VOG for internationals: what if your criminal record is abroad?

A Dutch certificate of conduct (verklaring omtrent het gedrag, VOG) is issued by Justis on the basis of Dutch judicial data, so a conviction outside the EU usually does not show up. The exceptions: convictions in other EU member states can reach Justis through ECRIS, and the IND weighs foreign convictions for your residence permit separately, based on your own declaration.

Employers ask for a VOG for many roles in childcare, education, healthcare, finance and transport. Below we explain what Justis can see, when a foreign conviction counts and what a refusal means for your residence permit.

What is a VOG, and who issues it?

A VOG states that, based on your judicial history, no objection has been found to the specific job for which it is requested. It is not a character reference and not a copy of your criminal record. It answers one narrow question: given what is known about you, and what this role involves, is there an unacceptable risk?

Only one body issues a VOG: Justis, the screening authority of the Ministry of Justice and Security. Municipalities and employers pass applications on; they do not decide. The legal basis is the Wet justitiële en strafvorderlijke gegevens (Wjsg), in the section on the verklaring omtrent het gedrag, articles 28 to 39. Article 28 defines the certificate, and article 35 sets out the refusal test that does the real work.

VOG NP or VOG RP: which one do you need?

Two products share the name and are often confused.

• VOG NP (natuurlijke personen) is the individual certificate your employer asks for, tied to a specific role at a specific moment.
• VOG RP (rechtspersonen) is issued to a company, association or foundation that must show nothing objectionable is recorded against it – when tendering, joining a trade body or entering certain contracts. Justis screens the entity and the natural persons behind it: the directors, the partners (vennoten) and the shareholders, and it charges a separate and higher fee for it than for the individual certificate.

Neither certificate has a formal expiry date, because each records an assessment made on a particular day – though employers and registers commonly refuse one older than three months. Founders and directors arriving from abroad often need both.

How does Justis assess your application?

The employer starts the process and selects a screening profile – the risk areas relevant to the role. A bookkeeper is screened against financial offences; a physiotherapist against violence and sexual offences; a driver against traffic and drug-related offences. The same history can therefore produce a VOG for one job and a refusal for another. Justis then applies two tests in sequence.

The objective criterion: does the offence fit the role?

The first question is whether your judicial data contain an offence which, if repeated, would obstruct proper performance of the role, given the risk to society. This is the test in article 35 Wjsg. It is deliberately abstract: Justis does not ask whether you are likely to reoffend, only whether the offence is of a type that sits badly with the job. If this criterion is not met, the VOG is issued and the matter ends there.

The subjective criterion: how does Justis weigh it?

If the objective criterion is met, refusal is still not automatic. Justis weighs the interest of society against yours, taking into account how often you have come into contact with the criminal justice system, the seriousness of the offence, how much time has passed, your age at the time and the surrounding circumstances. This is where an application is won or lost, and where evidence and argument matter most.

How far back does Justis look?

Justis does not look at your entire life, but over a defined period, the lookback period (terugkijktermijn), running back from the date of the decision. The standard period under the Beleidsregels VOG-NP-RP 2024 is four years. For certain roles and certain offences, such as sexual offences, the policy rules allow Justis to look further back, so an old conviction can still count for a position of that kind.

Justis works from judicial data held in the Netherlands: the Justitieel Documentatiesysteem. For a small number of roles a separate certificate based on police data, the VOG P, applies instead.

Does a conviction abroad count?

What does Justis see by default?

The Dutch system records convictions handed down by Dutch courts. If you have never been prosecuted here, a search of that system finds nothing. That is why many internationals with a conviction abroad receive a VOG without difficulty: it is not that the conviction was forgiven, but that nothing relevant surfaced.

What about a conviction in another EU country?

That is not the whole story. Justis can consult ECRIS, the European Criminal Records Information System, through which EU member states exchange criminal record information. Under ECRIS the member state of your nationality holds the record of convictions handed down against you anywhere in the Union and supplies it on request, including for purposes outside criminal proceedings such as employment screening. So if you are an EU national, a conviction in another member state can reach Justis.

A related instrument, ECRIS-TCN, set up by Regulation (EU) 2019/816, identifies which member states hold conviction records on third-country nationals convicted within the EU. It makes the exchange of that data possible for purposes including VOG screening, so a conviction elsewhere in the EU can reach Justis even if you hold no EU nationality.

What about a conviction outside the EU?

Here the reach is genuinely limited: there is no equivalent automatic exchange with most non-EU states, and such a conviction will not normally appear in the Dutch system by itself. It can still become relevant in two ways – if the underlying facts were also prosecuted in the Netherlands, or if you are asked to produce a certificate of good conduct from that country and it shows something.

Do you need a certificate from your own country as well?

Two situations are constantly conflated and must be kept apart.

• The employer or regulator asks. This is the common case. A Dutch employer, professional body or sector regulator may ask for a certificate covering the years spent abroad, alongside the Dutch VOG. That is a contractual or regulatory requirement, not a Justis one.
• Justis asks. Far less often than internationals expect. The standard Justis application form and guidance for applicants not registered in the Netherlands ask only for the form itself, proof of the reason for the request, a copy of an identity document and proof of payment; no foreign certificate of good conduct is required. The published policy rules, the Beleidsregels VOG-NP-RP 2024, do not set out circumstances in which Justis itself asks for one either. Treat a request for a foreign certificate, therefore, as coming from the employer or the regulator until Justis says otherwise in writing, and check the basis for it before you go to the trouble and expense of obtaining one.

For a regulated profession, a corresponding document issued by the competent authority of the state of origin may be used instead, or, where that state issues no such document, a declaration made under oath. Documents of this kind may not be more than three months old when submitted.

How do you get a foreign certificate recognised?

A foreign certificate usually needs an apostille if the issuing country is party to the Hague Apostille Convention, or full legalisation via the Dutch embassy or consulate if it is not. For an IND application, a document in a language other than Dutch, English, French or German must be translated by a sworn translator. In some countries this takes longer than the whole Dutch VOG procedure.

How does a VOG relate to your residence permit?

Internationals routinely assume a VOG refusal endangers their residence permit, or that holding a permit guarantees a VOG. Both assumptions are wrong. These are separate decisions, by separate authorities, under separate legislation, and they diverge.

Every applicant for a regular residence permit signs an antecedents certificate, declaring whether they are being prosecuted in the Netherlands or abroad, whether they have ever been convicted or sentenced at home or abroad, whether they have been involved in serious international crimes, whether they hold an entry ban from an EU or EEA state or Switzerland, whether they have previously given incorrect information, and whether they have ever stayed unlawfully in the Netherlands. Answering untruthfully is itself an offence and can cost you the permit.

The IND therefore learns about foreign convictions from a source Justis does not use: you. Hence the counterintuitive result that a foreign conviction may be invisible to Justis and squarely in front of the IND.

The immigration side applies a sliding scale: the longer your lawful residence, the more serious the offending must be before residence is withdrawn. That calculus has nothing to do with the screening profile used for the VOG.

How do you apply, and what does it cost?

You cannot ordinarily start a VOG application yourself: the employer or requesting organisation takes the first step. Certain self-employed people in healthcare, financial and legal services are an exception.

• Digital route. The employer submits the request using eHerkenning and selects the screening profile; you receive an email, log in with DigiD, check the details and pay. It carries the lowest of the fees and is exempt from VAT. It requires DigiD and registration in the Dutch population register (BRP).
• Via your municipality. You take the employer’s form to the municipality where you are registered, with valid ID. The fee is higher than for the digital route.
• Not registered in the Netherlands. If you are not in the BRP, you apply directly to Justis by email with the non-residents form, a copy of your passport and proof of payment. The fee must be transferred before the application is processed.

The fees are fixed by ministerial regulation: the digital route is cheapest, a VOG for a legal entity costs more, and roles designated under Article 35a Wjsg pay a reduced fee. Justis publishes the current amounts.

The statutory decision periods run to four weeks for a VOG for a natural person, extended to eight weeks where a refusal is intended, and to eight weeks for a VOG for a legal entity, extended to twelve weeks where a refusal is intended (articles 37 and 38 Wjsg). In practice ordinary applications are usually decided within one to four weeks; Justis itself states that non-resident applications typically take four to eight weeks. The certificate is issued in Dutch with a short English note at the foot – a full English version requires a certified translation.

What happens if Justis intends to refuse?

If Justis finds relevant judicial data, it does not refuse straight away. It sends a voornemen tot afwijzing, a written notice of its intention to refuse, setting out its reasons. You then have a short window to submit a zienswijze, a written statement of your position, through MijnJustis or by post.

This is the most important moment in the procedure: Justis has formed only a provisional view. A good zienswijze engages with the subjective criterion directly: how long ago the offence was, the circumstances, what has changed since, why it does not map onto the risks of this role, and what evidence supports that. For a foreign conviction, also explain its legal context, because the offence may have no close Dutch equivalent.

What if the zienswijze does not work?

If Justis refuses despite your zienswijze, you can file an objection (bezwaar) within six weeks of the decision. A hearing usually follows, at which you can explain your position in person, and Justis then decides on the objection. Under the Awb, the decision period on an objection runs from the end of the objection period; Justis states on its own website that it aims to decide on an objection within twelve weeks of the refusal. If that period passes without a decision, you can serve a notice of default (ingebrekestelling), which is what puts the file back in motion. If the objection fails, you can appeal to the administrative court within six weeks, and in principle appeal further to the Afdeling bestuursrechtspraak van de Raad van State.

The zienswijze takes a couple of weeks; objection and appeal can take many months, which few job offers survive.

Which sectors go further than a one-off VOG?

Some sectors do not stop at a single certificate.

Childcare. Everyone working at, living at, or structurally present at a childcare location must hold a valid VOG, be registered in the Personenregister Kinderopvang and be linked there to their employer. The Justitiële Informatiedienst then checks continuously whether anything incompatible with childcare work has been recorded. If a signal arises, DUO informs the GGD, the person is set to inactive, and a fresh VOG is needed through the employer – without one, the employment ends.

Taxi. Continuous screening applies to drivers holding a Kiwa driver’s card. A signal goes to the Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport and then to Kiwa, which requires a new VOG; without it, the card is withdrawn.

Education. In primary, secondary and senior secondary vocational education, a VOG must be produced on appointment and must in general be no more than six months old. There is no general duty of continuous screening in education.

What should you check as an applicant?

• Which screening profile your employer selected, because Justis tests your history only against the risks of that role.
• Whether you are registered in the BRP: if not, you apply directly to Justis with the non-residents form.
• Whether a foreign certificate is required by Justis, or only by the employer or regulator, before you pay for one.
• That your IND antecedents declaration is complete and truthful, whatever a VOG check would show.
• The deadline in a notice of intention to refuse, so your zienswijze is filed in time.

What should you check as an employer?

• That you select the correct screening profile and position in the eHerkenning request.
• Whether your sector requires continuous screening, as in childcare (Personenregister Kinderopvang) and taxi work.
• For a candidate from abroad: whether you also need a foreign certificate, and that your request has a basis in law or regulation.
• That the VOG is recent enough for your sector, for example no more than six months old in primary education.

What can we do for you with a VOG?

Our criminal lawyers assist internationals and employers in VOG procedures at Justis. We can:

• assess which judicial data Justis can see, including convictions in other EU member states;
• draft your zienswijze within the deadline after a notice of intention to refuse;
• file an objection (bezwaar) within six weeks of a refusal and represent you at the hearing;
• appeal to the administrative court if the objection is rejected;
• check how a foreign conviction affects your antecedents declaration and residence permit at the IND.

Summary

• Justis normally sees only Dutch convictions; a clean Dutch record does not by itself mean a conviction abroad is invisible to every check that touches your case.
• EU convictions can reach Justis through ECRIS, or, for third-country nationals, through ECRIS-TCN. Convictions outside the EU generally do not, unless the facts were also prosecuted here.
• A foreign certificate of good conduct is usually asked for by your employer or regulator, not by Justis itself – check the basis before you obtain one.
• A VOG refusal and an IND residence decision are separate tests by separate authorities; declare foreign matters to the IND honestly regardless of what a VOG check would show.
• If you receive a notice of intention to refuse, the zienswijze window is short and decisive: that is the moment to respond, not the moment to wait.

Frequently asked questions