Dutch cabinet said to want more knowledge migrants
The cabinet may decide today to admit more ‘knowledge migrants’ into the Netherlands. Economic Affairs Minister Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst has put forward specific proposals for removing obstacles to their admission, insiders said yesterday.
Universities and high-tech companies are complaining bitterly that they cannot get bright people and top talent to come from distant countries to the Netherlands to work for a specific period. The procedures are said to be too slow and complicated.
The cabinet already decided earlier to open up admission to knowledge migrants, but this does not go far enough for employers organisation VNO-NCW. Brinkhorst came up with new proposals that have been discussed in cabinet but on which no decision has yet been taken. Details were not available yesterday.
According to Brinkhorst, the problem of knowledge migrants requires a “different approach” to the problem of asylum-seekers. In the Netherlands, too little distinction is in his view made between these two groups in the debate on migration.
Source: NIS News, ANP, 30 March 2006
