Assai wanted to relocate a senior software engineer from Iran to the Netherlands together with his wife and daughter.
Under normal circumstances, this would already require coordination between the Highly Skilled Migrant procedure, the MVVs for the family and the required civil documents.
But this relocation took place during the war involving Iran and the United States.
Dutch consular operations connected to Iran had been moved to Georgia, while normal procedures for translating and legalising Iranian documents were disrupted. At the same time, the family needed those documents for their immigration process.
The normal route had effectively stopped working.
At a glance
Challenge
War, disrupted consular services and unavailable document procedures meant the standard route for securing the employee’s and family’s MVVs was no longer workable.
Approach
Talcom coordinated directly with the relevant authorities and arranged an exceptional consular route and appointment in Istanbul for the employee, his wife and daughter.
Results
The family successfully received their MVVs, travelled to the Netherlands, secured housing and the employee started his role with Assai.
The challenge
When the official process no longer matched reality
The difficulty was not simply that procedures were taking longer.
Several parts of the normal immigration process were no longer practically available, while the employee and his family still needed a valid route to enter the Netherlands.
Public information did not provide a workable answer for every part of their situation. The IND information available at the time did not clearly explain how the legalisation requirements would be treated under these circumstances.
At the same time, the information we received initially indicated that obtaining the required MVVs outside Iran was not a standard option.
For Assai, waiting indefinitely was not a solution.
For the employee, much more was at stake. He needed to get himself, his wife and his daughter safely through the immigration process while borders, consular services and documentation procedures were affected by the conflict.
Our approach
Finding an alternative route
Talcom started working directly with the relevant authorities to establish whether there was another compliant way to complete the process.
After extensive coordination, we managed to arrange an exceptional route through the Dutch consular authorities in Istanbul.
This required coordination between the IND, the consular process and the family itself.
Most importantly, we secured an appointment in Istanbul for the employee and his family so their MVVs could be processed there.
That created a possible route to the Netherlands, but getting there was another challenge.
Getting the family from Iran to Istanbul
The employee, his wife and daughter first needed permission to enter Turkey.
The family arranged Turkish visas and travelled out of Iran by car. From there, they continued to Istanbul for the consular appointment we had arranged.
They remained in Istanbul for approximately two weeks.
During the process, the employee, his wife and daughter submitted their passports so the MVVs could be placed in them.
Once the passports were returned with the required MVVs, the family could finally travel from Istanbul to the Netherlands.
An MVV is the entry visa that allows someone who requires one to travel to the Netherlands for a stay exceeding 90 days and subsequently collect their Dutch residence permit. (IND)
The result
Despite the war, disrupted consular services and the absence of a workable standard route, the employee and his family successfully received their MVVs.
They travelled from Istanbul to the Netherlands.
After arriving, Talcom continued supporting the relocation. The family secured housing and completed the next practical steps required to establish their life in the Netherlands.
The employee is now working for Assai as a senior software engineer.
What began as an immigration process with no apparent practical route out of Iran ended with the employee and his family living safely in the Netherlands and the employee starting his new role.
Why it matters
Immigration procedures are designed around situations in which embassies are operational, documents can be processed and applicants can reach the location where their visa needs to be issued.
During war or geopolitical disruption, those assumptions can disappear almost overnight.
A standard immigration provider can submit an application.
Complex cases require something else.
They require continuous communication with authorities, understanding which requirements can and cannot be fulfilled, finding compliant alternatives and continuing to push the process forward when the standard route no longer works.
In this case, Talcom coordinated with the IND and consular authorities to establish an alternative route through Istanbul, arranged the appointment and helped create a path that allowed an employee, his wife and his daughter to leave Iran and complete their relocation to the Netherlands.
For Assai, the outcome was a senior software engineer able to start his role in Amsterdam.
For the family, the outcome was considerably more important: a workable route from Iran to their new life in the Netherlands.
