Agency processing is 100 out of 100, the maximum in the index. And an income threshold of 5,942 euro a month before tax for an applicant over thirty, which drags access to entry down to 42.
Dutch agencies perform better than almost any in our index: the IND meets its deadlines, there are no queues to apply, and in 2024 the highly skilled route saw 230 refusals out of roughly 19,900 decisions, about 1.2%. That low rate owes much to a filter: recognised sponsors simply do not file weak applications. Intake is also shrinking: 26,000 highly skilled migrants arrived in 2022 and 14,000 in 2025, and the government is studying a tighter scheme.
The main risk comes after arrival, not at the door. The salary threshold must be met every single month; if pay drops below it, the permit is withdrawn retroactively from the date the condition stopped being met. In 2024, 3,840 permits were withdrawn this way, about 4.8% of all holders. That breaks the continuous residence needed for permanent residence and citizenship. Since 1 January 2026 employers must prove that salary actually reached the account, and sponsor inspections are now unannounced: an employer's slip hits the worker.
If you lose your job you get 3 months to find a new employer, and since 22 May 2026 up to 6 months if you have held the permit for two years or more. You can change employers, but the new one must also be a recognised sponsor, the decision takes up to 45 days, and you cannot start work before it. If status is lost, you have 4 weeks to leave, and an appeal does not automatically stop removal.
The political mood has calmed: the new coalition dropped the plan to raise the wait for citizenship to 10 years in January 2026, and raising the language requirement to B1 has not been adopted. The tax break for newcomers, though, has been cut more than once.
Day to day, everything hinges on address registration (BRP) and a BSN number: without them there is no salary, bank account or insurance. You must register within 5 working days of moving in, and in 2026 an appointment in Amsterdam takes 6-8 weeks. Families have it easier: a spouse works without a separate permit, the income norm for reunification is €2,337 a month from 1 July 2026, children aged 5-16 go to state school for free, and there are no mandatory integration courses.
The index score ignores nationality. This is what changes for citizens of specific countries.
Visa-free short stays, as in the rest of the Schengen area. Self-employed Americans have a separate route under the Dutch American Friendship Treaty (DAFT): a residence permit for investing at least €4,500 in their own company, without the points test.
A similar agreement gives them the self-employed permit on the same favourable terms as US citizens.
No permit needed at all: EU free movement rules give the right to live and work.
EU temporary protection is extended to 4 March 2028. Since 31 July 2026 new applicants must show they left in line with their military obligations; people who already hold the status are not affected.
When we checked on 9 August 2026 we found no direct nationality restrictions on the highly skilled route. Banks, however, citing sanctions compliance, refuse or restrict service to Russian and Belarusian citizens; they do not formally name nationality as the reason, and there are no official figures.
The place interval 13-19 shows where the country lands when the data is nudged and the index is recalculated. One place of difference in the table means nothing; a difference of a league means something.
The thin mark on each bar is the average across 97 countries
The strongest category here is Agency processing: 100 out of 100, against a 97-state average of 48.7. The weakest is Access to entry: 42 against 65.7. Above the world average: 5 out of 7.
All 97 states are calculated for one applicant: 35 years old, income of $2,500 and $3,856 a month before tax, passport not counted, the most accessible route that is actually in use.
Your passport, your income and your family do not change the table. They change which of its lines apply to you. A different income makes entry read differently, a family makes the family category read differently, and your passport makes everything read differently.
Up to 90 days by law, and since 22 May 2026 the IND may add 30 more. In practice a recognised sponsor gets a decision in 2-4 weeks and the card in 5-7 weeks; since 31 March 2026 you book the biometrics appointment yourself.
It is hard. There is no digital nomad visa, the self-employment points scheme is rarely granted, and what remains is a start-up visa for an innovative project. Treaty exceptions for certain nationalities are in the passport section.
IND fees are €350 for a work permit, €254 for a spouse and €85 for a child. Since permits last up to five years, a family of three usually pays €689 over five years: one of the lowest rates in Western Europe.
Yes, and this is the country's main risk: if your salary falls below the threshold in even one month, the permit is withdrawn retroactively. 3,840 permits were withdrawn this way in 2024. After a job loss you have 3 months to find work, up to 6 months after two years.
Permanent residence after 5 years with the integration exam. Citizenship also after 5 years at language level A2, but in most cases you must give up your previous citizenship; there are exceptions, for example marriage to a Dutch citizen.
The state is fast and predictable, and families get nearly full rights. But skilled intake is shrinking and oversight of employers and salaries is strict: your status depends on meeting the conditions every month.
97 states, 26 indicators, seven categories, 2,522 scores. Every score has a source and a source class: primary means the texts of laws and government portals; reliable secondary means reports by international organisations, tax reviews by audit firms and specialist legal publications; weak means community posts and single secondary sources. The classes add up to a confidence level for the country, and a country with low confidence gets neither a score nor a place.
Every indicator is scored against a fixed ruler, not against its neighbours. Adding new countries therefore does not move the old ones, and a change in a score means a change in policy and nothing else.
A high place does not mean a good country. It means one thing: the state machine treats newcomers predictably and by the rules. Living there may be expensive, dull or hot; that is not our question.
Checked 01/10/2026. Facts come from the country's index card and official websites.
We make mistakes and we will go on making them: policy changes faster than any database. Our answer is not a pose of infallibility but a visible trail of corrections. Every correction is published: what it was, what it became, the source and the reason for the error. The corrections log opens with the second issue, together with the first block of changes.