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How does the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty work for US founders?
The treaty lets a US or Japanese national get a Dutch residence permit as a self-employed person without the normal scoring test. According to the IND, most business forms need a minimum investment of EUR 4,500 in the company, and the permit is valid for at most two years.
Founders call it DAFT, after the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty. The IND, the Dutch immigration service, treats it as one of the routes inside the residence permit for a self-employed person. Japanese nationals have the same arrangement under the Dutch-Japanese Trade Agreement.
What makes the route unusual is not the money. It is what falls away: the test that asks whether your business serves an essential interest of the Dutch economy. This guide follows the conditions as the IND publishes them, and says plainly where the IND publishes nothing.
Who can use the treaty?
You need the nationality of the United States or Japan, and your work has to fit one of the categories the IND lists. Those are trade between the Netherlands and the US or Japan, developing or leading business operations, representing a US or Japanese business in a key position, practising an independent profession, or investing substantial capital.
Practising an independent profession has limits: the IND excludes government work and healthcare from that category. Holding shares is not enough on its own either, because the treaty is about a person who works in the business.
The rest of the conditions are the ordinary ones for a self-employed person. You register the business with the KvK, the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, you hold any professional permits your trade needs, and you show an income from the business plan.
How much do you have to invest?
According to the IND, most business forms need a minimum investment of EUR 4,500. It has to be capital in the business, not savings in a personal account, and the IND wants to see it on a business bank statement that shows the name of the company and the capital invested.
The IND also wants the financial documents checked by an independent external expert before you file: a chartered accountant, an accountant-administratieconsulent, which is a Dutch accountancy qualification, a bookkeeper or a financial adviser. What you enclose depends on the legal form:
- Sole trader: a business bank statement showing the amount invested, plus an opening balance sheet.
- Commercial partnership: a deed of formation or a contract showing the size of each partner's financial participation, the opening balance and a business bank statement.
- BV or NV: the deed of incorporation, the opening balance and a business bank statement.
The income the business has to produce is the ordinary one for a self-employed person: EUR 1,766.77 gross profit per month including holiday allowance, for the period 1 July 2026 up to and including 31 December 2026. The IND resets that amount on 1 January and on 1 July. If you are setting up a company rather than working as a sole trader, how a US company sets up in the Netherlands covers the entity side.
Sources:
IND, Residence permit self-employed person
IND, application form 7524, to work on a self-employed basis
IND, Required amounts income requirements
Does the points test still apply?
No. The ordinary self-employed route is scored by RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, on personal experience, the business plan and the added value for the Dutch economy, and the IND asks for at least 30 points in each of the three areas, or 45 points for personal experience together with 45 for the business plan. Treaty applicants do not go through that scoring.
They are not the only ones. The IND also leaves the scoring out for Turkish nationals, for long-term EU residents from another EU country, and for some independent professionals such as medical specialists and artists.
This is the practical difference with the other entrepreneur route. A founder without a US or Japanese passport who wants to build something here usually starts on the start-up permit and picks up the scoring a year later: see the requirements for the Dutch startup visa.
How long does the permit last, and can your family come?
According to the IND, the permit is valid for a maximum of 2 years and can be extended. The application costs EUR 423 in 2026. The IND must decide within 90 days, and it can extend that period by up to 6 months if it asks RVO or the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for advice.
US and Japanese nationals are on the IND's list of nationalities that do not need an MVV, the entry visa for stays longer than 90 days, so the application is made from inside the Netherlands rather than at an embassy. Family members who come along are allowed to work in the Netherlands without a work permit.
Sources:
IND, Residence permit self-employed person
IND, Provisional residence permit MVV
IND, Fees: costs of an application
How often does the IND say yes?
The IND does not publish an approval rate for treaty applications. Any percentage you read elsewhere is not an IND figure, so this page does not carry one.
What the IND does publish is a monthly count of regular migration. In it, labour migration is one group that covers paid employment, work as a self-employed person, start-ups, cross-border services and treaty applications together. For August 2026 the IND reported 820 decisions and 1,100 new applications in that group. It does not split the group into approvals and refusals, and it does not report the treaty separately. A comparison of the routes and what each one is good for is in which visa route fits your team.
Sources
- IND, Residence permit self-employed person, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, application form 7524, Application for the purpose of residence of to work on a self-employed basis, PDF, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, Required amounts income requirements, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, Fees: costs of an application, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, Provisional residence permit MVV, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, Monthly figures on regular migration, 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.
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