Minimum Salary Levels to Increase

The situation

Minimum monthly salary levels for some foreign workers in Netherlands will increase by approximately 2.4 percent on January 1, 2020 as follows:

Permit type	Prior salary level	New salary level
Highly skilled migrants over 30 years old	EUR 4,500	EUR 4,612
Highly skilled migrants under 30 years old	EUR 3,299	EUR 3,381
Recent graduates/after job search year	EUR 2,364	EUR 2,423
EU Blue Card	EUR 5,272	EUR 5,403

A closer look

• Market salary rate. As before, salaries must also meet the Netherlands market salary rate for the proposed position.
• Existing employees. Employers of foreign nationals currently under a valid permit need not increase the foreign national’s minimum salary to comply with the new rule.
• Initial and renewal applications. Applications received by immigration authorities on or after January 1, 2020 must comply with the new minimum amounts. Applications that do not meet the minimum salary will be rejected.
• Pending applications. Employers of foreign nationals with pending permit applications that have been filed before January 1, 2020 must only meet the 2019 threshold. Applications that are expected to be filed after January 1, 2020 must meet the 2020 threshold. Immigration applications that do not meet the minimum salary will be rejected.

 

Reminders on other requirements

• Benefits and allowances. As before, benefits and allowances may only be included in the minimum salary calculation if they are specified in the employment contract or assignment letter, guaranteed and fixed, paid on a monthly basis, and are not paid in kind but to the employee’s bank account. Holiday allowance cannot be included in the minimum salary calculation.
• Currency. As before, employers are required to guarantee the salary in EUR, regardless of payroll location and/or exchange rate fluctuations.
• Maintaining a margin. Frequent applications with a minimum salary exactly equal to the threshold may raise questions and audits.

 

Background

A two percent increase is typical for the Netherlands, which increased salary thresholds by two percent in 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Looking ahead

Fragomen expects many more countries to publish updated salary figures in the upcoming weeks.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].