
How do we become a Recognised Sponsor of the IND?
Index
- What is a recognised sponsor?
- Why become a recognized sponsor?
- What are the terms to become a recognized sponsor?
- Which costs do we have to take into account?
- How do we become a recognized sponsor?
- How long does the application to become a recognized sponsor take?
- What are our rights as a recognised sponsor?
- What are our obligations as a recognized sponsor
- How long is the recognized sponsorship valid?
- How can Anywr Netherlands help?
A recognized sponsor is a company that is seen as a reliable partner by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). Recognised sponsorship is required for a number of procedures, including those for highly skilled migrants. For other procedures, your company will receive faster decisions with recognized sponsorship. As a recognised sponsor, your company is listed in the Public Register of Recognised Sponsors.
The recognised sponsorship is mandatory for companies, educational institutions and organisations that want to apply for residence permits for highly skilled migrants, researchers, au pairs, exchange young people and students from outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland.
For all other work-related applications, the recognised sponsorship saves time.
You will receive a decision sooner after an individual application and there is less need to provide evidence.
Your organization must meet a number of conditions, the most important of which are:
– Registration with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK).
– Be financially healthy (no recent bankruptcy or suspension of payments).
– Reliability of directors and those involved (no recent fines or criminal offenses).
– No arrears in social security contributions and payroll taxes.
– Be able to demonstrate that there are sufficient funds to continue to pay highly skilled migrants.
The governmental fees for applying for the recognized sponsorship are in 2025:
Recognition as sponsor (regular) – € 4 866
Recognition as a sponsor – small companies with up to 50 people (worldwide) – € 2 432
Recognition as a sponsor for exchange (incl. au pair) – € 2 432
Recognition as a sponsor (change of business form of a recognised sponsor) – € 2 432
These costs are exclusive third party costs.
There are seven steps that you have to follow to become a recognized sponsor:
1) Prepare
2) Fill out Form 7501
3) Submit the form and all required documents to the IND
4) Pay the governmental fee
5) Assessment by the IND
6) Decision by the IND
7) Registration in the list of recognized sponsors
The legal decision period is three months (90 days). However, the IND can stretch it up to 6 months or even longer if the decision officer requests additional documentation or forwards your application to the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) RVO. In our experience, most complete applications are processed within 3 months.
– Submit applications for the highly skilled migrant procedure, for researchers or for exchange (including au pairs).
– Faster decisions for other immigration applications. The legal decision period for other applications is 90 days, with recognition you will usually receive a decision within 14 days.
Once your company is a recognised sponsor, the IND expects you to comply with the following obligations:
– Duty of care
– Obligation to inform
– Obligation to keep and retain records
– Your company is responsible for the return of highly skilled migrants who are no longer working for you, unless they go to another employer in the Netherlands. The period for this is 3 months.
At the time of writing (July 2025), the recognized sponsorship is still valid for an indefinite period of time. There are plans to change this. In this proposal, the recognized sponsorship is valid for 2 years. If there are no applications during this period, or no highly skilled migrants are employed, it will expire and you will have to apply for a new sponsorship.
Would you like expert advice on your application to become a recognized sponsor, someone who will help you prepare everything and who will submit the application on your behalf? Anywr Netherlands offers end-to-end immigration service.