Article Newsletter Employment Law October 2004
On 1 October 2004 the amendment to the Decree implementing the Foreign Nationals (Employment) Act came into effect. The new rules simplify the procedures and permits for the admission of highly skilled migrants.
The Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) will implement the new policy step-by-step.
What is a highly skilled migrant?
A highly skilled migrant is an individual who moves to the Netherlands to work under an employment contract and earns a gross salary exceeding €45,000, or €32,600 if he/she is younger than 30.
This income criterion does not apply to postgraduates and professors under the age of 30, nor to Ph D students who will join a teaching or research institute.
What are the consequences for employers?
Employers are no longer required to obtain a work permit for the highly skilled migrants they wish to hire. The IND will grant a residence permit for a maximum term of 5 years, subject to the term of the employment contract.
The term used for people who are entitled to this type of temporary residence will be 'highly skilled migrant'.
The Explanatory Memorandum to this new policy states that the employer has the obligation to act.
One of the aspects of this is that an employer must conclude a separate contract with the IND.
The application for a residence permit will be filed on behalf of the employer, who will be responsible for reporting any changes in the employment.
Highly skilled migrants themselves cannot file an application.
The new policy will be implemented step-by-step. The first step will be the conclusion of a contract between all parties involved (All employers who qualify for the simplified temporary residence permit procedure).
The next step is that all other employers who wish to enter into an employment contract with a highly skilled migrant will be allowed to conclude such contracts with the IND.
The new rules offer favourable options to enterprises that wish to hire non-EU nationals.
However, we do not yet know in which way the IND wishes to implement these new rules.
It is for instance yet unclear whether a company that hires a temporary employee through an agency will qualify for the benefits offered by the new rules.
After all, in a formal sense the outsourcer would not be the employer.
The status of a temporary employee who enters the Netherlands on a Schengen visa and will therefore stay in this country for a short period only is unclear as well.
In these cases, we would advise you to apply for a work permit after all.
We anticipate that we will get a clearer picture soon and will of course keep you posted.
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