AETHERION Worldwide is the fundraising and landing practice of AETHERION Capital.
Guides for companies from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Türkiye setting up in the Netherlands: programmes, tax agreements and support.
Each country has its own way into the Netherlands. There are home-country programmes that support expansion abroad, tax agreements that decide how profit moves back home, and trade offices whose job is to help companies from that country take the step.
These guides bring those pieces together per country. How we work with companies from each of these countries is on the corridors pages.
The NFIA is the Dutch government agency that helps foreign companies set up or expand in the Netherlands. It gives information, makes introductions and connects a company to the regional agency for its location. It is part of RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. It does not give legal or tax advice, arrange permits, or act as a commercial agent.
Read itA Korean company usually opens a Dutch BV owned by the parent in Seoul. The tax treaty between the two countries has been in force since 1981 and was updated by a protocol that took effect in 1999. KOTRA has one office in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam, and publishes a price list for the services it offers companies expanding abroad.
Read itA Japanese company usually opens a Dutch BV under the parent or under an existing European entity. The income tax treaty between the two countries is one of the newest the Netherlands has in Asia: it was signed in 2010 and entered into force at the end of 2011. Japanese nationals also have a treaty route of their own for working here on a self-employed basis.
Read itA Taiwanese company usually sets up a Dutch BV, a private limited company, owned by the parent in Taipei. The tax rules between the two places are not a treaty between states. They sit in an arrangement signed in 2001 between the Taipei Representative Office in the Netherlands and the Netherlands Trade and Investment Office in Taipei.
Read itA Singapore company usually opens a Dutch BV under the parent, or under an existing European holding. The tax treaty between the two countries has been in force since 1971 and has been amended twice. The home-country grant landscape changed at the end of September 2026, when the Market Readiness Assistance grant closed and the EDGE Grant took over.
Read itA Turkish company sets up a Dutch BV like anyone else. What is different is the founder. Under the Association Agreement between the European Union and Turkey, the IND applies lighter requirements to Turkish citizens: much lower application fees, no recognised sponsor needed for a Turkish employee, and no points test for a self-employed permit.
Read itMost US groups open a Dutch BV, a private limited company, owned by the US parent and formed through a civil-law notary who also registers it with the Chamber of Commerce. A tax treaty between the two countries has been in force since 1993. A separate route, the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty, exists for a US founder who wants to live here.
Read itAn Indian company usually opens a Dutch BV under the Indian parent. The tax treaty between the two countries has been in force since 1989 and was amended by a protocol in 2012. Its most-favoured-nation clause is the part advisers spend time on, and the Dutch government's published position on it dates from 2012.
Read itThere is no national ranking, and the Dutch government does not publish one. The four cities differ by sector rather than by quality: Amsterdam for finance and tech, Rotterdam for the port and energy, Eindhoven for chips and high-tech systems, The Hague for law, policy and cybersecurity. Your customers, your staff and your lab decide it.
Read itIn the first weeks: the notarial deed, the Chamber of Commerce registration the notary files, and the VAT numbers that follow it. In the first month: the payroll taxes number, a business bank account and the business login. In months two and three: staff, the expat scheme, and the R&D credit, which has to be applied for before the work starts.
Read itA trade office gives information, introductions and sometimes a desk or a subsidy, and it is usually free. What it does not do is legal or tax advice, permits, or acting as your commercial agent. The Dutch agency says so on the government's own business portal, and the offices in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore draw the line in a similar place.
Read itTen lines about your company is enough for us to tell you what the route looks like.
Want the whole picture first? See the Route