VisaHighly skilled migrants in the Netherlands must check pay before buying extra leave
IND’s November reminder distinguishes purchased holidays from qualifying statutory leave and explains why the payroll calculation matters.
Official source date: 2026-11-05
Last verified against linked sources:
Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Check the payroll deduction before agreeing to extra holidays
Highly skilled migrants and their sponsoring employers should check the immigration effect before exchanging salary for additional leave. IND’s 5 November Business Newsletter warns that buying extra hours must not reduce the remaining gross pay below the applicable salary threshold. This is a reminder about an existing residence condition, not an announcement that all foreign workers are forbidden to buy holidays.
The newsletter suggests offsetting a purchase against salary elements not counted towards the threshold, giving holiday pay or an end-of-year bonus as examples. That suggestion needs to be read alongside the detailed income guidance: a bonus is not automatically excluded merely because of its name. Ask payroll which component will actually be reduced and whether that component contributes to the immigration calculation. An employer’s ordinary holiday-purchase policy does not answer that separate residence-permit question.
Use the correct monthly threshold and count only qualifying components
IND’s required-amounts page lists 2026 gross monthly thresholds excluding holiday pay: EUR5,942 for the ordinary thirty-and-over highly skilled migrant category, EUR4,357 for the younger category, and EUR3,122 for qualifying reduced-criterion cases. Age, employment changes and entitlement to the reduced criterion matter; these are not interchangeable options for any employee. Establish the applicable category before calculating a leave deduction.
Fixed allowances and expense reimbursements can count only where contractually agreed, transferred into the worker’s own bank account and paid monthly. A thirteenth-month payment can count when distributed in twelve equal monthly amounts. Holiday allowance, benefits in kind and uncertain irregular pay do not count. This qualifies the newsletter’s reference to an end-of-year bonus: establish its contractual and payment arrangement, rather than assuming every bonus is outside the threshold. The reviewed pages do not decide an individual payslip’s classification.
Keep statutory care leave separate from a discretionary purchase
IND’s highly skilled migrant brochure describes a conditional exception where income temporarily falls because of specified leave under the Work and Care Act. Examples include maternity, parental, adoption, foster-care and qualifying care leave. The person must actually be legally entitled to the leave. For care leave, the necessity must also be demonstrable. An agreed extra holiday purchase is not established by that description as statutory care leave.
The worker or employer must be able to show the entitlement and notify IND about the leave and its effect on income. The employer uses the Business Portal or the recognised-sponsor notification form for labour-related residence purposes. IND must receive that notification within four weeks after leave starts. Allow time for receipt rather than treating the date of dispatch as the deadline. The brochure also requires good documentation in the employer’s records and warns that other paid or unpaid leave below the threshold may affect the permit. Do not extend the exception to every unpaid absence merely because the employment contract continues.
Preserve the salary evidence and report a material change
IND’s sponsor-obligations page requires reporting changes affecting residence permission, generally within four weeks, and expressly includes insufficient income among its examples. Recognised employers should use the appropriate notification form or the Business Portal where they have eHerkenning access. A payroll adjustment already made needs assessment as an actual change, rather than being left until the next residence renewal. This review establishes no automatic remedy for a past shortfall.
The employer’s records must substantiate the employment conditions and monthly salary payments. Keep the relevant contract, payslips, payment evidence and leave arrangement together so the immigration calculation can be explained. IND says records must remain available until five years after sponsorship ends. Reporting a change and retaining evidence are separate duties; one does not replace the other. The sources reviewed do not establish a separate immigration fee for an ordinary leave purchase or an individual outcome after underpayment. Resolve the calculation with payroll and ask IND about the specific residence consequence where needed.
