Highly Skilled Migrant Scheme

A very effective way to bring foreign staff to the Netherlands is through the highly skilled migrant scheme. The highly skilled migrant scheme has two conditions:

  • The wage criterion

In order to be regarded as a highly skilled migrant, the foreign employee must earn at least the following monthly salary, per January 1st 2023:

  • Highly skilled migrant 30 years or older: €5.008 gross per month
  • Highly skilled migrant younger than 30 years: €3.672 gross per month
  • Reduced salary criterion after orientation year: €2.631 gross per month

All amounts are exclusive of 8% holiday allowance. PhD students, regardless of their age, employed by educational or research institutions, and university lecturers as well as postdoctoral researchers under the age of thirty can be regarded as highly skilled migrants. There is no wage criterion for this group.

There is a general condition that the salary offered must be in line with the market. In practice, this means that the IND can on occasion check whether the salary level corresponds to the salary of others who perform similar functions at other similar business.

  • Recognized sponsor

The second condition of the highly skilled migrant scheme is that the employer must be a so-called sponsor recognized by the IND.

The company must be sufficiently solvent to pay the salary of the highly skilled migrant if it is to be admitted to the highly skilled migrant scheme. And the continuity of the business must be sufficiently guaranteed. In addition, it is assessed whether the company has a history of good payment behavior with the tax authorities, and whether the business has been subject to administrative fines in the past because illegal employment of foreign nationals.

To be admitted to the highly skilled migrant scheme, a company must submit an application to the IND. For start-ups is has always been a challenge to become a recognized sponsor, but in recent years the bar has also been raised for established companies as well. When in doubt about the companies solvency and continuity, the IND will seeks advice from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Unfortunately this is always a time consuming process.

As  a solution to this challenge an employer can choose to have the employed outsources through an umbrella agency. Our firm can facilitate this solution via on of our partners. Another alternative to the highly skilled migrant scheme is applying for a Blue card. This option does not require the employer to be a recognized sponsor but it does have a higher salary requirement.

For information about the procedure for admission as a recognized sponsor and about applying for residence permits for highly skilled migrants, please contact one of our specialists. In addition to the application for recognized sponsorship, we can arrange applications for the admission of your foreign employees. Call, 0031 20 223 2466, or email, info@arslanlitadvocaten.nl, us. We are happy to help!