The Dutch route for skilled staff

This is the common one. It skips the labour market test and rests on a salary level instead, set out in salary levels in 2026. The condition that catches young companies: your company must already hold approval from the immigration service. A company outside the scheme stays closed off from this permit entirely.

The European permit for highly qualified staff

This one is European rather than Dutch, and approval as an employer is optional here. That single difference makes it the practical choice for a company that has just incorporated, whose figures are still too thin for the approval assessment.

In exchange, the conditions on the employee are firmer. A higher education qualification is expected. Managers and professionals in information technology may qualify on experience instead: at least three years of relevant work in the seven years before the application.

The salary level matches the general one, with a reduced level of €4,754 available in defined situations.

Side by side

  • Approval as employer: required for the Dutch route; optional for the European permit.
  • Education: the Dutch route relies on salary; the European permit expects a qualification, with an experience route for information technology roles.
  • Speed: approved employers get a decision in about two weeks on either route. Companies outside the scheme wait the statutory period.
  • Movement within Europe: the European permit is designed to travel between member states; the Dutch one applies here alone.
  • Permanent residence: available after five years under either route.

Choosing

A company with several hires a year from outside Europe usually applies for approval and then uses the Dutch route for everything. A company making its first hire, with a candidate holding a degree, often reaches its goal faster through the European permit while the approval application runs in parallel.

One further exception belongs here: staff holding Turkish citizenship may join an employer that stays outside the approval system altogether, covered in the employer approval that falls away.

Where this advice stops

Holdwise builds the company structure: the entity, the salary, the tax position. The residence application itself belongs with an immigration lawyer, who follows the case law and the forms week by week. Arrange both in the same conversation and the two sides fit together; arrange them separately and one usually has to be redone.