What every issuer asks
The credit cards sold in the Netherlands come from a few issuers: ICS (its own Visa and Mastercard cards, and the cards of ABN AMRO and ANWB), American Express, and ING. They ask for much the same things: you are 18 or older, you live in the Netherlands, you have no negative registration at BKR, the Dutch credit register, and you earn at least a minimum income. ICS lists exactly those four (ICS, checked 11 Oct 2026).
The income is what stops most students and many people in their first months. Each issuer sets its own figure and states it its own way, gross or net, per month or per year, and some add conditions: ING, for example, wants the income paid into the ING current account you apply with, from work, a business, a pension or certain benefits (ING, checked 11 Oct 2026). The figures change, so we don't type them here: the answer at the top of this page reads them from our data, and each card's page in our credit card comparison shows the issuer's wording and source.
A blank BKR record, normal when you have just arrived, is not a negative registration. Our guide to the BKR check explains the difference.
On a temporary residence permit
ABN AMRO is the one issuer that says it outright: if you have a residence permit for a fixed period (verblijfsvergunning voor bepaalde tijd), you cannot apply for its credit card (ABN AMRO, checked 11 Oct 2026). It also needs you to bank with ABN AMRO.
The others do not state a rule about permits. ICS asks you to have your passport, identity card or driving licence at hand when you apply (ICS, checked 11 Oct 2026). American Express asks for a Dutch home address and a valid passport or EEA identity card, not a driving licence (American Express application conditions, checked 11 Oct 2026). Not stating a rule is not a promise: each issuer still decides on your application.
As a student
ABN AMRO sells a Student Credit Card with a lower income requirement than its regular card. Its own page says it is for students with an ABN AMRO Student Package, with a net income of at least €500 a month, "who are in possession of a Dutch identity document"; wages and student finance from DUO count as income, allowances such as rent and healthcare allowance don't, and the spending limit is €500 for a net income up to €1,150 a month (ABN AMRO Student Credit Card, checked 11 Oct 2026). An international student with only a foreign passport doesn't qualify.
ING has a student card too, the ING Studenten Creditcard More, with extra conditions; for it, payments from DUO don't count as income. If you don't qualify for a limit of at least €500, ING may offer a temporary credit card without a spending limit, which you top up yourself, and reassesses you every month for up to 12 months (ING, checked 11 Oct 2026).
Otherwise the regular cards apply, with their full income requirement. A part-time job can be enough for the lowest one; the answer at the top names the lowest and the highest we track today.
Until you qualify
The bunq, N26 and Revolut cards carry a Visa or Mastercard logo but are debit cards: they spend your own balance, so there is no income check and no BKR check, and they work for online payments and in many places that ask for a credit card. A hotel or car rental desk decides for itself whether it takes one (charge card or credit card explains the difference). bunq against Revolut and N26 against Revolut compare them.
At the Dutch till you won't miss a credit card much: shops take debit cards almost everywhere, and some don't take credit cards at all (which cards work in the Netherlands). Once your income is paid into a Dutch account, how to get a credit card as an expat goes through the application, and the cards not registered at BKR are ranked on cost.