Visas & Customs Requirements

Employment:

Employers are required to obtain work permits from the CWI (Center for Work and Income) whenever they would like to hire non-EU nationals for work in the Netherlands.

The Foreign Nationals Employment Act (Wet Arbeid Vreemdelingen or WAV) requires employers to first recruit in the Netherlands and other West European countries. This is intended to protect the Dutch and West European labor markets. The work permit system allows the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment to regulate the intake of labor in the Netherlands.

The work permit application procedure requires the employer in most cases to show that no qualified Dutch or EU nationals are available to fill the vacancy, after advertising for at least five weeks prior to filing the application.

Applicants for work permits must be between the ages of 18-45. If the work permit is granted then normally the IND will automatically issue a residence permit assuming other requirements are met.

If the residence permit is not approved (for example, the IND discovers that the applicant has a criminal record or an invalid passport), then the work permit is automatically withdrawn when the residence permit is denied.

The maximum length of a work permit is three years. People who have had work permits for three consecutive years, and haven't moved their residence outside the Netherlands since then, become exempt from the work permit requirement. Their residence permits can be endorsed with a note that "Employment freely permitted" and "No work permit required".

If you are allowed to work in the Netherlands, then your spouse/partner usually is allowed to work as well.

Work permits are not required for employees who qualify as 'highly skilled knowledge migrants''. ExpatLaw can take care of the work permit procedures for employers in the Netherlands.