The Netherlands considers it important to give highly educated students the opportunity and time to find a job in our country after their studies. With an orientation year permit, recent graduates with a nationality from outside the European Union can stay and work in the Netherlands for a maximum period of one year. During this orientation year there is no obligation to work for an employer who is a recognized sponsor. During this year, as a graduate student, you can work for any employer in any type of job.
If you want to continue living and working in the Netherlands after the orientation year, the residence permit ‘orientation year highly educated persons’ must be converted into a residence permit as a highly skilled migrant by an employer who is a recognized sponsor at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) before the end of the orientation year, or you can start as a self-employed person. An additional advantage for your employer is that a reduced salary criterion (€ 2801,-) applies. The reduced salary criterion will continue to apply as long as you continue to work continuously for an employer who is a sponsor at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND).
Highly educated people who have graduated abroad can also apply for a residence permit ‘orientation year highly educated’ in the Netherlands and thus use the reduced salary criterion. They must have obtained a master’s degree in the past 3 years. They must have graduated from one of the top 200 universities in the most recent list of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, or the Shanghai Jiao Tong Ranking. The condition is that the university appears in two of the three rankings in the year of graduation and that the application is submitted within three years of completing the study.
