The EU blue card visa

A pathway for companies who are not recognised by the IND as sponsor

If you are a company who’s willing to hire international talent form outside of the EU, then there are multiple ways to do so. In this article the focus will be on the EU blue card visa for companies who can’t obtain the recognised sponsorship status from the IND.

If your company is recognised by the IND as a sponsor, then the highly skilled migrant visa is an opportunity to hire international talent. The visa process in and of itself will take 2-3 weeks. Furthermore, the salary threshold for employees under who are below 30 years old or employees who’ve had the ‘orientation year visa’ is relatively low as compared to the EU blue card visa.

To be able to hire a highly skilled migrants, the company must be recognised as a sponsor by the IND. For some companies it’s not always possible to obtain the recognised sponsorship status from the IND, because of the financial requirements set out by the IND.

Companies who don’t have the recognised sponsorship status or who are not able to obtain the recognised sponsorship status, can use the EU blue card visa for hiring international talent outside of the EU. However, there are requirements in place for the employer such as:

• There must be 1 full time employee on the payroll of the company, prior to hiring the EU blue card employee.
• The company must have an actual business address where economic activities are carried out.
• The company has never been fined for violating tax or labour laws in the Netherlands.

For the EU blue card employee, the following requirements are in place:

• The employee must receive a contract, which will be valid for at least 6 months.
• The employee must earn at least €5688, gross per month (regardless of age) or:
• The employee must earn at least €4551, - gross per month, in case the employee has finished a bachelor’s, master’s degree or PhD degree in the Netherlands within the last 3 years or if the employee has had a ‘orientation year visa’ prior to applying for the EU blue card visa.
• The employee has at least 5 years of relevant experience prior to applying for the EU blue card, or 3 years (within the last 7 years) of relevant experience if the job position is in the IT industry or:
• The employee has a bachelor’s, master’s or PhD degree from outside of the Netherlands. The diploma needs to be evaluated first by the IDW/ Nuffic.

Does your company need help with the EU blue card visa, or does your company wish to obtain the recognised sponsorship status from IND? Do you already have recognised sponsorship status and are you more interested in hiring highly skilled migrants? Please contact INLS – Immigration Netherlands Services