The immigration service is to step up its checks on the salaries paid to workers under the skilled migrant scheme to make sure the system is not being abused, immigration minister Gerd Leers said on Wednesday.

People who come to the Netherlands as highly-skilled migrants have to earn at least €50,619 a year (for the over-30s). And some firms are deliberately paying staff more than the going rate for the job to get round lengthy immigration procedures, the paper said.
The IND is to check up on comparable pay rates to make sure skilled migrant salaries are in line with the going rates. If the pay is too high, it would be cheaper to employ a Dutch or other EU national instead, the minister said.
Last year 6,570 people came to the Netherlands under the highly-skilled migrant scheme, up from 6,140 in 2009.