In a judgment dated 20 March 2019, the court of The Hague held that there is no separate obligation for the employer of a Blue Card holder to transfer the salary to the Blue Card holder’s bank account every month. That means only the salary criterion is decisive for meeting the conditions of the Blue Card.

The Inspectorate SZW (formerly: labor inspectorate) imposed a fine on an employer for violating the Aliens employment act, because the salary payments for the employee (Blue Card holder) were late during the first three months of his employment contract. The Inspectorate SZW acted under the assumption that the rules for Blue Card holders are similar to those for highly skilled migrants. Under the highly skilled migrant scheme, employers are obliged to transfer the salary of the highly skilled migrant to his or her bank account before the end of every month, aside from having to meet the regular income criteria. The Blue Card scheme doesn’t mention such a separate obligation.

The court rules that the absence of such a specific obligation means that, as long as the employer meets the income requirement for the Blue Card (as was the case), the Inspectorate SZW cannot impose a fine pursuant to the Aliens Employment Act. The court therefore annulled the Inspectorate’s decision to impose a fine and ordered the Inspectorate to return the full amount to the employer.

Eline van Deijck acted as attorney in this case.