How does a Turkish company set up in the Netherlands?

A 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.

Turkish companies have a position in the Netherlands that no other country in these guides shares, and most founders only discover half of it. The company side is ordinary: a Dutch BV, a notary, a register. The person side is not, because of an agreement signed more than sixty years ago that still changes what the immigration service asks of a Turkish national.

The tax treaty, briefly

According to the Dutch Ministry of Finance overview of treaties on direct taxes, the treaty between the Netherlands and Türkiye was signed in Ankara on 27 March 1986 and entered into force on 30 September 1988. It has not been amended by a protocol since.

That makes it a middle-aged treaty and a stable one. Its practical work, deciding which country may tax which income and how relief is given, is the part your adviser reads. The general mechanics of the Dutch network are in does the Netherlands have a tax treaty with your country.

Source: Rijksoverheid, Verdragen op het gebied van directe belastingen per 1 juli 2026 (PDF, in Dutch)

What the Association Agreement changes

The IND describes the Association Agreement between the European Union and Turkey as laid down in 1963, with additions made by the Additional Protocol in 1970 and Decision 1/80 in 1980, and says it applies to Turkish citizens and self-employed persons and their families, and to Turkish service providers. Its own summary of the effect is short: because of the agreement, the requirements are sometimes less strict for Turkish citizens and their families.

What the IND lists, in its own words:

• Lower fees. Turkish citizens and their family members often pay lower costs when applying, extending, or replacing a document. On the IND's published fee list, a first application for a work purpose costs EUR 85.00 under the Association Agreement, against EUR 423.00 at the standard rate, and a return visa costs EUR 57.00 against EUR 197.00.
• No recognised sponsor needed. For employees with Turkish nationality a recognised sponsor is not required, and the employee can submit the application themselves. The IND still advises using a recognised sponsor, because it decides faster when one applies.
• No points test for the self-employed. RVO normally assesses a self-employed applicant with a points system. The IND states that this points system does not apply to Turkish nationals, and that RVO assesses the company by looking at the business plan alone.
• A shorter wait for free access to the labour market. After three years with the same employer, a Turkish national no longer needs a work permit for paid employment. Normally that is only after five years.
• A lower age for a partner. Where the standard rule is twenty-one, the IND applies eighteen.

Sources:
IND, Turkish citizens and living in the Netherlands
IND, Fees: costs of an application

What it does not change

Two things, and both catch people out.

The income test is the same. The IND does not publish a lower income requirement for Turkish entrepreneurs. Its own factsheet for Turkish self-employed persons applies the ordinary conditions: the work has to serve an essential Dutch interest, and the applicant has to earn sufficient, independent and lasting means of support. The lighter element is the assessment method, not the bar.

The entry document is also the same. A Turkish national who wants to travel to the Netherlands and apply for a residence permit needs an MVV, a provisional residence permit, applied for at the Dutch embassy or consulate in Türkiye. Türkiye is not among the nationalities the IND exempts from it. Which route fits which person is compared in the Dutch startup visa and in can a foreigner start a business in the Netherlands.

Source: IND, Provisional residence permit (mvv)

Goods move under a customs union, not a trade deal

This is the other half Turkish exporters know and Turkish startups often do not. Business.gov.nl explains that goods imported from Türkiye can usually travel on an A.TR certificate, and that with one you do not have to pay import duties. The certificate confirms the goods are in free circulation, and the Turkish supplier requests it from the Turkish customs administration. Additional levies still apply to some products, such as tobacco, alcoholic drinks and certain foodstuffs.

For a company that will manufacture in Türkiye and sell in Europe, that arrangement is often the actual reason the Dutch entity earns its keep, because it turns a Dutch subsidiary into a European distribution point rather than just a sales office.

Source: Business.gov.nl, A.TR certificate for Türkiye

What Türkiye offers at home

Export support runs through the Ministry of Trade under Decision No. 5973 on export supports, whose published ceiling tables cover exactly the costs a landing company incurs: rent for an overseas unit, fit-out and concept design for it, registration and renewal of trade marks abroad, and advisory costs for acquiring a technology company abroad. The ceilings are re-indexed at the start of each calendar year.

Alongside it sits TURQUALITY, which describes itself as the first and only state-supported branding programme, aimed at helping Turkish firms become global players under their own brands rather than simply exporting more.

One correction worth making, because older guides still repeat it: KOSGEB's overseas market support programme now appears on KOSGEB's own list of repealed supports. Its current instrument for companies competing internationally is the global competitiveness support programme. Check the live page before building a budget on any of these.

Sources:
Ministry of Trade, Export supports under Decision No. 5973 (in Turkish)
KOSGEB, repealed supports (in Turkish)

Where this fits in a move to Europe

The Turkish route has more moving parts than most, because the company, the goods and the founder each travel under a different instrument. Getting them in the right order matters more here than anywhere else: the entity first, then the permit, then the customs setup, then the funding stack. The sequence after arrival is in the first ninety days in the Netherlands, and how we work with companies coming from Istanbul is on the Türkiye corridor page.

Sources

1. IND, Turkish citizens and living in the Netherlands, checked 22 September 2026
2. IND, Fees: costs of an application, checked 22 September 2026
3. IND, Provisional residence permit (mvv), checked 22 September 2026
4. Rijksoverheid, Verdragen op het gebied van directe belastingen per 1 juli 2026 (PDF, in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
5. Business.gov.nl, A.TR certificate for Türkiye, checked 22 September 2026
6. Ministry of Trade of the Republic of Türkiye, export supports (in Turkish), checked 22 September 2026

Checked on 22 September 2026. This page is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change: check the official source, or ask an adviser, before you act on it.