r/WorkInTheNetherlands

Hello Reddit family,
I’ve been working in the Netherlands for the last 4 years and recently I became unemployed for the first time as my contract was not extended in my last job. In 2 months I’m starting school for a masters degree and until then I really wanted to enjoy unemployment and even go for long vacation.
Yesterday I found out this is not allowed, while on benefit you always need to be available for work and cannot leave the country. As I was about to cancel my benefit application (I still didn’t receive any benefit yet) my friend told me not to be stupid and just apply to jobs I know will reject me, report them and enjoy those 2 months guiltless.
The thing is I’m a pretty anxious character and I’m really afraid to get caught, the past week I got quite a few calls about job offers that I asked them to email me so I can evaluate them. Is possible for uwv to contact with them and know that I’m getting offers that I’m not accepting? In reality most of those don’t actually interest me because they don’t offer part time options and in two months i absolutely won’t be available for full time (also I don’t want to find a job and drop it in 1.5 months to find a part time).
Has anyone been to similar situation? What’s the best way to hack the system for 2 months without getting caught while also being abroad.
Any tips, tricks and pre-made excuses for the uwv calls will be really appreciated.

Good day,

I am moving to the Netherlands as I got job with an employer sponsoring my visa (HSM). What is the simplest way to even have a shot at a housing while still not in the Netherlands?

Preferably permanent for a family of 3 (couple + infant), but I’m also willing to stay in a temporary rental with just me for a few months (or however long it takes to find permanent housing).

I’ve got the visa, job contract. The employer only provides a week in a hotel.

Edit: Job’s in Utrecht but I’m open to wherever it’s realistic to commute from twice a week to Utrecht, with a strong preference to Rotterdam. 1500/month budget maybe? I’m not even sure but I’m willing to push that if necessary, just have to cut costs I guess.

Thank you.

Hallo Redditors,

Ik ben vorig jaar gestart in een gecombineerde IT en bedrijfsvoeringsfunctie bij de politie na een sollicitatieproces waarin de werkzaamheden inhoudelijk en technisch werden beschreven. In de praktijk besteed ik echter het grootste deel van mijn tijd aan ondersteunende en administratieve taken en moet ik onderhandelen om de inhoudelijke werkzaamheden waarvoor ik ben aangenomen uit te voeren. Wanneer ik dit aankaart, wordt aangegeven dat ik op termijn meer inhoudelijke taken zal krijgen, maar concrete veranderingen blijven uit. Daarnaast vind ik het vreemd dat ik regelmatig moet vragen om aanwezig te mogen zijn bij inhoudelijke overleggen waarvan ik zelf de inhoud voor heb aangeleverd.

Ik wil me graag verder ontwikkelen, maar twijfel over mijn vervolgstappen. Intern solliciteren voelt daarbij als een mogelijke optie, maar ik vraag me af of dat op dit moment gebruikelijk of verstandig is gezien mijn korte tijd (minder dan 1 jaar) in de huidige functie. Extern kijken is ook een overweging, maar de mogelijkheden in mijn regio lijken beperkt.

Ik ben benieuwd hoe anderen hiermee zouden omgaan en welk advies jullie zouden geven in een vergelijkbare situatie.

I recently moved to the Netherlands, so naturally, I don't speak Dutch yet—I only know a few words from Duolingo (as you can probably guess!).

Since arriving, I have been applying for junior architecture jobs for over four months, but I am receiving rejections left and right. Most of them state that I don't speak Dutch. I am a junior architect with a bit of international experience.

Is it really this difficult? Is it even possible to land a job here?

I have also tried connecting with people on LinkedIn. However, as soon as they accept my request and I message them asking for advice on how to apply to their particular office, they ghost me.

Is this common? It is truly depressing and exhausting at this point. I have no clue what I am doing wrong, and it is just so hard.

I’m not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I’m starting to get frustrated with my manager. I have worked in the Netherlands for about 6 years and have been with my current company for about 2 years. During that time I’ve only called in sick a handful of times, usually because of a stomach virus or flu-like symptoms. Every time I call in sick, my manager asks me for specific details about my symptoms and whether I’m taking any medication. With previous managers this never really bothered me, but my current manager has a habit of talking about other employees’ personal business, so I’m not comfortable sharing medical information that could end up being discussed with others.
I’ve tried bringing this up with him before, but he brushed off my concerns. From what I understand, Dutch employers aren’t supposed to ask employees for medical details, and those conversations should be with the company doctor (bedrijfsarts) instead.
Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? What’s the best way to handle this professionally if it happens again? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

saw a few posts lately from people on a zzp setup here getting nervous about the whole schijnzelfstandigheid thing, figured id write up what i actually see from the staffing side because theres alot of panic and not much clear info.

quick context for anyone who hasnt followed it - the belastingdienst basically stopped enforcing the fake-self-employment rules for years. that pause ended start of 2025. they ran a soft year where they wouldnt fine you if you were clearly trying to fix your setup, but that grace is basically over now, so 2026 is the first stretch where they can actually hit misclassified setups with corrections and back-taxes instead of just warning letters. thats why its suddenly everywhere.

the part nobody explains properly is it has nothing to do with what your contract says. you can have a perfect overeenkomst van opdracht and still get seen as an employee in disguise. they look at how it actually works day to day, not the paper.

rough version of what makes them suspicious - you work for basically one client and most of your income comes from them for a long stretch. they decide when and how you work, you sit in their team, use their laptop, do the same work their actual employees do. you cant send someone else in your place. and youve been doing it a year+ with no real other clients. if that describes you, the word freelance on the contract doesnt save anyone.

annoying part is the fine side mostly lands on the company, but you can still get pulled into the tax mess yourself, lose the zzp deductions retroactively etc.

what actually helps is being a real freelancer - genuinely multiple clients (not one client split into two invoices lol), your own hours and method, your own tools, actual business risk. or honestly, if youre basically functioning as an employee for one company anyway, sometimes the cleaner move is to just be one, either directly or through a payroll construction. less glamorous but you stop sweating every time the belastingdienst updates their guidance.

im not a tax advisor, this is just the pattern i see constantly. if youre actually worried get a belastingadviseur to look at your specific situation, its like 150 euro and worth it for not lying awake about it

Hi everyone,

I'm an international student and I'll be moving to the Netherlands this September to start a Master's in Software Engineering.

I already have experience with full-stack development and competitive programming, and my goal is to find a part-time software engineering job while studying.

I'm not expecting to become rich,I just want to know if it's realistic to earn enough to cover my rent and a good portion of my living expenses while completing my master's.

I'd love to hear from people who have actually done this or who know someone who has.

I have a part-time job (24 hour contract) in retail, which I’ve been working for the last 2 months. I just found out my new contract for my new house (in another city which is 2 hours away) will start sooner than I thought, which obviously means I will have to move probably in the following week or two. Now I only just let my manager know I’m leaving, so I can officially only leave on the 1st of August, and I don’t want to have to pay rent in two places and stay here just to work. We talked about using my vacation days to compensate for maybe the last one to two weeks, but I really just want to go as soon as possible.

Technically it would be a breach of contract to just leave sooner, but can is it possible to just tell them they don’t have to pay me for the rest or call in sick for a few days?

Hi everyone,
I’m a former Software Manual Test Engineer (2013–2017) based in the Netherlands, looking to restart my career and transition into Data Analytics. I took a long career break to focus on my family, but with my toddler starting school soon, I’m fully ready to commit to this pivot.
To upskill, I’m currently taking a Codebasics course and actively building my foundational skills in data analysis, including SQL, Excel and PowerBI.
I’d love some realistic feedback from people in the industry:

1. What are my chances** of landing a junior Data Analyst role given my 9-year gap and career switch?
2. How is the entry-level market** for data roles in the Netherlands right now?
3. How can I leverage** my past QA/Testing experience to make my resume stand out?
   Any advice, harsh truths, portfolio tips, or success stories from similar situations would be incredibly helpful. Thanks in advance!

Hello, im a third country national residing in Budapest, Hungary and working as a civil engineer (bim design). I have applied to several positions in Netherlands. However, most times i get rejection emails like this: "Despite your matching qualifications and work experience, we prefers candidates who reside in the region."

I am not being rejected for my skills or experience, or even the language knowledge. I am qualified and competent candidate, i just dont live there and want to relocate.

Im seeking advice on how to get past this obstacle.

Any and all advice is appreciated!

i work in international staffing and half my week is explaining this to people, so writing it down once.

if you're from outside the EU here's the thing nobody says upfront: you don't "get sponsored" by convincing a company to like you. the company has to already be an IND recognized sponsor (erkend referent). there's a public register on the IND site, go look at it. most small and mid-size dutch companies are not on it, which is why your applications just vanish. it's not always you. a lot of them legally can't sponsor even if they wanted to.

the main routes, roughly:

kennismigrant (highly skilled migrant). the common one. needs a recognized-sponsor employer plus a salary above the IND threshold. the threshold changes every year so check the current number, but it's high, and a bit lower if you're under 30. this is where most tech and engineering people land.

eu blue card. same idea, higher salary bar, but more portable across the EU and tied to your degree. fewer employers bother with it.

zoekjaar (orientation year). the one people sleep on. if you graduated from a dutch university, or a top-ranked one abroad, within the last 3 years, you can get a one year permit just to look for work. during that year you can work with no sponsor and no salary threshold. and after, when you do get hired, you convert at a REDUCED kennismigrant threshold. if you qualify for this and aren't using it you're making your life ten times harder.

DAFT. only if you're american. self-employment route, you park a few thousand euro in a business account, honestly one of the easier paths that exists. nobody else gets it though.

study here first, then zoekjaar. long game but it works.

the part people don't want to hear: if you have none of those - no recognized-sponsor offer, no dutch or top-uni degree, not american - it's genuinely hard right now. the market's tight and entry-level sponsored roles barely exist, because why would a company do the paperwork and pay the threshold for a junior. firing off 200 applications won't fix a structural thing. work out which route actually applies to you first.

dutch language: matters less than people think for the sponsored technical jobs, matters a lot for everything else and for actually living here. learn it anyway.

that's most of it. the routes are the routes. figure out which one is yours before you burn six months on job boards.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for honest advice from people who are working in Netherlands or have moved there for IT/cybersecurity roles.

A bit about me:

* Based in India
* ~5 years of experience in Cybersecurity
* Currently working in a Big 4 company
* Experience in penetration testing (web, network, infrastructure) and OT/ICS security
* Familiar with SCADA, PLCs, HMIs and protocols like Modbus, ENIP, Siemens S7
* CEH certified and planning to complete OSCP by end of this year
* Strong interest in Pentesting, Red Teaming, Cloud Security, IAM, OT Security, and AI Security

I’ve been actively applying for cybersecurity roles in The Netherlands but I mostly receive generic rejection emails or no response.

I wanted to ask:

* How realistic is it to get a visa-sponsored cybersecurity job in The Netherlands directly from India today?
* Is it common for companies to sponsor candidates from outside the EU in security roles?
* What are the most effective ways to find these jobs (LinkedIn, referrals, specific companies, recruiters, etc.)?
* Are certain domains like Cloud Security, IAM, or Security Engineering easier to get sponsored for compared to Pentesting/Red Teaming?
* Is learning Dutch mandatory for cybersecurity roles, or is English enough in most companies?

I’d really appreciate insights from anyone who has gone through this process or is currently working in cybersecurity space.

Thanks in advance!

ok so this is the thing i end up explaining over and over and it never seems to be common knowledge, even for people whove been here a few years.

the number your employer has in their head for you is not your gross salary. its a good chunk higher. on top of whatever the contract says theyre paying employer social premiums, pension, the holiday allowance thats sitting inside your gross (the 8% vakantiegeld), theyre quietly building up your transitievergoeding in case they ever let you go, and depending on the place a 13th month. rough rule of thumb the real cost of you to the company lands somewhere around 1.25 to 1.4x your gross. so when youre negotiating and they act like a 2k bump is the end of the world, just know the number theyre actually weighing is bigger than the one theyre showing you.

now if youre not hired directly, like youre on a payroll construction or through an uitzendbureau, theres a whole layer people never see. the client pays the agency a rate per hour. out of that rate the agency covers all those employer costs AND takes their margin, and what falls out the bottom becomes your gross. thats not automatically a scam, payrolling is a legit way for a company with no dutch entity to actually employ you. but the margin exists and some agencies are fair about it and some really arent, and the only way to know is to ask what the client rate is versus what youre getting.

then gross to net takes another big bite on top, and the annoying part is your gross already had the employer stuff stripped out before it was ever "your" number. so someone sees the client paying 70 an hour and their payslip saying way less and assumes they got robbed, when its really split across employer costs, agency margin and tax in a way nobody ever drew out for them.

the 30% ruling flips a load of this if you qualify, your net jumps and the same gross suddenly feels like a different job. its also why two people on the "same salary" can take home completely different amounts and both be telling the truth.

anyway the point is just ask for the breakdown before you sign or before you decide youve been ripped off. employer cost, the agency margin if its a payroll setup, and your expected net not just gross. a decent employer or agency will walk you through it without getting weird. the ones that get weird when you ask are telling you something.

if youre on a payroll or uitzend setup and not sure if your split sounds normal, throw the rough numbers in the comments and people here can usually tell you if its in the right range

I recently received an internship offer from a company in the Netherlands that pays well, and I'm trying to figure out my visa situation.
My current Zoekjaar permit expires in mid-September. The company has been very supportive and told me that if I perform well during the internship, they would be willing to convert me to a full-time position after a 2-month appraisal period.
A complication is that I'm an international and would need a Highly Skilled Migrant (kennismigrant) permit to continue working after my Zoekjaar expires. When the company asked me about the process, I told them that they would need to apply for a Highly Skilled Migrant visa for me. At the time, I didn't realize that the employer also needs to be an IND-recognized sponsor for this route. The company has a relatively small team (15-20 people )in the Netherlands, so I'm not sure whether they've dealt with this before.
From what I've read, once a company is a recognized sponsor, the HSM application itself is often processed relatively quickly. However, becoming a recognized sponsor can take several weeks or even a few months. The company would also need to apply for the HSM permit after becoming a recognized sponsor.
I've also seen conflicting information online about the cost. Some places mention around €5,000, while others say smaller companies may qualify for a reduced fee. Does anyone know what companies actually end up paying in practice?
My main concern is the timeline. If the company waits until the end of the 2-month appraisal period to decide whether to offer me a permanent role, and only then starts the recognized sponsor application, I'm worried there may not be enough time before my Zoekjaar expires in mid-September. In the worst case, they might want to hire me, but the administrative process could take longer than the time I have left.
I'm also unsure how to approach this with them. I still fully intend to accept the internship offer and I'm genuinely excited about the opportunity. At the same time, I recently learned that I may have missed an important detail when I first explained the process to them. I don't want to come across as demanding or as if I'm creating problems after the fact, but I also don't want to ignore a potential timing issue until it's too late.
My questions are:
1)Is my concern about the timeline reasonable, or am I overthinking this?
2)Is it unreasonable to ask the company to start looking into recognized sponsorship (and pay the amount for IND)before the appraisal period ends?
3)Has anyone had a company become an IND-recognized sponsor specifically to hire them?
4)I've heard that if a new residence permit application is submitted before my Zoekjaar expires, I may be allowed to remain in the Netherlands while it's being processed. Is that actually true, and does it apply in this situation?

5)How long did the recognized sponsor application actually take in practice?
6)How much did it actually cost the company to become an IND-recognized sponsor?
If you were in my position, when would you raise this issue with the employer?
7 )How would you bring it up diplomatically?
Would you bring it up before accepting/signing the internship offer, or after starting?
If you were speaking to the company, would something like the following be reasonable?
"I've been looking into the visa process more carefully and realized I may have missed an important detail when we discussed it earlier. It looks like employers need recognized sponsor status before they can sponsor a Highly Skilled Migrant permit. Since my Zoekjaar expires in September, I wanted to discuss whether this is something the company has already looked into and whether the timeline could become an issue."
I'm very grateful for the opportunity and don't want to come across as demanding, especially since I may have unintentionally oversimplified the process when they first asked me about it. At the same time, I don't want to get to August, have both sides wanting to continue, and then discover there isn't enough time left to complete the sponsorship process. Sorry for the long post — I've gone down the Dutch immigration rabbit hole and now I'm more confused than when I started 😅
Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated.