IND processing times 2026: every decision period, your status in My IND and what to do when it is late

For most applications the decision period starts the day the IND receives your application, but several things can move the end date (IND).

• Confirmation of receipt. A few days for an online application, up to 2 weeks for a written one. No letter after 14 days? Contact the IND.
• Payment. For a written application you get a letter to pay within 2 weeks, and the assessment starts once you have paid.
• Missing documents. The period pauses until the IND has them; you usually get 2 weeks, and the period is extended by 2 weeks. The letter gives the new date.
• Extra investigation. The IND can extend a regular decision period by up to 6 months, and it tells you by letter.
• Naturalisation starts only when the application is complete and paid.

The IND phone number is 088 043 04 30 from the Netherlands and +31 88 043 04 30 from abroad, Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 17:00; standard call rates apply (IND, checked 28 September 2026).

• Have your V-number ready. The IND asks for your V-number or case number. Both are in its letters, and the V-number is also on the back of your residence document, after ‘VNR’ (IND).
• What the phone line cannot tell you. While the decision period has not expired, the IND cannot tell you when you will get a decision: it is still processing your application, and you follow the status in My IND (IND).
• What email cannot do. The IND gives no information about the status of an application or your file by email; for your personal situation it asks you to call (IND).
• Appointments are online. Biometrics, collecting your residence document, a sticker or a return visa are booked online, not by phone; only other services need a call (IND). See our IND appointment guide.
• Closed on public holidays. Check the IND’s public holidays overview before you call.
• When to escalate. Once the decision period, including any extension, has passed, send a notice of default, by post or secure email only: sent any other way it is not valid (IND). If the IND refuses your application, the objection deadline is short: see our IND rejection and appeal guide.

A positive decision is not the card itself: there are still steps before you hold your residence document.

• With an MVV: collect the sticker at the Dutch embassy first; see our MVV visa guide.
• Biometrics: without an MVV, book them at an IND desk. The IND tries to have your card ready within 2 weeks of taking them, and writes when you can collect it (IND).
• Collecting the card: book the appointment named in the letter; our IND appointment guide lists the desks.
• Card expired while you wait? A free residence endorsement sticker shows you may wait here, for example during an extension or a first application without an MVV (IND).
• Highly skilled migrants may work before the card is ready if the decision letter says so, and with an MVV from the day they arrive (IND brochure 3072).

An objection has its own decision period, which starts the day after the last date on which you could object, even if you sent yours earlier.

Refused? Our guide to objecting to an IND rejection covers the 4-week deadline and the court. For the waiting times on the permits themselves, see our partner visa and permanent residence guides.