The Dutch parliament was recently presented with the Single Residence and Work Permit Bill (GVVA) that proposes to give foreign nationals, who are not EU, EEA or Swiss citizens, the right to live and work in the Netherlands for a period exceeding three months.

The GVVA will be a single document combining the residence permit (verblijfsvergunning) and current employment permit (TWV).

Essentially, it will be a residence permit incorporating a supplementary document stating the name of the employer and any applicable conditions.

The new permit would mean that anyone wanting to find a job the Netherlands and work for more than three months (or his/her employer) would only have to undertake one application. The conditions for the permits will, however, remain unchanged.

Who can’t apply?

While the GVVA will apply to most non-EU labour migrants, a few categories of foreign nationals will be unable to apply for the GVVA.

They will remain subject to the current system of obtaining an employment permit from the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) and a residence permit from the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND).

This includes seasonal workers, asylum seekers and Croatian nationals. Nothing will change for highly skilled migrants, who currently only need a residence permit.

When it begins

The GVVA is expected to enter into force at the beginning of 2014 and will from them be issued by the IND. The Bill implements the EU Directive on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State.
 

Source: Government of the Netherlands