The Netherlands Just Made It Harder to Get In. Here’s What Changed.
For years, the Netherlands held a particular appeal for Indian professionals in technology. The country offered fast-track work permits, a large English-speaking professional ecosystem, competitive salaries, and a relatively straightforward path to European residency. Amsterdam, Eindhoven, and Delft had quietly become cities with visible and growing Indian professional communities — many of them drawn through the kennismigrant (knowledge migrant) scheme, the Dutch government’s dedicated route for highly skilled workers from outside the EU.
That route is still open. But it is no longer as straightforward as it once was. Between annual salary threshold increases, a notable drop in Indian arrivals, a significant tax benefit being trimmed, and a government proposal that would push thresholds meaningfully higher, the picture in 2026 looks different from what it did even three years ago. Understanding these changes clearly — not through panic, but through accurate information — is what anyone seriously considering the Netherlands needs right now.
What the Kennismigrant Scheme Is
The kennismigrant scheme is the Netherlands’ primary mechanism for admitting highly skilled workers from outside the European Union. Unlike most work permit systems, it does not require employers to demonstrate that no EU citizen could fill the role (the so-called “labour market test”). Instead, it works on a salary-based model: if a company is a recognised sponsor registered with the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND), and the offered salary meets the required minimum, the permit can be granted efficiently — often within two to four weeks.
This speed and simplicity made it genuinely attractive, particularly for IT, engineering, and scientific roles where demand has consistently outpaced local supply. For Indian professionals receiving offers from Dutch companies, it removed much of the bureaucratic friction typical of European immigration.
What Changed in 2026
Every year, the Dutch government adjusts the minimum salary thresholds for the kennismigrant scheme. These are not discretionary — they are indexed adjustments tied to wage growth in the Netherlands, and they apply from 1 January each year.
According to the IND’s official income requirements page, the current 2026 thresholds (gross monthly salary, excluding holiday allowance) are:
- Age 30 and above: €5,942 per month
- Under 30: €4,357 per month
- Recent graduates (reduced criterion): €3,122 per month — available to those who graduated within the past three years and meet specific conditions
To put these in context for a Kerala household evaluating an overseas opportunity: at the current exchange rate of approximately ₹112 per euro (as of May 2026), the threshold for someone aged 30 or above translates to roughly ₹6.65 lakh per month, or around ₹80 lakh per year in gross salary. For professionals under 30, the monthly minimum works out to approximately ₹4.88 lakh per month (around ₹58.5 lakh annually).
These are pre-tax figures in a country with relatively high income tax rates, though Dutch employers often partly offset this through the 30% ruling (discussed below).
The 2026 thresholds represent an increase of approximately 4.5% over 2025, continuing a consistent pattern of year-on-year rises. Over the past four years, the threshold for those aged 30 and above has climbed from around €4,500 per month in 2022 to nearly €6,000 today.
The Proposed Tightening — And Why It Matters
The annual indexation is predictable. What is less predictable — and more significant — is a separate proposal announced by the Dutch government in July 2025.
In a letter to the Dutch House of Representatives, Minister of Social Affairs and Employment Eddy van Hijum and Minister of Economic Affairs Vincent Karremans announced the government’s intention to tighten the kennismigrant scheme further. The key change under consideration would move the salary criterion away from fixed euro amounts to a multiple of the national average salary:
- For those under 30: 1.1 times the national average gross salary
- For those 30 and above: 1.3 times the national average gross salary
Based on current Dutch wage averages, this would push the threshold for the 30+ group several hundred euros above the current level — and could approach €7,000 or more per month if implemented.
The government also proposed stricter requirements for recognised sponsors: companies that have been fined three or more times in four years for tax offences, wage violations, or use of illegal labour could lose their sponsorship status. Companies that have not employed any highly skilled migrants for two years could also lose their status automatically.
Critically: these proposals are not yet law. As of May 2026, the 2026 thresholds currently in force are the ones listed above. The new proposal requires legislative approval. There has also been parliamentary pushback — in late 2025, MPs raised concerns about the proposal being “disproportionate” for certain sectors.
What this means practically: the rules are already stricter than they were two or three years ago, and there is a realistic possibility they will tighten further. Anyone building a career plan around the Netherlands needs to track this legislation through its parliamentary process.
The 30% Ruling — A Benefit Being Reduced
For many Indian professionals in the Netherlands, the 30% ruling (officially called the expat scheme or expatregeling) has been a significant financial advantage. Under this scheme, qualifying employees can receive up to 30% of their gross salary as a tax-free allowance, effectively reducing their income tax burden substantially.
Two changes to this scheme are worth knowing:
First, from 1 January 2025, the partial foreign tax liability — a separate benefit that allowed expats to structure certain foreign income outside Dutch taxation — was abolished for new users. Those who had the ruling before the end of 2023 can use partial foreign liability until the end of 2026.
Second, from 2027, the ruling percentage will drop from 30% to 27%, as confirmed by the Dutch government on its official page on the scheme. The net take-home pay advantage will still be meaningful, but it will be smaller than it was during the peak years.
For those currently holding the ruling or expecting to qualify, the calculation still works in most IT roles. But the direction of travel — like the salary thresholds — is toward a less generous arrangement over time.
What the Data Shows: Indian Arrivals Have Already Fallen
The policy debate does not happen in isolation. The numbers are already moving.
According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), 16,000 highly skilled migrants from countries outside the EU arrived in the Netherlands in 2024. That is a decline of 26% compared to 2023 and a 39% drop from the 2022 peak of around 26,000. CBS specifically noted that the decline was most pronounced among Indian nationals.
The annual flow of Indians arriving in the Netherlands has moved as follows:
- 2022: approximately 14,000
- 2023: approximately 12,000
- 2024: approximately 9,000
This is a sharp reversal after a decade of consistent growth. By January 2024, over 89,000 Indian-origin residents lived in the Netherlands — a figure that had tripled over the previous decade. The growth story is not over, but the pace of new arrivals has slowed significantly.
The reasons are not purely policy-driven. The Dutch housing market is under serious pressure, particularly in Amsterdam and Utrecht. Living costs have risen. And for some Indian professionals, other European countries — Germany, Portugal, and parts of Eastern Europe — have become more visible alternatives as the Netherlands’ relative advantage in speed and tax benefits narrows.
What This Means for Indian Applicants
For those receiving job offers from Dutch companies, or actively pursuing the Netherlands as a destination, the practical implications are clear:
The salary bar is high and rising. A gross salary of €5,942 per month is the current entry point for anyone aged 30 or above. In the Indian tech context, this is a level typically associated with senior developers, architects, data engineers, and specialist roles — not entry-level positions. For a fresh graduate under 30, the reduced criterion of €3,122/month is more accessible, but it requires using the orientation year or the recent-graduate route carefully.
The sponsor system matters. The permit is tied entirely to a recognised sponsor. This means the hiring company must be pre-approved by IND. Most major Dutch and international employers operating in the Netherlands are already recognised sponsors. But if you are exploring a smaller or newer employer, it is worth verifying their sponsor status before investing heavily in the application process.
Processing is still relatively fast. Despite the stricter rules, the operational efficiency of the IND’s recognised sponsor route has not materially changed. When documentation is complete and the salary threshold is met, permit decisions typically come within two to four weeks — significantly faster than comparable routes in Germany or the UK.
The 30% ruling still applies, for now. Even at the reduced 27% rate from 2027, this benefit meaningfully improves net salary for qualifying employees. It is one advantage the Netherlands retains over comparable European destinations.
For Malayalee families weighing this decision together — as is common, given how central family input tends to be in major study or career moves from Kerala — the honest picture is this: the Netherlands remains a high-quality destination with genuine professional opportunities, particularly in technology, finance, and logistics. But it now demands a higher salary offer than it did a few years ago, and the financial advantages associated with the expat scheme are being gradually trimmed. The question is not whether it is worth considering, but whether the specific offer on the table meets the current and likely future requirements.
The Bigger Shift in Dutch Policy
It is worth understanding the broader context. The Dutch government’s move toward stricter immigration rules is part of a wider political shift, reflected in the current coalition’s stated priority of reducing overall migration while maintaining competitiveness for genuinely high-skilled talent. The proposal to tie salary thresholds to multiples of the national average is explicitly framed as a tool to ensure only the most specialised workers use the route — those for whom the labour shortage argument is strongest.
This is not unique to the Netherlands. Across Europe, several countries that expanded skilled migration routes aggressively during the 2018–2022 period are now recalibrating, either raising bars or adding sectoral conditions. What distinguishes the Netherlands is that it is doing so openly and through announced legislation, which at least allows applicants and employers to plan.
The parliamentary debate on the proposed tighter thresholds is ongoing. MPs from multiple parties have raised concerns about the impact on Dutch employers — particularly in IT, logistics, and healthcare — who rely on international talent pipelines. The outcome is not yet determined.
Conclusion
The kennismigrant route remains one of the more professionally coherent paths into European employment. For an Indian tech professional with a strong offer from a Dutch recognised sponsor, it is still a viable and well-structured option. The processing speed, legal clarity, and professional environment in the Netherlands continue to compare favourably with most other European destinations.
But the environment has tightened, and it may tighten further. The salary thresholds for 2026 are meaningfully higher than they were three years ago. The expat tax benefit is being reduced. Indian arrivals through this route have dropped substantially. And a legislative proposal — still under debate — could push requirements higher again.
For anyone planning around the Netherlands, the right approach is to verify the current IND thresholds directly (they are publicly listed and updated annually), confirm sponsor status with the hiring company, and treat the proposed future changes as a real possibility rather than a distant hypothetical. The information is available and accurate — the only risk is acting on an outdated picture.