Vacation days in the Netherlands for expats

If you are comparing Dutch annual leave with paid time off, or PTO, systems elsewhere, the confusion usually starts when your contract shows days, your leave tracker shows hours, and your payslip mentions vakantiegeld, or holiday allowance.

This guide explains the legal minimum, extra leave from a contract or collectieve arbeidsovereenkomst, or CAO, expiry rules, public holidays, and other leave types.

Key takeaways

• Statutory leave is 4 times your weekly working hours each year.
• A 40-hour schedule gives 160 hours, often 20 days, but part-time and compressed schedules scale differently.
• Extra days usually come from your contract, employee handbook, or CAO, not from the legal minimum alone.
• Public holidays are separate from annual leave and are not automatic paid days off.
• Statutory days usually expire 6 months after year-end, while additional days usually last 5 years.
• Vakantiegeld, or holiday allowance, is at least 8% extra pay and does not increase your leave balance.

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How many vacation days do employees get in the Netherlands?

In the Netherlands, annual leave starts with your weekly hours, then increases only if your contract or CAO adds more.

Statutory leave: the legal minimum

According to Government.nl, the legal minimum is 4 times the number of hours you work per week. These statutory leave days are wettelijke vakantiedagen. A 40-hour week gives 160 hours a year, a 36-hour week gives 144 hours, and a 24-hour part-time week gives 96 hours.

If your employer tracks time off in hours, that is normal. Statutory leave also keeps building during sickness and during some statutory leave types, including maternity-related leave, though some unpaid leave arrangements work differently. If you report sick during approved vacation, those sick days should normally be registered as sick days instead.

On your contract or leave tracker, confirm your weekly hours, whether the balance is shown in hours or days, and whether statutory and additional leave are split.

Additional leave from your contract or CAO

Anything above the legal minimum is additional leave, or bovenwettelijke vakantiedagen. It often comes from your employment contract, employee handbook, or a collectieve arbeidsovereenkomst, or CAO, which is a collective labor agreement.

CAO vacation days in the Netherlands can vary a lot between employers. If your paperwork refers to a sector agreement, the wider rules under Dutch employment law help explain why a CAO can override a simple line in your contract. Check your documents before assuming a standard number applies.

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How do vacation days accrue and expire?

Leave builds up over time, and many employees lose days by mixing up statutory and additional balances.

How accrual works for part-time, changing, and zero-hour schedules

Part-time workers get a proportional equivalent of full-time paid leave in the Netherlands, usually tracked in hours. If you join midyear, leave is prorated for the part of the year you work, and if your hours change, your balance should change too. Zero-hour workers also accrue leave, but the contract or CAO should explain how the hours are calculated.

Quick examples:

• 40 hours a week = 160 leave hours a year
• 36 hours a week = 144 leave hours a year
• 24 hours a week = 96 leave hours a year

If your schedule is irregular, verify the math in your leave system, on your payslip, or in written policy rather than guessing from a five-day week.

When unused days expire or can be paid out

Unused vacation days in the Netherlands do not all expire on the same date.

• Statutory days usually expire on July 1 of the year after they were earned.
• Additional days usually expire 5 years after the end of the year in which they were accrued.
• The 6-month rule may not apply if you were reasonably unable to take leave.
• Statutory leave is generally not paid out during employment, but any unused balance must be settled when your job ends.

How do you request leave and when can it be refused?

Start by checking your remaining balance, then follow your employer’s booking system, handbook, or team calendar. Request popular periods early, especially summer weeks, school breaks, and any company-wide closure periods in your sector.

An employer may object only if your absence would cause serious business problems, not just because the timing is inconvenient. In practice, objections should be prompt and in writing, and Business.gov.nl says employers can object within 2 weeks of the request.

Before you submit the request, confirm your balance, check whether public holidays are booked separately, use the format your employer requires, and keep written confirmation.

Are public holidays, holiday allowance, and vacation days the same thing?

No. These terms are often mixed together, but Dutch employment practice treats them as separate rights or benefits.

Public holidays and paid time off

Many expats expect public holidays in the Netherlands to work like built-in PTO. They do not.

• Vacation days come from your annual leave balance.
• Public holidays are dates on the national calendar.
• Public holidays in the Netherlands are not automatic paid time off, and whether you get the day off depends on your contract, employer policy, or CAO.

Liberation Day is often handled separately in CAOs or employer policy.

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Holiday allowance versus paid leave

Holiday allowance, or vakantiegeld, is money, not time off. According to Business.gov.nl, employees are entitled to at least 8% holiday allowance, usually paid once a year, often in May or June unless another written arrangement applies.

This should appear separately on your payslip or in your contract. If your contract says 25 vacation days plus 8% vakantiegeld, you still have 25 days off, not 25 days plus extra leave created by the allowance.

What other leave of absence is available in the Netherlands?

Annual leave is only one part of Dutch time off rules, so it helps to separate it from other leave types.

Statutory family and care leave

These rights are separate from annual leave, and your CAO or contract may top up pay or add conditions. UWV is the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency.

Do not assume full pay for every leave type, and do not let annual leave rules stand in for family leave rules.

Special, emergency, and unpaid leave

Special or extraordinary leave can cover things like a funeral, moving house, a doctor visit, or an exam, but the details usually come from your CAO, company policy, or contract rather than one fixed national rule. Unpaid leave is also not a general automatic right.

If you are a sponsored worker and are considering a longer break, check the employment, salary-threshold, and immigration impact separately with your HR team, the Dutch immigration service, or a qualified adviser. Also be careful not to treat proposed bereavement reforms as current law unless they are verified as in force.

How to check what applies in your situation

To confirm what applies to you, compare the general rules with your own documents.

Read your contract, CAO, and leave tracker in this order

Planning a trip abroad with your time off

Before you book, check when your holiday allowance is paid, whether any public holidays actually reduce the number of vacation days you need to request, and what your current balance says today. If you are budgeting for a trip, it can also help to review the cost of living in the Netherlands so you know how far your leave budget needs to stretch.

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