole Schengen Area against you. Naturally, future applications can be rejected because of an earlier case of fraud or incompleteness, and will in any event be investigated with extra care.

Employment Or Self-employment Residence Permit? Here's How You Decide!

In most cases, it is obvious whether you are an employee or a business owner. Still, in practice, there are borderline cases. Here are a few rules of thumb to help you decide on an employment residence permit or a self-employment residence permit:

Sole proprietorship: If your activity takes the form of a sole proprietorship, this is an indication that you are genuinely self-employed. Still, if you actually work for just one "customer" and this customer effectively is able to give you directions about how and when to do your work, then this may be a form of covert employment. You could consider going for an employment-based residence permit instead.
Partnership: In a partnership, all the partners are normally seen as self-employed. However, if you are a minority partner and you are effectively not in a position to be part of the management of the partnership, your position could also be seen as covert employment.
Limited companies: Are you a director and minority shareholder in a limited companies such as a BV? You will normally be counted as self-employed if you:
- have a 25% or greater effective ownership of the company,
- run entrepreneurial risks, and
- are in a position to determine your own salary

Intuition Rules! Warning Against Artificial Structures

In the previous paragraphs, we noted how important it is to not misrepresent yourself when making an application with the IND. For the same reasons, we strongly advise against any line of approach that feels "strained" or "artificial". If you genuinely feel that in your role you are answering to authority, accept that and do not present as an entrepreneur. Likewise, if you effectively make all the business decisions, do not be tempted into an employment-based residence permit. Make sure the facts are on your side.

To make this more concrete, here are a few specific don'ts when it comes to deciding on either an employment-based or a self-employment residence permit.

Do not use a payrolling structure if you are actually self-employed: We sometimes encounter this situation: a business owner enters employment with a Dutch payrolling company, who applies for an (employment-based) Highly Skilled Migrant residence permit, and then starts sending invoices to their employee's company for the service of making that company's owner available to it. We strongly advise against this structure, or any variation to it. Payrolling can be a very useful and effective tool in immigration law, but not in situations like this. Remember: intuition rules, so if you are effectively a business owner, you will be doing yourself a favour by writing a thorough business plan and going for a self-employment residence permit (see below).
Do not use a DAFT residence permit if you work for one client five days a week: The DAFT residence permit is only available to US citizens and Japanese citizens, stemming from old bilateral treaties between the Netherlands and the US and the Netherlands and Japan. These are very common residence permits and the conditions imposed are quite minimal. But these residence permits are strictly for self-employed activities only. If you plan to work for just one client - or if your self-employed activity evolves in this direction, you may not be (genuinely) self-employed (anymore). It may be wise to go for an employment-based residence permit instead.

Once You Have Decided, These Are The Next Steps

Orion Immigration Law can discuss your own situation with you and advise what residence permit would best suit your position.

If you consider yourself to be genuinely self-employed, you may apply for the following residence permits:

Self-employment residence permit
Innovative Start-Up visa
DAFT residence permit (US & Japanese citizens)
Self-employment residence permit (Turkish citizens)

If you consider yourself to be genuinely an employee, you may qualify for these residence permits:

Highly Skilled Migrant
EU Blue Card
Intra-Company Transferee
General employment residence permit (after five years of residence)
Residence permit for trainees

Would You Like Individual Advice About This?

If you are in any of the situations described above, and you would like advice about your situation, you can schedule an advice meeting with Orion Immigration Law to discuss further.

Book your advice meeting

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