Accommodation for foreign workers

If you have a company in the Netherlands and you employ foreign workers on a temporary basis, you will in some cases be obliged to provide suitable accommodation. This obligation applies if it is included as a provision in the Collective Labour Agreement for your business sector or if you employ workers who need a work permit.

Temporary employment agencies and foreign companies

The statutory requirement to find accommodation also applies to temporary employment agencies and companies from abroad that employ workers in the Netherlands. Self-employed workers without employees (known in Dutch as zzp’ers) must find their own accommodation.

Accommodation criteria

The accommodation must meet a number of basic requirements regarding hygiene, safety and quality. The precise details of the rules differ from municipality to municipality, which is why you need to contact your local municipal authority if you have to find accommodation for employees. The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport, ILT) supports the municipal and provincial authorities in this regard.