ACCESS NL > Dual careers in the Netherlands > Working in the Netherlands > Unemployment in the Netherlands > What are the requirements to be eligible for unemployment benefits?
Unemployment in the Netherlands
I receive unemployment benefits from my own country. How do I maintain this once I move to the Netherlands?
I receive unemployment benefits in the Netherlands. How do I maintain this once I move abroad?
I am currently unemployed. Am I entitled to an unemployment benefits?
What are the requirements to be eligible for unemployment benefits?
The WW (unemployment insurance act) insures employees and civil servants in the Netherlands who become unemployed. If you are eligible for the WW-uitkering (unemployment benefit), you will receive 75% of the wage most recently earned (up to a maximum) in the first two months, thereafter 70%. To be eligible for the unemployment benefit, you must be available for work and satisfy the following criteria:
- You are insured for unemployment. This is usually the case if you were an employee within a company or organisation operating in the Netherlands
- You are below the retirement age of 65 and above the age of 26
- Your working hours have been reduced by your employer by at least five working hours per week and you are no longer entitled to be paid for these lost working hours
- You are immediately available for paid work
- Before becoming unemployed, you have worked for at least 26 weeks during the past 36 weeks (if you are a citizen of a European Union state or European Economic Area country and you have worked for less than 26 weeks in the Netherlands, the UWV will take into account the time you have worked in your previous resident country over the applicable 36-week period)
- You are not receiving a sickness, incapacity (IVA) or disability (WAO) benefit that precludes you from working
For occupational groups such as artists, musicians and film employees, a lower requirement of employed weeks applies. The length of your entitlement to this benefit depends on your employment history.