Register with a GP on day one - practices are full and you cannot skip the GP
The GP is the gatekeeper to nearly all Dutch care (referrals, prescriptions, specialists), but a majority of practices had a patient stop in 2024, so new arrivals get stuck. Register the week you arrive, do not wait until you are sick. Find one via kiesjehuisarts.nl or your insurer and register. If every practice near you is full, your health insurer is legally obliged (zorgplicht) to help you find one - phone them and make them.
Get the rest of it, in your own language.
MAS reads your IND letter, checks whether an employer can legally sponsor you, and finds work that will actually take you. Free, no account.
More on healthcare
- Het Juridisch Loket: free, government-funded legal advice, and a discount ticket to a subsidised lawyer
- Gemeentepolis: the low-income insurance where the town co-pays your own-risk
- Register at the gemeente within 5 days - the BSN is your entire Dutch identity, and a no-registration clause is worthless
- The city pass: free museums, cheap swimming, kids' activities
- Cannot pay your premium? Zorgverzekeringslijn keeps you insured and stops the 120% spiral
- Free Dutch at the library: Taalhuis and Taalcafe, no fee, no membership