‘We prefer people not to enter our country’

Anton van Kalmthout, a law professor at the University of Tilburg and leading authority on migrant workers’ rights in the Netherlands, says the government’s current policy is ineffective and detrimental to the knowledge economy’s goals.

Would you agree that retaining foreign talent makes a vital contribution to the Dutch knowledge economy?
“Yes. Attracting knowledge migrants to Holland is vital for the progress of our infrastructure, economy, culture, society and innovation regarding the global economy. We must do our best to nurture and retain some of the people who come here. But also important is that nurturing and then sending knowledge migrants back home can have an incredible impact on their home countries – especially on developing countries.”

Why is it that the Netherlands invests so much in attracting foreign students and research talent, yet the policy for keeping them here and getting a return on that investment is fairly incoherent?
“Our government currently has no constructive policy focusing on such a goal. Our actions are ambiguous. Certainly the Netherlands has had an anti-foreigner approach over the past fifteen years. This means that, by definition, we prefer people not to enter our country. The labor migration law principally puts our own national workforce first, the EU’s second, and others last. It’s difficult for companies and institutions to bring people here for education or jobs. Residence permits are only given for limited time periods. The mindset is that foreigners should leave once their work or studies are done. Our policy is indeed contradictory, focusing much more on ensuring people eventually leave the Netherlands, rather than on keeping high-potential people here long term.”

What can we do to change this current situation?
“We must broaden the migrant labor law. There must be much less resistance to importing foreign talents. And it could be wise to use different strategies. Offering broader financial resources is also an important stimulus. We could for example consider devoting some of the development funds to ambitious, deserving foreign talents for study here. Universities and industry must be more intensely involved in assessing the effectiveness of study grants, specifically for fields where we think foreign professionals can bring new insights. We should build new programs to attract them.”

Would you agree that there are insufficient initiatives for removing the barriers to attracting foreign talents?
“The fact is that immigration policy and perceptions in Dutch society are strongly anti-foreigner oriented. This is due to the trauma of the labor immigration waves of the 1960s and 1970s, and of the huge asylum flow in 1990s. This has created a general perception that associates foreigners with problems, rather than with opportunities. It’s relatively rare that we hear of foreigners having added values, or that other cultures – including corporate cultures – also make important contributions to Dutch culture. And too little exposure is given to foreign talents who succeed in the Netherlands. Yet foreign people are now starting to fill very important roles in our society. Really gifted foreigners are now trying to make a difference and fight for what they deserve. This is an activist movement, and these activities will help transform the general perception we have about the added value of foreigners.”

What can we do to remove the language barriers?
“There are major contradictions regarding this issue. On one hand, we have a political movement focused on assimilation – not even on integration. They say people must adapt, it’s the Netherlands, so everything must be done in Dutch. Yet we can also expect higher educated people to be capable of receiving social information in English. Yet from a national perspective, this is often condemned. Some resistance will continue, but the Netherlands is heavily dependent on the global economy. English should just be our second language. I see that movement already. Universities are first indications of this movement, and I see it as a crucial need.”

The current foreign labor law sets a salary requirement – if you earn 45,000 euro or more you can work here. Yet even if your salary is less than that, foreigners can still have critical knowledge and ideas, coupled with an entrepreneurial spirit that is crucial for the Netherlands.“The migrant labor law is based on the wrong set of assessment criteria. The barriers are plenty, and salary is the basic assessment criteria for knowledge migrants. Still, for certain professions, like professional footballers, exceptions are made. Are salaries the correct benchmark for retaining foreign talent? I think not. Lots of very talented knowledge migrants are young, and thus in the early stages of their careers, when it’s difficult to meet such salary criteria. We must therefore focus much more on real content and capacity when designing the more substantive work permit criteria. Benchmarking based on financial criteria doesn’t do justice to the substantive needs we have and will not attract the talent we need to achieve our goals.”

So the knowledge-based economy’s long-term goals cannot be fulfilled with salary as the benchmark?“Correct, the government must intensify its focus on those substantive benchmarks that will stimulate the knowledge economy’s goals. Currently, there are a few special arrangements for attracting foreign workers to specific fields, like athletes, for example. I therefore can imagine that in cooperation with business, industry and our education sector, specific target areas, such as technological development, can be specified on the basis of a more differentiated policy.”

Do you think the Dutch government should look to other EU countries for inspiration in broadening its migrant laws?
“The EU is considering introducing a US-style ‘green card’, which would remove unnecessary existing barriers for highly skilled migrants. There are also discussions about designing much more generous policies for foreign migrant workers as compared to those now in place.”

Do you have specific recommendations?
“We must start by eliminating the fear of people from other cultures that exists in the Netherlands. If we want an open, broad policy, supporting the inflow of foreign knowledge professionals, we must also concurrently focus on other issues, like housing, which allow people to live better and longer here. Implementing broader admission policies must go hand in hand with developing supportive infrastructures that help foreigners reach the targets we expect from them, yet also socially and culturally satisfying them as well. Only broader policy measures aren’t enough. Universities and employers also have a high stake in ensuring that these processes go smoothly. We must all work together to tackle these problems and find effective solutions.”

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