Removal of labour market restrictions for EU long term permit holders who study in the Netherlands

If you hold an EU long term permit from another EU Member State (eg. Italy) and you study in the Netherlands on a Dutch student visa, you can gain unlimited access to the Dutch labour market after having studied 1 year in the Netherlands.

The EU Directive 2003/109 governs the rights and privileges of an EU long term permit holder. According to article 21(1) of the Directive, as soon as an EU long term permit holder receives a residence permit in a second Member State, they shall, in that second Member State (eg. the Netherlands), enjoy equal treatment in a plethora of areas (such as, access to employment and self-employed activity). However, when it comes to EU long term permit holders who choose to study in another EU Member State, the Directive says that Member States may decide in accordance with national law the conditions under which they may have access to an employed or self-employed activity. In the Netherlands, the Dutch legislators give this specific group of students the free access to the Dutch labour market after having studied 1 year in the Netherlands. To illustrate this better, let’s have a look at a hypothetical.

Anika is an Indian citizen, and she obtained the status of EU long term resident in Spain (also known as “residencia de larga duración-UE” in Spanish). Anika came to the Netherlands for the purpose of studying, and she has obtained a Dutch student visa. Her student visa is valid from 1 September 2024 until 30 November 2025. Normally, while holding a student permit, a foreign student can only work a maximum of 16 hours a week and their employer needs to ask for a work permit (“tewerkstellingsvergunning”). Nevertheless, this restriction does not apply to Anika after having lived as a student for 1 year in the Netherlands. In this example, Anika can ask the IND to remove all the labour market restrictions on her student permit as from 1 September 2025. The significance of this tactic move is that, in future, Anika will always be exempted from the work permit requirement. As a corollary, Anika can easily obtain, for example, a general employment permit, and she won’t need to look for a job as a highly skilled migrant (which has more restrictive requirements and higher salary thresholds).

If you hold one of the following permits and study in the Netherlands, please feel free to book an appointment with one of our lawyers. We can potentially help you remove all the labour market restrictions on your student visa. Once the restrictions get removed, it will be easier to continue living and working in the Netherlands.

Remark: Ireland and Denmark have never implemented the EU Directive 2003/109. Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein are not parts of the EU. Therefore, these six European countries do not issue EU long term stay cards.