Skilled migrants get an exchange route nobody else does, which raises an obvious worry: whether a licence obtained through a tax arrangement survives that arrangement ending. The timing of the application matters more than most people realise, since the route cannot be used retroactively once the ruling has lapsed.
If you or your employer arranged the 30% ruling, you get a shortcut nobody else gets: you can exchange a licence from literally any country, no CBR exams, regardless of whether that country has a deal with RDW. Your partner and children of driving age count too, as long as they're registered at the same address and you apply while the ruling is still active — you can't use this route retroactively once it's already lapsed. The good news for the part people actually worry about: once RDW issues you a Dutch licence through this exchange, it's a normal Dutch licence like anyone else's. Its validity isn't linked to your tax status or your employer. If the 30% ruling ends, or you switch jobs, or you leave that employer entirely, your Dutch licence keeps working exactly as before, right up to its normal renewal date.