Move to the Netherlands With the Dutch American Friendship Treaty A Guide to 2 Year Dutch Residency for Americans

By Joy San Diego

Have you ever wondered how to move to Europe? Are you adventurous and want to experience living in the EU? Or are you thinking of what life would be like in a more inclusive, equal, caring and social society?
 

For Americans moving to the Netherlands is easier than you think! Other "moving abroad" books and guides focus on just the moving and integrating part, but they usually don't show you the actual immigration process of it or how to get a residence permit. This book lays out exactly how Americans can get residence permit and actually make the move to the Netherlands with the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty - spouses, partners and families included!
 

The reality of moving anywhere abroad is that beyond 3-4 months you need a residence permit. The host government usually only issues residence permits when:

• a company in the host country sponsors you,
• your spouse is a citizen, or
• you are a political refugee.

The Dutch-American Friendship Treaty (DAFT) makes it easier for Americans to get residency and move to the Netherlands. Is the DAFT program for you? What is involved? How much does it cost to live in the Netherlands? What can I expect living there?

This book will guide you through the exact steps and details including costs and expenses, culture and society, healthcare and insurance, utilities, shopping and the reality of living in the Netherlands (which is amazing!). Plus, I share my own experiences of moving here in 2019 - so you know what to expect and can make the most of living in this awesome country!

If you've even had just the slightest interest in moving to Europe, this book is for you. Download and learn how easy moving to and living in the Netherlands is - and how much it is!

The Dutch-American Friendship Treaty may not be for everyone. Registration of a business, a deposit of €4500 (about $4900) in a Dutch bank, and other items and fees are required.
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Note: This book outlines how Americans can get a two-year residence permit in the Netherlands through the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty. It is not intended to serve as legal advice, to make any guarantees or to replace the expertise of a licensed immigration lawyer.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arran Publishing
• Release date: Aug 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9798223837268

Book preview

Introduction

This how-to guide is written and arranged so that no matter if you’re just tossing around the idea of moving abroad or have made the definitive decision – or anywhere in between – you’ll get something out of this book.

I’ve done my best to research all the information and content, so that this book can serve three purposes:

to explain European immigration in general and the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty;

to help those of you who are undecided to make the decision to move; and

to help those of you have decided how to actually make the move, get your residence permit and get settled into life in the Netherlands.

Throughout the book I’ve included my own story of moving to and living in the Netherlands – including finding a place to live before I left the US, moving here with my two dogs, maintaining my writing business during covid and much more. This is to provide first-hand knowledge of how simple it is moving and living here. If I can do it – anyone can!

I’ve been living here for almost four years now, so I hope to give you an honest assessment of the reality of living in the Netherlands. Which – except for a few minor, non-deal breaking things – is really awesome! It isn’t 100% perfect, but it’s pretty darn close.

As you read this book, realize that everything is from my perspective. I love living here and find the annoying things to be minute and unimportant. However, not everyone will share my sentiments exactly for whatever aspect of the Netherlands is important to them.

With that in mind, I encourage you to do your own research – especially on those things that are important to you – along with using this book as your guide. Also, because I won’t always have all the answers. Just be aware as you research online that, as you know, there are negative people out there, so also consider the source when you hear negative things and that negativity is sometimes the perception of the beholder.

For non-Americans: There’s a lot in this book that is applicable to anyone from anywhere. I’ve included information about daily life in the Netherlands, ordering utilities and services, finding doctors, getting around on public transportation, settling into your new neighborhood and much more. However for immigration purposes, this book is geared specifically for US Americans because, well, it's the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty. If you hold another nationality, please consult with the Dutch immigration lawyer for information regarding your nationality.

Netherlands vs. Holland

You may have heard or read Holland as referring to the entire country of the Netherlands. However, the official name of the country is the Netherlands (‘Nederland’ in Dutch) which is often abbreviated simply as NL.

Holland is actually the name of two of the twelve Dutch provinces: North and South Holland. Most Dutch people are used to the two names being used interchangeably for their country, but for some – particularly those who don’t live in Zuid-Holland or Noord-Holland – it can be a point of frustration.

Since it’s the official name, I’ll be using the Netherlands and NL and will use Holland only when referring to either one of the provinces.

About the chapters in this book

Chapters 1 explains the reality of European and Dutch immigration, what it takes to actually making the move, including the hard truth about legally moving to another country. But for Americans there’s hope: the process of the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty is bullet-pointed in Chapter 2 to help give readers a high-level overview of the program. These steps are detailed along with the immigration and business registration steps in Chapter 9, with DAFT-specific steps called out like:  DAFT .

(The process outlined in Chapter 2 might seem like a lot; but keep in mind that it’s stretched over many months.)

Chapters 3, 4 and 5 will be useful for anyone reading the book – those who know they want to move to the Netherlands and those who still aren’t sure. Most of the information and suggestions in these chapters are also applicable to anyone with any nationality who is thinking of moving to the Netherlands.

Chapters 6 through 10 detail what to do once you’ve made the definitive decision to move. For those readers who are still in the decision-making phase, you may just want to just review these chapters for now, then go back and read them more earnestly after you’ve made the decision to move to the Netherlands.

For those who know they want to move, I suggest reading Chapters 6 through 10 thoroughly and then referring back to them when you’re at that particular step in your move.

For example, read Chapter 7 Finding a Place to Live or Chapter 10 Running Your Business to give you an idea of what’s entail in those steps. Then when it comes time to actually find a place to live and to really start your business, go back and reread those chapters again and as often as you need to.

And last but not least

And finally, a huge thank you and many hugs for all the people who helped me with the final edits, proof-reading and general feedback as I progressed to publishing and now updating this book. I hope the readers enjoy the final manuscript that you helped me put out there.

Bedankt allemaal!

Chapter 1

The Reality of Moving to Another Country

If you’ve done any amount of research on moving to another country as an American, you know there are a plethora of social media groups, forum discussions, threads, comments, blogs and just general buzz out there on the subject. I know. I had been passively researching moving abroad for several decades.

What I discovered was that while most of the authors of these books and discussions have a lot of really good ideas on moving and getting settled into a new country, most of them don’t tell you how to actually do it, meaning the actual immigration process.

For Americans wanting to move to Europe, including the Netherlands (and pretty much any other country in the world), there’s much more to it than just deciding to move, packing your bags and hopping on a plane. Just like the green card residency program in the US, in order to live in another country for longer than a few months, a person must get special permission from the host country’s government. And this is not always easy (at all).

Despite what you may have heard or read ...

This is the reality of moving to another country

The European Union (EU) member countries – including the Netherlands – allow Americans to stay up to three months as a tourist with a valid US passport. Visas or permits are not needed. You can also move freely between EU countries for those three months with just your passport.

In order to stay longer in any of the EU countries, Americans must get special permission from the host government in the form of a residence permit. This allows you to live in that country for however long your permit is good for. You can travel to other EU countries but you can only live in the country that issued you your residence permit.

In the Netherlands, a residence permit is called a ‘verblijfstitel’. It is issued by the Dutch Immigrations and Naturalization Service, ‘Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst’ – or IND for short.

Additionally, in the Netherlands (and I believe most EU countries) if you stay longer than three months you must also register with the local municipality. Everyone, even citizens, must do this registration which is like a census mechanism for things of national or regional interest like managing emergencies, determining the allocation of social services, monitoring infrastructure and maintaining the national water management systems.––––––––In the Netherlands the municipality is called the ‘gemeente’ (pronounced more or less ‘heh-main-tuh’, with a guttural h in the beginning) and ‘gemeentehuis’ is Dutch for city hall.

With your gemeente registration you will also receive a ‘burger service nummer’, or BSN, which is more or less the Dutch version of a social security number. A BSN is needed to do most administrative things in the Netherlands including opening a bank account, getting health insurance, registering with your family doctor and to apply for any sort of benefit. More on BSNs later in the book.

So long story short: to move to the Netherlands (or anywhere) you need a residence permit.

So, how do Americans get this coveted residence permit?

There are several paths to get a Dutch residence permit. Keep in mind that most of these paths are extremely difficult or involve extenuating circumstances.

Residency through employment

If you are hired by a Dutch company in the Netherlands, you should get a work permit and in turn can apply and (in most cases) get a residence permit.

If you are thinking about moving to Europe by employment – i.e. getting hired by a company in the traditional sense – keep in mind that this is extremely difficult. As the Dutch government’s website reads:

The [Netherlands] will not issue an employment permit unless strict conditions have been met. For example, an employer must be able to show that they cannot find a suitable candidate in the EU.

In the EU?! You are literally going up against every other qualified candidate in all twenty-seven countries of the European Union. This means that unless you’re a highly-specialized worker at the top of your game or a way-up-there top-level executive of a globally known corporation, getting hired in the Netherlands as a non-EU citizen is next to impossible.

It’s so difficult that I wouldn’t recommend giving this route any thought. Doing all of this from the States makes it even more difficult. You might get extremely lucky, but it’s highly unlikely and you will probably waste a ton of time and get a lot of rejection. I’m, of course, speaking from many years of experience.

Even if you are one of the very (lucky) highly-skilled workers who can actually get hired in the Netherlands as a US citizen, then your residency – and that of your accompanying family – is dependent on your employment. If the company downsizes, if your contract isn’t renewed, if your job gets moved to another country or you lose your job for any reason, then your residency is over. You must leave the Netherlands within three months or somehow secure another job or other means of getting residency.

A final note on EU immigration through employment: this is how most how to move to books and online discussions suggest moving to another country. Perhaps the authors of these books and discussions have friends abroad or watched international news and have heard buzz about labor shortages in whatever country. Maybe they think this means it will be easy for Americans to just get hired and live abroad. Unfortunately, it's not that easy.

All countries of the European Union have the same immigration guidelines for hiring non-EU employees. Free movement of capital, goods, services and labor (i.e. hired employees) are some of the founding principles of the Union itself.

So unfortunately, the get hired abroad advice given in most of these discussions is not viable for the vast majority of Americans and other non-EU nationals.

Residency as a student

You can obtain a residence permit if you have been accepted and plan to attend a nationally recognized secondary educational institution or university on a full-time basis and have an accompanying student visa.

This option is only viable if you are already a student or are planning to go to college or university. You will also need to have enough money to support yourself, pay your personal expenses and school-related costs, and speak a fair amount of Dutch.

School and university tuitions cost much less than in the US, but tuition isn’t completely free. Plus you still must have rent, daily expenses, health insurance, textbooks and other expenses to pay. There are subsidy programs available, but these are usually only available after you are living here.

Though more and more classes are being taught in English, the primary language in colleges and universities is still Dutch. So unless you go to one of the bigger universities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Leiden) and don’t mind a smaller selection of classes to choose from, you will have to speak near-fluent Dutch to go to university in the Netherlands.

Residency through political