How to Work and Immigrate to the Netherlands as a Pharmacist? (2024)

When you think of immigration to Europe, the first option that comes to mind is often the Netherlands. It’s one of the countries that welcome skilled workers and international students from around the world. Friendly people are nice to immigrants, and the strong economy needs these people. The great nature and culture attract everyone as well. Now that you want to immigrate and work in the Netherlands as a pharmacist, this Visa Library page will bring you the answer to all of your questions.

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How to immigrate to the Netherlands as a pharmacist?

There are some jobs in the Netherlands that are protected titles. It means you need approval or permission from the Dutch government to work in them. A pharmacist is also one of them so is the below list of occupations. If you get your degree in a foreign country and not the Netherlands and want to work in one of them, you need recognition from the government. You have to send them your documents, so they assess your certificate and decide whether you can work as a pharmacist or not.

Remedial educationalist
The registered dental hygienist (temporary registration)
Pharmacist
Nurse
Midwife
Health psychologist
Doctor
Dentist

Get your pharmacy degree.

The first step you have to pass is to get your degree as a pharmacist in a foreign country or your home country. Your certificate must be from a verified university or education center and valid in your home country.

If you need to get another certificate to become a pharmacist in your home country, you’d better receive it and gather as much data and documents as you can.

Are you eligible for a Declaration of Professional Competence?

You need a Declaration of Professional Competence to work as a pharmacist in the Netherlands. But you must find out whether you are eligible to apply for it. The verified way to find out you are qualified to apply for it is to check your conditions with the Dutch Ministry of Health Wellbeing and Sport. They have a free tool that determines whether you are qualified to apply and receive it or not. There you have to answer some questions;

Your profession.
Your nationality.
The place you want to work in.
The country you got your degree.
Have you registered with the BIG Register?
Has your degree been recognized?
Has your degree been recognized in the EU or Switzerland?

This is the Advisory guide BIG register and helps you with the process. First, you need to answer its questions to know whether you can continue the process.

Prepare your application for recognition.

At this stage, you need to gather the supporting documents and send them to the Dutch officials for recognition. You need to work carefully to collect the documents in the required order and according to the instructions. If not, your application will take longer. This is a list of the documents you have to gather:

Declaration of Professional Competence application form.
Appendix application form.
A certified copy of your diploma.
A certified copy of your course overview of the vocational training
A certified copy of the training programs you have passed.
Proof of identity.
CV.
A copy of your residence permit document (front and back).

You might have to submit further documents, and the decision is with the Dutch officials and the Dutch Ministry of Health Wellbeing and Sport.

After you have gathered all of the documents, you need to send them to:

Create an account on My BIG register.

There is a portal called “My BIG register” that the Dutch officials will communicate and send all of the messages through it. You need to create an account and activate it to receive the messages. The Dutch officials will notify you through the My BIG register account if they ask for another document. You need to check it regularly to know about the updates.

The website has detailed information on how to create an account when you are inside or outside of the Netherlands.

Assessment of your degree and documents.

After you send all of your documents and degree, the Dutch officials will begin assessing them. Nuffic is responsible for the evaluation of your documents. After they are done and if they are satisfied, they ask for the original form of your documents.

It might take longer to review your application as they process the applications by order. So be patient and wait for the result. In the meantime, check your BIG Register account to know of any updates and request further documents.

Pass the AKV test.

After you send the documents and complete the BIG-register application, you must pass the AKV language test. In case you wish to learn more about this exam, the procedure, and how to prepare yourself, you can ask for a counseling session with Dutch officials.

You will receive an invitation to take the test in your account and the related information, including a unique access code that you need to register for the exam on the Babel website.

The test is to evaluate your Dutch and English language proficiency in the following:

Reading,
Writing,
Listening, and
Speaking.

The test also assesses your knowledge and understanding of the Dutch Healthcare System.

There are four parts in two test sessions with the AKV test.

IELTS 6.5 and TOEFL 600 and the Dutch B2/C1 level skills are enough to pass the test.

If you have an IELTS, TOEFL, or Cambridge certificate, you may be eligible for an exemption from the English component of the AKV test.

You can find more information about the counseling, the available dates of the exam, and registration from the Dutch Ministry of Health Wellbeing and Sports page.

Assessment of your application.

The Committee for Foreign Graduates in Public Health is responsible for the evaluation of your test result and degree. They are an independent committee that decides whether you are eligible to work as a pharmacist in the Netherlands. They might decide that you need further training or internship; you have to pass it to immigrate to the Netherlands as a pharmacist.

The committee will send the results to the Ministry of Health Wellbeing and Sport, and they inform you of the decision. It’s negative or positive. If you do not agree with their decision, you only have two weekends to respond to them. In case you do not respond, they will send you the final definite decision.

If the decision is positive, they will send you the Certificate of Professional Competence by post. It indicates that you can work as a pharmacist in the Netherlands.

Apply for BIG Register.

After you receive the Certificate of Professional Competence, you need to register in the BIG Register portal. This is a separate application, and you need to complete it.

There are separate application forms and documents that you must gather and send to the Dutch officials.

You’d better complete the registration as soon as you get the Certificate of Professional Competence. If you apply for the BIG Register after 5 years of getting the certificate, you need to submit additional documents. The Ministry of Health Wellbeing and Sport provides you with the application forms and the list of the documents you have to gather.

Find a job offer and get a work permit.

After your BIG Register is complete, you can work as a pharmacist in the Netherlands. But if you are a non-EU national, you need a work permit to work in the country. Every non-EU national who wants to work in the Netherlands needs a work permit.

You, as a pharmacist, can not apply for a work permit; only the Dutch employer can apply for it. So you need an employer willing to hire you. There are various ways to find a job in the Netherlands.

The first one is to look for a position through the websites that advertise job positions in the country. This is a list of them:

Expatica jobs
&Work
Good Company
Jouw ICT Vacature
LinkedIn
ExpatJobs
College Life
European Employment Services
Stepstone

You need to prepare your resume and apply for the positions.

The second way is to get help from recruiters or employment agencies. They connect or match the employer and employees.

After you find the employer, you need to sign an employment contract with him/her. It’s part of the work permit supporting documents. The employment contract must explain every detail or terms of employment, such as:

Duration of employment.
Perks and bonuses.
Working hours
Type of job you will do.
Tasks and responsibilities
Salary
The starting date of the employment.
Confidentiality
Etc.

After signing the employment contract, the employer must apply for a work permit. He/she can apply online or post the application process.

The employee needs to send some documents to the employer so he/she can apply for a work permit.

Documents like:

A travel document or valid passport.
A clean criminal record.
Proof/evidence that the information on the application is true.
Enough income earning
Your employer must get recognized by the Netherlands government officials.
the application form for a work visa.

The IND provides a checklist of documents to the employer. You must prepare the scanned form of documents in PDF format. In case your documents are not written in Dutch, English, French, or German, you must have them translated into one of these languages.

Then, it is required to have them legalized.

The IND will provide the employee with a checklist of the documents, and you need to submit them. After the work permit is issued, you need to apply for an MMV. It is the permission to enter the Netherlands and complete the stages.

You can find more information about the Netherlands work visa and its permit from the Visa Library article or watch the video we prepared on our YouTube channel.