scot47

The desperate ones that I was referring to are Anglos or Brits posting here with inquiries. You know - O Level Woodwork (failed) a low level of ability in Written English, inability to communicate orally in Standard English. Where is the best place to go in Netherlands to find a well-paid job ?

Casa Santo Estevo

Rereading my post I was harsh in my response, sorry. I understand that some things in life irritate each and everyone of us. I can understand this has certainly one of those events for you.
It is a fine line for me and maybe I dragged the line on this subject off with the link to the TV show. The program(s) was this was mainly about asylum seekers with one EU citizen in the group. Basic language skills is important in any country, but sometimes you can be lucky. For example; the wife is a moderator for a Dutch language forum for those who wish or live in Spain. Recently due to the help of fellow members one newbie manage to get work, without Spanish skills, but helping out his fellow countrymen.

Going back to scot47 post yes things have slowed down here. It maybe just to the time of the year, it maybe down to your posting. But these comments should not allow those who wish to live in the Lowlands from thinking about things and asking questions should it?

scot47

Right, guv.

GeniB

Well what a strange post to have on an BE site. Go home Brits if your not educated enough for the Dutch. Was that the message Scot? or am I missing something?

The world would be a sadder place if people were put off from at least trying to find a better life than the bedsit in wandsworth don't you think? Realistic advice is indeed whats needed but given with a tad of encouragement
I arrived in NL over 30+ yrs ago,not many foreigners around then apart from Turkish temporary workers. I hadn't a word of Dutch neither had my OH. He was the first ex-pat in his company in fact.Sent to the nuns to learn basic Dutch in two weeks of intensive training (that means not a word of English spoken during that time) It was very very VERY tough. But we made it work. It's not advisable-but it is possible ..just saying..

Casa Santo Estevo

What this section of the forum has seen, just like many other European sections is folks wishing to move away from the UK, with no work offer, no skills, and not able to speak anything other than English.
I thought the thread is not about putting folks off it is about more about making them see reality. They have to have something to offer.
It seems you was fortunate when you moved to NL, there was a job offer and your other half managed to obtain Dutch lessons.

scot47

NL 1985 and NL 2015 are different.
My plea was that people should be realistic in their expectations and aspirations.

scrubbedexpat0105

Three years ago I was driving through Bavaria on the Autobahn when I stopped on the hard shoulder for five young Romanian guys in a dilapidated Fiat Croma. They were headed for NL, they had work lined up picking tomatoes, and now they had a dead alternator and a flat battery. I towed them off the Autobahn before the ADAC did, which would have cost them a Romanian average monthly salary.

I have a lot of respect for people like that, looking for a better life somewhere else, trying to make the most of a bad hand of cards, willing to work hard in a lousy job, legally, not hurting anyone. Starting off on the bottom rung, but of a better ladder than the one back home.

These are the people that British "journalists" drag through the mud on a regular basis.

Now: why is a Brit moving to NL in search of work, with no knowledge of Dutch, no higher education or vocational training, any different to those Romanian immigrants?

I'm all for living abroad (particularly in Europe, which is easily accessible), broadening the mind, seeking new horizons. But no language and no marketable skills means putting yourself in a situation not very different to that of those Romanians I helped (and they had work lined up!).

I knew Brits in Germany in the 1980s who couldn't get a residence permit because they couldn't get a job and couldn't get a job because they couldn't get a residence permit, and who resorted to washing dishes in a restaurant just in order to get the residence permit – despite having a degree from a British university.

A lot has changed since then, as Scot says. You now get the residence permit automatically, but equally, there's a lot more competition for that dishwashing job. Ultimately though, one thing hasn't changed: if you have nothing to offer but gumption, expect to start off on the bottom rung, like the Romanians and Lithuanians in Britain. If someone is realistic about that, I would say: go for it.

On the other hand, if they think that their British passport makes them an "expat" rather than an "immigrant" and entitles them to different treatment and a different lifestyle to those of the other immigrants, of which there is absolutely no shortage, they may be in for a shock.

Red_Wine_Fairy

I think in particular, the topic was started due to exasperation at those people who were planning not only to move here without a job, but also dragging their kids along for the ride (or nightmare, as poor preparation never ends well). There's disrupting your own life with a hope and a dream, and then egotistically sacrificing your kids future/happiness for a pipedream.

I think we have all been honest in telling people that if planning to bring a family, then if you care about them, have a permanent or fixed-term job here lined up first, because poverty and misery go hand-in-hand.

old wanderer

What i find strange is that anyone without a job offer would even contemplate moving to another country with their family. Sheer madness which will end in disaster. When I first came to the Netherlands way back in 1971 I had to have a work permit and had to be registered with the police before doing any work. These days things have got easier in a lot of ways but no skills means joining a long queue with thousands of others.

scot47

People are increasingly ready to believe TOTAL NONSENSE as a result of seeing all the horsenuts that is on the Idiot Box. Unreality TV now tells people what to think and what to do.
"Brave New World" and "1984" combined. The difference is that in "1984", the State COMPELLED everyone to have a "Visiscreen" (ie TV). Now the people pay for the privilege, either through TV License or SKY or both.

liveaboard

I did, for 25 years; really had hardly any friction over it, ever. But I was in Amsterdam.
Practically no one gave me a hard time about my language handicap; because that's what it is to be mono-lingual.
I did help a lot of people with their English though. In other countries too.

scot47

Have we scared off the ones who wanted to come ?

GeniB

Well you had a darn good try at it Scot Lol

Pulaski

The truth shouldn't be that scary!

Fugee

When I first came here, I was doing jobs that didn't require Dutch, because the Dutch didn't want to do the jobs I was doing. English was the lingua franca between us immigrants.