Calculating the deadline correctly is four steps and one piece of paper.

The four steps

1. 1
   Find the start date

   The date the authority received the complete application. The ontvangstbevestiging (acknowledgement of receipt) carries this date. For Mijn IND submissions, the submission timestamp. For embassy intake, the embassy's date stamp.
2. 2
   Identify the applicable term

   The procedure-specific statute names the term. See the table below. If no statute names a term, the residual eight-week term in Awb 4:13(2) applies.
3. 3
   Subtract suspensions

   Any Awb 4:15 suspension (typically a request for more information under Awb 4:5) pauses the clock. The suspension period runs from the date of the request to the date your response was received.
4. 4
   Compare effective elapsed to the term

   Effective elapsed = calendar period from start to today − total suspension days. If effective elapsed > statutory term, the deadline has been breached and the Notice is ready.

Two dates on one page. The ontvangstbevestiging date and the suspension dates. The rest is arithmetic.

Applicable terms

Worked example 1 · highly-skilled migrant extension

Application received: 5 January. Awb 4:5 request for more information: 1 March. Response filed: 12 March (11 days). Today: 20 May.

• Calendar period: 5 January to 20 May = 135 days.
• Suspension: 1 March to 12 March = 11 days.
• Effective elapsed: 135 − 11 = 124 days.
• Statutory term (Vw 25): 90 days.
• Breach: 124 − 90 = 34 days. Notice is ready.

Worked example 2 · family reunification with EU ceiling

Application received: 1 January. No suspensions. Today: 1 July.

• Calendar period: 1 January to 1 July = 182 days.
• Suspensions: none.
• Effective elapsed: 182 days.
• Dutch term (Vw 25): 90 days. EU ceiling (FRD 5(4)): 270 days.
• Breach of Vw 25: 182 − 90 = 92 days. Breach of EU ceiling: not yet.
• Notice cites Vw 25 as the operative breach; FRD 5(4) as the backstop.

Worked example 3 · naturalisation

Application received: 1 January 2025. No suspensions. Today: 1 February 2026.

• Calendar period: 1 January 2025 to 1 February 2026 = 397 days.
• Suspensions: none.
• Effective elapsed: 397 days.
• Statutory term (RWN 9(4)): 365 days.
• Breach: 397 − 365 = 32 days. Notice cites RWN 9(4) as the operative term.

Edge cases

• Multiple suspensions. Sum the days of each suspension. They are cumulative.
• Suspension that overlaps the response. The suspension ends on the date the authority received the response, not the date it acknowledged.
• Valid Awb 4:14 extension. A genuine extension sets a new committed decision date. Compute against that date, not the original.
• Two parallel procedures (MVV + TEV). Compute each separately. The Notice goes to the unit whose term has breached.
• The application was incomplete at submission. The clock did not start until the IND received the complete file. The first complete-receipt date is the start.

What to put in the Notice

The Notice's timeline paragraph names: date received, applicable statutory term, any suspension periods with start and end dates, effective elapsed, breach by X days. That paragraph alone, with a copy of the ontvangstbevestiging attached, is enough to prove the term has been breached. No further argument is needed for the Notice itself.

Where MigrationProvision sits

Our intake collects the ontvangstbevestiging and any Awb 4:5 request for more information. The system computes the effective elapsed automatically and shows whether the term has actually been breached. About one in five files turns out to be still inside the term after suspensions are subtracted. Those files are refunded; the rest get the Notice the same day.