Are you involved in the cross border posting of an employee?

Secondment

The term ‘Secondment’ describes a cross border service which involves 3 parties:

1. A non-European employee
2. An employer in the Netherlands
3. An employer in another EU member state, ie. a ‘foreign employer’.

Essentially, a foreign employer temporarily sends a non-European employee to an employer in the Netherlands to perform work there. Posting within the EU is regulated by the Posting of Workers Directive, and if its conditions are met then the attainment of a work permit is not necessary.

Posting conditions

When a foreign employer posts a non-European employee to work in the Netherlands, the following conditions must be met:

• The employee must live and work legally in the country where their foreign employer is established
• The foreign employer must be commercially active
• The work that the employee will be performing in the Netherlands must be similar to their prior work
• The work that the employee will be performing in the Netherlands must be reported to the Dutch Labour authority UWV no later than 2 days before the employee starts work (obligation to notify).

The notification obligation

The obligation to notify can be fulfilled by completing the UWV’s notification of cross-border services form. In any case, the following must be demonstrated:

• Legal residence and work of the employee in the country where their foreign employer is established
• Valid social insurance in the country where the foreign employer is established. The service is possible as long as the insurance certificate is valid.

Are you planning to second an employee, or receive a seconded employee? An immigration lawyer can advise you on the rules surrounding posting.

Didn’t find what you were looking for?

Then try the following pages:

• Highly skilled migrant
• Blue card
• Combined residence and work permit
• Intra-company transfer

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