Ministerie van Justitie, Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst

Social Affairs Minister Piet Hein Donner and Justice State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak recently opened the Digital Desk Labour Migration www.arbeidsmigratie.nl. The digital desk will help employers wanting to employ a foreign employee to quickly see which permits they require for filing an application.

Combining the procedure for a work permit and a provisional residence permit will considerably reduce the administrative burden. At the same time, the Netherlands will become more attractive for labour immigrants who will contribute to the Dutch economy. The Digital Desk Labour Migration is an inter-agency cooperation between the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) and the Centre for Work and Income (CWI).

When opening the desk, the Social Affairs Minister emphasised that the Netherlands could not do without cross-border labour mobility, “not now, not in the future, and this involves not only labour immigrants in the agricultural sector but also highly-skilled immigrants in the high-tech sector. The Netherlands must always remain open to labour immigrants who add something to the Dutch economy and the desk may be of great service in this respect”.

The Justice State Secretary emphasised the interest of swift and effective procedures: “The impact of an effective enforcement of the Dutch Aliens Act will be mitigated by a swift and simple admission of labour immigrants who come to the Netherlands to make a contribution to the Dutch society. This means that we can kill two birds in one (digital) stone. Individualised applications will be processed quickly and the Government implements one of its priorities, namely reducing the administrative burden on employers.”

Employers can answer a number of questions on line via the web site, and will then see what permits they need to apply for. The questionnaire has been prepared in such a way that only relevant information needs to be given. Staff from the IND and CWI work together at the specifically-designed back office to come up with a joint decision. The decision is then sent to the relevant employer. As a result, filing an application through the digital desk will shorten the procedure whereas information only needs to be provided once. The average number of applications may reach some 5,000 per year. The web site can also be reached through the New to Holland web portal www.newtoholland.nl (also in English).

Bron: www.justitie.nl