Changing employer and the legality of your stay
Check before you sign, not after.
A temporary residence permit tied to work can be bound to a specific employer and to specific employment conditions. Changing jobs can therefore touch two things at once: the legality of your work and the legality of your stay.
These are two questions, not one
The legality of your work and the legality of your stay are separate questions and they do not always move together. Sometimes the residence card stays valid while work for a new employer requires a separate document. Sometimes it is the other way round: a document allowing you to work is not enough for your stay to remain legal.
What to check before the change
- The basis of your current permit and whether it is tied to an employer.
- Whether only the employer changes, or also the position, the hours or the pay.
- Whether the new form of cooperation is the same form the permit covers.
- Which obligations fall on the new employer, and within what deadline.
The last point is a frequent source of confusion: some obligations sit with the employer, some with you, and both sides tend to assume the other will handle them.
The cheapest moment is before you sign
Once the change has happened some routes close, and time runs from the moment the change took place, not from the moment you learned of it. A consultation before signing costs less than repairing the situation afterwards.
What we do
We assess how the new work affects your permit, set out the required steps and their order, and prepare an application to amend the permit or a fresh application. On the employer's side we put the employment paperwork in order.
We are not an employment agency: we do not source jobs or workers. This post is informational and is not legal advice in an individual case.