Apply for Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service

Intra-corporate transferee (ICT)

With an intra-corporate transferee (ICT) residence permit, an employee can be transferred within a company. This residence permit is for managers, specialists and trainees who will work at a Dutch branch of the company.

For whom is the application intra-corporate transferee (ICT):

A residence permit intra-corporate transferee is a work and residence permit. This applies to managers, specialists and trainees within a trainee program. In the rest of this text we refer to them as employees. The employee is transferred by a company from outside the EU to a branch in the Netherlands. The employee has a nationality of a country outside the EU, EEA or Switzerland. Read which countries belong to the EU and EEA.

• Employee who works for a company outside the EU and is transferred to a branch of that company in the Netherlands.
• Employee who works for a company within the EU with an intra-corporate transferee residence permit. And he is transferred to a branch in the Netherlands for a period longer than 90 days. The employee then uses long-term Mobile ICT.
• The Dutch branch of the company (employer). They receive the employee who is being transferred.

Short-term intra-corporate transferee mobility (Mobile ICT)

An employee who comes for short-term mobility does not need a residence permit. In this situation, short-term mobility applies:

• The employee has a residence permit intra-corporate transferee from another EU country, and
• The employee works in the Netherlands for less than 90 days, within a period of 180 days.

Notification to UWV in case of short-term mobility:

In the case of short-term mobility, the Dutch employer notifies the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) that the foreign employee is temporarily coming to work in the Netherlands. Arrange this with the notification forms of the UWV.

Employer in the Netherlands: sponsor or recognized sponsor:

Are you hiring a foreign employee? Then you are the sponsor for this employee. As an employer, you may be able to become a recognized sponsor. Recognized sponsors can apply for a residence permit for an employee more quickly and easily. And for family members of an employee. Recognition is not mandatory for applying for the intra-corporate transferee residence permit. You can, however, be recognized voluntarily. 

Legalization and translation of documents

Official foreign documents must be legalized and translated into Dutch or English.

The following conditions also apply to the intra-corporate transferee residence permit:

The employee lives in a country outside the European Union (EU) at the time of the application. Or the employee lives in a country of the EU with a residence permit intra-corporate transferee (Mobile ICT).

• The employee will work in the Netherlands as a manager, specialist or trainee.
• The employee is transferred within the same company to a branch in the Netherlands.
• The employee has been working for the company outside the EU for at least 3 months.
• The employee has a valid employment contract with the company outside the EU. Or the employee has an assignment letter from the employer. The employment contract or engagement letter contains this information:
• The duration of the transfer and the place of establishment in the Netherlands.
• That the employee will work as a manager, specialist or trainee.
• The salary and working conditions during the transfer.
• That the employee can work in an establishment outside the EU at the end of the transfer.
• Does the employee have a protected profession, such as doctor or architect? Then the employee must demonstrate that he or she is allowed to practice this profession in the Netherlands.
• The employee who is going to work in individual healthcare must be in the BIG register.
• The terms of employment, employment relationships or working conditions comply with the law. And are at least of the level that is customary in the industry.
• The salary of the employee is in line with the market. The salary is in line with the market if it meets the salary criterion for highly skilled migrants. View the salary criterion for highly skilled migrants.
• The branch in the Netherlands was not set up to make it easier for transferred employees to come to the EU. The Dutch branch carries out economic activities.
• The employee has not previously been transferred to the Netherlands in the 6 months prior to this application.
• The employer may not have been fined 5 years before the application. This concerns a fine for violation of Section 2 of the Foreign Nationals Employment Act (Wav). Or a fine for non-payment or insufficient payment of wage tax or premiums for employee or national insurance schemes.