NEW IMMIGRATION LAW: “MOMI”

New immigration law called “Wet Modern Migratiebeleid” (hereafter called: “MoMi”)

In 2011, a new immigration law will enter into force for employers and foreign employees. Due to internal implementation uncertainties within the Dutch immigration authorities (“IND”), the earlier scheduled date of January 1st, 2011 for the MoMi to take effect is not feasible. At the moment the IND hopes to have the new law implemented in June 2011.

The MoMi is almost equal to the already existing IND’s “knowledge migrant procedure”. However, the main changes are that the referee of a foreign individual will have more obligations towards the IND. A referee is an individual or a company which guarantees the immigration position of a foreign individual who (intends to) come to the Netherlands to stay and/or work.

Under the new law there are 4 kinds of duties for the referee:

• Information duty;
• Administration duty;
• Care of duty; and
• More responsibilities and consequences.  

Another big change is that the IND will rely more on the referee in the Netherlands. Meaning that less documentation is required up front in order to file an application for a visa-request and a residence permit as a knowledge migrant. Once the MoMi is implemented, referees can file the aforementioned application with the IND before the arrival of the foreign individual. The consequence is that the referee will be held more responsible for the foreign individual and can be fined if he does not take care of its responsibilities. For example the referee is responsible for 1 year (!) after the agreement with the foreign individual is ended. As a result the referee can be charged with extra costs if the foreign individual over-stayed in the Netherlands outside the period of his valid residence permit.

For further obligations and rights for the referee as well as the foreign individual, we recommend to check our newsletter on our website for details and any updates. You can also contact Iris Weber on phone number: +31(0)20 – 670 0387.