Work permit
The Aliens Employment Act (Wet Arbeid Vreemdelingen) requires employers to apply for a work permit at the Labor Office (UWV Werkbedrijf) if they want to hire non-European nationals to work in The Netherlands. In order to protect the national labor force, the application for a work permit will only be granted if the employer can prove that there are no qualified Dutch or EU nationals available to fill the position. In order to prove this, the employer has to post advertisements and carry out recruiting activities for at least five weeks prior to the application.
A work permit is valid for a maximum period of three years. If the work permit is granted, the Dutch Immigration- and Naturalization Office (IND) will also grand the requested residence permit with the same duration, provided that the other requirements are also met. After having obtained a continuous work permit and residence permit of three years, the employee can extend his fourth year residence permit based on “labor free”. This means that the employee is allowed to change jobs without the requirements of a work permit.
If the work permit is granted for less than three years and the work permit can not be extended anymore, the employee has to leave the Netherlands. He needs to leave as soon as the work permit (and therefore the residence permit) expires. Only if the employee can change his residence purpose in time, he can stay in the Netherlands. Reasons for change of residence purpose are for example: becoming an entrepreneur or family reunion residence with partner/spouse.
Main conditions
1. The employer must have recruited personnel for at least 5 weeks in The Netherlands and in Europe;
2. The vacancy is registered with the Dutch Labor Office;
3. The employee must be between the age of 18-45;
4. The labor conditions have to be market conform;
5. There is suitable housing arranged for the employee;
6. The employee must have applied for a residence permit;
7. The employee must have a valid passport;
8. The employee must have health insurance valid in the Netherlands;
9. The employee has no criminal record.
Exempted from the requirement of recruitment in the Netherlands and Europe are: large multinational companies (if the entire company has a total yeary turnover of 50 million Euro) and international companies who transfer employees to The Netherlands for the incorporation and building up of the business.
Those who are self-employed/entrepreneur, high skilled migrants, musicians on short tours, guest lecturers and others who are employed on incidental basis are exempted from the application procedure for a work permit. Those who hold a residence permit with the description “labor free” do not need to apply for a work permit as well.
Spouse and children
When applying for a residence permit for labour, the applicant can apply for a permit for his/her spouse and/or children at the same time. However, spouse and or children are only allowed to work in the Netherlands if they also have obtained a work permit. The duration of the residence permit is basically one year and will be extended in the second year, but only if the work permit is valid.
Duration
Before the application, the employer must have posted advertisement and recruited personnell in the Netherlands and in Europe. Meanwhile, the concept labor contract and all required documents of the new employee have to be arranged. This includes a legalized birth certificate and certified copies of the diploma and other certificates. After having completed the preparation work, the application for a work permit will take about 6-8 weeks. The application of the residence permit takes about 8-12 weeks.
