More international graduates staying on in the Netherlands

Published on 20 May 2025 at 11:33

New research shows that the rates of international graduates who stay in the Netherlands after graduation is increasing.

Higher rates of graduates staying in the Netherlands

New research by Nuffic, the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education, shows that more international graduates continue to live in the Netherlands after gaining their degree. Almost 26% of international students who studied in the Netherlands still live in the country five years after graduating, with the large majority (80%) in paid employment, usually with an above-average salary. More recent graduates tend to stay on more often than those who graduated before 2018.

This will come as good news for employers and organisations searching for talented and skilled labour. According to previous research, one of the challenges faced by graduates and young professionals was a lack of social and professional networks and not finding suitable work.

Further increase expected

The research is based on data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS), DUO, the Dutch Personal Records Database (BRP), the Dutch Tax Office, UWV and other agencies. The number of graduates to remain in the Netherlands for the medium term is expected to continue to rise. 57% of international students to graduate in 2023 – the last year with available data – were still living in the Netherlands one year later. This is a significant increase from 2018 graduates, of whom only 40% had stayed on for at least one year. The rate of graduates staying for five years or longer can thus be expected to rise as well.

Amsterdam is the most popular city

The majority of those who continue to live in the Netherlands settle in the provinces of Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland, with Amsterdam being the most popular city to live in amongst international graduates. Approximately 37% of the international graduates to have remained in the Netherlands for five years live in the Amsterdam Area.

Who is staying

There are further interesting variations in the groups of graduates. Graduates of research universities stay more often than graduates of universities of applied sciences. Master’s students who also completed their bachelor’s degree in the Netherlands are more likely to stay in the country than those who only came to the Netherlands as postgraduates. Graduates in the fields of education and engineering – both sectors with a significant labour shortage in the Netherlands – are also more likely to stay.