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If you are an EU National you are allowed to work and live in any EU country without needing any sort of permit, the countries this currently applies to (January 2014) are as follows:

Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Sweden, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland, Bulgaria, Romania and Switzerland.

As an EU National you still have to register at the municipality where you within the first 3 months of arrival and you will need to apply for a BSN-number. The BSN number is essential to allow you to get a job, and you will need to provide a fixed address to receive one.

If you are a National from outside of the EU member states in most cases your employer will need to apply for a work permit on your behalf, the permit is specific to the job/employer and lasts for up to 3 years, they are also tied to your residency status. For more specific information go to the Immigration Dept website www.ind.nl

Generally if you are highly skilled and under 30 years of age an employer can arrange for a work permit for you if your skill-set is considered to be valuable and your salary level is above €38,141 – this gives you Skilled Migrant Status. In particular this applies to specialized work and examples include IT, Science and Engineering. This special status also applies to individuals over 30 if the level of salary is more than €52,010 per annum at time of going to press (your prospective employer can tell you if this is possible at the time of any job offer).

Possible exceptions to the work permit rule

Self-employed individuals will need to have their residency checked for eligibility by the IND (immigration dept - www.ind.nl) but don’t require a permit.

Workers on temporary assignments for example performers, temporary contracts and journalists don’t need work permits.

Students – you will have a residency card that allows you to work up to 10 hrs per week, however anyone employing you will still need to apply for permission for you to work.

If your partner or parent lives and works in The Netherlands, you can apply for permission to work, your residency card will state this.

NB/DISCLAIMER - This is just a handy short guide to get you on the way to working here, for specific information we suggest that you take advice from your prospective employer and use the immigration department’s website which can be found at www.ind.nl