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IND recognised sponsor for highly skilled migrants

Payroll & employer-of-record services in the Netherlands

Hiring international talent for your Dutch or European operations can be challenging. The rules around the highly skilled migrant (HSM) scheme, salary thresholds and immigration procedures are complex. On top of that, your company must usually be recognised as a sponsor by the IND before you can hire highly skilled migrants directly.

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Hire HSM's without becoming a sponsor

Maxol Finance Services is an IND recognised sponsor and combines this status with professional payroll and employer-of-record (EOR) services. This allows you to bring highly skilled migrants to the Netherlands quickly and compliantly – without having to become a recognised sponsor yourself.

Under Dutch immigration rules, an employer who wants to hire a highly skilled migrant typically needs to be recognised as a sponsor by the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). Recognised sponsors benefit from a fast-track procedure, but they also have legal obligations and must meet financial and reliability criteria.

Payroll Plus

By providing a seamless experience for you and your employees
For many organisations, especially SMEs, scale-ups and foreign companies that are new to the Netherlands, applying for recognition is:
  • time-consuming and administrative heavy;
  • an extra compliance burden;
  • not always justified for just a few international hires.
By working with Maxol as your IND recognised sponsor, you can:
  • make use of the fast-track HSM procedure;
  • avoid the complexity and cost of your own recognition application;
  • still hire and manage the highly skilled migrant in your own team on a day-to-day basis.
Acting on your behalf and in line with your procedures

Payroll for highly skilled migrants: how it works

Our solution is a combination of payrolling and employer-of-record (EOR) services for highly skilled migrants:
1

You select the candidate

You find the right non-EU/EER/Swiss professional for your role in the Netherlands.

2

Maxol becomes the formal employer (payroll)

The highly skilled migrant is formally employed by Maxol in the Netherlands. We sign the employment contract, handle payroll and ensure compliance with Dutch labour and tax law.

3

We act as IND recognised sponsor

As a recognised sponsor, Maxol prepares and submits the highly skilled migrant residence permit application with the IND, and coordinates the immigration process with the employee.

4

You direct the work; we handle the back office

In daily practice, the highly skilled migrant works for your organisation under your supervision and instructions. We take care of payroll, wage tax, social security, payslips and ongoing compliance.

5

Clear monthly invoicing

You receive a transparent invoice from Maxol that covers salary costs, taxes, social security contributions and our service fee.

The process with highly skilled migrant (HSM)

When you use Maxol as your IND recognised sponsor and payroll provider, we typically:
  • check whether the role and candidate meet the highly skilled migrant requirements, including the applicable salary thresholds;
  • advise on appropriate salary levels and contract structure;
  • prepare and submit the residence permit application for work as a highly skilled migrant with the IND;
  • coordinate visa and entry procedures where relevant;
  • respond to IND questions and follow up on the application;
  • draft and sign the Dutch employment contract;
  • register the employee with Dutch tax authorities and other relevant bodies;
  • monitor ongoing compliance (for example, salary requirements and administrative obligations for recognised sponsors);
  • run monthly payroll, including wage tax and social security;
  • issue payslips and annual wage summaries;

Please contact us for
more information and discuss your needs.

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Benefits of working with Maxol

Faster onboarding

… thanks to our status as a recognised sponsorship
The Dutch government applies a restrictive admission policy for employees from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland. The idea behind this is that Dutch employees and employees from within the EU should in principle have priority on our labour market.

For many companies, obtaining recognition as a sponsor is a time-consuming and administratively burdensome process. Maxol is itself a recognised sponsor with the IND and can therefore use the accelerated admission procedure. This allows you to engage highly skilled migrants without having to take your own organisation through the entire recognition process.

As an IND recognised sponsor, we are allowed to use the accelerated admission procedure. The IND aims to process applications from recognised sponsors significantly faster than regular applications.

No recognition required

… you do not need your own recognition
You do not need to submit an expensive and time-consuming recognition application, with the associated annual obligations and possible audits. We already have that status and put it to work for your highly skilled migrants.

When you want to employ a highly skilled migrant, you will be faced with complex laws and regulations and additional administrative obligations. Your company must be an IND recognised sponsor.

Maxol is officially an IND recognised sponsor and can therefore use the accelerated admission procedure. This means you do not have to worry about administrative red tape, you do not need to dive into all the legal details, and your international employee can start work quickly.

International expertise

… specialist HR knowledge
We are personal, small-scale, NOAB-certified and used to working internationally. We are a Rotterdam-based administrative office with an international client base and a full NOAB membership. This means we work according to strict quality and professional standards and continuously keep our knowledge up to date. We also have a secondary office in the south of the Netherlands.

Our expertise does not stop at processing payroll. Thanks to many years of practical experience, we also have extensive HR knowledge in-house. We think along with you about the entire employee life cycle: from hiring to termination of employment.

Because we combine HR expertise with a strong payroll and tax background, you can immediately see what an HR decision means for your labour costs, administration and risks. In this way, we help you make choices that are not only legally sound, but also financially and organisationally sensible.

Acting on your behalf and in line with your procedures

FAQ IND recognised sponsor & highly skilled migrant payroll

1. What is a highly skilled migrant in the Netherlands?
A highly skilled migrant (sometimes called a “knowledge migrant” or “HSM”) is a non-EU/EER/Swiss professional who comes to the Netherlands to perform highly skilled work and meets the IND’s salary and other requirements under the national highly skilled migrant scheme.
2. What does it mean that Maxol is an IND recognised sponsor?
Being an IND recognised sponsor means that the IND has assessed Maxol as a reliable organisation that can act as sponsor for foreign employees. Recognised sponsors may use a fast-track procedure and have ongoing legal obligations regarding information, administration and care for the foreign employee.
3. Do we still need to become a recognised sponsor ourselves?
No. When you use our payroll / employer-of-record solution, Maxol is the formal Dutch employer and recognised sponsor. You do not need to become a recognised sponsor for that employee.

If, in the future, you prefer to obtain your own IND recognition, we can discuss how to transition from a payroll/EOR set-up to direct employment.

4. How long does the IND procedure usually take?
Processing times depend on the individual case and IND workload, but recognised sponsors benefit from a fast-track process compared to non-recognised sponsors. Once we understand your situation and the candidate’s profile, we can give a more concrete indication.
5. Can family members (partner and children) come along?
In many cases, partners and minor children can apply for a residence permit to live in the Netherlands with the highly skilled migrant. We can coordinate this as part of the overall immigration process.
6. In what language do you work?
We work comfortably in English and Dutch. Employment contracts and key documentation can be provided in English where allowed, which is often more practical for both HQ and the employee.
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