EU Blue card holder

The European Blue Card is intended to facilitate the residence of employees who carry out highly qualified tasks within the EU.

In this context, the national conditions for the provision of the European blue card, however, must be fulfilled:

• Have an employment contract for a highly qualified job for at least 12 months to work for an employer in the Netherlands.
• Must meet the wage requirement set.
• Have a diploma, showing that the applicant has completed a higher education program of at least 3 years. If this is a foreign higher education diploma, the Nuffic will evaluate the diploma. The evaluation must be enclosed with the application. If the diploma is a Dutch diploma,  enclose a copy of a certified diploma.
• For (regulated) professions such as doctor or lawyer: prove that the statutory requirements for being allowed to practice this profession are met.
• For a period of 5 years before the application, the employer may not have been fined for having violated Article 2 of the Foreign Nationals Employment Act, or for failure to pay (sufficient) wage tax, employee insurance premiums or national insurance contributions.

If an employee has a European Blue Card from another Member State, they will need a residence permit to live and work in the Netherlands. What are the conditions and how does the application procedure work?

​Your employer can choose to become a recognized sponsor. This is not obligatory. Recognition as a sponsor has various advantages.

For more information about EU Blue Card, please visit the IND website.