Recognition as a Sponsor. How Your Company Can Bring Highly Skilled Migrants to the Netherlands
Friday 2 January 2026
Are you an employer looking to attract highly skilled migrants from outside the EU/EEA? If so, recognition as a sponsor by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) is likely to be important to you. Recognition as a sponsor is a prerequisite for hiring highly skilled migrants. However, recognition as a sponsor is not reserved for large, internationally operating employers. SME employers and even start-ups can also successfully apply for recognition as a sponsor. In this article, Arend van Rosmalen LL.M., partner at Orion Immigration Law, explains what recognition as a sponsor entails, what conditions and obligations apply, how the procedure works and what pitfalls you should avoid.
What is recognition as a sponsor?
In immigration law, a “sponsor” is nothing more or less than a “residence provider”. Regular residence permits often require a sponsor, a person or organisation in the Netherlands for whom the foreign national's stay is necessary or desirable, and who is willing to guarantee to the IND that they will provide timely information about relevant changes.
Recognition as a sponsor means that the IND conducts a preliminary investigation into the reliability and continuity of the organisation that wishes to act as a sponsor. This therefore goes a step further. Recognised sponsors are explicitly assigned greater responsibility than “ordinary” sponsors. Applications for residence permits from recognised sponsors are often granted very quickly, simply because the recognised sponsor says that the conditions for this have been met. The IND does not normally investigate the correctness of these statements, assuming that you, as a recognised sponsor, have done so. In practice, this makes for a profound advantage in terms of planning and predictability, but it also entails responsibility. Of course, this also brings along enhanced responsibility, which is the reason why the IND does not grant recognition as a sponsor status without thoroughly checking the antecedents of your company.
Is recognition as a sponsor mandatory?
Recognition as a sponsor is sometimes mandatory. This depends on the type of residence permit you wish to apply for. For example, if you wish to apply for a residence permit under the highly skilled migrant scheme – the most commonly used work-related residence scheme in the Netherlands – you must be a recognised sponsor. In addition, recognition as a sponsor is mandatory for exchange organisations, higher education institutions and research institutions that make use of the scheme for scientific researchers. All these procedures go a step further than “normal” recognition as a sponsor and are much less common in practice. This article therefore focuses on the “normal” form of recognition as a sponsor that employers apply for in order to make use of the highly skilled migrant scheme.
Conditions for recognition as a sponsor
In order to become a recognised sponsor as an employer, your organisation must meet a number of conditions:
- Registration in the Trade Register: Your organisation must be registered with the Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands (unless this is not mandatory under the Trade Register Act 2007). This is a no-brainer for most Dutch employers, but this condition often poses an immediate problem for companies not (yet) established in the Netherlands. Without a place of business in the Netherlands, recognition as a sponsor is out of the question. (If this is a problem for you, then you may consider payrolling Highly Skilled Migrants.)
- Continuity and solvency sufficiently guaranteed: Your company or organisation must be financially sound. The original intention behind this is that financial instability affects the required reliability. Highly skilled migrants generally earn a high salary. The IND must be able to rely on the fact that, if you say you will pay such high salaries, you are in fact able to do so. In practice, this condition also provides the IND with a mechanism to prevent companies in which there is little or no economic activity (left) from acting (or continuing to act) as recognised sponsors.
- Reliability is sufficiently established: The reliability of your organisation and the “natural or legal persons or companies directly or indirectly involved” must be sufficiently established. This is obviously related to the great responsibility that the IND must be able to continue to place in you as a sponsor. Serious criminal records, tax fines or administrative fines for violating the Foreign Nationals Employment Act will be held against you. If the IND determines that a sponsor has provided incorrect information or withheld information, this may also affect their reliability and thus lead to the revocation of their recognition as a sponsor.
- Recognition as a sponsor not revoked. If your recognition as a sponsor is revoked, this revocation in itself constitutes grounds for refusal when you reapply for recognition. This applies for up to five years after the revocation and also applies after revocation of the recognition as a sponsor of “directly or indirectly involved legal entities or companies”. This is, of course, intended to prevent a revocationfrom being circumvented by quickly applying for new recognition.
- Specific conditions for special categories. In addition, specific additional conditions apply to institutions that wish to be recognised for residence categories other than “work”, such as research institutions, exchange organisations and universities. We will write separate articles about these procedures and conditions, which are not discussed further in this article.
This list shows that the bar is not set very high. Recognition as a sponsor is certainly not reserved for large multinationals that bring dozens or hundreds of highly skilled migrants to the Netherlands. SME employers or smaller Dutch employers can also apply for recognition as a sponsor and benefit greatly from this. The most important thing is that you are reliable and financially sound, and that you can present this convincingly.
Start-ups and recognition as a sponsor
For start-ups, continuity and solvency are examined more thoroughly than for established companies. Start-ups must submit a business plan with their application for recognition as a sponsor. This plan and its supporting documentation are submitted by the IND to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). The RVO uses a points system to assess whether your continuity and solvency are sufficiently guaranteed.
Depending on your situation, applying for recognition as a sponsor is not always the most pragmatic advice. Especially if your company is still in a development phase, it can be difficult to demonstrate continuity and solvency. Moreover, the advisory procedure at RVO takes considerable time. You may therefore consider temporarily making use of other immigration schemes, such as the European Blue Card. You can also make temporary use of payrolling. For more information on this, please refer to our article on payrolling highly skilled migrants.
The procedure: how do you apply for recognition as a sponsor?
An application for recognition as a sponsor must be sent by post to the IND. However, it is advisable to prepare your application thoroughly before doing so. A specialised solicitor can help you with this. What happens to your application and how the IND assesses it depends not only on the information you send, but also on information about your company or organisation that can be found online, information that the IND can obtain from other government agencies, and finally, information that you do not share with the IND. The application procedure consists of roughly five steps:
- Preparation: You assess whether your organisation meets the conditions and to what extent you can demonstrate this. Has your organisation been fined in the past by the Dutch Labour Inspectorate or the Tax and Customs Administration? Are your public registrations up to date and current? Could your recent annual figures give rise to doubts about the continuity and solvency of your company or organisation, and could steps be taken to improve this? Or have you previously submitted applications to the IND as a “regular”, non-recognised sponsor? All these issues may be relevant. If in doubt, consult a solicitor.
- Submitting your application. Once you have compiled all the necessary documents, submit the application to the IND. Be careful about what information you do and do not include. The IND wants to have a complete picture of your company, but sharing too much information with the IND can also be counterproductive. Information that you do not include but that the IND can consult from public sources, such as your company website, registrations and some information about your (tax) history, must also be up to date and complete.
- Paying fees. The IND will inform you how much you need to pay to have your application assessed. The costs for established, larger companies are roughly twice as high as those for small and/or start-up companies (fewer than 50 employees worldwide).
- Assessment of your application. The IND has 90 days to make a decision. As a rule, this is also the processing time you should take into account. However, the period may be extended if your application is incomplete or if the IND has doubts and/or requires further advice.
- Decision: You will receive a written decision on your application. If your application is approved, the IND will register your company as a recognised sponsor in a public register. If your application is rejected, the decision will state why the IND does not recognise you as a sponsor. You can appeal against a rejection within four weeks.
Once recognised as a sponsor
Have you been recognised as a sponsor? Congratulations! From now on, you can use the accelerated admission procedures and the digital IND portal. This makes it incredibly easy to apply for, change and renew residence permits. That certainly feels great, but don't be fooled by the simplicity of the digital forms and the speed with which the IND responds to your applications. As a recognised sponsor, you are expected to always check whether the applicable conditions are and remain met, whether there are any facts that the IND needs to know, and whether there could be grounds for revoking residence permits. A quick approval of your digital application is fantastic, but it is only provisional. The IND does not imply that you have not made a mistake. After all, the IND does not check the content of your application - you have to do that yourself!
Application for recognition as a sponsor rejected
If your application for recognition as a sponsor remains pending for a long time, or if the IND unexpectedly rejects your application, you can of course lodge an objection. However, an objection procedure takes considerable time. In the meantime, you will naturally want a solution for your employees from outside the European Union. As long as you are not yet a recognised sponsor, you can first of all make use of immigration schemes that do not require recognition as a sponsor, such as the European Blue Card scheme. In addition, you can use payrolling as a temporary solution. For more information, please refer to our article on payrolling highly skilled migrants.
Changes to recognition as a sponsor that may come up in 2026
In 2025, the Dutch government has announced its intentions to make certain restrictive changes to the regular, employment-based immigration routes, which would also affect recognition as a sponsor. In a joint publication of 4 July 2025, the minister of Social Affairs and Employment and the minister of Asylum and Migration have announced the following concrete changes, which may be expected in the course of 2026.
- Introduction of a legal basis to revoke recognition because of non-use. The purpose of this is to ensure that only companies which actually use their status as recognised sponsor remain on the list. This should help the IND and the Netherlands Labour Inspectorate to keep their attention focused on those companies.
- Tightening of the condition of reliability. The legal framework surrounding reliability of applicants - and companies already recognised - can be further tightened. Honesty and completeness of information are likely becoming even more important than they already are.
- Clarification and tightening of solvency and continuity condition. The financial prerequisites for recognition could be further clarified and tightened.
If you are considering applying for recognition as a sponsor, it may be beneficial for you to do so earlier rather than later, especially because of the intention to tighten the rules.
How can Orion Immigration Law help you?
Applying for recognition as a sponsor is usually not very complex, but good preparation can pay off. Orion Immigration Law specialises in business immigration law. We can help you at every stage of your procedure:
- We advise you on whether and why you need recognition as a sponsor.
- We assess your business plan and advise you on it.
- We check the publicly available information in advance and prepare you for the issues that the IND will investigate.
- We compile your application for you and send it to the IND on your behalf.
- We help you formulate your response to any questions from the IND and handle your communication in this regard.
- Where necessary, we will also work with you to find short-term solutions. Do you need a specific highly skilled migrant sooner than the IND can approve your application? An alternative application may offer a solution, at least in the short term.
Need advice?
Would you like help or advice? Please feel free to contact Orion Immigration Law.
Arend van Rosmalen LL.M.
Arend van Rosmalen LL.M. is a partner and co-founder of Orion Immigration Law. He advises both business clients and private individuals. Arend advises and assists with applications, but is also a highly experienced litigator. Arend has represented clients in Dutch objection and (higher) appeal cases, and has even appeared before the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
