How to find a job in the Netherlands as a foreigner

Your citizenship decides your first move, so settle it before anything else.

• EU/EEA and Swiss citizens: free movement applies, so you need neither a residence permit nor a work permit. You still register with your municipality if you stay longer than 4 months.
• Everyone else: a permit tied to your situation. Professionals usually come as a highly skilled migrant (kennismigrant), which only an IND-recognised sponsor can apply for, or with an EU Blue Card. Other jobs need a single permit, and the employer must first show it looked for staff in the Netherlands and the EU.
• Graduates of Dutch universities, and of some top-ranked universities abroad, can apply for an orientation year: a one-year permit to look for work, during which employers need no work permit for you.
• Refugees with an asylum residence permit may work without a work permit. Asylum seekers and Ukrainians under temporary protection have their own rules, covered in our refugee guide.

The IND (Immigration and Naturalisation Service) decides every residence case. Treat this page as orientation, and check your own situation on ind.nl before you resign from a job or sign a lease.

UWV, the Dutch public employment agency, measures labour market tension every quarter. In the first quarter of 2026 the market cooled slightly, but 87 of the 93 occupational groups it tracks were still tight or very tight. The biggest shortages are in technical and care occupations: electrotechnical engineers, machine mechanics, plumbers, specialised nurses, physiotherapists and care workers, with teaching and legal professions also short.

Read that list honestly. Care, teaching and legal work involve patients, pupils and clients who speak Dutch, and nursing, teaching and medical professions are regulated, so a shortage there does not mean an English-speaking foreigner walks in. If you do not speak Dutch yet, technical shortage roles are the more realistic target, and English-speaking jobs in the Netherlands shows where to look.

Use several channels at once. EURES, the EU’s job mobility network, lists the ones that matter in the Netherlands:

• werk.nl: the job platform run by UWV and the municipalities. Once you have a BSN and DigiD, UWV advises registering there.
• The EURES portal and its CV database, where employers recruiting across Europe search for candidates.
• Company career pages and LinkedIn. EURES notes that applying online on company websites is the norm.
• Employment agencies. EURES notes that specialised recruitment, selection and secondment agencies are common; register with two or three that cover your field.
• Job fairs run by UWV, agencies and universities, including speed-dating events.
• If you need sponsorship: the IND’s public register of recognised sponsors. Every company on the Work register has already been approved to hire highly skilled migrants, which makes it the most useful target list you have.

Then network, because EURES says more than 60% of vacancies are filled informally. In practice that means short, specific conversations: ask someone in the team you want to join what the job is really like, not whether they have a job for you.

Dutch hiring is direct and fairly quick. EURES describes the expected CV as to the point, professional and normally no longer than two A4 pages, and the application letter as one A4 page in Dutch unless the posting says otherwise. You do not attach references or copies of certificates; you bring them to the interview. Our Dutch CV and cover letter guide shows the format.

Interviews focus on motivation: why this job, at this company. EURES notes that interviewers appreciate it when you name your strengths and your less strong qualities, with an example for each. Prepare both, and practise them aloud in English and, if you can, in Dutch.

Know the contract rules before you sign. A trial period is not allowed in contracts of 6 months or less, is at most 1 month in temporary contracts of 6 months to 2 years, and at most 2 months in permanent contracts. After 3 consecutive temporary contracts, or 3 years of them, the next contract must be permanent. When you resign, the statutory notice period is 1 month unless your contract says otherwise.

The Dutch system runs on your BSN (citizen service number), and you get it by registering your address. Book the municipal appointment before you travel if you can.

• Register with your municipality within 5 days of arriving if you will live here longer than 4 months. The municipality arranges your BSN. For shorter stays you register as a non-resident (RNI) instead.
• If you came on a permit, report to the IND within 2 weeks to collect your residence permit, and take a tuberculosis test if your nationality requires one.
• Apply for DigiD, your login for government services, and activate it.
• Take out Dutch basic health insurance within 4 months. Your foreign policy does not replace it, and if you are late you are not insured retroactively.
• Open a Dutch bank account so your employer can pay you.
• If you were recruited from abroad, ask whether your employer will apply for the 30% ruling. It must do so within 4 months of your first working day; our work visa guide explains the conditions.

There is no official figure, and anyone who promises you a Dutch job in two weeks is selling something. What you can plan with are the fixed parts of the timeline: your current notice period, the Dutch employer’s hiring process, and for non-EU hires the IND procedure, whose legal decision period for a highly skilled migrant is 90 days.

If you are applying from outside the EU, plan in months rather than weeks, and aim first at employers that are already recognised sponsors: they know the process, and recognised sponsors get a faster IND procedure. Use the waiting time well: the Dutch you start learning now will count in every interview.

The Netherlands Labour Authority warns that some employment agencies still break the rules, with exploitation and underpayment of workers as the result. Most scams share a pattern you can check yourself.

• Never pay for a job offer. Legitimate employers and agencies do not charge you to be hired.
• The permit fee goes to the IND, not to a recruiter. The IND charges €423 for a highly skilled migrant application, and the employer applies. Someone asking you for thousands of euros for a “Dutch work visa” is a red flag.
• Check a sponsor claim in seconds: the IND’s public register shows whether a company is recognised.
• Be wary of housing tied to the job with rent taken from your wages, or of contracts you only see after you arrive.

If an agency or employer underpays or exploits you, report it to the Netherlands Labour Authority, which asks workers to come forward with as much information as they can.

The larger regions run public one-stop centres for international newcomers, and UWV has EURES advisers for job seekers:

• IN Amsterdam: a one-stop shop for international newcomers in the Amsterdam Area, handling immigration formalities, municipal registration and BSN assistance.
• Holland Expat Center South: a non-profit governmental agency in Eindhoven that helps international knowledge workers in Brabant with registration, IND formalities and career support.
• The Hague International Centre: hosts UWV EURES career workshops on the Dutch job market, Dutch-style CVs and cover letters, LinkedIn and networking.
• UWV EURES advisers: UWV recommends contacting one if you are an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen looking for work, including to ask about the EURES Targeted Mobility Scheme.

Other guides in this series cover your situation in depth: Dutch work visas, CV and cover letter, English-speaking jobs, international students and refugees.