Verblijfsvergunning verlengen: 3 months before, and a gap starts 4 weeks after (2026 leges)

Your residence card has an expiry date on it, and that date belongs in your own calendar rather than in a reminder letter. The IND does not write to everyone whose permit is about to expire. Applying on time is the card holder's own responsibility, and being late costs less in money than it does in your record of uninterrupted residence.

The calendar is three numbers: 3 months, 4 weeks, 90 days.

3 months: the window opens

You can apply for an extension when your permit expires within 3 months. Applications made earlier are not taken into consideration, and applications made too late create the risk of a gap.

In practice a good date is about 8 weeks before expiry: the window is open, and if a document turns out to be missing there is still time to supply it inside the IND's decision period.

4 weeks: where the gap begins

You can still apply after the permit has expired, but no later than 4 weeks afterwards. An application within that period does not count as late and no verblijfsgatresidence gap · a period between two permits that does not count as uninterrupted residence arises.

If you apply later than 4 weeks, the IND asks you to explain the delay. If the explanation is not accepted, the intervening period drops out of your uninterrupted residence. The real consequence shows up later, not today:

• the 5 uninterrupted years needed for a permanent permit (onbepaalde tijdindefinite · a permanent residence permit; one of its conditions is 5 years of uninterrupted residence) are broken,
• the uninterrupted residence required for a citizenship application is broken.

If 2 years have passed since your permit expired, the extension route closes. You then apply for a new residence permit, and for some residence purposes that can mean leaving the country for an MVVentry visa · machtiging tot voorlopig verblijf; the visa collected abroad for long stay.

90 days: the IND's decision period

As a rule the IND decides on an extension application within 90 days. If further information is requested, that period can be extended.

If you applied on time, your residence remains lawful while you wait for the decision: the status that your work, your insurance and your toeslagen rest on does not end with the expiry date on the card. If an employer or a bank asks about it, the document to show is the IND's confirmation that your application was received.

The 2026 legesapplication fee: what does it cost?

Fees are updated every 1 January; for 2026 the increase was 4.4 percent. The 2026 amounts:

Application	Legesapplication fee
Residence with family or a partner: first application, change of purpose, extension	254 euro
Child under 18 with a parent	85 euro
Student: first application or extension	254 euro
Highly skilled migrant or ICT: first application or extension	423 euro
Self employed (zelfstandige): first application or extension	423 euro
Permanent residence permit: first application	254 euro
Five yearly renewal of a permanent residence card	85 euro
EU long term residence: first application	254 euro
Naturalisatie: single person	1,139 euro
Naturalisatie: with a partner	1,454 euro
Naturalisatie: co naturalising child under 18	168 euro
Option procedure: single person	241 euro

A separate rate for Turkish nationals. Because of the Association Agreement between the EU and Turkey, Turkish nationals pay a lower fee: 85 euro for a residence permit application and for an extension. That replaces the 254 euro others pay for the same application. The application form has to state that you are a Turkish national for this rate to be applied.

The fee is announced in the letter that follows once your application reaches the IND; if it is not paid, the application is not assessed.

What is checked in an extension?

An extension is not a repeat of the first application: the IND looks at whether the residence purpose still holds.

• Residence with a partner or family. That you still live together and that the income condition (middelen van bestaanmeans of support · the condition of sufficient and lasting income) is met. Having the same address in the BRP counts as evidence here.
• Work. That the contract still runs and the income threshold is met. Losing the job affects the extension directly.
• Student. That the school still has you enrolled and that you earn enough credits (studievoortgang).
• Self employed. That the activity and the income continue.

If one of the conditions has fallen away, it is worth thinking before applying: in some cases the right route is not an extension but a change of purpose (wijziging verblijfsdoel), and the fee is the same.

A refusal comes with a voornemennotice of intended refusal · sent before the decision; it creates a right to respond in writing first

When the IND decides to refuse, in most cases it does not send the refusal straight away: it writes a voornemennotice of intended refusal · sent before the decision; it creates a right to respond in writing tot afwijzing first. That letter is not the decision itself; it lists the reasons and creates a right to respond in writing (zienswijzewritten response).

The period for it is short and it is usually stated inside the letter. Submitting the zienswijzewritten response on time is worth more than any chance you have left at the objection stage: the decision has not been taken yet.

Once the refusal has been issued, the period for bezwaar is 4 weeks, which is shorter than the 6 weeks usual in Dutch letters.

A card and a permit are not the same thing

Extensions are very easy to confuse on this point:

• The residence permit itself is a right, and its duration is stated in the IND's decision.
• The verblijfsdocumentresidence card is the plastic card that shows that right, and the card has its own validity period.

With a permanent permit the right is indefinite, but the card is renewed every 5 years, and that costs 85 euro in 2026. If the card has expired your residence right does not disappear; an unrenewed card causes trouble when travelling and when starting a job.

What to do when the letter arrives

1. Put the card's expiry date in your calendar. Twice: 3 months before expiry, and 4 weeks after it.
2. Collect the documents before applying. Proof of income, employment contract, BRP registration, enrolment. An application with something missing stretches the 90 days.
3. Pay the fee at the right rate. If you are a Turkish national, state it in the application so the reduced rate applies.
4. Keep the confirmation of receipt. That is the document showing your residence is lawful while you wait.
5. Do not miss the period if a voornemennotice of intended refusal · sent before the decision; it creates a right to respond in writing arrives. The zienswijzewritten response is the only say you get before the decision.

What does Letrin do with this letter?

IND letters are long and full of standard phrasing, and which date binds you is not visible on a first reading. Letrin reads it from the photo and says it in your language: whether the letter is about an extension application, for which residence purpose, which document is being asked for, which date is the last day, and whether the letter is a voornemennotice of intended refusal · sent before the decision; it creates a right to respond in writing or a decision.

If a written answer is needed, it drafts it in formal Dutch with the translation beside it. It sets reminders for the deadlines: 7 days before, 2 days before, and on the morning itself.

The button below is all you need to download the app: no account, and the first explanations are free.

Check it against the paper

Explanations are there to help and they are not legal advice. The legesapplication fee change every 1 January and differ per residence purpose; the amount that applies is on ind.nl and in your own letter.

If there is a risk of a refusal or a gap, Juridisch Loket is free, and for low incomes the Raad voor Rechtsbijstand covers most of a lawyer's cost.