Tech firms warn about new salary norms for skilled visa scheme

Tech and public utility companies are opposed to government plans to increase the salary requirements to qualify for a highly skilled work visa in the Netherlands, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Thursday.

The government wants to increase the minimum salary in an effort to stamp out abuse of the visa scheme, but the companies are warning that it will be harder to get the staff they need.

Currently, a non-EU “knowledge migrant” under the age of 30 must earn at least €4,171 to qualify for a visa, but there are plans to increase that by up to €600. “That would be an enormous amount, particularly for small firms,” Theo Henrar, chairman of the electro-technical employers’ organisation FME, told the paper.

The government wants to increase the salary requirements following a report by social affairs ministry inspectors which said the scheme is being widely abused.

Last year, social affairs ministry chief inspector Rits de Boer said that salary more than knowledge is “driving this form of migration.”

Inspectors have come across “hairdressers, cable layers, cleaners, payroll workers, hospitality sector workers and nail salon workers” who have been brought to the Netherlands using the scheme”, he said.

MPs are due to debate potential changes to the scheme on Thursday.