One of the requirements of the highly skilled migrant procedure is to be a recognised sponsor for the Dutch immigration services IND. Until January 1, 2017 this sponsorship could be applied for at the IND and regardless of the size of the company, the governmental costs for this application were €5.183,00. For smaller companies this is a big amount, so they made less use of the procedure. Now the government has decided that the governmental fee for companies up to 50 employees will be reduced to €2.592,00.
Impact
This means that the highly skilled migrant procedure will become more attractive for small companies. What we see is that also small companies would like to attract talent from abroad and that was difficult because of the costs related to the application for the sponsorship and for the individual applications. Starting from January 1, 2017 this will be easier due to lower governmental costs.
Procedure to become a recognised sponsor
The procedure takes 4 weeks to 3 months time, depending on your company’s situation. If the company has been established in the Netherlands for more than 1,5 years, it will be more like 4 weeks. You will have to prove that the company has duly paid its wage taxes and other information will need to be shared.
If the company enters the Netherlands, or is a fairly new company (< 1,5 years), a business plan will have to be submitted together with the application. The business plan will have to meet strict requirements.
Should you be interested in our assistance, please note that we successfully apply for approximately 10 sponsorships per year. We will provide accurate instructions about the documents that are required and will judge them upon receipt. If we think that adjustments are needed, we will tell you before we submit the application. We will follow up on the application on a weekly basis, so that you will keep informed about the progress.
After approval
Once the company is a recognised sponsor, you/we will be able to submit applications for highly skilled migrants. Most of the times, this is the fastest way to get employees from abroad to the Netherlands. Highly skilled migrants in small companies may have a big added value. You may think of special knowledge, skills, culture.
A granted recognised sponsorship will stay in place for 3 years, or as long as you have a highly skilled migrant on your payroll.
Would you like to know more about the highly skilled migrant procedure? Please feel free to contact our office.
