Menu
Expat.com

Highly skilled migrant visa - work locations

Post new topic

tomkirk89

Hi there,

Is there any defined amount of time / days that you have to work in NL, under the highly skilled migrant visa? Tax issues aside, I'm playing out potential Covid scenarios (as a non-Dutch national) - I was wondering if I can work from my home nation (UK) during potential future lockdowns.

Many thanks

See also

Visas for the NetherlandsWorking Remotely for UK based companyCan I work remotely in the Netherlands for a US-based company?Orientation Visa After MastersMVV Deadline Passed
Cynic

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

I don't think you can, you need to have been brought to the Netherlands from abroad and be resident in order to qualify.  Also, it's not something you alone can decide, your Employer has to agree.

That said, I'm not a tax advisor; if you want an answer that you can show to a future regulator, then ask the Belastingdienst; this link will take you straight to their contact page.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

tomkirk89

Hi Cynic,

Sorry I probably wasn't completely clear. I've qualified for the above status and will be moving to NL. I will have a residence in NL to also adhere to the requirements.

My question is more around flexibility of moving thereafter - tax issues aside, if we enter more Covid lockdowns, I'd want to see if I could go back to the UK for a period of time. Or does this visa require something like 200 days per year need to be spent in NL?

Thanks,

Cynic

I think you need to be "resident", i.e. >183 days in any tax year.  It gets complicated because the UK and NL have different reference tax year references (UK Apr > Mar; NL Jan > Dec).  Residence can also be decided by your actions, so if you deliberately leave a country for a period greater than would be regarded as a vacation period, then your action has made you a non-resident (in Holland you have to de-register at the Gemeente, that action makes you non-resident).

That said, Covid has created chaos in the regulatory scene in many countries; hence my advice is to speak to the Belastingdienst and not rely on a public forum.  I do know that ordinarily, the Belastingdienst are very strict in applying the 30% rules and if you don't fully qualify, then it all fails.  I also know of Dutch civil servants that returned to their home countries and worked online from home, but none of those was a 30% tax beneficiary.

So I can only assume there are no written regulations or legal judgements, you're in no-mans land, you need proper advice.

Max0910

Actually I have found this answe on the IND website:


Residence permit as a highly skilled migrant and scientific researcher under Directive 2005/71/EC or researcher under Directive 2016/801

You are allowed to work outside the Netherlands for a total of up to 8 out of 12 months. We add up separate periods. You must still meet the requirements of your residence permit.


I am also very interested in this topic and 4 months of 12 presence is very flexible I should say!!!


And these are the general rules (more restrictive):


Temporary or permanent residence permit asylum or regular


  • You have been outside the Netherlands for more than 6 continuous months. Your stay outside the Netherlands was not due to force majeure, but your own choice.
  • For 3 years in a row, you have been outside of the Netherlands for more than 4 continuous months. The IND counts these 4 months per calendar year (January to December). We do not add up separate periods. You have moved the centre of your activities abroad. This means that you cannot prove that you carry out the largest part of your activities in the Netherlands. IND looks at this per person.

Max0910

By the way do residence permit have other/ more restrictive residence period requirements? What does this statement mean 'You must still meet the requirements of your residence permit' in other words?

Cynic


    By the way do residence permit have other/ more restrictive residence period requirements? What does this statement mean 'You must still meet the requirements of your residence permit' in other words?
   

    -@Max0910

That you have somewhere to live, the means to support yourself and behave yourself, they say "not to become a burden on the State".  People have had their visas revoked and put on the next flight back to where they came from for these reasons.

Articles to help you in your expat project in the Netherlands

All of the Netherlands's guide articles