When you require a visa

1. Who requires a visa?
2. I have more than one nationality. Do I require a visa?
3. Do I require a visa with a travel document a third country?
4. I want to stay for longer than three months.
5. For which countries is a Schengen visa valid?

1. Who requires a visa?

Whether a prospective visitor requires a visa depends on his nationality and how long he intends to stay in the Netherlands. Nationals of many countries require a visa for an uninterrupted stay of up to three months.

Countries whose nationals need a visa for a stay of under three months

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Armenia Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia* Bosnia-Hercegovina Botswana Burma (see Myanmar) Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Cape Verde Islands Central African Fepublic Chad China (People’s Republic) Colombia Comoros Congo (Democratic Republic) Congo (Brazzaville) Côte d’Ivoire Cuba Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) Fiji Islands Gabon Gambia

Georgia Ghana Grenada Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti India Indonesia Iran Iraq Jamaica Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kyrgystan Kiribati Kuwait Laos Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Maldives Mali Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Micronesia Moldavia Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (formerly Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Niger Nigeria Northern Marianas (Islands) North Korea

Oman Pakistan Palau Papua New Guinea Peru Philipines Qatar Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Salomon Islands São Tomé and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Swaziland Syria Tajikistan Taiwan* Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vietnam West Samoa Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

* Nationals of Bolivia will require a visa as per April 1st 2007.

* The Kingdom of the Netherlands does not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state and recognises Taiwanese passports as travel documents only.

Countries whose nationals do not require a visa for a stay of three months or less

Andorra Argentina Austria Australia Bolivia* Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Canada Chile Costa Rica Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark El Salvador Estonia Finland France

Germany (Federal Republic) Greece Guatemala Honduras Hungary Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Japan Liechtenstein Lithuania Malaysia Malta Mexico Monaco New Zealand Nicaragua Norway

Panama Paraguay Poland Portugal Romania San Marino Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States of America Uruguay Vatican City Venezuela

* Nationals of Bolivia will require a visa as per April 1st, 2007.

2. I have more than one nationality. Do I require a visa?

If you have more than one nationality, whether you require a visa depends on which travel document you intend to travel on. If it is a passport of a country whose nationals require a visa, you will also require a visa even if you have another nationality for which no visa is required. The country in which you are residing is irrelevant to whether you require a visa, although you must be residing legally in the country in which you submit your application.

3. Do I require a visa with a travel document a third country?

Yes. Persons with travel documents for aliens and refugees issued by third countries always require a visa no matter what their nationality or which country issued these documents. An exception is made for refugees with travel documents issued by 16 European countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Nationals of certain countries also require an airport transit visa to change aircraft at a Dutch airport, even though they do not actually enter Dutch territory.

Countries whose nationals need an airport transit visa

Afghanistan Angola Bangladesh Colombia DR Congo Eritrea

Ethiopia Gambia Ghana Guinea Iran Iraq

Nigeria Pakistan Sierra Leone Sudan Somalia Sri Lanka Syria

4. I want to stay for longer than three months.

To stay for an uninterrupted period of more than three months, you will require a special visa called an authorisation for temporary stay (MVV). Such a visa is required by the nationals of all countries except the EU member states and a few other countries.

Countries whose nationals do not need an MVV for a stay of over three months

Australia	Austria	Belgium
Bulgaria	Canada	Cyprus
Denmark	Estonia	Finland
France	Germany	Greece
Hungary	Iceland	Ireland
Italy	Japan	Latvia
Liechtenstein	Lithuania	Luxembourg
Malta	Monaco	New Zealand
Norway	Poland	Portugal
Rumania	Slovenia	Slovakia
Spain	Sweden	Switzerland
Tjech Republic	United Kingdom	United States

5. For which countries is a Schengen visa valid?

On 26 March 1995, the Convention applying the Schengen Agreement came into force in seven countries. Since then, more countries have joined the Schengen Area. There are now 15 Schengen countries, with no border controls between them: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

Visitors to any one of these countries receive a uniform visa valid for travel to all 15 of them. The Schengen countries have also harmonised their conditions for entry and their policy on countries whose nationals require a visa to visit the Schengen Area.

Some visitors are permitted to enter the territory of only one Schengen country or a limited number of them (such as the Netherlands or the Benelux countries). A Schengen country may issue such a visitor with a visa valid only for that country or for a specified number of Schengen countries.