Highly Skilled Migrant Netherlands: What Employers Must Monitor After Hiring

On 28 April 2025, the sub-district court in The Hague ruled against a staffing agency in a case about a highly skilled migrant (ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2025:14937). The agency had told the IND it would pay him €4,000 a month, but paid him far less. The IND found the shortfall through government income data and announced that it intended to withdraw his residence permit, and four days later the agency dismissed him with immediate effect. The court held that the cause of the permit problem lay with the employer, not the employee: there was no urgent reason for summary dismissal, the employment continued, and the agency was ordered to pay the salary it had declared to the IND, with back pay and a statutory increase. The case shows that highly skilled migrant Netherlands employer obligations run for the whole employment, and that a failure lands on both the employer and the employee. This guide explains what Dutch sponsors must check after hiring, what the 2026 salary criteria are, and what has to be reported to the IND.

What the IND expects from a sponsor

To employ a highly skilled migrant (kennismigrant) in the Netherlands, a company must hold recognised sponsor status from the IND (Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst). This status comes with a defined set of obligations that employers must fulfil for every sponsored employee:

1. Maintain salary above threshold at all times

The IND's gross monthly salary criteria (excluding holiday allowance) for 2026 are:

• Aged 30 or over: €5,942
• Younger than 30: €4,357
• Reduced salary criterion (mainly recent graduates, for example after an orientation year): €3,122
• EU Blue Card: €5,942, or €4,754 under the reduced criterion

Holiday allowance, payments in kind and non-regular, uncertain pay (such as overtime allowances) do not count; fixed allowances in the contract, such as a thirteenth month paid in 12 equal monthly parts, do. The criterion must be met for the whole permit, not just at the time of the application.

2. Report changes within 4 weeks

Changes that affect the residence permit or your recognition, for example the employee earning too little, stopping work, or the company ending or going into liquidation, must be reported to the IND, mostly within 4 weeks. Late reporting is itself a violation of sponsor obligations.

3. Keep records for 5 years after sponsorship ends

Sponsors must keep the information relating to each sponsored employee until 5 years after they stop being that person's sponsor, and make it available to the IND when asked.

4. Report the end of employment

When a highly skilled migrant's employment ends, report it to the IND within 4 weeks. The employee then has a job search period of 3 months, or 6 months if they have held the permit for at least 2 years and became unemployed on or after 22 May 2026. It starts on the day the employment contract ends, and cannot run past the permit's expiry date.

5. Report company changes to the IND

Changes to the sponsor itself, such as the organisation ending, a suspension of payments or liquidation, must also be reported. Before a merger or a change of legal entity, check with the IND or an adviser how the recognition and existing permits are affected.

How pay drops below the criterion

The usual route is a pay restructuring. When a fixed salary becomes a lower base plus a performance bonus, the guaranteed monthly pay can fall below the criterion even if the total is higher, because uncertain pay does not count towards it. If nobody connects the change to the IND, the 4-week report is never made, and the IND finds the shortfall later in government income data, as it did in the 2025 case.

So route every change to pay or pay structure for a highly skilled migrant past the person who handles IND reporting before it takes effect.

What the April 2025 ruling shows

The Hague ruling (April 2025) and the IND's own rules show what is at stake:

• The IND checks income data: In that case, the IND found the shortfall itself through government income data, without waiting for a renewal.
• The permit can be withdrawn: If the salary criterion is not met, the IND can withdraw the residence permit, and the employee's right to live and work in the Netherlands goes with it.
• The employer carries the cost: The court held that the cause lay with the employer, annulled the summary dismissal and ordered the agency to pay the salary it had declared to the IND, plus back pay and a statutory increase.
• IND fines and loss of recognition: The IND can fine organisations up to €3,000 per violation of the information obligation or duty of care (usually after a warning, and higher for repeat violations). After three such fines, or other serious failures, it can withdraw the company's recognised sponsor status.

What HR Teams Can Do

Prevention:

• Build a highly skilled migrant register with: employee name, date of birth (the criterion changes at 30), monthly salary criterion, current guaranteed salary, permit expiry, last IND report date
• Add a compliance review step to every compensation change process: before implementing any salary restructuring, HR must verify the post-change guaranteed salary for all sponsored employees
• Run monthly salary checks against the IND criterion, and update salaries when the IND changes the criteria (every year on 1 January)
• Report changes that affect the permit to the IND within 4 weeks, do not wait for renewal

On company changes:

• Any merger, acquisition, or change in legal entity must be reviewed for IND implications before completion
• Report changes to the sponsor itself to the IND within 4 weeks

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the salary threshold for highly skilled migrants in the Netherlands in 2026?

For 2026, the gross monthly salary criteria (excluding holiday allowance) are €5,942 for migrants aged 30 or over, €4,357 for those under 30, and €3,122 under the reduced criterion for recent graduates. The EU Blue Card criterion is €5,942, or €4,754 reduced. Holiday allowance, payments in kind and non-regular, uncertain pay do not count.

How quickly must Dutch sponsors report salary changes to the IND?

Changes that affect the residence permit, such as the employee no longer earning enough, must mostly be reported within 4 weeks. Late reporting is itself a violation of the information obligation, which the IND can sanction with a warning or a fine.

What happens when the IND withdraws a highly skilled migrant permit?

The employee loses the residence permit the work depends on. They can object and appeal, but whether they can stay and work in the meantime depends on the decision and the stage of the case, so specialist advice is needed quickly. Preventing a shortfall is far easier than undoing one.

What did the April 2025 Hague ruling establish about employer liability?

In the ruling (ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2025:14937), the sub-district court in The Hague held that the staffing agency, not the employee, was responsible for the permit problem because it had paid less than the salary it declared to the IND. The summary dismissal did not stand, the employment continued, and the agency had to pay the declared salary with back pay and a statutory increase. It is a first-instance ruling, but it shows the financial risk for employers.

How Settio keeps permits on track

Most permit problems start with a date or a salary nobody was watching. Settio helps employers and immigration agencies watch both, for every person, before they move, after they arrive and at every renewal:

• Permit and salary monitoring tracks every expiry date and the salary each permit was granted on, and turns a dip or a missing month into a follow-up step with an owner.
• Plans for every case, from the first application to the extension, with each deadline counted for you.
• Your whole international workforce at a glance: import the people already on permits and see their risks in minutes.

Try it with your own people: see how to start for free.

Sources

6 official sources

• IND: Required amounts, income requirements (2026)
• IND: Residence permit for a highly skilled migrant
• IND: Obligations of sponsor and recognised sponsor
• IND: Administrative fine for not meeting obligations
• IND: Suspension and withdrawal of recognition as sponsor
• Rechtspraak: Rechtbank Den Haag, 28 April 2025, ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2025:14937