The European Commission has sent a letter of formal notice to the Netherlands to lower charges for Dutch residence permits, based on various EU Directives. The Commission finds that the Netherlands charges excessive and disproportionate fees for different residence permits under EU Directives on legal migration. These EU-Directives – the Students Directive 2004/114/EC, the Researchers Directive 2005/71/EC, the Blue Card Directive 2009/50/EC and the Single Permit Directive 2011/98/EC – cover the conditions of residence permits for several categories of migrants, such as students, researchers, highly skilled workers and regular workers. The Netherlands has now till February 2018 to respond to the aguments of the Commission and will possibly lower these fees.