The MVV and TEV procedure for family reunification: what the sponsor does, what you do, and how long the IND takes

Family reunification with the Netherlands runs on one combined procedure with a Dutch name worth learning: TEV, Toegang en Verblijf (Entry and Residence). In a single application you ask for two things at once — the MVV (machtiging tot voorlopig verblijf, the long-stay entry visa) and the residence permit that lets you actually live here. What makes it feel complicated is that two people play two different roles: the sponsor (referent) already in the Netherlands, and the applicant still abroad. This guide walks the procedure from the sponsor's income proof to the day you collect your residence card, and shows which task belongs to whom. The basisexamen sits inside this too, at one specific point — with a link, not a re-explanation, because the exam has its own home.

Almost every confusion in this procedure comes from not being clear about who does what. It is genuinely a two-person process, and the tasks do not overlap much.

The IND lets the sponsor submit the whole TEV application from inside the Netherlands, which is the usual route and the simpler one — the applicant abroad then only needs to appear at the embassy later for biometrics and the visa. There is also an applicant-abroad route, where the family member starts at the Dutch embassy or consulate themselves and the application and fee reach the IND within three weeks of that appointment. Either way the conditions and the decision are the same; the difference is only who lodges the paperwork.

The procedure starts with the sponsor, because the sponsor carries most of the conditions. For a partner permit both people must be 21 or older, the relationship has to be genuine — a marriage, a registered partnership, or an unmarried long-term exclusive relationship the IND can verify — and after arrival you must live together at the same address, registered together in the municipality.

The condition that stops the most applications is income. The sponsor must have an independent, sustainable and sufficient income, measured on the SV-loon (the gross wage on which Dutch wage tax and social contributions are calculated). This norm is period-bound and the IND resets it twice a year, on 1 January and 1 July, so always read the current figure. For applications in the second half of 2026 (1 July to 31 December) it is €2,337.00 gross per month excluding holiday allowance, or €2,523.96 including it, for a married couple or partners living together; a single parent needs €1,635.90 excluding holiday allowance (€1,766.77 including). Because the number moves every six months, a payslip that qualified in June can fall short in July — check against the live IND page on the day you apply.

For most family migrants there is a gate before the MVV: the family member abroad must pass the basisexamen inburgering (the civic integration exam taken at a Dutch embassy) first, with some groups exempt. That is all you need to know about its place in this procedure — it comes before the MVV, not after. Everything else about the exam, how to prepare, register, and what a pass proves, belongs to the exam guide: the basisexamen inburgering buitenland prep guide. We keep the visa procedure here and the exam there on purpose, so neither page half-explains the other.

Once the application is complete and the fee is paid, the IND assesses it. The legal decision period for a residence permit with MVV — the TEV procedure — is 90 days. That is the maximum the law allows in the standard case, not a promise of speed, and it is important to know it can grow: the IND may extend the decision period by several weeks up to a maximum of six months, for example when it needs to verify documents or ask for more. The fast two-week target you may read about applies to recognised-sponsor applications for study, research and certain work purposes — it does not apply to family reunification. Plan for the full period, and do not book flights or give up a home abroad against an approval you do not yet have.

A positive decision does not put a visa in your hand automatically — the applicant abroad has to collect it. After the IND's approval letter you have three months to make an appointment and collect the MVV at the Dutch embassy or consulate, where your biometrics (fingerprints, photo and signature) are recorded if they were not already. The MVV is then placed in your passport as a sticker, and here is the deadline people miss: it is valid for 90 days from the date of issue, and within those 90 days you must travel to the Netherlands and collect your residence permit — the MVV must still be valid on the day you collect the card. It is also a Schengen visa, so you may enter via another Schengen country, but the 90-day clock does not pause for that.

Once in the Netherlands you collect your residence card from the IND and register at your sponsor's address in the municipality — the same registration that produces your BSN and unlocks everything else. That first stretch of admin has its own order and its own two real deadlines, and doing it in sequence keeps anything from blocking anything else: the first 90 days in the Netherlands checklist walks BSN, DigiD, health insurance and a bank account in the right order. Family reunification often also starts an integration obligation; whether it applies to you, and when the clock begins, is covered in who must integrate.

A quiet inbox at day 80 is stressful, but a decision beyond 90 days is not automatically a problem: the IND is allowed to extend, up to six months, and usually does so when documents need verifying. If the period is extended you should receive notice of it. The useful thing while you wait is to keep the file complete — chase any legalised certificate or translation the IND asked for, since an incomplete application is the most common reason a decision slips rather than the IND simply being slow.

Because the income norm resets on 1 January and 1 July, a sponsor who qualified a month ago can be marginally short after the reset, and the IND assesses against the current figure. If the sponsor's salary sits near the line, check the live amount before applying and confirm what counts as SV-loon — sustainability of the income matters as much as the monthly figure, so a stable contract reads better than a fluctuating one at the same average.

Two clocks trip people here: the three months to collect the MVV after approval, and the 90 days the MVV is then valid. Miss the travel window and the MVV can lapse before you have collected your residence card, which turns a finished procedure back into a problem. Book the embassy appointment as soon as the approval arrives, and plan the move so you land and collect the card well inside the 90 days — not on the last one, in case anything about the trip goes wrong.

It is tempting for a couple to stay together in the Netherlands on a short-stay basis while the TEV runs, but the IND does not recommend being in the country during the procedure, and the whole design assumes you collect the MVV abroad. If there is a genuinely urgent reason, that is something to raise with the IND in advance with evidence — not to solve by quietly overstaying, which can complicate the very application you are waiting on.