Everything you need to know about becoming a nurse in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is a great place to work as a nurse, and at the moment, it is really in need of more nursing staff as well.

Currently, the biggest shortage in the health sector of the Netherlands is among nurses. So, if you’ve been thinking about making a move to the Netherlands to work as a nurse, now is a great time to do so!

But maybe you’re asking yourself why you would want to come to the Netherlands as a nurse. What does this flat land have to offer you, apart from cheese and tulips?

Plenty more, as it turns out: an excellent salary, a 36-hour workweek, a non-hierarchical workplace culture, and plenty of career advancement opportunities.

Living in the Netherlands is just a great choice in general, in our (totally unbiased) opinion: from the cycling culture to those mysteriously delicious bitterballen, there are so many reasons to choose the Netherlands as your new home.

How does the healthcare system work in the Netherlands?

Healthcare in the Netherlands is something that can be mysterious to an outsider. So if you’re thinking about coming here to work as a nurse, it might be something you’re interested in learning about.

READ MORE | 9 things you need to know about Dutch health insurance as an international

In the Netherlands, we have a healthcare system that runs on private insurance. All adult Dutch citizens pay around €135 per month in health insurance, with those under a certain income level being (partly) reimbursed for this by the government.

This means, basically, that the healthcare system is pretty well funded, and that carries through in the salaries nurses get (more on that below).

Something that could also be relevant for you to know as an international nurse thinking about working in the Netherlands is that here, patients have to go through their GP before going to a hospital unless it’s an absolute emergency. For you, that means more focused work, on patients that really need your help.

So, how do you become a nurse in the Netherlands?

The procedure for becoming a nurse in the Netherlands as an international person is pretty complicated, so to the best of our ability, we’ve gathered government information on becoming a nurse in the Netherlands with a foreign diploma.

What is the BIG register?

The BIG register is a list of all the medical professionals in the Netherlands, and when you want to become a nurse here, you’ll need to be registered here before you can practice.

Being on the BIG register allows you to use certain professional titles (like “nurse”) which are legally protected. The register also specifies which tasks you can perform, entitles you to specialised training, and places you under the governance of disciplinary law.

How can I register for BIG with a foreign diploma?

So, how does registering with the BIG work with a foreign diploma? That depends: if you have a non-EU diploma, you first need to validate it with Nuffic or IDW. You can skip that step if you have an EU nursing diploma.

You also need to be able to prove that you have a B1 level of Dutch in all four areas: listening, reading, speaking and writing.

After that, you go through the process of registering itself: lots more information is available on the BIG website.

Do I need a visa to work as a nurse in the Netherlands?

If you’re from a non-EU country, you will need a working visa to work as a nurse in the Netherlands. Make sure to find out if the company you apply to work for can sponsor visas. We have a whole article about getting a visa to work in the Netherlands, so you can find all the detail you need there.

What’s it like to work as a nurse in the Netherlands?

So, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of working as a nurse in the Netherlands: after all, you have to know what you’re getting into if you’re thinking about making this sort of career move.

Let’s not beat around the bush: salaries are important, especially when you’re doing difficult, important work. In the Netherlands, you will earn between €1840 and €6190 per month- depending on your level of experience and how many hours you work. The average monthly salary for a nurse in the Netherlands is €3920.

But that doesn’t include end-of-year bonuses and holiday pay, of course, and you’ll also have a pension set up for you. Furthermore, you will be paid extra for working weekends and holidays. Most contracts will be for 32 to 36 hours a week.

As with the Netherlands in general, workplace culture is not very stiff and formal. Generally speaking, when you start working as a nurse in the Netherlands, you’ll have a supervisor, who will be a more senior nurse. You’ll get medical information about your patients from a doctor.

Do I need to speak Dutch to work as a nurse in the Netherlands?

Absolutely, you do. It makes sense that when you’re helping patients — people who are in a vulnerable state, quite often — that it’s important for you to be able to speak their native language.

Accordingly, before you register with the BIG, you need to have proof that you can speak Dutch at a B1 level. It would also be helpful to complete a Dutch language course that is aimed specifically at healthcare professionals.

The easiest way to register as a nurse in the Netherlands

Now, this might all sound pretty complicated to you — which is fair enough, it sounds complicated to us as well. A recruitment agency could make this whole process much easier and seamless, removing the need for you to painstakingly Google Translate approximately a million forms (we love Dutch bureaucracy).

Whether you want to work in an oncology department or in the field of mental health, in nursing homes or providing home care, a healthcare recruitment agency would be able to help you on your way to working as a nurse in the Netherlands.

What are the steps you will take with a healthcare recruitment agency towards becoming a nurse in the Netherlands?

The first step depends on whether your nursing diploma is from the EU. If it’s not, you need to get it validated by Nuffic or IDW. If you don’t need to do this step, proceed straightaway to step two, getting that CV up to scratch.

That’s the first thing you’ll be sending to a recruitment agency, and it’s crucial to make a good first impression — as with any instance in your life where you have to send a CV to someone (look at us giving pro tips away for free).

Make sure you haven’t left any awkward spelling errors or grammar mistakes anywhere, as well, that’s always helpful. You should send your spick-and-span CV over to the agency once you’re ready to go. It can be in Dutch or English, whichever you prefer.

If you are a suitable candidate, the healthcare recruitment agency will most likely interview you via Skype or face-to-face at their headquarters to get to know you a bit better. If you’re accepted, you’ll move on to the next phase of the process: the Dutch course.

This will bring you up to about a B1 level, and will especially focus on giving you the vocabulary you need to navigate being a healthcare professional in the Netherlands.

What comes next, once you’ve mastered the Dutch ‘g’? Well, then you start working as a nurse in the Netherlands! You’ll be placed at one of the healthcare institutions that the recruitment agency partners with, and there you’ll be able to find your footing in the Dutch healthcare system.

You might also have a mentor there to guide you through the whole process and help you with any questions you might have.

Conclusion

From competitive salaries to the generally high standard of living here, the Netherlands is an awesome place to be a nurse. However, navigating the procedure of getting yourself on the BIG register, mastering Dutch, and finding yourself a job as an international can be pretty stressful and difficult, if not downright impossible.

That’s where a healthcare recruitment agency comes in. No longer do you have to search for a Dutch course that is a) affordable and b) will help you with healthcare-related vocab — a healthcare recruitment agency should have some good suggestions.

Basically, a recruitment agency massively simplifies the process of becoming a nurse in the Netherlands, as well as improving your career opportunities and increasing your language skills. If you’re thinking of starting work as a nurse in the Netherlands, this might be the way to go.

Do we have any non-Dutch nurses reading this? How was your experience? Leave it in the comments!

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in April 2020, but was fully updated in June 2023 for your reading pleasure.