Back in April, the EU Court of Justice decided that the fees charged by the Dutch government for residence permits for long-term residents were excessive. Recently IND announced that because of the judgment, the administrative charges for long-term residents will be reduced from 401 to 130 euros.

The administrative charges for the following applications will be reduced:

› Applications for permanent regular residence permits;
› Applications for temporary regular residence permits filed by foreign nationals who have acquired the status of long-term residents in another Member State;
› Applications for temporary residence permits for family members coming to the Netherlands to join the long-term residents referred to under 2 and 3 (either travelling in their company or at a later date).

The reduced fee will be applied retroactively from 26 April 2012.

European Directive 2003/109 provides that a Member State is to grant long-term resident status to third-country nationals who have resided legally and continuously within its territory for five years, and who satisfy certain conditions. The Directive also provides that Member States are to grant residence permits to third-country nationals who have already acquired that status in another Member State and to members of their families.

While no provision of Directive 2003/109 explicitly fixes the fees Member States can charge to issue residence permits, Member States are not unlimited in their ability to set fees.

In April the Court ruled that a Member State cannot impose excessive and disproportionate charges for the granting of residence permits, and that the charges imposed must not constitute an obstacle to the exercise of the rights conferred by EU law.

In the Netherlands, with the exception of Turkish nationals, third-country nationals who request residence permits pursuant to Directive 2003/109 have had to pay a fee of between 188 to 830 euros. The European Commission found the Dutch permit fees to be disproportionately high and brought an action against the Netherlands for failure to fulfil its obligations under the directive.

If you qualify for a reimbursement, you will receive a letter from the IND and do not need to request it.