Travelling to Netherlands with mvv sticker through Germany

Question

The starting situation is the following:

a Russian citizen after having graduated from a Dutch university applied for the "orientation year" residence permit from Russia (via Dutch Embassy) and received mvv sticker in his passport, which allows to enter the Netherlands and collect the permanent residence permit card in the Dutch migration office.

Is it allowed to travel to the Netherlands through Germany, e.g. take a plane from Moscow to Cologne and then take a train to Amsterdam? The difference between air tickets is just enormous, almost 2.5x fold. On IND website (https://ind.nl/en/Pages/schengen-area.aspx) it's said: "A valid mvv allows you to enter and depart the Netherlands and other countries in the Schengen area". So, basically, I understand that as "yes", but who knows how it really works.

Thank you,

Vasily

Answer 1

Yes. For the purposes of the Schengen system, an MVV sticker is a type-D ("long-stay") visa, which entitles its bearer to enter any Schengen territory, and to remain in the Schengen area outside the issuing country for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. You can confirm this by checking the "type of visa" entry on the visa sticker, which should say "D."

For more information, see

• Schengen Borders Code
• Schengen Visa Code