General Requirements:
The Netherlands is a party to the Schengen Agreement. As such, U.S. citizens may enter the Netherlands for up to 90 days for tourist or business purposes without a visa. If you are traveling for any other purpose, you may need to obtain a visa. Your passport should be valid for at least three months beyond the period of stay. The 90-day period begins when you enter any of the Schengen group of countries. Anyone intending to stay longer than 90 days must obtain the appropriate visa from the Dutch Embassy or a Dutch consulate in the United States.
If you will be staying for longer than three months (90 days), you might need a provisional residence permit ('Machtiging tot Voorlopig Verblijf or MVV') to enter the Netherlands. This is a sticker placed in your passport at the Dutch embassy or consulate in your home country or in a third country where you are legally residing.
In most cases, your Dutch host institution will seek advice from the IND concerning your application for an MVV. It is important that you provide them with all the necessary documents so they can request the advice in good time. If the advice of the Dutch Immigration Service (IND) is favourable, you then have to apply for the actual MVV yourself at the Dutch embassy or consulate in your home country, or in the country in which you legally reside. The Dutch embassy or consulate will then issue you with the MVV in the form of a sticker placed in your passport. Until August 2008, it is also possible to apply for an MVV yourself without the help of your host institution. However, this procedure takes much longer and is more expensive.
General Consulates of Netherlands: