It is possible that international students and PhD candidates will receive a letter from the College van Zorgverzekeringen (CVZ) this year. The letter will be in Dutch only. It will state that they are not covered under a healthcare insurance and that according to Dutch law they will have to take out a Dutch public healthcare insurance (basiszorgverzekering) immediately. If they do not react to this letter within three months they will receive a fine of around € 350. The fine will increase if they still do not take out a Dutch public healthcare insurance at that point. When they receive the letter from the CVZ students and PhD candidates should ALWAYS take action to prevent themselves from receiving an automatically generated fine. If they have the obligation to take out a Dutch public healthcare insurance they must arrange this as soon as possible.

More information: http://www.nuffic.nl/nederlandse-organisaties/docs/immigratie/about-letter-cvz.pdf

and

http://www.nuffic.nl/nederlandse-organisaties/docs/immigratie/nuffic-translation-tool-svb-form.pdf

An additional link which is also useful for both researchers and students: www.euraxess.nl/support-staff/documents/letter-from-cvz-requires-you-to-take-action.pdf