How Payrolling Can Help Your Company to Employ a Highly Skilled Migrant
Significant numbers of particularly skilled individuals from outside the EU are constantly looking to work in the Netherlands to contribute their knowledge to the national economy. They’re often referred to as ‘knowledge migrants’ or ‘highly skilled migrants’ and the Netherlands offers a program for them, with many appealing opportunities for employment.
Highly skilled migrants and the benefits they bring
A knowledge migrant is different to a ‘regular’ migrant worker as they have been educated to a very high standard and have specialist skills, knowledge and experience. However, when knowledge migrants come to work in the Netherlands, they need a special residency and work permit. Notwithstanding the administrative procedures to obtain these, Dutch companies are particularly keen to employ these individuals since finding the right people with the right skills among the local population can often prove to be challenging. This is especially relevant when there are all kinds of specialist roles in al kinds of companies that need to be filled.Employers of highly skilled migrants need to be official sponsors
In the case where employers invite knowledge migrants to the Netherlands to join their company, the employer needs to be an approved sponsor for that individual. If a company is a sponsor, they can submit a residence and work application for the highly skilled migrant entering their employment. Among other criteria to meet, they must ensure the employee is paid a salary that complies with established guidelines.The Dutch knowledge migrant program
In the Netherlands, the program in place for knowledge migrants helps Dutch companies to employ this class of worker. However, as a small to medium size enterprise (SME), it can be both complex and time-consuming to deal with this yourself. That’s when third party support from a company like COM.PAS can really be of value. In a nutshell, the highly skilled migrant joins a third-party payroll provider like COM.PAS from the administrative point of view and is then assigned to work legally and officially within your SME.Information on the IND and sponsorship
Highly skilled migrants need to be legally employed by organisations that are recognised by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) as sponsors in accordance with EU Directive 2016/801. A sponsor is an individual or organisation with an interest in facilitating the employment and residence of a third-country national in the Netherlands. Sponsors can take on foreign employees in multiple numbers at the same time, if relevant to their business needs. If your organisation is not an approved sponsor, you have the option to use the COM.PAS payrolling service to employ your knowledge migrant. We are recognised by the IND and specialise in working with SME’s who do not have sponsor status. Moreover, we help SME’s and highly skilled migrants to complete all paperwork and carry out the necessary procedures to transfer over to the Netherlands, including their application for entry and residence. Therefore, we offer a win-win service for both employers and highly skilled migrants.The benefits of using a third-party payrolling agency like COM.PAS
Third-party payrolling for knowledge migrants is invaluable for supporting you in your projects, as we will act as your sponsor agency. This means, you can invite or bring knowledge migrants to the Netherlands from abroad and don’t need to worry about the administrative procedures or complex rules for employment and residence permits. As a recognised IND sponsor we can assist you by:- Processing your applications swiftly and efficiently, providing decisions on completed applications within favourable timescales. In fact, by using us as a recognised sponsor of the IND, the procedures are smoother and faster for you.
- Providing clear guidelines on how to submit application, e.g in terms of documentary evidence required to obtain the right authorisations. For example, if the highly skilled migrant is still living abroad, we can apply for the visa to enable them to enter the Netherlands.
- Offering a dedicated contact point for any enquiries at any stage of the process. You benefit from our expertise and knowledge and a payrolling agency specialising in highly skilled migrants that's always available to support you.
- Enabling the submission of digital applications. By completing the steps online, you save time and energy and can leave all the complex application and administration procedures to us.
