deze gids is alleen in het engels beschikbaar. english

What does it mean when a Dutch company is an IND recognised sponsor?

What is an IND recognised sponsor, and how to check a company

Bijgewerkt op 2 oktober 2026 · door Hitesh Satwanide cijfers hieronder komen live uit het vacatureoverzicht

An IND recognised sponsor (erkend referent) is an employer, university or research institution that the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service has approved to bring people from outside the EU to the Netherlands. For the highly skilled migrant permit, the most common work visa, only a recognised sponsor can apply. There are 13,257 of them on the public register today; of the 1,555 whose career sites JobThing follows, 1,049 have a job open right now. To check a company, search it in the sponsor lookup or on the IND's own register.

Rules and figures as of October 2026. Check your own situation with the IND or a qualified adviser before you act on it.

what recognition means

To be recognised, an organisation applies to the IND, pays a fee (€5,080 in 2026, or €2,539 for organisations with 50 people or fewer) and passes checks on its registration, financial stability and reliability. In return it gets a fast track: the IND aims to decide on its applications within two weeks, asks for fewer documents, and lets the sponsor declare rather than prove many conditions. The sponsor takes on duties too: a duty of care for the migrant, record keeping, and reporting changes such as the end of a contract. The IND can fine or de-register a sponsor that fails them.

why the register is the right starting point

Because recognition is mandatory for the highly skilled migrant route, the register is effectively the list of employers that can hire you from abroad on that permit. An employer that is not on it would first have to apply for recognition, which most will not do for a single hire. That is why JobThing lists vacancies from registered sponsors only.

how to check a company in a minute

  1. Type the name into the JobThing sponsor lookup. It checks the name against the IND register.
  2. Or search the IND public register by name. It is split into four registers: labour (work), research, study and exchange. Employers are on the labour register; universities often appear on several.
  3. Or open the company's sponsor page on JobThing, which states in one sentence whether it is registered, when we last confirmed it, and what it has open.
  4. Watch for legal entity names. Large companies are often registered under a holding or a Dutch subsidiary with a different name; our sponsor pages list every entity we matched.

what it does not mean

  • It is not a promise to sponsor you. Recognition is permission, and each hire is the employer's decision. Look for the relocation badge, which quotes postings that say so themselves; 84 do today.
  • It does not waive the salary threshold (€5,942 a month in 2026 at 30 or older).
  • It is not needed for every permit. For the EU Blue Card the employer does not have to be recognised (it must carry out economic activity and not have been fined in the past 5 years), and the orientation year permit for graduates is one you apply for yourself. See Blue Card or highly skilled migrant.
The register changes. Organisations join and leave; we re-check it and remove employers that drop off. If you see a company listed here that you believe is no longer recognised, tell us.

sources

vragen

Is every company on the IND register hiring internationals?

No. The register lists 13,257 organisations. Of the 1,555 whose career sites JobThing reads, 1,049 have an open vacancy in the Netherlands today, and fewer still post in English. Recognition is permission, not intent.

How do I check if a company is an IND recognised sponsor?

Search its name in the JobThing sponsor lookup at /ind-recognised-sponsors or in the IND public register of recognised sponsors on ind.nl. Large companies are often registered under a Dutch subsidiary or holding name, so try the legal entity name too.

Can a company become a recognised sponsor for me?

Yes, in principle. The employer applies to the IND, pays a fee (€5,080 in 2026, €2,539 for organisations with 50 people or fewer), and the IND checks it. It mostly happens at companies that plan to hire internationally more than once.

Does a recognised sponsor have to pay for my visa?

The application fee is normally paid by the sponsor, and many also cover relocation, but neither is required by the recognition itself. It is part of the offer you negotiate.