How many vacation days do you legally get?
Dutch law (Article 7:634 of the Civil Code) gives every employee a minimum of four times their weekly working hours as paid leave per year. For a full-time job of 40 hours a week that is 160 hours, or 20 days. If you work 36 hours a week, you get 144 hours, which is 18 days of eight hours.
The law counts leave in hours, not days, which matters if you work part-time or irregular hours. A part-time employee has exactly the same rights, just calculated on their own hours. Working three days a week does not mean fewer rights, it means proportionally fewer hours.
This is the statutory minimum. Many employers and collective labour agreements (cao) give more, commonly 25 to 30 days. Check your contract and any cao that applies to your sector, because the extra days above the legal minimum can follow different rules.
Holiday allowance (vakantiegeld): what it is and when it is paid
On top of your leave you are entitled to holiday allowance, in Dutch "vakantiegeld". The legal minimum is 8% of your gross salary, and it is usually paid once a year in May or June. Some employers spread it across your monthly salary instead, which is allowed as long as your payslip shows it clearly.
Two things catch expats out. First, 8% is a minimum, and the legal calculation has a ceiling linked to the minimum wage, so check in your contract whether your employer applies it to your full salary (many do). Second, if you started mid-year or leave mid-year, you get a proportional amount, not the full 8% of a year you did not work.
If your salary looks lower than you expected in the month vakantiegeld is paid, remember that tax is withheld on it too, so the net amount is smaller than 8% of your gross. Your payslip will show it as a separate line.
What happens to vacation days you do not use?
Statutory days do not disappear at the end of the year. They carry over, but they lapse six months after the end of the year in which you earned them, unless your employer never gave you a real chance to take them or told you they would expire. In practice that means days earned in 2026 should be used by 30 June 2027 at the latest.
Leave above the statutory minimum can be handled differently, for example with a longer or shorter expiry set in your contract. When you leave a job, unused days must be paid out, and if you took more days than you earned, your employer may deduct the difference from your final pay. Ask HR for a leave balance before your last day so there are no surprises.
Public holidays: no automatic right to a day off
This is the part that surprises most newcomers. The Netherlands has official public holidays, but there is no law that forces an employer to give you the day off. Whether you get it depends on your contract or your cao. In practice most office jobs give you the main holidays off, while sectors such as healthcare and hospitality often work through them and compensate with extra pay or time off in lieu.
In 2026 the dates are: New Year's Day on 1 January, Easter Sunday and Monday on 5 and 6 April, King's Day on Monday 27 April, Ascension Day on Thursday 14 May, Whit Sunday and Monday on 24 and 25 May, and Christmas Day and Boxing Day on 25 and 26 December. Liberation Day on 5 May is normally only a day off every five years (2025 was one), so in 2026 whether you are off depends on your employer. Good Friday is not an official holiday either.
If you want certainty, look for a clause in your contract that lists the days you are off, and ask HR if it is unclear.
Practical tips for expats
Plan your first year around the fact that you build leave up as you work. If you start in March, you do not get the full year's allowance on day one, and Dutch employers are used to people booking holidays months ahead, so ask for time off early, especially for school holidays and trips home.
If you are planning a long trip to your home country, check whether your employer allows unpaid leave on top of your paid days. And if you are ill during a holiday you can often reclaim those days, but you must report the illness to your employer promptly and follow their sick procedure.
Keep your payslips. They show your leave balance and your vakantiegeld, and they are your proof if there is ever a disagreement. Our payslip guide explains each line.