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.

Initially, the IND had been contending that this new Directive would only apply to general employment permit holders ("arbeid in loondienst"). On 28 May 2026, the IND released a newsletter, in which the IND admits that the new Directive does apply to holders of the following visa categories: general employment permit ("arbeid in loondienst"), highly skilled migrant, European blue card, research under the EU Directive 2016/801, orientation year, non-privileged military or non-privileged civilian personnel as well as work experience ("lerend werken"). 

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. This is arranged in article 11(4) of the EU Directive 2024/1233. 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. 

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. Meanwhile, the transposition deadline has lapsed. 

IND practice

Notwithstanding the fact that the deadline for transposing article 11(4) of the Directive has lapsed, we have seen a couple of cases in which the IND refuses to apply the new Directive.

Most recently, the IND has mentioned on their website that:

• If a highly skilled migrant lost their job before 22 May 2026, they would be given a search period of a maximum of three months. 
• If a highly skilled migrant lost/loses their job on/after 22 May 2026 and they have been working 2 years or longer in the Netherlands, they can get a search period up to six months. 

In both situations, the residence card itself must be valid throughout this search period. The search period starts as from the moment that the employment contract ends, and it is never longer than the validity of the residence card. Thus, if a highly skilled migrant loses their job and their card expires on the same day, they are not entitled to a search period. 

In other words, with regard to people who lost their job before 22 May 2026, the IND still wants to continue applying their (outdated and incorrect) policy. In our opinion, this IND practice is still in contravention of EU law. It is established case law of the European Court of Justice that, after the lapse of the transposition deadline, a provision of an EU Directive gains direct effect, provided that the Directive provision is clear, precise and unconditional. Furthermore, in another judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union holds that, although a new legal rule does not apply to situations that arose and were definitively adjudicated under the old law, it does apply to the future consequences of a situation that arose under the old rule.

When will the new Directive be transposed into Dutch domestic law?

The Netherlands Government has been quite late in this matter. On 3 June 2026, the Dutch Government submitted a bill to the Parliament. For the time being, the bill has not been scheduled for plenary debate. 

What happens if I am unemployed now?

As mentioned above, the Directive has not been transposed into Dutch administrative laws. It is likely that you will still receive a so called intention to revoke letter ("voornemen") after three months of unemployment, as the IND may still want to apply their (outdated) policy, refusing to apply EU law directly. 

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. Meanwhile, after the lapse of the transposition deadline, a Directive provision can gain direct effect, provided that the provision itself is clear, precise and unconditional.

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 (“voornemen”) from the IND, it is worth the efforts to ask the IND to take the perspective of the new Directive into account.

Recent successful cases

Recently, we have had a couple of successful cases, in which we invoked a plethora of legal arguments (incl. the new Directive of the European Union). For example, a client managed to find a new job shortly after the expiry of the 3-month search period, while their job application was sent to their (current) employer before the expiry of the three-month period. The IND decided not to revoke this client's permit. In another case, the IND decided not to revoke a client's permit as from the end of the 3-month search period, but as from a much later date on the basis of a different ground.

In a very recent case, a client lost their job in the first half of May 2026. The IND was planning to revoke this client's permit as from the first half of August 2026. On behalf of our client, we submitted a myriad of legal arguments, as a result of which the IND has decided not to revoke this client's employment based permit. 

These recent cases show that the IND tries to avoid mentioning "the elephant in the room," but the IND starts appearing to be more flexible in relation to the "three-month" search period.

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.

Edited on 24 September 2026