Are you looking for a part time job or internship during your studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam? Working next to your studies can help you:
- Gain work experience and build your CV;
- Learn more about Dutch society and workplace culture;
- Earn some extra money.
As an international student your position is different from that of Dutch students. There are extra rules, especially if you have a non‑EU/EEA nationality, and you need to arrange practical matters such as healthcare insurance, taxes and a bank account.
Do not rely on the income of a side job to cover all your study and living expenses. Before coming to study at Erasmus University Rotterdam, make a financial budget plan so you know whether your income will be enough.
Working and studying as a non-EU/EEA student
Do you have a student residence permit and would like to work or do an internship during your studies? Find out about the regulations that apply to you.
Working
If you have a student residence permit you may work alongside your studies, however the following conditions apply:
- You may work a maximum of 16 hours per week, or full time during the summer months (June, July and August) - not both;
- Your employer must apply for a work permit for you Take into account that this needs to be done at least five weeks prior to the start of your employment. The application is free of charge. Make sure to request a copy of the work permit for your own records;
- Dutch basic health insurance is required during the time of your employment. International student insurance such as AON or Insure to Study is not sufficient. Contact your insurance provider to change your policy.
Internships
If you want to do an internship that is part of, or relevant to, your study programme, you do not need a work permit. You do, however, need to arrange a standard internship agreement signed by you, your employer and your internship coordinator at the university. For paid internships, Dutch basic health insurance will be required.
Volunteer work
Non-EU/EEA International students and scientific researchers wishing to do voluntary work in the Netherlands, do not need a work permit (TWV). Instead, a so-called Volunteer Declaration (Vrijwilligersverklaring) is sufficient.
The organisation where you’ll be volunteering needs to have or apply for this Volunteer Declaration. Please check beforehand if the organisation indeed has a Volunteer Declaration. If not, you will risk losing your residence permit when volunteering for them.
Under the Dutch Foreign Employment Act (Wet Arbeid Vreemdelingen) voluntary work for which you receive a regular financial compensation may also be seen as labour and salary. In that case, taking out Dutch basic health insurance will be a requirement.
Information about the Volunteer Declaration can be found on the website of the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) (please note that this information is in Dutch).
Only your employer can apply for the work permit before hiring you. The work permit must be applied for at the UWV and the procedure will take at least five weeks.
All in all the procedure is fairly uncomplicated, since it is not necessary to demonstrate that the job position cannot be filled by a Dutch or EU/EEA citizen. Please note that you cannot start working before the work permit has been issued. Starting earlier will result in your employer being fined by the government, and you losing your residence permit!
An orientation year is available for non-EU/EEA students who graduated from a Dutch university. During the orientation year you may work freely or do an internship/traineeship in the Netherlands (NL) while your employer does not have to apply for a work permit for hiring you.
Things to arrange before you start a job
Employers are usually looking for people who speak and/or understand Dutch.
Does your job or internship pay you a salary or financial compensation? Then it’s important to have a Dutch bank account to arrange all your finances.
Your employer will need your BSN number (Burgerservicenummer - Dutch citizen service number) to let you start with your job / internship. The BSN number is a unique registration number for every citizen which is used in contacts with any government service.
You will receive your BSN number upon registration at the City Hall.
As an international student, you are obliged to take out Dutch basic health insurance when:
- you start a (side)job during your studies in the Netherlands;
- you’re doing an internship as part of your Dutch study programme, with a compensation of more than € 150 per month.
- You’re doing volunteer work with a compensation of more than € 150 per month.
Is one of these options applicable to you? Then keeping your private international student insurance is not enough. This requirement also applies when you have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). The obligation to get Dutch basic health insurance applies to all working students, regardless of the amount of hours they work.
If you do not take out Dutch basic healthcare insurance you can get a fine. As soon as your employment terminates, you should switch back to your private student (health) insurance.
For questions on healthcare in the Netherlands, contact SKGZ.
Things to arrange and know after you started your job
To help you cover the insurance costs of Dutch basic health insurance, there is a compensation available for which you might be eligible. This compensation is called ‘Zorgtoeslag’ in Dutch.
How to apply?
The application process for healthcare allowance is difficult for persons who do not speak Dutch fluently, as the Dutch tax authorities (Belastingdienst in Dutch) communicate only in Dutch.
- To start with, you need your personal DigiD. You can apply for one here.
- Click on ‘Toeslag aanvragen’ below ‘Wijziging Doorgeven’ on the right.
- Click on ‘Ik wil zorgtoeslag aanvragen’ in order to apply for the healthcare allowance.
- You have to answer a few questions, such as the start date of the healthcare allowance. This date should correspond to the start date of your employment.
- After confirming the filled in details, the application will be sent to the Tax Authority automatically. A provisional calculation will be made within eight weeks and in the same period the first payment will take place.
Change of income?
If your income changes or your employment terminates, you have to inform the Tax Authority. If you don’t inform the Tax Authority about this change in your situation, it is possible that you receive too much healthcare allowance which you’ll have to pay back afterwards, in certain cases even with interest.
You can inform the Tax Authority about changes by logging into mijn.toeslagen.nl, selecting ‘Actuele Berekening’ on the top, proceed to ‘Zorgtoeslag’ and then ‘Ik wil mijn zorgtoeslag stopzetten’.
More about healthcare allowance on the website of the Ministry of Finance.
Income tax (inkomstenbelasting in Dutch) is automatically deducted from your salary each month. Amongst other things, this covers your social security (see next item).
At the end of the year, you need to file your taxes. It might be possible that you can get some of these taxes refunded.
Make sure to closely look into this by:
- Make sure to closely look into this by:
- Calling the Dutch tax authorities (Belastingdienst in Dutch for individuals at 0800-0543 (this telephone number is not available from abroad);
- If you have questions about your taxes or need help filing them you can also contact Limes International or DOCK Rotterdam.
Extra information:
- Please bear in mind that scholarships may also be seen as income and might be added to your total income. This means that, if you have a scholarship that is taxed as well as a part-time job, in the worst-case scenario you may receive less money than if you would only have a scholarship. Call the Dutch tax authorities for more information.
- According to Dutch law, a person is only obliged to pay income tax in one country. This means that if you receive a scholarship from abroad and your country has signed a tax treaty with the Netherlands (NL), it is possible that your scholarship will not be taxed in NL. We have tax treaties with many countries, including all EU member states. For more information about this complex issue, we advise you contact your employer’s human resources department.
More detailed information can be found on the Belastingdienst website.
FAQ's
Social security contributions will be automatically deducted from your gross pay. These deductions support the systems that provide disability pay and unemployment benefits. This means that, as an employee, you will be insured against the consequences of any work-related accident. So this is a good thing!
Your employer is obliged to deduct these social security contributions from your pay before you get it. These deductions can easily take up a third of your gross pay. Looking for more details? Your employer’s human resources department can provide a detailed explanation of this and other elements of your payslip.