Dutch work visa requirements: permits, sponsors and salary

The work visa requirements in the Netherlands depend on one thing before anything else: your nationality. Nationals of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland may live and work here without a permit. Everyone else needs a residence permit that allows employment, and for the large majority that permit is applied for by the employer, not by the employee. Whether you qualify then turns on the route: the highly skilled migrant scheme and the EU Blue Card are salary-driven, while other routes test the job, the research post or the business plan. Employers hiring from outside the EU for longer than 90 days usually need a single permit (GVVA).

Who needs a permit to work in the Netherlands?

Only nationals of countries outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland. They need a residence permit that allows work, and their employer usually needs authorisation as well.

Citizens of an EU or EEA member state and of Switzerland exercise the right of free movement. They do not need a residence permit or a work permit, their employer needs no authorisation, and they may take any job on the same footing as a Dutch national. Registration with the municipality is still required once a stay exceeds four months, and that registration produces the citizen service number (burgerservicenummer, BSN) without which you cannot be paid, insured or taxed properly.

Third-country nationals need a residence permit that permits work, and the employer generally needs authorisation as well. There are three main constructions. Under the highly skilled migrant scheme and the EU Blue Card the residence permit itself carries the right to work, and no separate employment authorisation is required; for a highly skilled migrant, the employer must be a recognised sponsor. For work that does not qualify as highly skilled, the employer applies for a single permit for residence and employment (gecombineerde vergunning voor verblijf en arbeid, GVVA), for which the UWV assesses the labour market position. For stays of less than three months, or where the worker already has a residence permit for another purpose, the employer applies for a separate work permit (tewerkstellingsvergunning, TWV) from the UWV.

The distinction matters because the GVVA and TWV routes carry a labour market test. The UWV will only authorise the employment if there is no suitable candidate available within the Netherlands or the wider EEA, which in practice means the vacancy must have been registered and genuinely advertised for a set period before the application. Refusals on this ground are common and are the reason most employers reach for the highly skilled migrant route where they can. The highly skilled migrant scheme and the EU Blue Card carry no labour market test at all, which is precisely what makes them attractive.

Why must your employer be a recognised sponsor?

For the highly skilled migrant scheme and most other employment routes, only a recognised sponsor (erkend referent) can apply for you. Your residence status then depends on that employer.

Recognition brings two practical advantages. The IND processes applications from recognised sponsors on the basis of the sponsor's own declaration, so far fewer supporting documents have to be submitted up front, and decisions come considerably faster than the statutory maximum. In exchange, the sponsor takes on continuing duties: an obligation to inform the IND of relevant changes, such as the end of the employment or a change in salary, an administration duty requiring the file to be kept for five years after the employment ends, and a duty of care towards the employee. Breaching those duties can lead to an administrative fine, to the withdrawal of recognition, and to the residence permits of the sponsored staff being revoked.

For an employee this has an uncomfortable consequence: your residence status is tied to your employer. If you change jobs, the new employer must be a recognised sponsor and a new application is required before you start. If you are dismissed or resign, the IND must be notified and the permit will be withdrawn, subject to the search period described below. Checking that a prospective employer actually appears in the IND's public register of recognised sponsors is a five-minute exercise that avoids a great deal of trouble.

Which permit fits your situation?

That depends on your job, your salary and your plans. The main routes are the highly skilled migrant scheme, the EU Blue Card, the intra-corporate transfer, the researcher permit, the orientation year, the start-up and self-employed permits and the single permit.

Two of these deserve a second look before you commit. The Dutch highly skilled migrant scheme is the fastest and most flexible route if your salary clears the threshold, but it locks you to a sponsor. The EU Blue Card demands a formal qualification or, for ICT roles, comparable experience, yet it is the better choice if you expect to work in more than one member state, because periods of residence under a Blue Card count towards long-term resident status across the Union. Founders should read our note on the start-up visa for foreign founders before assuming the self-employed route is the only option. A fuller comparison of the categories is set out in our overview of work permits for the Netherlands.

How does the IND apply the salary condition?

Strictly. It compares the fixed gross monthly salary in your contract, excluding holiday allowance, with the threshold for your category, and refuses the application if the salary is lower.

What are the salary thresholds for 2026?

The IND amounts below apply from 1 January 2026. They are gross monthly amounts, excluding the 8% holiday allowance (vakantiegeld).

The amounts change again on 1 January 2027. Check the IND table of required amounts before you sign a contract.

In practice, four rules cause the most trouble.

• Gross, fixed and guaranteed. Only salary that is fixed, agreed in writing and paid out monthly counts. A bonus that depends on performance, an expense allowance or a share option does not count towards the threshold, however reliably it is paid.

• Holiday allowance is not automatically included. Dutch employees are entitled to a statutory holiday allowance on top of salary. The IND publishes thresholds excluding that allowance, so a contract that quotes an annual package including holiday allowance can look compliant and fail.

• Part-time work does not scale the threshold down. The amount is a monthly amount and it is not reduced pro rata. A part-time contract must still reach the full figure.

• The salary must be market-conform. Beyond the threshold, the IND may test whether the salary is customary for the role and the sector. A junior position paid at exactly the threshold in an industry where such roles pay far less invites questions.

The salary condition also has to be met for the whole period of the permit, not only on the day of the application. If your salary falls below the threshold, for instance because you move to a lower-paid position or reduce your hours, the sponsor must report it and the permit can be withdrawn. Crossing an age boundary works in your favour rather than against it: once you have been admitted under the lower threshold for applicants under 30, that lower amount continues to apply to that employment.

How does the application procedure work?

Your employer files one application with the IND for both the entry visa (MVV), if you need one, and the residence permit. You then collect the MVV, travel to the Netherlands, register with the municipality and collect your residence permit.

Most employment applications run through a single combined procedure known as the entry and residence procedure (Toegang en Verblijf, TEV). One application covers both the provisional residence permit that allows you to travel to the Netherlands, the machtiging tot voorlopig verblijf or MVV, and the residence permit itself. Nationals of a number of countries are exempt from the MVV requirement and apply for the residence permit alone.

The employer, as recognised sponsor, files the application with the IND and pays the statutory fee. The IND assesses it and, in the case of a recognised sponsor, largely relies on the sponsor's declaration that the conditions are met. On approval, an applicant who needs an MVV collects it from the Dutch embassy or consulate in the country of residence or usual stay, and must travel to the Netherlands within its validity. After arrival the applicant registers with the municipality, which issues the BSN, and attends an IND desk to provide biometrics and collect the residence permit card. Where required by nationality, a tuberculosis test must be undergone after arrival; the obligation is accepted in writing at the application stage.

Documents issued abroad generally have to be legalised, either through an apostille where the country is party to the Apostille Convention or through the consular legalisation chain where it is not, and a sworn translation is required unless the document is in Dutch, English, French or German. Legalisation is the step that most often adds weeks to a timetable, because it happens in the country of origin and cannot be accelerated from the Netherlands.

The core file normally consists of a passport valid well beyond the intended start date, with copies of all pages containing personal details, stamps or visas; the signed employment contract stating the function and the gross monthly salary; proof of qualifications where the route requires them, legalised and translated; the antecedents certificate, a standard declaration about criminal history; and, where applicable, legalised civil status documents for accompanying family members.

How long does it take, and what if the IND is late or refuses?

The IND must decide within 90 days, but applications from recognised sponsors are often decided much faster. You can object to a refusal within four weeks.

The decision period only starts once a complete application has been received, and the IND may suspend it while it asks for missing documents. Delay is therefore almost always caused on the applicant's side of the file: a passport that expires too soon, a diploma still going through legalisation, a contract that quotes an annual package rather than a monthly gross salary, or a change of address that is not passed on. Where the decision period is exceeded, you can send the IND a written notice of default and, if it still has not decided two weeks later, appeal to the court against the failure to decide. Since 15 April 2025, however, the IND no longer owes a penalty payment (dwangsom) for late decisions in immigration cases. In ordinary cases a phone call from the sponsor achieves more.

If the application is refused, the decision is an administrative decision and can be challenged. In immigration matters the period for lodging an objection or an appeal is four weeks under Article 69 of the Aliens Act 2000, rather than the general six-week period of the General Administrative Law Act (Algemene wet bestuursrecht, Awb). That period is short and it is strict: a late objection is declared inadmissible without the merits being considered. Lodging an objection does not automatically suspend the effect of the decision, so a separate application for interim relief may be needed.

Can your family come with you?

Yes. Your partner and minor children can apply together with you, and the partner of a highly skilled migrant or Blue Card holder may work in the Netherlands without a separate permit.

A residence permit for work carries a right for close family members to join you, and their applications are normally filed together with yours by the same sponsor. The category covers a spouse or registered partner, an unmarried partner in a lasting and exclusive relationship, and minor children who genuinely belong to the family unit. Documents proving the relationship, such as marriage and birth certificates, must be legalised and translated in the same way as your own.

The important practical point is the labour market position of the partner. A residence permit granted to the partner of a highly skilled migrant or an EU Blue Card holder allows free access to the labour market: the partner may take any job, may work as a freelancer or may start a business, and no employer authorisation is needed. That is a significant advantage over routes in which the partner is tied to the sponsor, and it is worth confirming in writing which permit the partner will receive before the family relocates.

What happens if your job ends?

As a highly skilled migrant you have a search period of three months from the end of your employment to find a new recognised sponsor.

The sponsor must notify the IND that the employment has ended, after which the IND withdraws the permit. The search period is counted from the date the employment ends, not from the date the IND acts, so waiting for a letter wastes it. And if the employment ends by mutual consent through a settlement agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst), the wording of that agreement about the end date and about garden leave has a direct effect on how much of the search period you actually have. It is worth having the agreement checked before signing it, and not only for immigration reasons.

Time spent lawfully in the Netherlands on a work permit counts towards a permanent residence permit and, subject to separate conditions, towards naturalisation. Periods spent under a start-up permit or an orientation year permit count differently from periods as a highly skilled migrant, which is a reason to think about the sequence of permits rather than only about the next one.

Is the 30% ruling part of your permit?

No. The 30% ruling is a separate tax scheme, granted by the Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) on a joint application by you and your employer, which allows part of the salary to be paid as a tax-free reimbursement of extraterritorial costs.

You must have been recruited from abroad, which means that you lived more than 150 kilometres from the Dutch border for at least 16 of the 24 months before starting work, and you must meet a separate salary norm. An application made within four months of the start of employment takes effect from the first working day. The percentage is scheduled to fall to 27% from 2027; have the scheme assessed by a tax adviser alongside the residence application.

Do you need a permit for a business trip or a posting?

Meetings and conferences during a short stay usually do not require a work permit, but performing work on site, such as installation, maintenance or delivering a service, usually does. A third-country national who needs a visa may stay in the Schengen area on a short-stay visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

A company established in another EU or EEA member state or in Switzerland that posts its own employees to the Netherlands must notify the posting in advance through the online reporting portal under the Posted Workers in the European Union Act (WagwEU), and must apply the core Dutch terms of employment, including the statutory minimum wage. Where the posted worker is a third-country national, the immigration rules apply on top of that.

What do employers risk if they get it wrong?

Employing a third-country national without the required authorisation breaches the Foreign Nationals Employment Act (Wav). The Netherlands Labour Authority (Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie) can impose a fine per worker, since 1 February 2025 between €2,250 and €11,250, and can order the work to stop. The person for whom the work is actually performed also counts as an employer, so a company that hires in staff through an agency or subcontractor can be fined as well.

Under the Act on admission of providers of labour (Wtta), the admission system starts on 1 January 2027 and, from 1 January 2028, agencies and other providers of hired labour need admission, while using a provider that has not been admitted is itself prohibited. Existing providers had to register with the NAU between 1 November and 31 December 2026 to use the transitional arrangement.

What should you check as an employee?

• That your future employer appears in the IND public register of recognised sponsors before you accept the job.
• That your fixed gross monthly salary, excluding holiday allowance and bonuses, meets the 2026 threshold for your category.
• That you start legalising diplomas and civil status documents before the application, not alongside it.
• That you do not start work until the permit has been granted, or the law allows work while the application is pending.
• If your job ends: the date the employment ends, because your three-month search period runs from that date.

What should you check as an employer?

• Whether you need recognised sponsor status, a single permit (GVVA) with a labour market test, or a TWV from the UWV.
• That the contract states a fixed gross monthly salary, not only an annual package.
• That you check the identity document of every worker and keep a copy in the records; a driving licence is not sufficient.
• That you report changes in salary, hours, position or the end of employment to the IND within four weeks.
• That postings by foreign contractors on your site have been notified under the WagwEU.

What can we do for you with a Dutch work permit?

Our immigration lawyers advise employers and international professionals on work and residence permits; see also our overview of Dutch immigration law. We can:

• determine which residence purpose fits the job, salary and nationality;
• help an employer apply for recognised sponsor status with the IND;
• check the employment contract against the IND salary criterion before it is signed;
• prepare and file the application, including the MVV and family members;
• file an objection (bezwaar) or appeal within the four-week deadline of Article 69 of the Aliens Act 2000;
• advise an employer on a fine notice from the Netherlands Labour Authority.

Summary

• EU, EEA and Swiss nationals can work in the Netherlands without a permit; others need a residence permit that allows work.
• For the highly skilled migrant scheme and the EU Blue Card, your employer must be a recognised sponsor and your fixed gross monthly salary must meet the IND threshold.
• The IND decides within 90 days at most; since 15 April 2025 no penalty payment is due if it is late.
• You can object to a refusal within four weeks.
• If your job ends, a highly skilled migrant has three months to find a new sponsor.

Frequently asked questions