As someone in America on the "highly-skilled migrant" visa/green card, I can guarantee you that even that is not straightforward here. It's exactly as stress-inducing and risky-feeling as every other US visa, just with a slightly higher chance of success if you fulfill enough criteria.
So even this is a noteworthy point of distinction between NL and here.
Sorry...where did I imply that anyone could get one? Most anyone who graduates and finds a job sure can; and from what I gather it's a far easier and less Kafkaesque process than in the US, too.
I was primarily responding to the point that 5 year visas are unheard of in Europe (which is plainly false).
