Possibly longer search period for some (settled) highly skilled migrants

On 24 April 2024, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament adopted the Directive 2024/1233, with a view to strengthening the legal positions of single permit holders on the European labour market. Notwithstanding the fact that this Directive is addressed to single permit holders, it is commonly understood that highly skilled migrants are single permit holders as well. As article 2(3) of the Directive stipulates, single permit means a residence permit issued by the authorities of a Member State allowing a third-country national to reside legally in its territory for the purpose of work. Clearly, a highly skilled migrant permit can be seen as a single permit.

Longer search period prescribed by the EU Directive

A major benefit that this new Directive brings about is that single permit holders who have been working longer than two years in a Member State should get a search period of six months (during the period of validity of a single permit), when they become unemployed. Undoubtedly, this implies that a highly skilled migrant who has put down some roots in the Netherlands after working longer than 2 years in the Netherlands should also receive a search period up to six months. This is apparently more lenient than the current IND policy. Under the current IND policy, in the event of unemployment, a highly skilled migrant gets a search period up to three months.

In the beginning of July 2025, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and the Dutch Minister for Asylum and Migration informed the Dutch Parliament that, because of this new Directive, the government plans to extend the search period from three to six months, in relation to highly skilled migrants who have been working longer than 2 years in the Netherlands. As the Dutch Ministers point out in their letter, highly skilled migrants who have been working longer than 2 years in the Netherlands are relatively better integrated. The extension of the search period has also been recommended by other researchers, suggesting that three months are, in general, too short for a company to interview and to hire a new staff member. Nevertheless, it will still take some time before the IND policy gets amended.

Transposition deadline

The Directive 2024/1233 requires the Member States to transpose a number of provisions (incl. the search period provision) of the Directive into national laws on/before 21 May 2026.

What happens if I am unemployed now?

As mentioned above, the Directive has not been transposed into Dutch administrative laws. Nonetheless, on the ground of established case law of the European Court of Justice (CJEU), EU law requires the Member States to which a Directive is addressed to refrain, during the period laid down therein for its implementation, from adopting measures liable seriously to jeopardise the outcome prescribed. As various EU institutions have clarified on multiple occasions, Europe should retain talented workers on the European labour market. In my opinion, if the IND continues to revoke a (settled) highly skilled migrant's permit, while knowing that the search period will be extended up to six months in foreseeable future, it will seriously undermine the result prescribed by the Directive.  Thus, if you have recently been laid off and/or have received an intent to revoke (“zienswijze”) from the IND, it is worth the efforts to ask the IND to take the perspective of the new Directive into account.

Other ways of extending your stay in the Netherlands 

Besides making optimal use of the search period, there are other ways of extending your stay in the Netherlands. 

Contact us

Should you have any questions about the search period and/or other areas of Dutch immigration law, please feel free to book a consultation with one of our lawyers.