Netherlands Health Requirements 2026 — TB Test at the GGD, Exemption List, Compulsory Health Insurance

No. The Netherlands has no immigration medical exam, no panel physicians, no blood tests and no vaccination certificate requirements for any visa or residence permit. The only health-related screening is tuberculosis: with the application you sign a declaration of intent to undergo a TB test, and unless your nationality is on the IND's exemption list (appendix 7644) you take a chest X-ray at the GGD within 3 months of receiving your permit. That single test — and the separate legal obligation to hold Dutch health insurance — is the entire medical dimension of Dutch immigration.

Check your nationality against IND appendix 7644, the exemption list (version valid from 30 May 2025). It covers 130+ countries — all EU/EEA states, the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Brazil, Türkiye, Russia and many more — whose nationals are exempt. Notably NOT on the list: India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa, so those nationals must test. Separately, holders of an EU long-term residence permit issued by another member state (and their admitted family members) are exempt whatever their nationality.

Book an appointment with the GGD (municipal health service) for the area where you live — do it early, because the signed form must reach the IND within 3 months of your permit. Bring the IND referral form (appendix 7604); the screening itself is a chest X-ray. The GGD completes and signs the form and it goes back to the IND. If the X-ray raises questions, the GGD arranges follow-up examination and advises you on any further testing. The test is a condition of your permit — skipping it puts your residence status at risk.

Two bad things. First, insurance taken out after the 4-month window is not retroactive, so any care you received in the gap is your own bill. Second, the CAK — which cross-checks insurance against the population register — writes to you, and if you still have no policy 3 months after that letter, fines you €529.74; a second €529.74 fine follows another 3 months later, after which the CAK can take out insurance in your name and collect the premium at source. Since premiums are owed retroactively anyway when you insure inside the window, delaying never saves money.

No. No Dutch visa or residence permit requires proof of vaccination — not COVID-19, not childhood immunisations, nothing. The national immunisation programme (Rijksvaccinatieprogramma) offered through GGD and child health clinics is voluntary, though participation is the norm. For travellers, the only health-adjacent visa condition is the Schengen requirement that short-stay visa applicants hold travel medical insurance with at least €30,000 cover — a financial requirement, not a medical screening. Standard travel-health advice for your route is available from GGD travel clinics, but it is advice, not an immigration condition.

No. Once you live or work in the Netherlands and fall under the insurance obligation, the law requires the statutory basic package (basisverzekering) from a Dutch health insurer — travel policies and most international private plans do not count, and the CAK's register check will flag you as uninsured regardless of what cover you privately hold. The main exceptions: full-time students who do not work here generally remain on home cover, and some posted/cross-border workers stay insured abroad under EU coordination rules. If your situation is borderline, ask the SVB for a Wlz insurance position assessment — it is the binding answer.