Waiting on an IND decision with a job start date, a flight, or an expiring permit hanging on it turns "how long does this take" into a scheduling problem. The published statutory periods, the recent EU-driven changes, and what actually happens in practice are three different things.
The statutory decision period for most regular applications — paid employment, highly skilled migrant, most general purposes — is 90 days, with study, research, and work experience getting a faster 60-day statutory window, and permanent residence taking up to six months. Those are legal maximums, not typical waits, though: applications from IND-recognised sponsors with complete paperwork are often decided in a couple of weeks, since the IND targets around two weeks operationally for those (an internal goal, not a guarantee). A meaningful change landed on 22 May 2026 under EU Directive 2024/1233: if you already hold a valid permit and you're simply changing employer, the IND now must decide within 45 days for most work categories, or 30 days for EU Blue Card holders, with a possible 15-day extension in exceptional cases. Whatever the category, the clock pauses whenever the IND requests extra documents or clarification, so an incomplete file is what usually turns a "90 days" wait into something longer. Check ind.nl's decision-periods page for the exact figure attached to your specific permit type, since it varies noticeably by category.