The Netherlands cares greatly to give highly skilled students the opportunity and time they need to find a job within our country after completing their studies.

The orientation year permit allows recent graduates from non-EU countries and scientific researchers to stay in or come to the Netherlands for a period of up to twelve months.

During this one-year period, the graduate can work in any type of job. An application for work as a highly skilled migrant should be submitted before the end of the year if they wish to continue living and working in the Netherlands.

Conditions for an orientation year permit

There a few requirements needed for you to be able to obtain an orientation year permit.

These are:

  • You completed your bachelor’s degree, master’s or PhD study at a Dutch university.

or

  • You completed your bachelor’s degree, master’s or PhD study at a designated foreign educational institution*.

and

  • You applied within three years of completing your studies.

*These are the educational institutions that, at the time of graduation or PhD, are included in the top 200 of the world rankings or in the top 200 of the available rankings per discipline – which correspond to the discipline in which you graduated or obtained your PhD – from.

The IND uses the below world rankings for this purpose:

Video: Promotional video about the orientation year for highly educated persons

A Video of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND)