Make staying easier
The Social and Economic Council, SER, conducted a survey among 500 foreign students in the Netherlands. More than half of them consider staying in the Netherlands. Another 38 percent will stay here for sure.
International students bring many benefits, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) calculated. If only one fifth of all foreign students would stay for a few years living and working in the Netherlands, this will bring the Dutch economy a profit of 740 million euro per year. Therefore the Dutch government would like to know on what grounds foreign students decide to stay or choose to leave.
More flexible work permits
According to this survey of the Dutch council almost half of the respondents would like to see visa procedures to be simplified to make a long term stay possible. More than 55 percent is interested in an internship at a Dutch company. One third of them would like to stay in the student’s residence after graduation, while looking for a job.
Graduates from outside the European Union get a one-year chance to find a job, otherwise they have to leave the country. Although they come from a EU member state, for now this rule also applies for Bulgarian and Romanian habitants.
Respondents say that Dutch regulations for labor should be more flexible to offer them a chance to find a proper job. For instance, some of them say it’s almost impossible to get a work permit. That’s why students decide to leave the Netherlands as soon as possible after they graduate. Others say that, even if you already have a visa, it is still hard to get a proper job in The Netherlands. And if you get one, you are only allowed to work 10 hours a week.
