Both routes let non-EU nationals live and work in the Netherlands, but they solve different problems: the Startup Visa is for founders without a job offer, the Highly Skilled Migrant scheme is for people a Dutch employer sponsors. Picking the wrong one costs months.
What to expect
Polder assesses whether the Startup Visa, HSM, or a combination across founders fits your company, then runs the facilitator relationship, incorporation and payroll around that choice.
Founders researching how to move to the Netherlands often land on both the Startup Visa and the Highly Skilled Migrant (HSM) scheme and assume they're competing options. They are not — one assumes you have a company and a facilitator, the other assumes you have an employer willing to sponsor you. The right question isn't 'which is better,' it's 'which situation actually describes me.'
The Startup Visa is built for someone who is founding an innovative company in the Netherlands, has no Dutch employer, and needs a residence permit tied to building that business with the guidance of an approved facilitator.
The HSM scheme is built for someone a Dutch employer — one recognised as a sponsor by the IND — wants to hire directly, at a salary above a set threshold. There is no facilitator and no requirement that the role be at a startup at all.
You need an agreement with an IND-approved facilitator, who assesses your business plan and mentors you during the permit period — this facilitator relationship, not a government approval of the idea itself, is what the permit is anchored to.
The permit is initially granted for one year, during which you are expected to make real progress on the business — actual product development, revenue, or funding traction, not just paperwork.
The employer must be a recognised sponsor and offer a salary at or above the applicable HSM threshold, which is higher for employees under 30 than for those 30 and over and is updated periodically.
Processing is generally faster and more predictable than the Startup Visa because it depends on a salary and sponsor check rather than an assessment of a business plan.
If you have no Dutch employer and are building your own product, the Startup Visa is usually the only route that fits — HSM requires a sponsoring employer, which your own pre-incorporation company generally cannot be for you at this stage.
If you already have, or can get, an offer from a recognised sponsor at the required salary, HSM is typically faster and carries fewer ongoing obligations than maintaining a facilitator relationship.
A common real-world pattern: the founder uses the Startup Visa, while a technical co-founder or early hire who is not personally founding the company comes in on HSM once the company can sponsor at the required salary.
Startup Visa holders whose business is progressing typically move to a self-employed person residence permit, or onto their own company's payroll under HSM (or another route) if the salary threshold is met by then.
This transition is a real, separate application — not an automatic renewal — so it needs to be planned before the first permit expires, not after.
Yes, in principle, but each is a fresh application assessed against that route's own conditions — there is no simplified conversion between them. Plan the switch as its own process with its own lead time.
It's designed for payroll employees, so it applies most directly to HSM hires (and to Startup Visa founders once they move onto a company payroll), not to self-employed founders operating under the Startup Visa itself.
If they are taking a salaried role rather than founding the company themselves, HSM (once the company can sponsor and pay the required salary) is usually the better fit than a second Startup Visa application.
The permit is tied to genuine progress with your facilitator, so a business that clearly isn't progressing puts the permit at risk. This is worth discussing with your facilitator and advisor early rather than at renewal time.
The besloten vennootschap (BV) is the default legal structure for founders incorporating in the Netherlands — limited liability, no meaningful minimum capital, and recognised by investors and banks. Here is what the process actually involves.
The 30% ruling lets eligible employees recruited from abroad receive part of their salary tax-free, to cover the extra cost of working in the Netherlands. Here is how eligibility, duration and the payroll mechanics actually work.
Polder assesses whether the Startup Visa, HSM, or a combination across founders fits your company, then runs the facilitator relationship, incorporation and payroll around that choice.
This intake is designed to prepare a useful response within one working day.
This usually takes less than two minutes.