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Netherlands work visa: how long the Highly skilled migrant takes, what it costs, and whether it leads to permanent residence
Work Permit
Recognised-sponsor employment
Residence permit for highly skilled work. Only an IND-recognised sponsor can apply. 2026 gross monthly salary without holiday pay is EUR 5,942 if you are 30 or older, EUR 4,357 if younger than 30, or EUR 3,122 under the reduced criterion. Type I temporary regular permit for a non-temporary purpose; you may apply for permanent residence after 5 consecutive years if you still meet the permanent-residence rules.
Source: Immigration and Naturalisation Service · verified 2026-08-15
Does Highly skilled migrant lead to permanent residence?
- Residency
Temporary on grant; permanent residence is a later application after 60 months
HSM page: 'Do you have a residence permit for 5 years? You can apply for a permanent residence permit.' Permanent-residence page also requires 5 consecutive years, a current non-temporary purpose (highly skilled migrant is listed as non-temporary), civic integration at least A2 or an exemption, income, BRP registration, and timely extensions. Stored months are the 5-year rule, not a grant.
Open the authority's page for this fact
Source: Immigration and Naturalisation Service · verified 2026-09-25
Do you need a job offer for Highly skilled migrant?
- Job offer
Required
Source: Immigration and Naturalisation Service · verified 2026-09-25
What education does Highly skilled migrant require?
- Education
The page states no education minimum
Page requires an employment contract with a recognised sponsor, the salary criterion, and a market-rate salary. No prior degree is published. Previous stored value 'bachelor' contradicted that and has been removed.
Source: Immigration and Naturalisation Service · verified 2026-09-25
How much money do you have to show for Highly skilled migrant?
- Funds
Not yet checked
We have not yet checked this field against the official source. That is not a finding that the page we read does not carry a rule.
Source: Immigration and Naturalisation Service · verified 2026-08-15
How much does Highly skilled migrant cost to apply for?
- Application fee
EUR 423
Voorschrift Vreemdelingen 2000 article 3.34, amounts valid 1 January 2026 through 31 December 2026: EUR 423 to grant, change or extend 'arbeid als kennismigrant'. The TEV procedure (MVV plus residence permit) is this one fee, not two charges. Turkish nationals pay EUR 85. Recognition as a sponsor is a separate employer charge (EUR 5,080 regular / EUR 2,539 reduced) and is not included in 423.
Source: Minister of Asylum and Migration (Staatscourant) · verified 2026-09-25
How long does Highly skilled migrant take to process?
- Processing time
No commitment to a processing time
Open the authority's page for this fact
Source: Immigration and Naturalisation Service · verified 2026-09-24
We tell you when we re-read a route you follow, in the note from that check, with the official link.
What does Immigration and Naturalisation Service actually require?
Quoted from the pages named beside each rule, not paraphrased.
- Age
Age is not published as a hard eligibility cut-off. It sets the 2026 salary band: EUR 5,942 gross per month without holiday pay if you are 30 or older on the date of application, or EUR 4,357 if you are younger than 30. A reduced criterion of EUR 3,122 applies in the three published orientation-year / recent-graduate cases.
Source: Immigration and Naturalisation Service · verified 2026-09-25
Not published on the pages we read
We checked for each of these and the page carried no figure. The absence is recorded with the reason, so this page states nothing the authority does not.
Processing time
Brochure 3072: 'The IND must take a decision on the application within 90 days, but strives to decide on the application within 2 weeks. This is on condition that the application is complete.' That 90 days is a statutory decision period, not an expected wait. Decision-periods page (https://ind.nl/en/after-your-application/decision-periods): highly skilled migrant has a legal decision period of 90 days. A separate undated section, 'Extension of decision period for initial application residence permit for work', includes this permit and says the IND may extend that legal period by 30 days and must explain the reasons. The date 22 May 2026 on that page belongs to a different rule: a 45-day period, extendable by 15 days, for some scientific-research applications. No month range is stored.
Source: Immigration and Naturalisation Service · verified 2026-09-24
The process
How it works
- 1An IND-recognised sponsor applies on your behalf at the published salary criterion.
- 2Permanent residence is a later application after 5 consecutive years if you still meet those rules.
What changed when we last checked this record
Route is open. The employer must be a recognised sponsor listed in the public register. No degree is published as a condition. Intra-corporate transferees are a different permit. Previous stored age 18, bachelor minimum, USD 400 fee, 1–2 month processing, and an unsourced 60-month PR figure presented as if automatic have been removed or replaced with sourced values.
Source: Immigration and Naturalisation Service · verified 2026-08-15
Other verified Netherlands routes
Other routes with a published salary floor: UK work visa: Skilled Worker Visa · Germany work visa: EU Blue Card · Ireland work visa: Critical Skills Employment Permit · Sweden work visa: Work permit (employee) · New Zealand skilled migration: Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa · UAE work visa: Golden Residence — specialised / skilled workers · Portugal digital nomad visa: remote work
Other employer-sponsored work routes: UAE work visa: Private-sector employment residence
Where to go next
- Compare this pathway with another — the link stores only pathway ids.
- Compare one published rule across destinations
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Official sources
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