Following the general elections in November 2023, Dutch political parties have finally formed a coalition agreement. But what does it have in store for internationals and expats?
Outlined in a 26-page document, the coalition has laid out its plans for the next four years.
Here’s what they have to say about international students, expats, and immigration.
Restricting highly skilled and study migrants
Unsurprisingly, the new Dutch coalition has called for a reduction of highly skilled migrants and study migrants (aka international students).
How exactly? They want the reduction to be proportionate to what municipalities, education institutions, healthcare, and housing can support — whatever that means.
Who counts as a highly skilled migrant? A highly skilled migrant (knowledge migrant or kennismigrant in Dutch) is a migrant from outside the EU who comes to work in the Netherlands because of their specific knowledge or skillset.
Only companies recognised as sponsors by the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service can apply for a highly skilled migrant visa on behalf of the migrant.
While expats can be from inside or outside the EU, highly skilled migrants are specifically from outside the EU.
However, if the new government has its way, the qualification requirements for highly skilled migrants will be tightened so that fewer people will qualify for such a visa.
There will also be a restriction on the number of international students accepted to bachelor programmes in the Netherlands. They will do this by:
- Having more courses in Dutch,
- Implementing a numerus fixus (fixed number of places) on foreign students,
- Restricting who receives a basic student grant from the Dutch government,
- Increasing tuition fees for non-EU students.
There is one silver lining, though: they won’t restrict international students if there is a labour market shortage in the particular field that they want to study.
READ MORE | What are the most in-demand jobs in the Netherlands in 2024?
More requirements for integration
If you were hoping to complete your integration soon, first off, congratulations!
However, the coalition plans to add a few more requirements to make integration more difficult:
- The standard period to naturalise will be extended to 10 years regardless of permanent or indefinite residence,
- Internationals who want to adopt the Dutch nationality must renounce their other nationality(-ies) when possible.
Now, here’s where you’ll want to pay attention.
In theory, the language requirement for the inburgeren (integration) exam, and therefore, naturalisation, will be increased from A2 to B1 for everyone.
This implies that this is regardless of when internationals began the integration process — however, we will have to wait and see how this looks in practice.
READ MORE | What language is the Dutch integration (inburgering) exam in 2024?
The new coalition will also crack down on “undesirable foreign influences” like weekend schools and regulate the volume of calls to prayer. Hmm, sound familiar?
This is the beginning of the PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB coalition agreement:
— Nassreddin | نصر الدين (@Nassreddin2002) May 16, 2024
Titled: "Hope, courage and pride"
"The Netherlands is gorgeous country. A country to be proud of" pic.twitter.com/r0OP8LewN9
Reforming the system
The document also lays out their plans for asylum seekers, describing their approach as “the strictest admission regime for asylum seeks and the most comprehensive package for the control of migration ever.”
The coalition aims to reform the entire asylum and migration system, with policy plans to require work permits for non-EU labour migrants, impose employer responsibilities for the housing of migrant workers, and potentially restrict the free movement of people within the EU in the case of EU expansion.
If needed, they may also implement an Asylum Crisis Act for a maximum of two years, which means:
- People with asylum status will not get priority for social housing allocation
- Rejected asylum seekers are “deported as much as possible, forcibly if necessary”
The coalition also mentions the abolition of the indefinite asylum permit, however, whether this step would fall under the Asylum Crisis Act, or their general approach, is unclear.
Of course, these are only tentative plans and agreements made within the coalition.
What will become of them, we have yet to see.
Will you be affected by the new Dutch coalition’s plans? Tell us what you think in the comments!
He is good for NL and we have to have more of this to avoid radical religion to become the only religion in Europe
Dear Katrien,
Thank you for your outline of the migrant and asylum part of the coalition agreement.
i do agree with you that for many groups it is going to be more difficult to relocate to the Netherlands.
For the Highly skilled migrants it think it is not as negative as quoted in your outline. The agreement starts with outlining the importance of skilled migrants and students for the Dutch economy. But is also states that migration needs to be proportionate to what the local society can handel in terms of housing and other social services.
Nobody knows what is exactly going to be agreed, yet.
my personal expectation is that the government will look at the definition of a Highly skilled migrant (now it is only about the level of your salary) and incorporate actual skills in this.
Companies like ASML have very clearly stated the need to be able to attract employees abroad, the government understands this to.
I fully expect the door to stay open for Highly skilled migrants.
*The coalition agreement is definitely not a fully set of rules but more a direction of thinking. So articles like yours do help to hopefully influence the government to eventually come with a realistic set of rules and regulations!
This is really bizarre and freaky.Germany is going theory the other way and NL is going other side for the skilled migrant. Tough times ahead.
how will this affect a US citizen who buys a home in the NL and wants to get permanent residency when retirement age?
These restrictions would be an improvement here in Amerika. Our right wingers should take a look at what NL is doing. I dislike most right wing policies for getting migration under control. It seems reasonable and even needed for good order to prevail.
What would happened if you passed the exam for A2 in November for example?
Would you need taking the B1 too?
I am curious how this affects someone in the process of integrating. I plan to finish all my exams by end of July, all at a B1 level, but I’m a bit short of living in the NL for 10 years. Does this mean I have to wait 3 more years before naturalizing and have to go through this whole process again?!