How Much Does IND Sponsorship Cost in 2026 and Is It Worth It?
You've just lost your third candidate this quarter. Not because of salary, not because of role fit, but because your company isn't an IND recognised sponsor and the competitor down the road in Amsterdam is. The candidate couldn't wait eight weeks for you to figure out the immigration paperwork.
This scenario plays out constantly for mid-market companies building Dutch teams. The question of how much IND sponsorship costs and whether it's worth it isn't just about government fees. It's about whether you're ready to compete for non-EU talent in one of Europe's most attractive hiring markets.
IND recognised sponsorship is a Dutch immigration status granted by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) that allows a Dutch legal entity to sponsor eligible residence permit applications for non-EU hires, including under the Highly Skilled Migrant route. The costs involve a one-off recognition fee, per-employee permit fees, and significant internal investment. Whether that investment pays off depends entirely on your hiring patterns, growth trajectory, and appetite for compliance ownership.
Key Takeaways
IND sponsorship means becoming an IND recognised sponsor so you can directly sponsor work and residence permits, including the Highly Skilled Migrant route
Costs include a one-off recognition application fee, per-employee permit application fees, and potential consular or entry visa charges, plus legal, internal process, and systems costs
Recognition brings faster processing, a smoother candidate experience, and more control; it's most worthwhile when you hire non-EU professionals into Dutch roles regularly
If you only sponsor a role occasionally, using an EOR or a third-party sponsor can be simpler and cheaper in the short term
The right path depends on hiring volume, risk appetite, sector regulation, and whether the Netherlands is becoming a core hub in your multi-country plan
What IND Sponsorship Is and How It Supports Highly Skilled Migrant Hiring
A Highly Skilled Migrant (Kennismigrant) is a Netherlands work and residence permit category for non-EU nationals that is sponsored by an employer and primarily gated by role eligibility and meeting an IND-set salary threshold. To sponsor these permits directly, your Dutch legal entity needs IND recognised sponsor status.
Without this status, you have two options: use a third-party sponsor (a relocation agency or another company that holds recognition and sponsors on your behalf) or use an Employer of Record that can handle the immigration process as the legal employer.
"We suddenly realised that not being an IND recognised sponsor was the reason we kept losing candidates to other employers in Amsterdam."
That frustration is common. Recognised sponsors enjoy a statutory two-week decision period from the IND, while non-sponsors face up to 90 days. In a competitive talent market, that difference determines whether you land the hire.
What IND recognition allows:
Sponsor Highly Skilled Migrant permits directly
Benefit from accelerated processing (two weeks versus up to 90 days)
Appear on the public recognised sponsor list, which can strengthen employer brand
Streamline candidate onboarding and compliance reporting
The Netherlands' IND maintains a public register of approximately 10,000 recognised sponsors, and being listed is a verifiable indicator that a specific Dutch legal entity is authorised to sponsor eligible residence permits under applicable schemes.
Current IND Sponsorship Fees and What They Cover
IND government fees for sponsorship-related applications are published in euros and updated periodically on the official IND fees page, and finance teams should treat any third-party blog fee table older than 12 months as potentially outdated without cross-checking the IND source.
Per-hire government fees for Dutch residence permit applications under employer sponsorship are separate from the one-off IND recognised sponsor recognition fee, and companies should budget for at least two fee layers: sponsor recognition and per-employee permit processing.
The recognition application fee sits at €5,080 in 2026, with a reduced rate of €2,539 for smaller companies with 50 or fewer employees. Per-employee Highly Skilled Migrant application fees reach €423 in 2026, with additional consular or entry visa fees where applicable.
"Our CFO's first question was simple: what are we actually paying the IND for, and how often?"
Fee categories to budget for:
Recognition application fee (one-off)
Per-employee Highly Skilled Migrant permit fee
Consular or entry visa fees where relevant
Document legalisation or translation costs
These are government fees only. They exclude law firm charges, relocation support, and internal time. Fees change periodically, so build in a margin when budgeting.
The True Cost of IND Sponsorship for Mid-Market Companies
For budgeting purposes, the all-in first-year cost of becoming IND sponsor-ready is commonly 2-5x the IND government fees once you include immigration counsel, HR and legal time, document handling, and compliance tooling, according to Teamed's total-cost-of-ownership modelling approach for mid-market employers.
Mid-market companies with 200-2,000 employees typically need 6-12 weeks of internal lead time to design sponsor-ready workflows (offer templates, salary-threshold checks, document retention, and change-reporting ownership) before they submit an IND recognised sponsor application, according to Teamed's implementation planning benchmarks for European hiring operations.
"We thought IND sponsorship was just a form and a fee, then we saw the internal process work it would trigger."
The indirect costs add up quickly. Legal and advisory fees for the initial application and compliance process design. Internal workload across HR, finance, and legal for policies, training, salary monitoring, and reporting changes to the IND. Systems and tools to track expiry dates, reporting deadlines, and document storage. Opportunity cost from leaders spending time on Dutch immigration instead of broader people strategy. And the cost of mistakes: audits, remediation, reputational damage, and potential loss of recognised sponsor status.
In regulated industries, Legal and Compliance teams commonly require 3-6 distinct controls for immigration sponsorship audit readiness (document retention rules, maker-checker approvals, reporting SLAs, periodic salary-threshold verification, and access control for personal data), according to Teamed's compliance-first operating model templates.
When IND Sponsorship Starts to Pay Off for Companies With 200 to 2,000 Employees
A practical break-even heuristic for IND recognition versus repeated third-party sponsorship is reached when a company expects to sponsor at least 3-5 Highly Skilled Migrants per year for two consecutive years, because fixed setup and governance costs can be amortised over a predictable hiring volume, according to Teamed's mid-market ROI framework for Netherlands hiring hubs.
There's no single threshold. Infrequent hiring often favours third-party sponsorship or EOR. Regular non-EU hiring into Dutch roles spreads setup costs and reduces per-hire cost over time.
"Once we realised how many Dutch roles we were filling through agencies, IND recognition became an obvious next step."
Likely worth it when:
You consistently hire several Highly Skilled Migrants each year
The Netherlands is becoming a key hub for engineering or operations
You value faster processing and a stronger employer brand
You operate in a regulated sector and want tighter control
Probably premature when:
Dutch hiring is occasional and unpredictable
You're testing the market with a small footprint
You lack internal capacity to manage compliance today
Think over several years. Consider Dutch headcount growth, hybrid and remote patterns, and whether the Netherlands is becoming a core hub rather than a peripheral market.
Comparing IND Sponsorship With EOR and Third-Party Sponsors in the Netherlands
IND recognised sponsorship differs from third-party sponsorship because the employer holds the sponsor licence directly and owns compliance and reporting duties, whereas third-party sponsorship centralises those duties in the sponsoring provider and creates dependency risk for timelines and policy decisions.
An Employer of Record (EOR) is a third-party organisation that becomes the legal employer in a country, runs payroll, tax, benefits, and employment compliance, and can sponsor work permits where legally permitted, while the client company manages day-to-day work.
IND recognised sponsorship differs from an EOR model because IND sponsorship typically assumes the worker is employed by the sponsoring Dutch entity, while an EOR places the worker on the EOR's local payroll and shifts day-to-day payroll compliance and employment administration to the provider.
EOR advantages:
Fast market entry without a Dutch entity
Predictable monthly fees and bundled compliance
Suitable for pilots or small, distributed teams
IND recognised sponsor advantages:
More control over timelines and candidate experience
Potentially lower per-hire cost at steady volumes
Stronger employer brand and audit readiness
Compliance and reputational risk vary. Errors by an EOR or third-party sponsor can still affect your brand. The question isn't which model is better in the abstract, but which fits your current stage and trajectory.
How European Mid-Market Companies Should Use IND Sponsorship in a Multi-Country Hiring Strategy
For multi-country European hiring, mid-market firms commonly operate 3-5 different employment models in parallel (direct employment via entities, EOR, contractors, and agency arrangements), and immigration sponsorship decisions like IND recognition are usually one component of a broader governance consolidation project, according to Teamed's cross-border employment strategy assessments.
The Netherlands often sits alongside hubs like Ireland, Germany, and Spain. Decisions interact with where teams and functions centralise. Regulated industries need structured choices around where permissions, data, and critical staff sit. The Netherlands may be a strategic anchor or simply one market among many.
When the Netherlands is used as a long-term engineering or operations hub, mid-market employers often plan on a 24-36 month horizon for moving from EOR or third-party sponsorship to direct IND recognition and then to a fully embedded Dutch entity operating model, according to Teamed's contractor-to-EOR-to-entity sequencing guidance.
Strategic questions to work through:
Where will your key teams be based over the next few years?
Which regulators do you answer to and where are permissions held?
How many non-EU hires do you expect per location?
Do you need direct sponsorship capability for critical roles?
What's your path from EOR to entity to recognition by market?
Key Compliance Duties and Risks for IND Recognised Sponsors
In the Netherlands, employer-sponsored work and residence permission is tied to continuing eligibility conditions, and material changes such as role changes, salary changes, or employment termination can trigger reporting duties to the IND within prescribed timeframes set by IND policy.
Core obligations include keeping accurate records for five years and being ready for inspection, ensuring salaries stay above required thresholds and roles remain eligible, reporting changes in employment or personal circumstances within set timeframes, and cooperating with the IND as a reliable partner providing complete and correct information.
Consequences of non-compliance range from warnings and heightened scrutiny to delays, refusals, and potential loss of recognised sponsor status. Reputational risk is material, especially for regulated businesses with auditors, regulators, and investors watching. Employee experience risk matters too: sponsorship errors can affect right to stay and trust in the employer.
Practical IND Sponsorship Scenarios for Scaling Companies Above 50 Employees
Consider an early-stage tech scaleup with a handful of Dutch employees and occasional non-EU hires. Using EOR or third-party sponsorship while testing the market makes sense. Prioritise speed and low operational overhead. Reassess if hiring becomes steady.
"We realised we were paying agency sponsorship fees again and again when IND recognition would have given us more control."
A mid-market firm building a Dutch hub with regular Highly Skilled Migrant hiring each year faces a different calculation. The business case for recognition strengthens as volumes rise. Candidate experience and employer brand become competitive levers. Light but reliable compliance processes and tooling become worthwhile investments.
A regulated sector example, perhaps a fintech or healthcare company, needs tighter controls. Direct sponsor status satisfies regulators and auditors. Reduced dependency on third parties for critical roles matters. Formalised governance and internal reporting become requirements rather than nice-to-haves.
In all cases, the answer can evolve. Start external, graduate to recognition as team and compliance maturity grow.
How to Choose Your Next Step on IND Sponsorship and When to Talk to the Experts
The decision factors come down to expected non-EU hiring into the Netherlands, importance of the Dutch hub to your business, appetite to own compliance, and current use of EOR or third-party sponsors.
Steps to decide:
Clarify your Dutch hiring forecast over the next few years
Map current employment models in the Netherlands and elsewhere
Assess internal capacity for immigration compliance
Decide whether IND recognition is a priority now or later, and set a review point
It's reasonable to delay if Dutch hiring is minimal and uncertain. Just track triggers to revisit. If the Netherlands is becoming a key hub or regulation is tight, deferring may increase operational and compliance risk.
If you're weighing IND sponsorship versus EOR or entity expansion, having one strategic partner across models and markets accelerates clarity and reduces risk. Talk to the experts at Teamed to map your best-fit path for the Netherlands within your broader European strategy.
FAQs About IND Sponsorship Costs and Value
How often do IND sponsorship fees change and how should a company plan its budget?
Fees are reviewed regularly and can increase, so check the official IND fees page before budgeting and build in a margin for changes.
Can one IND recognised sponsor status cover multiple Dutch entities in a corporate group?
Recognition is granted to specific Dutch legal entities. Group structures need careful planning, so seek tailored advice on structuring recognition across entities.
What happens to IND recognised sponsor status if a company is acquired or restructures?
Significant ownership changes or restructurings can affect sponsor status and may require notifications. Include immigration considerations in transaction planning.
Does being an IND recognised sponsor help with permits other than the Highly Skilled Migrant route?
Recognition can be relevant for certain other permit categories, such as intra-company transfers. Verify current IND rules for each permit type.
How likely is it that a company loses its IND recognised sponsor status for non-compliance?
The IND can act on serious or repeated non-compliance, but sponsors typically receive signals or warnings first. Strong processes and quick responses reduce risk.
How does IND sponsorship interact with remote work and employees leaving the Netherlands?
Sponsored permits are tied to living and working in the Netherlands. Extended remote work abroad can raise immigration issues, so take local advice before allowing long relocations.
What is mid-market?
For this article, mid-market means companies between startups and large enterprises, typically with headcount in the low hundreds up to a couple of thousand or revenue in the tens of millions up to around a billion. Teamed focuses on organisations of roughly that scale.or
