I am a Citizen of India and have been in the Netherlands for quite sometime now. I got married this summer and as it happens with every other expat, had to start the paperwork of my wife. Let me tell you upfront, it seems to be an easy task, but beware! this process takes time.

I am writing this article specifically for my fellow Indian expats, but this should be a generic process for everyone (except few different documents).

Pre-requisites :
First and foremost, make sure you arrange the legalized marriage certificate ! Without this the IND won’t accept your application. You can try sending the application without this enclosure by post, but believe me after a month you will get a missing document letter

Legalization of documents
There are two documents which needs to be legalized before submitting to IND.
(1) Marriage Certificate : Required while submitting the application.
As with any other document, getting a marriage certificate is not an easy task. So try to book a date at the District Court and file the marriage registration application. Once that is filed, you can come after your marriage date with your spouse and get everything signed and completed. Please make sure that you get your marriage certificate issued within 1 month of the marriage date otherwise things become complicated.
So assuming you have received the certificate, the next step is to get it legalized. A big big “oh no…….!!!”. Yes its a real pain to get it done
Following are the hierarchy’s you need to get the paper signed to get it legalized.
The ADM or the DM’s (their secretary’s specifically) should sign and send the document to the Home Department of the State.(They tend to ignore any such thing, but insisting and showing some favors helps Now once in the State’s Home Department, this has to be signed by someone at the Secretary level. In general it takes around a month, but if you visit and chase it personally (my father did it for me), it gets done quite quickly. Once signed, the certificate is send back to the district where you need to collect it from. Then this document needs to be attested (with a sticker nowadays) from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) , Govt. of India. You DO NOT Need any signature from the Embassy anymore (ref here) ! Once you get the MEA stamp you are good to go!

(2) Birth Certificate : Required once your spouse is in NL to register at the Town Hall. Please note, this is not a “required” document for application, hence you get the advantage that with a legalized marriage certificate you can forward the application before even getting the birth certificate. The process of legalizing is the same as in case of Marriage certificate. There might be extra steps at the Tehsil/Gram sabha level depending on the place of birth if its not in a proper district.

Expat Center
Note : Since this article focuses on knowledge migrants, I will emphasize on this type of application only.

If your company is registered with the IND for bringing knowledge migrants or kennismigrant, things become very easy. Expat Center provides “one stop shop!” for all the application processes/registration/BSN application.

Application process
Please go to the ExpatCenter website to know the process of application in brief.
The list of documents needed are as follows:
(Note Migrant = ‘person applying in NL’; spouse = ‘Spouse of the migrant’)

1. The copy of the resident permit of the applicant
2. Last three months bank statement and salary slip
3. Download the form “Application form for following spouse or partner (requiring a provisional residence permit)” from this link
3.1 In the above form, fill the applicant’s employer’s details and signature with “Stamp”
3.2 Copy of Passport of migrant’s partner / spouse showing his / her personal details and the expiry date;
3.3 Signed copy of the pass photo form in the above form. Get your spouse to sign/scan and send the form and you can copy the photo and use it
3.4 Form M46 as in the above link. Do not sign it, just fill it!

4 “Copy” of the legalized marriage certificate
5. Note, birth certificate is “not important” at this time!

Rest of the things in the above form are self-explanatory. If not use the comment section to aks me

Once you have the documents and filled up the form, you are good to go.
Important !!! Take my advice, do not send the form as-is. Visit the Sloterdijk branch of IND, show all the documents (they will say its Expat Center’s job, but will recheck anyhow!). Then visit the Expat Center at WTC Amsterdam. An IND employee Marcel helped me a lot by clarifying what is missing and all. So its highly recommended to visit the branch. Make sure you get an Expat Center sticker. This you should put on the form which will help IND to identify that the form process for Expat Center will be followed.

Once you are done with verification,send the documents by Post at the address mentioned on the form Immigration and Naturalisation Service
IND Labour and Highly Skilled Migrants Desk
Postbus 3022
2280 GA RIJSWIJK

Now wait …………….

I received the confirmation in just 2 weeks !

A person from Expat Center will give a call to your employer to fix an appointment date (this can be shifted if needed, as I shifted to full 2 months!)

Once IND sends a letter for approval, your spouse should call the VFS-Global and arrange an appointment to get the MVV sticker on Passport. In the meantime make sure the “Birth Certificate” is legalized and ready. The embassy while putting the MVV in India will need the original Marriage Certificate with legalization and passport.

Hurrrayyyyyy, everything is done and your spouse is ready to come to NL !!!!!

Once he/she arrives in NL, you need to visit the Expat Center office at the appointment date/time to complete other formalities. Make sure you have the “Original birth certificate” and your rental agreement!

At Expat Center, you will receive your BSN (SOFI number), resident permit and get registered at TownHall.

Please note that the resident permit will be valid only for 1 year in the beginning. After one year you can get it extended to the same duration as yours.

I feel I have provided enough details to get the application process started, and hopefully get completed without issues. If you have any doubts, please feel free to put a comment and I will revert back!

Please provide some feedback, any requests or suggestions about my blog here!

-Abhishek

Update : 24-Dec-2010
One of the commenter (Abhiney) recently found out (ref comments below) that only if you are staying in Amsterdam/Rotterdam/Brabant you can use ExpatCenter services. Basically the issue is that you should be registered in a Gemmente where ExpatCenter has jurisdiction on. Hence discuss with them upfront!
Thanks Abhiney!!