EU/EFTA labour migrants

Immigrants from within the EU/EFTA do not require a residence permit from the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND): they are free to settle in other EU/EFTA countries. The assumed migration motive is determined by CBS based on the activities that the immigrant undertakes in the Netherlands after his/her arrival. An immigrant is assumed to be a labour migrant if it is determined that he/she becomes employed or self-employed around the date of arrival.

The migration motive of ‘labour’ is applied in cases where the bulk of the immigrant’s income consists of income from work within 120 days of arriving. People who arrive in the Netherlands without a partner or parent(s), and/or who were already working in the Netherlands in the year prior to officially immigrating, are also classed as labour migrants. Among couples who arrive in the Netherlands without parents, the first to take up work is classified as a labour migrant while the other person is then classified as a family migrant.

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