AETHERION Worldwide is the fundraising and landing practice of AETHERION Capital.
How long does the IND take to decide on a highly skilled migrant application?
According to the IND, the legal decision period for a highly skilled migrant application is 90 days. In practice it is much shorter. The IND says it tries to decide applications from a recognised sponsor within two weeks, and that it handles the vast majority of knowledge and talent cases within a month.
Two numbers circulate about this permit, and they are both correct. One is the period the law gives the IND, the Dutch immigration service. The other is the period the IND aims at for companies it has recognised as sponsors. Planning a start date on the wrong one is how a hire slips a quarter.
This guide separates the two, using what the IND publishes, and shows where the time actually goes for a company that is new to the Netherlands.
What is the legal decision period?
According to the IND, a legal decision period of 90 days applies to an application for work as a highly skilled migrant. That is the outer limit, the point at which the IND has to have decided. It is not a forecast of how long your case will take.
Some related applications run on shorter legal periods. An EU Blue Card applied for by a recognised sponsor has a decision period of 30 days. An employee who already holds a Dutch work permit and only changes employer falls under a legal period of 45 days for applications submitted from 22 May 2026. The differences between these permits are set out in what qualifies as a highly skilled migrant.
Source: IND, Decision periods
How long does it take in practice?
Much less, if the employer is a recognised sponsor. The IND states that it processes applications from recognised sponsors faster and tries to decide within 2 weeks, and that in some cases the target is 7 weeks, for example when a work permit is also needed. Its own description of the scheme says it usually decides in a couple of weeks.
The IND's monthly figures point the same way. It groups highly skilled migrants together with orientation year graduates and staff transferred to a European branch under the heading knowledge and talent, and says it processes the vast majority of those applications within a month. In August 2026 it took 1,700 decisions in that group and received 1,670 new applications.
Two weeks is a target, not an entitlement. It says nothing about a case where documents are missing, and it only exists because someone at the company did the slow part first.
Sources:
IND, Apply for recognition as sponsor
IND, National highly skilled migrant scheme
IND, Monthly figures on regular migration
When does the clock start?
The IND states that the decision period starts on the day it receives the application. It does not start when you begin collecting documents, when the employee accepts the offer, or when the company decides to hire.
For a company that is not yet a recognised sponsor, that is the sentence that matters most. Recognition is mandatory before a highly skilled migrant application can be filed at all, except for applicants with Turkish nationality, and the IND has 3 months to decide on the recognition request itself. So the first hire of a new Dutch subsidiary carries two decision periods in a row, not one. The steps and the costs of that first one are in how a company becomes an IND recognised sponsor.
Sources:
IND, Decision periods
IND, Apply for recognition as sponsor
What can make it take longer?
An incomplete file, and further investigation. If the application is not complete, the IND writes to the applicant or the representative, gives 2 weeks to send the missing documents, and extends the decision period by 2 weeks. On a first application for work as a highly skilled migrant the IND may also extend the legal decision period by 30 days, and it has to explain why, for example because it needs to investigate further.
Documents from outside Europe are the usual cause of a slow start. Foreign official documents have to be legalised or carry an apostille, and foreign evidence has to be in Dutch, English, French or German. The IND warns that legalisation can take a long time and advises starting several months before the application. What to have ready before any of this begins is listed in what you need before your first hire in the Netherlands.
Sources:
IND, Decision periods
IND, application form 7524, to work on a self-employed basis
What happens after a positive decision?
The employee still has to appear in person. The IND asks for an appointment to give biometric data or to collect the residence permit as soon as possible, and in any case within 2 weeks after the employer has received the positive decision.
The residence permit is granted for the length of the contract or the job, with a maximum of 5 years. If the employee needs an MVV, the entry visa for a stay longer than 90 days, that is collected at a Dutch embassy or consulate before travelling. Nationals of a short list of countries, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, do not need one.
Sources:
IND, Highly skilled migrant
IND, Provisional residence permit MVV
Sources
- IND, Decision periods, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, Apply for recognition as sponsor, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, Highly skilled migrant, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, National highly skilled migrant scheme, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, Monthly figures on regular migration, checked 22 September 2026
- IND, Provisional residence permit MVV, 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.
Is a European round realistic for you?
Ten lines about your company is enough for us to tell you what the route looks like.
Want the whole picture first? See the Route