Can a highly skilled migrant bring a partner and children to the Netherlands?

Yes. A highly skilled migrant can bring a spouse, a registered partner, an unmarried partner and minor children. According to the IND, the partner of a highly skilled migrant is free to work in the Netherlands, so no work permit is needed, and the employer can file the family applications as a recognised sponsor.

Engineers rarely move alone. For a company hiring its first person from outside Europe, the family side is usually what decides whether the offer is accepted, and it is handled by the same office, the IND, the Dutch immigration service.

This guide covers the family of someone coming on the highly skilled migrant permit or the EU Blue Card. It uses the conditions and the amounts as the IND publishes them.

Who counts as family?

A spouse, a registered partner, an unmarried partner in a long-term exclusive relationship, and minor children. The IND asks the couple to live together in the Netherlands and to register with the municipality at the same address. Both partners have to be 21 or older.

There is one exception to the age. If the couple was already married while both partners still lived outside the Netherlands, 18 is enough.

For children, the IND asks that the child is under 18, belongs to the family and also belonged to it abroad, and is not married and not living with a partner of their own. The parent has to hold parental authority. If a second parent with custody stays behind, that parent has to give consent for the child to leave.

Sources:
IND, Residence permit for partner
IND, Residence permit for minor child to stay with parent

Does an unmarried partner qualify?

Yes. The IND recognises three kinds of relationship for this permit: marriage, registered partnership, and an unmarried partner in a long-term exclusive relationship. There is no requirement to marry first, which is the point most founders from outside Europe check before anything else.

An unmarried couple does have to make the relationship visible. The pair register at the same address in the municipality where they live, and the IND looks at the relationship being long-term and exclusive rather than at a document. Each family member applies for their own permit: in 2026 the application costs EUR 254 for a partner and EUR 85 for a child under 18.

Sources:
IND, Residence permit for partner
IND, Fees: costs of an application

Can the partner work in the Netherlands?

Yes, without a work permit. The IND says that partners of a highly skilled migrant, a holder of a European Blue Card and an intra-corporate transferee are free to work. That covers employment and self-employment, and no separate application by the partner's employer is needed.

Children follow the parent: the IND says a child's permission to work mirrors the rights of the parent they come to live with, and that from a certain age children may do holiday work or hold a part-time job. For a family arriving from Seoul, Tokyo or Taipei, this is often the difference between one income and two.

Sources:
IND, Residence permit for partner
IND, Residence permit for minor child to stay with parent

What does the employee have to earn?

Enough, in almost every case. The IND asks the family member in the Netherlands to have an income that is independent, sustainable and sufficient. For a partner, the required amount is EUR 2,337.00 gross social security salary per month without holiday allowance, or EUR 2,523.96 with it, for the period 1 July 2026 up to and including 31 December 2026.

A highly skilled migrant is already well above that line, because the salary criterion for this permit is higher. The 2026 amounts per category are set out in the minimum salary for a highly skilled migrant. Sustainable, for paid employment, means a contract that still runs for at least another 12 months, including any probation period, or enough average income over the 3 years before the application. The tax side of the package, including the expat scheme, is covered in the 30% ruling.

Sources:
IND, Required amounts income requirements
IND, Income requirements: independent, sustainable and sufficient income

Does the family have to pass an exam first?

Only in some cases. According to the IND, the civic integration exam abroad applies to a partner who needs an MVV, the entry visa for a stay longer than 90 days, in order to come and live with their partner. Where no MVV is needed, that exam does not come up.

The IND publishes both lists, and for a lot of founders they settle the question. Nationals of the United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Monaco and Vatican City do not need an MVV, and the same nationalities appear on the exemption list for the exam, alongside applicants under 18 and EU and EEA nationals.

Timing is the other thing worth knowing. The IND has a form for family members of an employee filed through a recognised sponsor, so the family case can travel with the employee's own. Where the employee is coming on an EU Blue Card, the IND applies a decision period of 30 days to a family application filed at the same time as the card. Its monthly figures say it decides the vast majority of family and partner cases within three months, with 2,820 decisions in August 2026. How the Blue Card differs from the national permit is set out in the requirements for an EU Blue Card.

Sources:
IND, Civic integration exam abroad
IND, Provisional residence permit MVV
IND, Decision periods
IND, Monthly figures on regular migration

Sources

1. IND, Residence permit for partner, checked 22 September 2026
2. IND, Residence permit for minor child to stay with parent, checked 22 September 2026
3. IND, Required amounts income requirements, checked 22 September 2026
4. IND, Income requirements: independent, sustainable and sufficient income, checked 22 September 2026
5. IND, Civic integration exam abroad, checked 22 September 2026
6. IND, Decision periods, checked 22 September 2026
7. IND, Fees: costs of an application, checked 22 September 2026

Checked on 22 September 2026. This page is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change: check the official source, or ask an adviser, before you act on it.