Business Newsletter

Are you submitting a renewal (extension) application for your employee? Please make sure that you enter the correct end date of the employment contract. We will renew the residence permit until the end date that you enter on the application form. 

Example:

Your employee has a residence permit that is valid until 1 January 2026. You have extended your employee's employment contract until 31 December 2026. This means that the new employment contract is valid until 1 January 2027.

You apply for an extension of your employee's residence permit. On the application form, you enter the duration of the employment contract as follows:

“Duration of fixed-term employment contract: from 1 January 2026 to 1 January 2027”.

We will then extend the residence permit from 1 January 2026 to 1 January 2027. This means that your employee's residence permit will be valid until the last working day of their employment (31 December 2026).

In December 2025, the Government Gazette will publish the new salary standards for highly skilled migrants. These standard amounts will also be included in the December newsletter. The standard amounts change every year on 1 January. From that date onwards, they can also be found on the page Required amounts income requirements. 

The applicant must meet the standard amount applicable on the date of the application or registration. This does not apply if the applicant changes employers. In that case, the applicant must meet the standard amount applicable on the date on which the new contract starts. 

Example:

The applicant has a residence permit valid until 1 October 2026. The applicant changes employers and reports this on 20 December 2025. The employment contract commences on 1 January 2026. In this case, the new standard amount for 2026 applies. 
More information can be found in the brochure: 

The costs of applications (application fees) will change as of 1 January. View the new amounts in the Government Gazette. 

• Application for recognition as a sponsor regular fee: €5,080
• Application for recognition as a sponsor reduced fee: €2,539
• Application for a Highly Skilled Migrant residence permit, European Blue Card: €423

From 1 January 2026, recognised sponsors will be required to include additional information in their records. This includes documents proving that highly skilled migrants or European Blue Card holders have actually received their salary. Examples include statements from the company's business bank account or an overview of a batch payment. These documents must show that the employee has received the salary in a payment account in the employee's name. 

Right now, only payslips are required. However, payslips do not prove that the salary has been paid to the employee. For this reason, the list in Article 4.35 of the Aliens Regulation is being expanded. This will enable the IND to take more effective action against any abuse of the highly skilled migrant scheme and the European Blue Card.

More information about the administrative obligation can be found at Obligations of sponsor and recognised sponsor.

The Cooperating Service will be closed on a few mornings.

• Thursday, 20 November 2025, from 9:00 to 13:00.
• Thursday, 18 December 2025, from 9:00 to 13:00.

Because of this, waiting times in the afternoon may be longer than usual. We therefore recommend that you call the next day or later in the week. Thank you for your understanding.

All the newsletters from 2024 and 2025 can be found on this page.

Are you looking for a newsletter from 2023 or before? Visit our web archive.