How to keep your permit after losing your job as a kennismigrant in NL

A national highly skilled migrant (kennismigrant) residence permit is tied to one employer that the IND has approved as a recognised sponsor (erkend referent). When that employment ends, the basis for the permit ends with it, and the IND gives you a limited search period to be taken on by another recognised sponsor. This guide covers the national kennismigrant scheme. The EU Blue Card, the intra-corporate transferee (ICT) permit, the single permit (GVVA) and the orientation year permit are separate permits with their own rules, so check which one you actually hold before you rely on anything here.

Take your residence document out and read it. You need three facts before you can plan anything: the residence purpose printed on it, the expiry date, and the date your employment contract ends or ended. You also need to know how long you have held this permit, because that decides the length of your search period. If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss national you do not hold this permit and none of this applies to you. If your document says European Blue Card, ICT, GVVA or orientation year, use the IND page for that permit instead.

The search period described in this guide is the one the IND publishes for the national highly skilled migrant scheme; other work permits are governed separately.

• Highly skilled migrant (kennismigrant)

  This guide is written for you. The IND states you have up to 3 months to find a new job if you lose it while your permit is still valid, and a maximum of 6 months if you lost the job on or after 22 May 2026 and had held the permit for two years or more, or if you have been a victim of labour exploitation. If you lost the job before 22 May 2026 the period is a maximum of 3 months, even if you had held the permit for 2 years or longer. The search period starts the day your contract ends and cannot exceed the validity of your permit, and only an employer recognised by the IND can apply for your next permit.

• EU Blue Card

  The IND publishes its own search period on the Blue Card page: a maximum of 3 months, or a maximum of 6 months if you have held the permit for 2 years or longer, with no 22 May 2026 condition attached. As with the kennismigrant permit, the search period starts from the day your contract has ended and is never longer than the validity of your residence permit, and the page states the permit is valid up until 3 months after the employment contract has ended. The conditions attached to the card, including the salary criterion and what you may do alongside your job, are set out on the Blue Card page, so read that page rather than assuming the kennismigrant rules transfer.

• Orientation year for highly educated persons (zoekjaar)

  This is a different permit and is not tied to a single employer, and the IND page for it sets no employment condition. The IND states it is valid for 1 year, cannot be extended, and carries the endorsement 'Work freely permitted, TWV not required', so you may work or do an internship without your employer needing a work permit, and may also work as an independent entrepreneur, self-employed person or freelancer. If you are a kennismigrant looking to switch, note that the IND grants the orientation year only where you have not already held one following the same study programme, doctoral programme or research, so a zoekjaar you already used after your Dutch degree cannot be repeated.

• Single permit (GVVA) or intra-corporate transferee (ICT)

  These are separate work residence permits with their own IND pages. The positions now differ from each other. For the single permit (GVVA), the current IND page publishes the same search period as this guide describes: up to 3 months, and a maximum of 6 months where you lost your job on or after 22 May 2026 and have held the permit for two years or more, or where you have been a victim of labour exploitation, never longer than the validity of the permit and counted from the day the contract ends. For the intra-corporate transferee permit the highly skilled migrant page states no search period, so do not assume you have one: open the IND page for your own permit type and, if the position is not clear from it, contact the IND before your contract end date rather than after it.

1. 1

   Confirm which permit you hold and pin down three dates

   Everything that follows depends on facts printed on your residence document and in your contract. Read the residence purpose on the card: this guide applies to the national highly skilled migrant (kennismigrant) permit, not to the European Blue Card, the intra-corporate transferee (ICT) permit, the single permit (GVVA) or the orientation year. The IND states that your permit is valid for the same period as your contract or job, up to a maximum of 5 years, which is why the contract end date and the card expiry date are often close together.

   Do this: Write down the residence purpose on your card, the card's expiry date, the exact end date of your employment contract, and the date this permit was first granted to you.

   Documents needed

   • Residence document
   • Employment contract
   • Termination agreement or dismissal decision

   Processing time

   Do this in the first day or two after you learn the job is ending.

   Common mistake: Common mistake: using your last working day instead of the contract end date. The IND counts the search period from the day the contract ends, and garden leave or a notice period can put weeks between the two.

   Official source

   IND · Highly skilled migrant residence permit
2. 2

   Check that your employer has reported the end of employment

   Your employer is a recognised sponsor and carries a duty to provide information to the IND. The IND states that a sponsor must notify it of a change in most cases within 4 weeks, and lists a foreign national who has stopped their work among the changes that must be reported. The report is your employer's obligation, not yours, but you are the one whose permit is affected if it is not made or is made with the wrong date.

   Do this: Ask your employer in writing to confirm the date on which it reported the end of your employment to the IND, and the contract end date it gave.

   Documents needed

   • Written confirmation from the employer of the report to the IND

   Processing time

   The IND states that a sponsor must notify it of a change in most cases within 4 weeks.

   Common mistake: Common mistake: assuming that because the report is the employer's duty, an error in it is the employer's problem. A wrong end date shifts the start of your search period, and you are the one who loses the days.

   Official source

   IND · Obligations of sponsor and recognised sponsor
3. 3

   Work out the exact date your search period ends

   The IND states that if you lose your job while your residence permit is still valid you have up to 3 months to find a new job. You are given a maximum of 6 months if you lost your job on or after 22 May 2026 and have held this permit for two years or more, and the IND states that the 6 months also applies if you have been a victim of labour exploitation. If you lost your job before 22 May 2026 the period is a maximum of 3 months, even if you had held the permit for 2 years or longer. The period begins on the day your contract ends and cannot be longer than the validity of your permit, so a permit that expires sooner gives you a shorter search period. Your residence document also keeps the endorsement it already carries: the IND describes this permit as allowing work as a highly skilled migrant and as a self-employed person, with other work allowed with a work permit. The IND's page does not describe a wider work right during the search period, so ask the IND before accepting any work that falls outside that endorsement.

   Do this: Take the contract end date, add 3 months, or 6 months if you qualify for the longer period, then compare that date with your card's expiry date and take whichever comes first.

   Processing time

   The search period is a maximum of 3 months, or a maximum of 6 months if you lost your job on or after 22 May 2026 and had held the permit for two years or more, or if you have been a victim of labour exploitation, and never longer than the remaining validity of your permit.

   Common mistake: Common mistake: reading the 6-month period as the new standard. It applies only where you lost the job on or after 22 May 2026 and had held this permit for two years or more, or where you have been a victim of labour exploitation, and it still cannot outlast the card.

   Official source

   IND · Highly skilled migrant residence permit
4. 4

   Apply to UWV for WW unemployment benefit within one week

   WW is an employee insurance benefit administered by UWV and is applied for separately from anything to do with your residence permit. UWV states that you can apply from 1 week before your first day of unemployment and at the latest within 1 week after it, and that if you are already unemployed for longer than a week when you apply you will probably receive a lower benefit or none at all for a period. The main conditions UWV publishes are that you are insured against unemployment, that you worked at least 26 weeks in the 36 weeks before becoming unemployed, that you worked on average at least 10 hours a week and lose 5 hours or more, and that you are immediately available for paid work. The UWV conditions page states no nationality or residence permit condition, and a WW claim does not extend the IND search period; if you want certainty about how a benefit interacts with your permit, put the question to the IND.

   Do this: Log in to Mijn UWV with your DigiD and submit the WW application within one week of your first day of unemployment.

   Documents needed

   • DigiD
   • BSN
   • Employment contract and termination agreement
   • Recent payslips

   Processing time

   Apply from 1 week before your first day of unemployment and at the latest within 1 week after it. UWV states you receive a decision within 4 weeks of your first day of unemployment, or, if you apply after that day, within 4 weeks of the application.

   Common mistake: Common mistake: waiting until the dismissal paperwork is finalised. UWV states that applying more than a week after your first day of unemployment will probably mean a temporarily lower benefit or no benefit at all.

   Official source

   UWV · WW-uitkering aanvragen
5. 5

   Find a recognised sponsor and have them file the application

   You cannot apply for this permit yourself. The IND states that only an employer recognised by the IND can apply for your permit, and it publishes a public register of recognised sponsors covering work, exchange, study and research, updated once a month. Check any prospective employer in that register before you commit, because an employer that is not recognised cannot put you back on this route. The salary the new employer agrees must also meet the IND's salary criterion for highly skilled migrants, which the IND publishes separately and revises periodically, so ask the employer to confirm the offer meets the current amount. The IND's decision period is 90 days, although the IND states these applications are usually processed within a couple of weeks; leave margin, because the application must be filed and granted, not merely started, before your search period ends.

   Do this: Search the IND public register for each prospective employer, and ask the one that hires you to file the highly skilled migrant application immediately rather than on your start date.

   Documents needed

   • Signed employment contract with the new recognised sponsor
   • Passport
   • Current residence document

   Cost

   €423 IND application fee (2026)

   Processing time

   The IND's decision period for this application is 90 days, although the IND states that applications for highly skilled migrants are usually processed within a couple of weeks. Plan against the 90 days, not the couple of weeks.

   Common mistake: Common mistake: accepting an offer from an employer that is not in the register, or from one that says it will 'sort out the sponsorship later'. Recognition is a separate IND procedure and does not happen inside your search period.

   Official source

   IND · Highly skilled migrant residence permit
6. 6

   If no sponsor is in place, change permit or leave before the date

   The IND states that if your job search period is over and you have not been registered by a new employer, it may revoke your residence permit. Before that date you have alternatives. The orientation year for highly educated persons is valid for 1 year, carries the endorsement 'Work freely permitted, TWV not required' and cannot be extended. Its conditions include a qualifying degree, doctorate or research completed in the 3 years before the application, and that you have not already held an orientation year permit for that same programme or research, so it is closed to you if you already used your zoekjaar after the same Dutch degree. The self-employed route requires registration in the Trade Register of the Chamber of Commerce (KVK) and, for most nationalities, a points assessment by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), with an IND decision period of 90 days that can be extended to 6 months if RVO advice is requested, so it can easily outlast a 3-month search period. If none of these is realistic, plan your departure rather than staying past the date.

   Do this: Decide before the halfway point of your search period whether you are switching permit or leaving, and file any change-of-purpose application while your current permit is still valid.

   Documents needed

   • Diploma or research documentation, for the orientation year
   • Business plan and KVK registration, for the self-employed route

   Cost

   Fees vary by route: the orientation year application is €254 (2026) and the self-employed application is €423 (2026)

   Processing time

   The IND must take a decision on a self-employed application within 90 days, extendable to 6 months where advice is requested from RVO or the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW).

   Common mistake: Common mistake: doing nothing and hoping. If the permit is withdrawn you lose lawful residence, and both permanent residence and naturalisation require consecutive years with a valid residence permit, so the years you had already built up stop counting.

   Official source

   IND · Residence permit for orientation year

• Your residence document, showing the residence purpose, the endorsement and the expiry date
• Your passport
• Your employment contract and the termination agreement (vaststellingsovereenkomst) or dismissal decision, showing the exact end date
• Your recent payslips
• Your BSN and DigiD, needed to claim WW from UWV
• Written confirmation from your employer that it has reported the end of your employment to the IND
• For a new application: an employment contract with the new recognised sponsor

• €423 IND application fee for a residence permit for work as a highly skilled migrant (2026). The recognised sponsor files this application.
• €254 IND application fee for the residence permit for the orientation year for highly educated persons (2026)
• €423 IND application fee for a residence permit as a self-employed person (2026)
• IND fees are set per calendar year, so check the amount published on the IND page for the permit you are applying for, for the year in which you apply.

The search period runs from the day your employment contract ends: a maximum of 3 months, or a maximum of 6 months where you lost your job on or after 22 May 2026 and had held the permit for two years or more, or where you have been a victim of labour exploitation, and never longer than the remaining validity of your residence permit. A recognised sponsor must report the change to the IND, in most cases within 4 weeks. The IND's decision period for a highly skilled migrant application is 90 days, although the IND states that applications for highly skilled migrants are usually processed within a couple of weeks. UWV states you can apply for WW from 1 week before your first day of unemployment and at the latest within 1 week after it; if you apply on time you receive a decision within 4 weeks of your first day of unemployment, and if you apply after that day you receive a decision within 4 weeks of the application.

Requirements depend on your situation. Check the latest requirements with the relevant authority.

• Counting the search period from the day you were told, or from your last day in the office. The IND counts it from the day the employment contract ends, which is often later than the day you stopped working.
• Assuming you have 6 months. The longer period applies only where you lost the job on or after 22 May 2026 and had held the permit for two years or more, or where you have been a victim of labour exploitation. If you lost the job before 22 May 2026 it is a maximum of 3 months, even if you had held the permit for 2 years or longer.
• Treating the search period as an extension of your permit. It cannot run past the expiry date printed on your residence document, so a permit expiring in six weeks gives you six weeks, not three months.
• Planning against the couple of weeks the IND says these applications usually take. The IND's decision period for a highly skilled migrant application is 90 days, which is as long as a 3-month search period on its own.
• Letting the permit lapse and picking up a new one later. Both permanent residence and naturalisation require consecutive years with a valid residence permit, so a gap resets what you have built up.

• Put the exact end date of your search period in your calendar, with a reminder six weeks before it.
• Check any prospective employer against the IND public register of recognised sponsors before you sign anything, since an employer that is not recognised cannot apply for this permit.
• When the new permit is granted, check that there is no gap between the old and the new permit, because permanent residence and naturalisation both count consecutive years with a valid residence permit.
• Tell the municipality (gemeente) if you move, so that post from the IND and UWV reaches you during the search period.