As a result of the ruling of the EU Court of Justice of 4 March 2010 in the Chakroun case, the Decree on Aliens of 2000 (Vreemdelingenbesluit), the Regulation on Aliens (Voorschrift Vreemdelingen) and the Policy on Aliens 2000 (Vreemdelingencirculaire 2000) were amended on 31 July 2010. The Court of Justice ruled that the Immigration and Naturalisation Department (IND) is no lo longer allowed to differentiate between family reunification and family formation.

The main changes:

• For both family reunification and formation the income requirement is set at 100% of the legal minimum wage. Right now this means a monthly gross salary of €1416 for families and couples. Different (lower) amounts apply to singles and single parents.

• The IND no longer looks at the net income equal to the welfare standard but the gross minimum wage.

• The age limit in both family reunification and formation applications has been set at 21 years. For family reunification this used to be 18 years.

• Students need no longer show that they have an income that equates to the amount set for students living away from home supplemented by the tuition fees due.

The income requirement for people sponsoring their elderly parents or someone else from abroad to come to the Netherlands to visit family, as an au pair or for medical treatment, has been set to the standard applicable to the sponsor supplemented by 50% for each person the sponsor wants to bring to the Netherlands. If, for example, you are part of a family and would like to employ an au pair from overseas, you must demonstrate that you earn 150% of the minimum wage (currently €2124).

Consequences for the source of income

These changes also impact the source of income. For those people working as employees, these changes mean that not the gross salary but the sv-salary (the salary before social insurance payments) must be equal to the gross minimum wage. For entrepreneurs the IND no longer judges net (after tax) profits but gross (before tax) profits. If you receive social benefits the IND takes into account the amount of the benefit payment before tax. People whose source of income is their own wealth need to demonstrate a fictional profit of 4% of the average value of the wealth between 1 January and 31 December. This profit is what counts as income.

Transition cases

For applications which have already been filed the requirement applicable is the requirement that was in force at the time of reception of the application, unless the new policy is more beneficial to the case. If you have any questions please do no hesitate to contact Hans Jager by email or by phone 020 752 32 13 or Barbara Wegelin by email or by phone 020 752 32 25.