Economic migration

Economic migrants are third-country nationals who come to Europe to work, such as highly skilled professionals, intra-corporate transferees, entrepreneurs and seasonal workers. The EU promotes economic migration.

Economic migration is a type of legal or regular migration. Examples of EU schemes for economic migration include the European Blue Card, a residence permit for highly skilled professionals, and the Single Permit, a combined residence and work permit. Admission to an EU Member State for employment purposes always requires a specific residence permit. In addition to these EU schemes, the Netherlands has its own national policy on economic migration. The core principle of this policy is selectivity: the Netherlands welcomes migrants whose skills are needed by the Dutch economy and takes a more restrictive approach where this is not the case. The legal framework for economic migration in the Netherlands is the Modern Migration Policy Act.

Please note: the publications on this page are from July 2024 onwards. For earlier publications, please switch to Dutch (the EMN PDFs of the publications on the Dutch pages are in English). The filter below is in Dutch and will be available in English towards the end of 2026.