The three standing duties
- Duty of care. Careful recruitment and selection, and informing the employee properly about the conditions of their stay and their work. The rule appears in the Aliens Decree.
- Duty to inform. Report changes that affect the residence permit or your approval. For most changes, you have four weeks.
- Duty to keep records. Retain the documents that show the conditions were met, and keep them available for the service to inspect.
The change that took effect on 1 January 2026
Approved employers must now keep proof that the salary was paid in full. A payslip alone falls short, because it shows only the amount owed, and the proof must show the amount received. The service expects bank statements that show the payment into the employee’s account. Do this every month, because rebuilding a whole year later takes a lot of work.
What belongs in the file
- A copy of the passport, and the employee’s address here.
- The employment contract, and for a transfer within a group also the contract with the company outside Europe.
- Payslips together with the bank-statement evidence for the payment.
- The signed antecedents appendix.
Keep the file for five years, including for staff who have already left.
Two responsibilities that surprise people
You are responsible for the return of an employee whose stay here ends, unless they change to another employer in the Netherlands. This responsibility applies to the employee only. The employee is the sponsor of the family members.
What happens when you miss a duty
The service checks regularly. It may issue a warning, impose an administrative fine, suspend the approval while it investigates, or withdraw it. A withdrawal affects every employee who is here through your company at once. A small administrative mistake can therefore have large consequences.
See becoming an approved employer for the status and the assessment. See salary levels in 2026 for the salary rules.
A company that misses a filing gets a fine. If the annual accounts are filed late, the director can become personally liable. You can hand the yearly filings over to us. See corporate secretarial services in the Netherlands.
A Dutch BV files the corporate tax return by 1 June, the VAT return every quarter and the payroll tax return every month. The annual accounts are due within twelve months. See running a Dutch BV: taxes, filings and every deadline.
Your company and your residence permit
We arrange both. We set up your company: the entity, the salary and the tax position. An immigration lawyer from our network prepares your residence application and files it with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). The lawyer follows the case law and the forms every week. We plan the company and the application together, so your company meets what the IND asks for.
Want the company and the permit arranged together? See how we work with immigration lawyers and other partners.