Collaboration with the British market is not easy to replace

Undutchables Recruitment Agency has been placing international (multilingual) employees at Dutch and international companies for the last 25 years. Starting this year that has suddenly become a bit more difficult for British employees looking to work in the Netherlands. How does Undutchables handle this? And what should you do if you want to hire British personnel?

Marjan Stoit has worked at Undutchables for 21 years and is placed in the middle of the Brexit matter daily as a Sales & Recruitment Manager. Brexit has a large impact on companies in the Netherlands that are searching for people who speak English fluently and have a good knowledge of the British market, she says.

It is no longer simple for British citizens to work in the Netherlands now that the United Kingdom is no longer a member of the EU. That makes the step more difficult for them, Marjan explains. The same rules apply to the UK as other non-EU countries now that the choice for Brexit has been made. This means that the free movement of persons and services has been abolished. Undutchables has been dealing with this new reality since January 1^st.

Knowledge of the English language and culture is irreplaceable

In general, it has become more difficult since Brexit for Undutchables to get British candidates working in the Netherlands. Marjan Stoit also saw a decrease in candidate registrations. "This situation is so counter to the international spirit of today! We are all global workers, especially now. All that lost talent; what a shame," she sighs.

Marjan Stoit: “In practice, the highly skilled migrant visa is a 2-in-1 visa: a residence and work permit in one that applies for the duration of the employment contract.

Salary requirement for highly skilled migrants

Highly skilled migrants do have to deal with a salary requirement. For personnel aged 30 and above this is a minimum salary of €4,752.- gross per month, excluding holiday money. For personnel under 30 years old the minimum requirement is €3,484.- gross, excluding holiday money.

Another possible option for Undutchables to hire highly educated British personnel is to make use of the orientation year residence permit. Marjan Stoit: “In this case the salary requirement is not so high and they can more easily start working and grow further.”

Without using the highly skilled migrant structure

What if you are searching for a British employee who does not meet the criteria for the highly skilled migrant visa? In that case, roughly the same rules now apply as for employees from Australia, Canada, or the United States. They need a work permit and recruitment efforts must first be focused within Europe.

Searching for British personnel for short-term jobs, as is often the situation for Undutchables, is quite difficult. It actually only works for very specialized short projects, explains Stoit. "If you follow that route, it basically only works if you are looking, for example, for a Japanese-speaking copywriter who only writes about Indonesian gamelan instruments. For short and fairly ordinary assignments that only last a couple of weeks, which we deal with a lot, it is not possible. "

Marjan Stoit thinks it is a shame that there is more of a gap between British citizens and the Dutch market now. "They are our neighbors after all!"

The original article written by the Central Government can be found here.