Marcel A G Reurs

Everaert Advocaten

Amsterdam www.everaert.nl

reurs@everaert.nl Tel: +31 20 752 32 16

Biography

Marcel Reurs has been practising Dutch and EU immigration law for over 25 years. His practice includes the full range of business immigration work for corporate clients across the globe. Marcel is a partner with Everaert Advocaten, a law firm established in 1982, and exclusively dedicated to immigration and nationality law.

If you could introduce one reform to immigration law in the EU or the Netherlands, what would it be and why?

This would be to increase the options to obtain a work permit for so-called ‘lowerskilled’ work. The Netherlands is facing relevant shortages in lower skilled occupations in the care, IT and construction sectors. Obtaining work permits for these occupations is difficult to impossible due to the resident labour market test. I would be in favour of the government creating a list of occupations which are in short supply, as we see in the UK, allowing employers to hire workers from outside the EU in these jobs, even temporarily. In addition, we currently lack a proper work permit category for UK citizens commuting between the UK as their place of residence and the Netherlands as their place of work.

What are some of the key complexities when it comes to the immigration aspects of complex and high-value M&A deals?

A very common complexity is due to the rule that migrant workers who are sponsored under the highly skilled migrant programme (HSMP) can only be employed and sponsored by an employer having recognised sponsor status – a sponsor licence. We often see scenarios where HSMP workers will be moving to a receiving entity, automatically, under a TUPEarrangement on a set date. If the receiving entity does not have recognised sponsor status yet, it can be quite a struggle to arrange for this in time before the move date. If this aspect is not timely flagged, and the receiving entity has not become a recognised sponsor before the crucial date, the entity is employing migrant workers illegally and the migrant workers risk their residence permits being revoked.

How do the needs of international corporations differ from those of start-ups?

International corporations will typically have a global mobility infrastructure, including a department and policies. They may seek advice on compliance, in-company training for their staff or handling applications. Start-ups will typically require advice on how attract foreign talent and the options available for sponsorship. Actually, to meet this need the government has implemented a new scheme this year by way of a four-year pilot project to facilitate the hiring of talent by innovative start-ups. This scheme allows them to sponsor up to five skilled workers against a reduced salary threshold, provided they employ a total of 15 staff or less and that the sponsored worker will receive an employee participation of at least 1 per cent in the start-up, as stock options, depository receipts for shares or shares without voting rights.

How has your experience as an expert adviser to the Ministry of Justice on immigration policy reform enhanced your practice?

Sharing experiences and goals during work sessions with professionals and officials from various government departments and agencies in an open but confidential setting has been very insightful, and provided me with an understanding of what drives law and decision making. It also offered the opportunity to voice client needs at a stage where the making of the law was still on the drawing board.

In what ways does Everaert Advocaten distinguish itself from competitors in the market?

Our expertise is very broad as it includes not only business immigration but also private client and humanitarian categories. Further, we have an expert team of attorneys dedicated to citizenship.

What have been the most prominent immigration challenges caused by Brexit so far? What do you think the future of mobility looks like between the EU and UK?

The main challenge our corporate clients are facing is options for UK citizens to commute between the UK as their place or residence and the Netherlands as their place of work. We do not have a proper commuter system in place, which I believe will be indispensable.

As chair of the firm, how would you like Everaert Advocaten to develop over the next five years?

We continue to strive for excellence in quality of work. To achieve this, we need to ensure we continue to succeed in attracting young talent and remain at the forefront of technological developments.

Peers and clients say: “Marcel is a walking dictionary of Dutch corporate immigration law” “He is easily the best corporate immigration lawyer in the Netherlands” “He is a very practical lawyer with a broad practice and is an efficient project manager”