What qualifies as a highly skilled migrant in the Netherlands?

A highly skilled migrant is someone with an employment contract from a Dutch employer that the IND has approved as a recognised sponsor, whose salary is above the amount the IND sets for their age or situation, and whose pay matches the market rate for the job. There is no diploma requirement and no separate work permit.

In the Netherlands, highly skilled migrant is a legal category, not a compliment. The Dutch word is kennismigrant, which translates as knowledge migrant. It is the route most foreign-owned companies use for their first engineers in Amsterdam, Eindhoven or Delft, and the test behind it is narrower and more mechanical than the name suggests.

This guide is for a company that has just set up a Dutch entity, or is about to, and wants to know whether its candidate fits and what has to be in place before the first application can be sent.

What makes someone a highly skilled migrant?

Not a diploma. According to the IND, the Dutch immigration service, the test is the job: the person has an employment contract with a Dutch employer that the IND has recognised as a sponsor, the salary is above the amount set for their age or situation, and that salary is normal for the work. No separate work permit is needed.

Business.gov.nl gives the usual roles as engineer, software developer, manager or specialist, researcher and physician in training. The category is open to any job that clears the salary amount, which is why the amount does the work that a diploma does in other countries.

Two groups are measured differently. Researchers at a Dutch institution and doctors in training to be a specialist meet the income test at the level of the statutory minimum wage instead of the highly skilled migrant amount, with extra conditions on how their appointment is classified.

Sources:
IND, Residence permit for work as a highly skilled migrant, publication 3072
Business.gov.nl, Employing highly skilled migrants

What does the company have to arrange first?

Recognition. According to the IND, a company can only apply for a highly skilled migrant permit once it is a recognised sponsor, and recognition is a separate application with its own fee and its own decision period of three months. Most other work permits do not have that step, which is why a company's first hire takes far longer than its second.

The order is fixed, because each step needs the one before it:

1. Set up the Dutch company and register it with the KvK, the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. See how to set up a Dutch BV from abroad.
2. Get the company recognised as a sponsor by the IND. The conditions, the fee and the steps are in how a company becomes an IND recognised sponsor.
3. Sign the employment contract and check the salary against the amount for the year. The figures are in the minimum salary for a highly skilled migrant in 2026.
4. Apply. The recognised sponsor files the application, and files for the travel visa at the same time if the employee needs one.

The IND charges EUR 423 for a first highly skilled migrant application in 2026, and the same amount for an extension. Fees are set each year on 1 January.

Sources:
IND, Apply for recognition as sponsor
IND, Fees: costs of an application

Which parts of pay count towards the salary test?

According to the IND, the gross monthly salary counts, without holiday allowance, and it has to be transferred every month into a bank account in the employee's own name. Fixed allowances count as well, if they are written into the contract and paid monthly. Holiday allowance, pay in kind and irregular items do not count at all.

That last group is where offers get rejected. The IND does not count:

• holiday allowance, even though it is part of almost every Dutch contract;
• the value of anything paid in kind, such as housing or a car;
• pay that may or may not arrive, such as overtime, tips or payments from a fund.

A thirteenth month does count, but only if the employer pays it out in twelve equal monthly amounts rather than once a year. That is a contract drafting decision, taken before the application, and it cannot be repaired afterwards.

Sources:
IND, Required amounts income requirements
IND, Residence permit for work as a highly skilled migrant, publication 3072

Who does not need a recognised sponsor?

Turkish nationals. The IND states that the recognised sponsor requirement does not apply to highly skilled migrants and researchers with Turkish nationality, under the association agreement between the European Union and Turkiye. The employer may still choose to become recognised, and the IND says the procedure then moves faster.

Other routes avoid the requirement in a different way: they are not the highly skilled migrant route at all. The EU Blue Card, an intra-company transfer and the scheme for essential start-up personnel all work without recognition, each with its own conditions. Which one fits a given team is set out in which visa route fits your team, and the Blue Card in detail in the requirements for an EU Blue Card. For companies coming from Istanbul, the wider route is on the Turkiye corridor page.

Sources:
IND, Apply for recognition as sponsor
IND, Enabling an employee to come to the Netherlands, publication 3089

What happens when the employee turns 30 or changes job?

According to the IND, an employee admitted under the amount for people under 30 keeps that amount while they stay with the same employer, even after turning 30. On a change of employer, the amount for their age on the date the new contract starts applies instead. The reduced amount for recent graduates is not tied to age at all and travels with them.

The permit itself runs for as long as the contract, up to a maximum of five years. A new employer has to be a recognised sponsor too and files a new application, so an employee cannot simply move to a company that has not been through the recognition step.

Source: IND, Residence permit for work as a highly skilled migrant, publication 3072

How long the decision takes

The IND has a legal decision period of 90 days for a highly skilled migrant application. When a recognised sponsor files a complete application, the IND says it aims to decide within two weeks. The gap between those two numbers is the whole point of recognition, and it is covered in how long the IND takes to decide.

Sources:
IND, Decision periods
IND, Residence permit for work as a highly skilled migrant, publication 3072

Sources

1. IND, Residence permit for work as a highly skilled migrant, publication 3072 (PDF), checked 22 September 2026
2. IND, Enabling an employee to come to the Netherlands, publication 3089 (PDF), checked 22 September 2026
3. IND, Required amounts income requirements, checked 22 September 2026
4. IND, Apply for recognition as sponsor, checked 22 September 2026
5. IND, Fees: costs of an application, checked 22 September 2026
6. IND, Decision periods, checked 22 September 2026
7. Business.gov.nl, Employing highly skilled migrants, 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.