Too much tourism, too much English on trams, and now too many students from abroad? As internationals, sometimes it’s hard not to adopt a growing sense that the Dutch government doesn’t like us very much. 🥲
Since voting to cut down on international students in 2019, the House of Representatives has been continually striving to keep non-Dutch citizens out of the Netherlands.
So far, any efforts by the Dutch government to do so have gone in vain. Much to their dismay, the country is brimming with internationals.
In fact, there’s even more of us
In 2023 alone, there was a 1,200 increase in non-EU applicants compared to the previous year. (And remember, this is something EU internationals don’t have to submit. 👀)
The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) — i.e. the people tasked with handling non-EU student applications — say that sifting through additional forms is “daunting”.
The latest development in this de-internationalisation saga is the University of Amsterdam (UvA) demanding a €100 down payment for applications, purely to frighten off international students. 😳
@uneflaneuse on a quest to befriend the dutchies ❤️ #netherlands #dutchtiktok #amsterdam #utrecht #fyp ♬ Funny Song – Mas Gombal
But why would the regering (government) want to exclude a group of people that enrich, diversify, and even fund their lives? (Think of those deliciously huge student fees for non-EU internationals.) 💰
I’m not necessarily saying the thwarting of immigration is a case of “biting the hand that feeds you”, but it’s also… not… not that? 👀
The “reasons” they’ve provided
So what does the House of Representatives have to say for itself?
Here are the reasons both the government and Dutch universities have given to justify their decision, and here’s my hot take on their responses.
The Dutch accommodation shortage
One reason that gets cited over and over again is the ongoing and persistently unpleasant accommodation shortage.
You know, the one that has students scraping together an average of €715 a month? (If they’re lucky enough to find a room in the first place, that is.)
Supposedly, by saying, “Don’t come here”, the government is just looking out for internationals, wanting to save them from the clutches of homelessness.
READ MORE | The student housing nightmare: a tale of discrimination, fraud, and protest
After all, it seems that for them, this is the only viable option: limit the universities’ international student intake, as opposed to, say, building more student accommodation or imposing a price ceiling for money-grabbing landlords that capitalise on students’ desperation.
Pff, that would be insane! 🙃
Too much work for university lecturers
Another complaint that can apparently be traced back to international students is the workload of university lecturers, who claim the excessive swarm of internationals with extra exams and papers to grade has them swamped.
And let’s not forget the sweaty, stuffy lecture halls crammed full of promising young internationals who are apparently overly eager to learn the ways of the world.
As a professor, it must be hard to know such an unreasonable number of people are interested in hearing what you have to say. 😪
Are internationals inherently less valuable?
Do you believe these are the sole reasons why internationals are being encouraged to stay away? That’s up to you to decide.
But riddle me this: If there were an overflow of Dutch students as opposed to internationals, would the government instruct them to take a hike as well? Would they put a halt to the education of their own citizens?
Or maybe the House of Representatives would come to find that the room capacity and professorial workload suddenly weren’t such a big deal after all. 🤔
In fact, last year, the UvA attempted to set a quota ensuring that, while internationals were being excluded from their popular political science and psychology programmes, Dutchies wouldn’t be kicked out as well.
@driplist I laugh now but i cried back then😅#livinginthenetherlands #lifeinamsterdam #housingproblems #bluemonday #learningdutch #facebookgroupsbelike ♬ Emotional Damage vs Pompeii – William Li
See, they didn’t want to lose their budding Dutch uni babies along with internationals. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Yep, that’s a well-aimed slap in the face of foreigners.
Now, I’m not saying every native of this country is on board with some kind of “Make the Netherlands Dutch again” scheme — after all, plenty of nationals are more than willing to help out internationals.
READ MORE | Why are the Dutch so good at speaking English?
But after the recent campaigning to ban English announcements on public transport— courtesy of the Language Defence Foundation — and the outgoing minister for education threatening to do away with English-taught courses, an icky feeling has surfaced in the pit of my stomach.
It’s almost suggesting there’s a “them” versus “us” — us being the competitors, space occupiers, accommodation snatchers, and alienated “others”.
How do the Dutch really feel about the influx of internationals?
If I didn’t know any better, I would say it seems like a significant portion of government and university staff alike don’t find some people’s overseas origins favourable.
And if I really didn’t know any better, I would say a good few don’t think internationals are welcome.
Could the driving force be patriotic pride? Concerns about the Dutch language and culture being lost to the looming peril of anglicisation?
READ MORE | ‘No internationals’: A tale of exclusion in the Dutch housing market
Or are the reasons a bit like the ones behind the “no internationals” policy liberally applied all over accommodation listings by discriminating Dutch landlords — that is, they just don’t like us that much?
We ain’t budgin’
You can run, but you can’t hide. The Netherlands has become a multicultural hub with internationals (like yours truly) lurking at every turn. 🙊
And frankly, this didn’t happen by accident either; Amsterdam has welcomed tourists with outstretched, mercenary arms for literal centuries — up until the last few years, at least.
READ MORE | 19 super annoying things internationals do in the Netherlands
Not only that, but according to the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) spokesperson Gijs Kooistra, Dutch university attendees would also benefit from a diverse, multicultural student body.
Kooistra also notes that the presence of English-taught courses in Dutch academia helps yield “the best academic staff” from overseas *cough*…but you didn’t hear it from us. 👉👈
While these opinions aren’t intended to stir the pot or create an even larger divide between pro and anti-internationals, maybe they will serve as food for thought. 🧐
How do you feel about the Dutch government and universities’ action to reduce the intake of students from abroad? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
I think this is more about the lost of identity. This is in part due to the high flow of internationals, but, in my opinion, the biggest factor here is the lack of regulation in the integration process. As an international, I do feel rejected, and I don’t like to feel like that; but I also won’t play victim knowing very well I’ve been setting roots in this country for some solid 6 years, and I barely speak the language.
A hot take shouldn’t be biased.
I don’t see why removing English from the public transport announcements would be “a hit against internationals”. If anything, it is an opportunity to learn the language and integrate into the culture.
I don’t know any country in my continent that gives announcements in English for the foreigners. If you go to our country, you learn our language.
Remember that English is an a second language, but it isn’t officialized that all documentation and guvernamental paperwork has to, mandatorily, need to be translated.
When in Rome, act like the Romans.
> I don’t know any country in my continent that gives announcements in English for the foreigners. If you go to our country, you learn our language.
Germany, Austria, Switzerland – not the small local bussses, but sometimes even that – do have English notes
RATP in Paris uses French, English, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin, depending on the location (at least 3 of them for each announcement, as French law requires that any text / announcement by a company operating a public service has to be at least in French, and can also be translated in at least 2 other languages).
Example of a 6 languages announcement: https://www.soundcloud.com/ratp_officiel/attention-a-la-marche-en-descendant-du-train-please-mind-the-gap
The Allegro trains from Helsinki to St.Petersburg (now no longer running due to the Russia agression) used to have announcements in Finnish, Swedish, Russian and English.
Most of Norway transport , English announcements are common on public transport in Norway, particularly on trains and in larger cities like Oslo. While some announcements might be in Norwegian only, especially on buses, many automated announcements, especially on trains and the T-bane (subway), are in English.
In Ukraine – in all subways, and again – in all large an some small cities – 3 languages, including English in busses/trams
Czech Republic…
And so on, and so forth
Certainly not because of being afraid of losing the Dutch identity for most of the people living in the Netherlands. Most Dutch people (I know) are not patriotic in that way and love them if they are respectful.
We just have to solve some shit that the last four, maybe five, governments have caused by letting lots of people in but forgetting you have to also get things sorted out for all those people. Not just take their taxes and spend them on … whatever unnecessary stuff.
Give us/them a few (yes maybe ten) years to get the stuff sorted. Mainly the housing problem, and I’m sure everybody is welcome again. It is not personal. The pile of sh*t is just too big.
I find this column lacking in understanding for the dutch people. It is nowadays very common to be accused of discrimination or racism when you talk about the fear of losing your own language and/or culture. It is the habit among the cosmopolitan elite.
With so many international students you hardly hear the dutch language anymore at universities (I work at a dutch university so I know) because there have never been language requirements. Go to Icelandic university and you will have to learn Icelandic. The same goes for any other country. Our politicians have always neglected this aspect, afraid there wouldn’t come enough foreign students. Now we lose our own language in higher education. My answer would be: internationals are welcome but they will have to learn dutch, at least for bachelor courses. Dutch students have a constitutional right to education in dutch. (sorry, for my not so good english,)
Let’s dissect :
> Now we lose our own language in higher education. My answer would be: internationals are welcome but they will have to learn dutch, at least for bachelor courses.
It is okay to charge them triple-price though? OR if they are going to study in Dutch they should pay as Nederlanders? What’s you take on this? When my daughter started it was even 5x in price. And she did studied in Dutch, but unfortunately had no proper documents at that moment
> Dutch students have a constitutional right to education in dutch.
No question here. Agree.
Some remarks though :
– Do they want to? The percentage among natives to drop-out of STEM studies or CS is really high, in some areas – way higher then Internationals.. WHy? Do people pursue mostly management and politics careers?
– If you do chase education in Dutch and later.. you want to have a job..let’s say in one of prominent Dutch companies, you know,, some that are moving country forward ( ASML ) , some that create our land ( Boskalis ) , that are famous in inventing stuff and pushing boundaries ( Philips ? ). well-known all over the world ( Heineken ). Now than – those will need a brilliant English. With experience. Because there is only this much market for them here, so they work a lot outside.. hmm, again … you will need real experience in English, probably gained over …years in Uni ??
I can add Unilver, Shell… – they depend on internationals a lot , unfortunately , because a lot of Dutchies only want to pursue cushy management jobs or sales. But some still need to do the real work. Loop is closed. I worked in 3 companies in the last 12 years here in Netherlands. One Dutch and 2 international. From hundreds to thousands of employees. And I remember that in pure Dutch company we had TWO… just 2 engineers that were locals. In international – this ratio was below 1%. But management and sales – 99% Dutch.
And with all about said, it is a great pity to hear when our Universities here cutting down on essential areas, that are REQUIRED for this country – like geodesics, earth science
–> https://www.dutchnews.nl/2025/04/vu-university-cuts-jobs-closes-earth-sciences-department/ 🙁
Fear of having to learn an international language, English. It is childish behaviour, the Dutch is childish. Lack of discipline. The nation is undisciplined, no discipline in education, sport or daily life. Miserable comes to Mind, Never have I ever met a nation who is as miserable as the bunch in the Netherlands, always grumpy, never cracking a smile, never a simple hallo or how are you doing today. The nation is not open to others but expect others to be happy and acceptable of them. Honestly speaking no one likes you, you treat people like outsiders, what you do not perhaps know; even dutchies who were brought up outside of the Netherlands who knows better, those with morals, values and religion are ashamed to acknowledge they are Dutch. Let that sink in
Dear Suz, could you tell me your nationality? Considering your letter I believe your country can be a great example for me as a grumpy dutch person. Excellent behaviour, courtesy and style!