Impact of Brexit on current staff and students from the UK

Transition period: 1 February - 31 December 2020

On 31 January 2020, the UK left the EU. At the end of January 2020, the IND sent a general information letter to around 45,000 UK nationals living in the Netherlands. Under the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement, there is a transition period after Brexit from 1 February 2020 up to and including 31 December 2020. During this period, you keep your existing rights. You do not need a residence document to continue living in the Netherlands, just a valid passport. Did you receive a temporary residence permit from the IND in March or October 2019? Since there is a deal, you do not need this temporary residence permit. You do not need to keep it or to send it back to the IND. (Source: IND)

The website of the Dutch Immigration and Naturlisation Service (IND) provides accurate and up-to-date information about the transition period and other general subjects related to how Brexit affects your right of residence in the Netherlands as a UK national.

What you can do

• Verify your BRP registration: Your registration as a resident in your city’s Personal Records Database (BRP) serves as proof that you have been, and are, living in the Netherlands. Make sure you're registered in the BRP and that all the information is correct because you'll receive letters from the IND at the address of your registration.
• Check that you have received a letter from IND and read it carefully.
• Current staff, including student assistants: contact your HR department to discuss your personal situation
• Current students: contact the UvA’s Office of International Student Affairs to discuss your personal situation.

Continuing your studies after 2020

In a letter to Parliament (document 23987, nr 299, of 7 January 2019), the Dutch Government stated its intention that as a student enrolled at the UvA on Brexit withdrawal day, and living in the Netherlands, you will be allowed to continue studying under the same conditions, and with the same tuition fees, as those set for EU students by law and by the UvA’s regulations. 

As we understand it from the Government’s letter, this includes continuing uninterrupted in a follow-on study programme (e.g. doing your Master’s right after a Bachelor’s) and also includes a switch between institutions within the Netherlands. 

If applicable, you will keep your entitlement to financial assistance (studiefinanciering).

We assume that the Dutch government will keep this intention, even if these conditions are not found in any UK-EU made agreements by the end of 2020.

Interrupting your studies

The Government’s letter does not specify which tuition fees will apply if you take a break from your studies and return later to complete your programme.

We advise against interrupting your studies while this uncertainty exists.