Unless the candidate is exempted from the MVV requirement (ie. is a national of: any EU country, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada or the United States), the first stage of the process requires the candidate to make an application for a temporary residence permit/visa (MVV) through his/her local Royal Netherlands embassy. workpermit.com can then lodge a work permit application on your behalf at the Regional Employment Board (RBA), who approves it initially and passes it to the National Employment Board (AFB)/Arbeitsbureau, who makes the final decision after having considered the national and EC labour markets. There is a separate employment office that considers highly-skilled IT professional work permit applications. When the work permit is approved, the residence permit is issued by the Embassy and the candidate may then travel to the Netherlands and begin working.

Where no MVV is required, the candidate can enter the Netherlands by producing the work permit together with their passport. Note that non-visa nationals may travel to the Netherlands to attend business meetings whilst their work permit is being processed, but they may not begin working, of course, until the work permit is approved.