As a (recognised) sponsoring employer, you must meet the following legal obligations:
You are responsible for the foreign national's return. Does de foreign national not return to his country of origin and is there a compulsory departure enforced by Dutch government? Then the IND may oblige you to pay the costs of the compulsory departure.
You are not responsible for your employee's family members. The employee is the private sponsor for his or her family members. The employee also has legal obligations towards his or her family members and towards him- or herself.
Employees with a residence permit for seasonal labour or for gaining work experience are not allowed to bring over family members.
Recognised sponsors have a duty to ensure a careful recruitment and selection of highly skilled migrants or employees who have been transferred within the company (Intra Corporate Transferees). You must also inform the highly skilled migrant transferee of the conditions for admission and residence which he or she must meet. For more information read our brochure The residence permit for work as a highly skilled migrant. Would you like to read the legal texts? Read Article 1.4 of the Aliens Regulations (in Dutch) and Article 1.16 of the Aliens Decree (in Dutch).
As a recognised sponsor you have a duty to keep records and an obligation to retain. You must retain these records and documents for up to 5 years after the sponsorship has ended. The information may also be kept digitally. You can provide this information when the IND requests it.
Has the address of the administration of your company, organisation or legal entity changed? You must report this to the IND within 2 weeks. Read how to report under 'Obligation to provide information'.
The (recognised) sponsor must keep the following information about the employee in its records:
The recognised sponsor also must keep the following information about the employee in its records:
Sometimes other documents must be included in the administration. This depends on the employee's purpose of residence in the Netherlands. For a full list of documents and information you must keep, please visit our Dutch page Wettelijke verplichtingen (erkend) referent arbeid. Or refer to Articles 4.32 through 4.35a of the Aliens Regulations (in Dutch) and article 4.53 Aliens Decree (in Dutch).
You must retain these records and documents for up to 5 years after the sponsorship has ended. The information may also be kept digitally. You can provide this information when the IND requests it.
The recognised and non-recognised sponsoring employer both have an obligation to provide information. All changes that are relevant to the foreign national's right of residence must be reported to the IND. The recognised sponsoring employer must also report changes that may affect their status as a sponsor.
You are obliged to report changes to the IND if such changes will affect the employee's right of residence. You must report the information within 4 weeks after the fact, circumstance or change occurred. Please use the notification form for labour-related residence purposes (recognised sponsor) or notification form for labour-related residence purposes (non-recognised sponsor). For Intra Corporate Transferees use the notification form Intra Corporate Transferees (recognised sponsor) or the notification form Intra Corporate Transferees (non-recognised sponsor). Do you have access to our Business Portal? Then you can also submit changes in the portal.
For example:
If your employee has notified the municipality (BRP) on time that he or she is going to emigrate or move house within the Netherlands, it is not necessary to also report this to the IND. On time means either before the emigration or within 4 weeks following the relocation. The IND will then already have this information.
The employee must report changes that concern its family members to the IND. For more information read our page Legal obligations private sponsor.
All changes that are relevant to the recognition as a sponsor must be reported to the IND. You must report the information within 4 weeks after the fact, circumstance or change occurred. Has the address of (the administration of) the company, organisation or legal entity changed? You must report this to the IND within 2 weeks, according to the duty to keep and retain records. Please use the notification form for changes concerning the recognised sponsor. Or submit changes in the Business Portal, using eHerkenning.
For example:
For more information on the obligation to provide information, please refer to Articles 4.17, 4.18, 4.22 and 4.23 of the Aliens Regulations (in Dutch).
The IND monitors your compliance with these legal obligations. Failure to meet these legal obligations may have consequences.