oa Kennismigranten in Nederland

Abstract title

In 2004, the Netherlands introduced work permits for highly skilled employees. This article focuses on the question what the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of migrants are and how they differ from regular labour migrants. By using the System of Social Statistical Datasets, all labour migrants who came to the Netherlands between 2005 and 2011 have been followed.Highly skilled migrants make up only a small part of the Dutch immigrant population. Three quarters of the population of highly skilled migrants are male and the largest groups are from India, America, Japan, Turkey and China. Highly skilled migrants earn considerably more than regular migrants and are overrepresented in the government and healthcare industries and information and communication industries. Although the work permits for highly skilled migrants are intended for temporary migration for a maximum of five years, a quarter of highly skilled migrants does not remigrate within that period. The differences indicate that work permits for highly skilled migrants seem to have succeeded to get high paid workers to the Netherlands. However, at the same time these kind of work permits discourage the aim to retain highly skilled talent to the Netherlands.