Tightening of the Highly Skilled Migrant Scheme Following Abuse: The End of Payroll and Outsourcing?
Last week, Minister Faber of Asylum and Migration announced plans to tighten the highly skilled migrant scheme. Outsourcing and payroll methods have been identified as vulnerable to abuse. Examples include sham arrangements, insufficient wage payments, and precarious working conditions for highly skilled migrants. Furthermore, state actors increasingly pose risks using economic means to access strategically significant technology or knowledge, threatening national security.
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The highly skilled migrant scheme must be tailored to those migrants who are genuinely needed for the Dutch knowledge economy. As a rule, the migrant should be directly employed by the recognized sponsor for whom they will work.
Exceptions to this rule:
Pending recognition as a sponsor: This applies when an application for recognized sponsorship is still under review. It also applies in cases of mergers or acquisitions, where a new application for recognized sponsorship must be submitted.
Innovative start-ups: Start-ups that initially cannot meet all conditions for recognized sponsorship. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) will assess whether a start-up qualifies for this exception.
The residence permit will be granted for no more than two years for these exceptions. Additionally, recognized sponsors acting as intermediaries will face new conditions and obligations.
The End of Payroll for Highly Skilled Migrants?
The payroll and outsourcing of highly skilled migrants will change significantly but will not be abolished. We await more concrete details, such as when the new rules will take effect. For example, what will these changes mean for recruitment and selection combined with secondment? When does RVO classify a company as a start-up eligible for the exception?
The new rules are likely to lead to a substantial increase in applications for recognized sponsorship, which will undoubtedly affect IND processing times. Perhaps the two-year exception period is based on this anticipated delay?
BlueStone’s Position
At BlueStone, we will continue to focus on providing services for highly skilled migrants. Preventing abuse is a given for us, and we welcome the introduction of additional conditions and obligations. From our perspective, these measures could form part of the NEN certification process.
