Short version: yes, often you can, even though you were already living here when you were hired. The rule that seems to shut you out has an exception built for graduates of a Dutch master's program.
Here is when it works, and what to check.
The graduate exception, in plain terms
The standard rule says you must be hired from outside the Netherlands. The graduate exception sets that aside for one specific group: people who finish a Dutch master's degree and start qualifying employment soon after.
If you fit this group, two things change in your favour:
- The 150 km rule (normally you must have lived more than 150 km from the Dutch border) does not apply to you.
- The salary threshold is lower if you are under 30 with a master's degree. It is currently around €36,500 of taxable salary, rising to about €38,300 from 2027, and it is indexed each year.
That is why so many recent graduates who assume they are excluded actually have a real case.
What counts as "immediately after"?
The exception works when your employment starts soon after graduation. The grey area is how soon "soon" has to be.
The Belastingdienst reads it strictly, usually one to two months. The courts have read it more broadly and looked at the full picture of each case. The Court of Appeal in Amsterdam (ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2020:1946) is the case people cite for the broader reading. A later case (22/01157, Court of Appeal, 24 October 2023) shows the line is not settled, and longer gaps have been refused.
We will not pretend there is one clean answer. There is a tax-authority position and there is a body of case law, and they do not always agree. What matters is which side of that line your situation sits on.
If you had a gap after graduating
A gap of a few months between your graduation and your start date is the single most common reason a graduate case becomes borderline. It is not a dead end. It is a case that has to be argued well.
Your strongest support is the orientation year (zoekjaar). If you held an orientation-year permit, or were eligible for one, that is a recognised job-seeking period and it explains the gap directly. The longer the gap, the more the rest of your file has to do the work.
What we look at first
When we read a graduate case, we check three things: how your study, graduation and start dates line up, whether the orientation year covers any gap, and whether your salary clears the under-30 master's threshold for your start year.
How we can help
Graduate and gap cases are our core work, not an exception we squeeze in. We will tell you honestly whether your timing and salary hold up before you commit to anything.
We don’t predict outcomes. We prepare and present your application in the strongest possible way. Belastingdienst makes the final decision.
Graduated recently? See where your case stands.