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Comment by sytse | Hacker News Reader

For the TLDR; "GitLab has the right to migrate to the Netherlands for qualifying team members. Just added we can waive the 1 year tenure requirement if you are a member of an underrepresented group that is unsafe or if here is a lot of violence in your country" https://twitter.com/sytses/status/1417601595668275201

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I really don't understand the "has the right" part here. It sounds like GitLab will help qualifying team members to migrate to the Netherlands?

Yes, that would be a better way to say it. When I wrote the header for https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/visas/#right-... years ago I was still processing that there is a human right to leave your country but that only works if there is another country that will have you, which isn't the case for the vast majority of people.

If I'm reading right, it looks like a company can become a "recognised sponsor," which allows them to sponsor as many of their employees as they want for relocation, provided they meet salary requirements etc. It doesn't look like there is a government-side discretionary approval like the US green card or (at least in the Netherlands) a quota or lottery like the US H-1B. There's a background check but that's it.

https://www.eubluecard.nl/dutch-program/recognised-sponsor

https://www.government.nl/topics/immigration-to-the-netherla...

If that interpretation is correct, then I think this is also "GitLab has the power/authority".

Anecdata: when I worked at a US tech company, one of our teammates got transferred to the Netherlands because he couldn't get a visa renewal in time. I believe it's a common country to stash anyone who's having visa issues.

My understanding is that this goes back to Rotterdam being a free or open port, since the late Renaissance period. The Netherlands has been a proponent of free trade and what we'd call international citizenship for a very long time

And, you know, the Dutch East India Company being the largest multinational in world history.

Canada is also popular, especially BC - it's where Amazon, Google, and Microsoft move people who couldn't get a H-1B renewal but want to keep them in the same time-zone. It's only a 2-hour drive from Seattle so having in-person meetings is still possible.

Right, but I don't think GitLab can enforce the right to come to the Netherlands. Presumably if the Dutch security services have a reason to stop someone coming in there's nothing that GitLab can do about that.

Correct, you're still subject to regular immigration laws and such; some parts of it are just made easier.

Netherlands has the the highly skilled migrant visa. Another option besides the Blue Card.

https://ind.nl/en/work/working_in_the_Netherlands/Pages/High...

I think that is the Dutch implementation of the Blue Card.

The Blue Card exists separately. This would be the US equivalent of H-1B (without the lottery) and the Blue card would be equivalent to EB2/EB3.

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