How to Work and Immigrate to the Netherlands as a Lawyer?

Get admission to a Dutch law school. 

There are some universities in the Netherlands that offer law majors. Here is the list of them; 

• Leiden University – Leiden Law School 
• the University of Amsterdam – Amsterdam Law School
• Utrecht University School of Law
• Tilburg University – Tilburg Law School
• Maastricht University
• Erasmus University Rotterdam – Erasmus School of Law
• University of Groningen – Faculty of Law
• Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam – Faculty of Law
• Radboud University – Faculty of Law
• Hage university of Applies sciences 

Visit their website and find out whether they offer an undergraduate or postgraduate degree to international students or not. If yes, you must find out the requirements of the major you want to apply for and fulfill them. 

For example, the University of Amsterdam offers these subjects at the undergraduate level: 

• Civil Law
• Criminal Law 
• International Law 
• Legal Advice 
• Legal Studies 
• Public Law

You must find out the requirements and fulfill them. Tuition, education, and language fluency requirements are the top ones. Determine if the subject is in English or Dutch and try to fulfill it. 

If you get Dutch language fluency, you have more courses to choose from. 

You must complete your education and receive your certificate. 

Apply for a Netherlands student visa.

After you get admission to the Dutch university, you must apply for a student visa. If you live in the EU, you do not need a visa.  You can enter the country and apply for a study permit. 

But, non-EU nationals must apply for a student visa before moving to the country. 

You must gather the supporting documents and submit them to the Dutch embassy or consulate in your home country. 

You can find out more about the Netherlands student visa from the right sidebar or watch its video on the YouTube channel. 

Professional Education Programme for the Legal Profession 

After completing your education in law, you must pass the Professional Education Programme for the Legal Profession. It takes you three years to complete it. This program is to train and prepare you to immigrate to the Netherlands as a lawyer. 

Before you take the professional training program, you must pass a test to determine your knowledge. You can take the test at most one year before you start your training program. You can take the tests before or after you swear as a lawyer in the Netherlands. 

If you fail the test, you can take it again, but you have to pay the costs. 

You must register for the test from this website. 

In case you want to prepare yourself for the test, you can take sample questions from this website. 

The basic test is made of 60 closed questions, and it takes you about 2 hours. It also costs you € 126.  

There are centers around the Netherlands where you can choose to take the test. When you register, you can pick the location, date, and time. Remember that after you pay the fee, your registration is complete. You can reschedule or cancel it under certain conditions. 

Registering with the National Register of Lawyers (LAT). 

When you complete your studies and education, you can register with the National Register of Lawyers (LAT).

This is the list of LATs in Dutch districts; 

• Zeeland-West Brabant  (Bergen op Zoom, Breda, Middelburg, Tilburg)
• Rotterdam (Dordrecht, Rotterdam)
• Overijssel (Almelo, Enschede, Zwolle)
• Gelderland (Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Zutphen)
• East Brabant  (Eindhoven, ‘s-Hertogenbosch)
• Northern Netherlands (Assen, Groningen, Leeuwarden)
• North Holland (Alkmaar, Haarlem, Haarlemmermeer, Zaanstad)
• Central Netherlands (Almere, Amersfoort, Lelystad, Utrecht)
• Limburg (Maastricht, Roermond)
• The Hague (The Hague, Gouda, Leiden)
• Amsterdam (Amsterdam)

You should contact them and ask about the registration process. Also, there might be some documents that you have to submit. 

After you complete the registration process, you will receive your lawyer card. This care will access you to the judiciary system in the Netherlands. You can log in to secure online applications of the NOvA (the professional organization of the legal profession) to see the applications, courthouse results, and prison list.

You can also have the digital version of the card as a mobile app on your smartphone. 

If you have a physical card, you must keep it carefully as it holds your username and password. But there are security measures to verify logging into the NOvA. 

The card will be valid for 3-5 years. The expiry date is written on it. After expiry, you must apply to get a new card. 

Get training

You must get training points in the Netherlands, and the location doesn’t matter. There are two types of centers you can complete your training; 

• Non-recognized training institutions 
• Recognized training institutions 

The point to know is that if you take the training with Recognized training institutions, you will be able to provide proof of your training. You can still complete your training with Non-recognized training institutions, but you might have trouble getting proof and passing the evaluation. Non-recognized training institutions could be law firms, a company or municipal authorities, etc. 

You can find a list of Recognized training institutions from this link. 

When you complete the training, you can work as a lawyer.