Our company is interested in hiring foreign professionals, especially with an IT and telecommunications background. A while back we heard some terrific news about the Knowledge Migrant scheme set up by the Dutch immigration service. We tried to get our company accepted as a participant of the knowledge migrant system. To make a long story short: that was quite an experience. The Dutch immigration service is not big on service, if you know what I mean….. Anyway, we recently located some excellent candidates from Malaysia and Canada, and we would like to hire them as knowledge migrant workers as soon as possible. Any advice you can give us?

Working with the Dutch immigration service, de Naturalisatie- en Immigratiedienst (IND), can be challenging at times. I am well aware of that. However, IND is a force that has to be reckoned with. In other words: if your company wants to hire non-EU/foreign specialists it will have to deal with the Dutch immigration service one way or the other.

I work with the IND on a daily basis, and am well versed in the peculiarities of the IND. In my experience the IND is not the enemy, and it is best to simply follow its rules and regulations to the letter, albeit within reason. These rules and regulations are quite detailed and you have to understand the fabric of the Dutch legal system in order to escape IND’s pitfalls and requests for evidence. Preparing well and being thorough are key factors in working with the IND.

The Dutch knowledge migrant (KM) scheme allows for easy access into the Dutch labour market for non-EU nationals, if and when for instance the minimum annual gross salary requirements are honoured, and the prospective Dutch employer is officially accepted by the Dutch immigration service as a participant of the ´kennismigrant´ system. If all the conditions of the KM scheme are met, it is possible to legally bypass the general Dutch work permit requirement.

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