Netherlands
Administration requirements for recognised sponsors expanded
The Immigration and Naturalisation authorities (IND) have made several announcements of relevance to sponsors of highly-skilled migrants.
From 1 January 2026, recognised sponsors will be required to include additional information in their records. This includes documents proving that highly skilled migrants or European Blue Card holders have actually received their salary. Examples include statements from the company’s business bank account or an overview of a batch payment. These documents must show that the employee has received the salary in a payment account in the employee’s name.
Currently, only payslips are required. However, payslips do not prove that the salary has been paid to the employee. For this reason, the list in Article 4.35 of the Aliens Regulation is being expanded. This will enable the IND to take more effective action against any abuse of the highly skilled migrant scheme and the European Blue Card.
The obligations of sponsors are listed here.
In addition, IND has announced that application fees will change, effective 1 January 2025:
- The fee for recognition as a sponsor will increase from EUR 4866 to EUR 5080.
- The reduced fee for recognition as a sponsor (for small businesses, for exchange purpose or for a change in business entity) will increase from EUR 2432 to EUR 2539.
- The application fee for a Highly Skilled Migrant residence permit or European Blue Card will increase from EUR 405 to EUR 423.
Also from 1 January 2026, the government will publish new standard salary amounts for highly-skilled migrants. The new amounts will be published in December 2025.
The applicant must meet the standard amount applicable on the date of the application or registration. This does not apply if the applicant changes employers. In that case, the applicant must meet the standard amount applicable on the date on which the new contract starts.
United Kingdom
Further details of move to eVisas
UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) has provided updates about the move to a digital immigration system, replacing physical documents with digital records of identity and immigration status.
According to the latest updates published here, eVisas will replace all visa vignette stickers in 2026.
- From early 2026, most successful applicants applying to come to the UK on a visit visa and certain other visa routes will get an eVisa as well as a visa vignette sticker.
- Later in 2026, UKVI will stop issuing visa vignette stickers to all successful applicants applying to come to the UK and they will only get an eVisa.
Furthermore, UKVI will start inviting some new successful visa applicants, who only received a visa vignette sticker when their applications were approved, to set up a UKVI account and access their eVisa. UKVI will email them with instructions on how to do this.
Once they have set up their account, they can use either their eVisa or their visa vignette sticker to prove their status. Successful applicants do not need to set up an account if they do not receive an email from UKVI.
