3.7 Cross-border mobility in employment, entrepreneurship and vocational opportunities
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Programmes and schemes for cross-border mobility
The EURES programme the Netherlands can help to find out more about the Netherlands and specifically about working in the Netherlands.
The Erasmus+ programme provides a lot of vocational training opportunities to young people. It makes it possible for young people to follow a traineeship or education abroad. By participating in an Erasmus+ programme young people can also develop entrepreneurial skills. But Erasmus+ does not support business creation. Young people can however use their new skills in developing a business themselves.
Young entrepreneurs can get qualified for the programme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs. This programme is an initiative of the European Union and provides opportunities to gain experience and work for a maximum of six months in a small or medium sized enterprise.
Another programme that stimulates cross-border mobility in vocational opportunities is Nuffic, a public organization for internationalization in education. With International development programmes | Nuffic they focus on higher education. Students can study abroad at another university. Nuffic also provides an overview of funds for young people from abroad. Pre-departure training and a database of opportunities are also available.
Legal framework
Social security is available for (young) workers who are staying in the Netherlands. More information about this is available on the website of Nuffic, for example, about health insurance. Social security is managed by the Employee Insurance Agency.
For European citizens there is no specific work permit or work visa requirement. For non-European citizens the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (Immigratie- en Naturalisatie Dienst; IND) has an overview of the requirements to stay in the Netherlands for individuals, students and business representatives.
The Dutch government wants to help ambitious start-ups and other entrepreneurs to grow quickly. On the government website of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy information is given about the Ambitious Entrepreneurship Action Plan (Ambitieus Ondernemerschap Actie Plan; 2014) . With this plan government wants to provide better access to capital, knowledge, innovation and the global market. This concerns activities such as: early stage financing, strengthening the international position of startups and growing businesses, provide temporary residence permits for non-EU entrepreneurs etc.