Permits for foreign self-employed professionals or freelancers
Do you want to hire a foreign self-employed professional (zzp'er) or freelancer to work for you in the Netherlands? Or are you a foreign self-employed professional or freelancer who wants to work (temporarily) in the Netherlands? You must check if you need a permit.
Self-employed professionals/freelancers from the EU, EEA, or Switzerland
If self-employed professionals or freelancers have a valid passport or identity card from the European Economic Area (EEA), or Switzerland, they are free to come and work in the Netherlands. You do not need to apply for a work permit (tewerkstellingsvergunning, TWV) for them.
Notification for posted workers
Self-employed professionals from the EEA or Switzerland who come to the Netherlands temporarily for work must make a notification via the Dutch online notification portal for posted workers. This duty to notify (Meldplicht WagwEU) applies to foreign companies and self-employed professionals in specific sectors. As a self-employed professional, you have to report before starting the work.
As the client, you must inform the foreign self-employed person of this duty to notify and check that they have registered correctly.
Self-employed professionals/freelancers from outside the EU, EEA, or Switzerland
As a self-employed professionals or freelancers from outside an EEA country, or Switzerland, you must have:
- a residence permit including the endorsement that self-employment is permitted, or
- a residence permit including the endorsement ‘No employment restrictions. No work permit required.' (Arbeid is vrij toegestaan. Tewerkstellingsvergunning (TWV) niet vereist)
Without this residence permit, you are not allowed to work as a self-employed professional in the Netherlands.
As the client, you do not need to apply for a work permit for these self-employed professionals. However, they may only work for you in the Netherlands if they have the proper residence permit.
Please note: Do you want to contract a self-employed (zzp'er) Ukranian refugee (in Dutch)? If they do not have a residence permit for entrepreneurs, you need to apply for a TWV with the Employee Insurance Agency (Uitvoeringsinstituut Werknemersverzekeringen, UWV).
Check the work relationship
If you hire a self-employed person, or if you are a self-employed worker, you have to demonstrate that the work relationship is truly self-employment. The Netherlands Labour Authority (NLA) checks whether they really work under their own responsibility, without a relationship of authority. If there is a type of employment instead of true self-employment, the client is seen as an employer and the self-employed person as an employee. This may mean you, as the client, will need to apply for a work permit or a combined residence and work permit, a single permit (gecombineerde vergunnig verblijf en arbeid, GVVA).