Many undocumented migrants working as food deliverers

Many employees of meal delivery companies like UberEats and Deliveroo are undocumented migrants. They’re rarely insured and pay no tax, NRC reports after investigating the sector.

NRC spoke to 60 meal deliverers in Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Nijmegen. Many did not even know they were supposed to pay taxes and VAT. Some were in the Netherlands on a student visa but are not or no longer studying. The newspaper previously reported that people are abusing student visas in this way.

According to the newspaper, the deliverers pay intermediaries to work under the intermediaries’ identities. They get away with this fairly easily because the companies have only digital contact with their employees and often don’t check identities.

The Social Affairs and Employment Inspectorate confirmed to the newspaper that “a fair number of undocumented migrants” work for the meal delivery platforms. The Tax Authority said that “many meal deliverers stay under the radar.” A spokesperson called it challenging “to realize an unambiguous approach for meal deliverers.”

Deliveroo told NRC that it is not aware of any illegal practices. UberEats said it has a zero-tolerance policy. Thuisbezorgd told the newspaper that its employees get an employee contract, so fraud is more complicated.