30% Ruling for Indians Moving to the Netherlands

The quick answer

Indian nationals qualify for the Dutch 30% ruling on identical terms to any other foreign hire. Because most Indians come in on the kennismigrant (highly-skilled migrant) visa, you've already cleared one threshold: the IND minimum salary for kennismigrant in 2026 is set so that nearly everyone on this route also meets the 30% ruling threshold. The two are different tests, though, so don't assume one approval guarantees the other.

The 150 km rule and India

The 30% ruling requires that you lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border for at least 16 of the 24 months before your first working day in the Netherlands. Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, and every other Indian city sit well beyond 150 km from the Dutch border, so the rule is straightforwardly satisfied for anyone moving directly from India.

The complication is for Indians who spent time in Europe before the move:

• Master's in the UK, Ireland, or Scandinavia: usually qualifies, since most of those locations are more than 150 km from the Dutch border. London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Copenhagen, Stockholm: outside the zone.
• Master's in Aachen, Düsseldorf, or Antwerp: these sit inside the 150 km zone and can disqualify you if you lived there for too long during the 24-month window.
• Short business trips or training stints in NL: nights spent in the Netherlands count against you. If you spent more than 8 of the previous 24 months physically in NL, you fail the test.

Kennismigrant salary vs. 30% ruling salary

Two different thresholds, often confused:

• IND kennismigrant (2026): a minimum gross monthly salary set by the IND, in the range of roughly €5,700 if 30 or older and around €4,200 if under 30. IND adjusts these in January each year; check the current figure on ind.nl before relying on them.
• 30% ruling (2026): €48,013 taxable salary per year after the 30% deduction (≈ €68,590 gross), or €36,497 (≈ €52,139 gross) if under 30 with a Master's degree.

The two tests are independent. Meeting the IND minimum does not guarantee meeting the 30% ruling threshold, especially in the under-30 bracket where the figures are close. The Belastingdienst tests the threshold at the level of taxable salary after the deduction. We compute the exact applicable percentage before submission so the math works.

PAN, Aadhaar, and Indian tax filings after the move

Becoming a Dutch tax resident doesn't end your Indian tax obligations automatically. The basic rules:

• Indian tax residency depends on day count. The standard rule: you're a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) for a financial year (April–March) if you're in India for less than 182 days that year AND you've been in India for less than 60 days in each of the preceding 4 financial years. A separate 120-day threshold applies if your India-source income exceeds INR 15 lakh in the financial year. Confirm with an Indian CA if this could be you.
• Your PAN stays valid. Don't cancel it. You'll still need it for Indian income you continue to earn (bank interest, dividends, capital gains on Indian shares). Acquiring a new tax residency may trigger reporting obligations under the relevant DTAA; that sits outside our scope.
• Aadhaar: retained for Indian banking and OCI processing. The Aadhaar–PAN linking requirement still applies even if you're abroad.
• Indian ITR filing: file your final resident-year ITR, then switch to filing as NRI if you have India-source income. The DTAA between India and the Netherlands prevents double taxation, but you have to claim it on each side.

None of this affects the 30% ruling application itself. The Belastingdienst only cares about your Dutch employment situation.

Practical timeline for a typical Indian tech relocation

1. Offer signed, kennismigrant visa filed by your employer. IND processing is usually 2–4 weeks for sponsoring employers under the kennismigrant scheme.
2. Visa approval (MVV) issued. You collect it from the Dutch consulate in Mumbai or New Delhi.
3. You arrive in the Netherlands. The 4-month application clock for the 30% ruling starts on your first working day, not your arrival date. These are often a few days apart.
4. Register at the gemeente within 5 days. Bring an Apostille-legalized Indian birth certificate (India is not party to the EU public-documents regulation, so the apostille is genuinely required) plus an English translation. Larger expat-hub gemeenten (Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Eindhoven) often have dedicated expat-services desks; check the gemeente website before your appointment.
5. Get your BSN and bank account. Most major Dutch banks have an English-language onboarding flow for expats.
6. File the 30% ruling application within 4 months of the first working day. We typically file 2–3 weeks after the start, once we have your registration paperwork.
7. Beschikking arrives 10–14 weeks later. Your Dutch employer applies the ruling retroactively to your first day of work.

What changes from 2027

The 30% exemption drops to 27% for new applications starting 1 January 2027. If your Dutch start date is on or before 31 December 2026 and you apply within the 4-month deadline, you keep the full 30% for the duration of your ruling (up to 60 months). A start date in January 2027 falls under the new 27% regime.

If your offer letter allows flexibility on start date, December 2026 is mechanically better than January 2027. The cumulative difference over five years on a typical Indian tech salary (€85,000) is roughly €7,500–€9,500 in your pocket.

Common Indian-specific edge cases

You did your Bachelor's and Master's in India, then took the job directly

For the under-30 reduced threshold, your Master's must be assessed as equivalent to a Dutch WO Master's. Indian Master's degrees go through IDW (Internationale Diplomawaardering) for credential evaluation. Degrees from IITs, NITs, IIITs, BITS, and a handful of top private universities are often assessed as WO-equivalent, but the outcome is never automatic. We submit the credential evaluation as part of the application.

You're moving from a US assignment

Indian-passport holders who spent the last few years in the US (H1B) qualify for the 30% ruling the same way. The 150 km rule is easily satisfied (the US is far from NL), and the time in the US counts as time outside NL for the 24-month look-back.

You're a contractor through a global EOR, not directly employed

The 30% ruling requires you to be on the payroll of a Dutch withholding agent (inhoudingsplichtige). A Dutch-registered EOR that is itself the inhoudingsplichtige on your payslip typically qualifies. If your contract runs through a non-Dutch payroll entity, even one that calls itself a "global EOR", you usually don't qualify even though the work happens in NL. The contract structure matters; we check this case by case.