Knowledge migrants, a.k.a. highly skilled migrants, are highly educated professionals from countries outside the EU, the EEA or Switzerland who come to the Netherlands to contribute to the knowledge economy. A company that wants to employ knowledge migrants must first register as a recognized sponsor with the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service. This process will take several months to complete, even then it is not certain that you will obtain the required status. If this is the case, you will be given more responsibilities and audits can be carried out. It is also important to ensure that the salary of a highly skilled migrant meets certain criteria./

Migrant workers from a nationality outside an EU, EEA country or Switzerland can qualify for the highly skilled migrant scheme if they meet the following conditions:

• Valid passport or other travel document
• Antecedents declaration
• Employment or host agreement between an employer and highly skilled migrant

The following countries are part of the European Union and European Economic Area: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria , Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic, United Kingdom and Sweden.

A highly skilled migrant with a nationality outside the EU / EEA needs an employment and residence permit. These permit applications go through the IND.

By choosing a payroll construction, you not only save time, but also money. In many cases, payroll is on balance cheaper than if you employ personnel yourself.

Specifically, you save time and money on:

• Accountancy
• Payroll administration
• Drawing up employment contracts
• Conflict resolution
• Sickness absence insurance
• Any absenteeism
• Resolving (financial) disputes
• Transition fees
• Answering employee questions
• Continued payment in the event of illness or holiday
• Keeping up to date knowledge of collective labor agreements and working conditions

In many cases, this means that you are cheaper when you payroll. In addition, you have less worries on your mind and you can fully focus on your company. That is of course also worth something!

What are the conditions for an employer and highly skilled migrant? To work as a highly skilled migrant in the Netherlands, an application for a residence permit and provisional residence permit (MVV; for stays longer than 3 months) is submitted to the IND. The condition is that there is an employment contract and that the highly skilled migrant has a valid passport / ID card.

The residence permit for highly skilled migrants does not require the endorsement "Work permit (TWV). Other labor not allowed to stand. This note means that the highly skilled migrant may only work as a highly skilled migrant.

A financial advantage for the highly skilled migrant is the 30% facility. HumanR can request this scheme for your employees from the tax authorities. With this, the migrant receives 30% of his wages tax-free.

The 30% -ruling means that the employer can provide certain employees with 30% of the wages including the compensation, or 30/70 of the wages excluding the compensation, as free compensation for the "extraterritorial costs".

Extraterritorial costs are the extra costs that an employee incurs in connection with the temporary stay outside the country of origin. These costs include the costs of applying for or converting official personal papers, such as residence permits, visas and driving licenses.

Employees applying for the 30% ruling after 1 January 2019 receive the benefit for 5 years.

In 2021, the following income criteria is associated with the hiring highly of a skilled migrant:

• € 3,484.00 (excluding 8% holiday allowance) for highly skilled migrant younger than 30 years. That is gross € 45,152.64 (including 8% holiday allowance) on an annual basis.
• € 4,752.00 (excluding 8% holiday allowance) for highly skilled migrants aged 30 or older. That equates to a gross annual salary of at least € 61,585.92 (including 8% holiday allowance).
• € 2,497.00 (excluding 8% holiday allowance) for highly skilled migrant after the search year for a graduate or highly educated person. That is a gross annual salary of € 32,361.128 (including 8% holiday allowance).

The above amounts are indexed annually. Employers who offer a highly skilled migrant a fixed-term contract pay the monthly salary times this specific time.

Example: with a 3-month contract for a highly skilled migrant of 30 years, 3 x € 4,752.00 is paid out = € 14,256.00

A highly skilled migrant who is 29 years of age and who signs a long-term contract will continue to receive the salary that he started at the age of 30 even after his 30th birthday.

A higher minimum salary applies to highly skilled migrants from outside the EU, rather than to employees of Dutch nationality. The reason is that companies must first try to fill their vacancies with people within the Netherlands (or the EU) and only then search for employees from outside Europe.

Hiring a foreign professional is a time-consuming hassle that involves a lot of costs. The good news is that this can be avoided by working with a payroll company that offers complete payroll solutions. Since its inception in 2008, HumanR has only focused on the expat market. We work closely with exceptionally good immigration attorneys in the Netherlands who follow the legal field and provide expert advice.

We help with all administrative and legal aspects of hiring a highly skilled migrant. Moreover, we act quickly: already within 2 weeks a new employee can be placed on our payroll, who can then be "loaned out" to your company.