radicalbyte

No idea, just relaying the experience third party. I have a feeling that it's related to benefits, but then I was asked if my residency would be longterm or short-term - with the short term requiring a renewal after 3 months.

Everyone here has to register their residance, it's the rules. Boy do peeps here like their rules...

jdr

Used to be similar in Spain, but now only pensioners and people living here not employed have to have a residencia.
Just so as they can keep an eye on us tax wise probably. ;-)

I suppose one day the rules will be the same all over the E U, lol.

furkew

Holland is very much "big brother is watching you"

You have to register for almost everything (preferrably digitally) . Personally
I dont think its too bad a thing, but they do like to know where you are and what you are doing.

The 5 year registration is very straighforward, but it also means you are officially registered in Holland. I found out recently that I wasnt registered for the last 13 years. oops !

They still knew how to find me for my taxes and government bills, but it meant I couldnt take my motorcycle theory test A bit strange, but hey, thats Holland.

I made a couple of phonecalls and everything was sorted (after paying the appropriate bills of course)

They love their red tape over here. Sitting in local government offices for one reason or another is very common. births, deaths, marriages, driving licence, passport, rent rebates, etc etc. very time consuming, and NEVER free .

jdr

Sounds similar to Spain, but a lot of our paperwork is done at the police station. ;-)

Casa Santo Estevo

Sorry have not been on here for some time…
Why are we thinking of moving back?…we miss Carnaval.

[/font][/color]http://www.eindhovensdagblad.nl/carnaval/

ZaneLo

HI Darna, i have moved to Amsterdam from Manchester about a week ago and i already managed to bag myself a fairly decent job (IT), i don't speak one word of Dutch but English is your Key to the world of employment with international companies.
what i would advise is that as soon as you arrive in the Netherlands, book your self an appointment for SOFI (VERY CRUCIAL TO EVERYTHING) with the Dutch Tax Office by calling their free number 08000543, they will then call you back in a couple of days to confirm your appointment in one of their offices respectively. As you are a British national, you will not require Work permit but you would however need to a residency permit SOONER or AFTER THREE MONTHS of your stay in the Netherlands. to be able to get the latter you would have been registered with local city council (the personal records database (GBA) of the municipality in which you reside)
then you contact the Dutch IND http://www.ind.nl/EN/index.asp to register.
Residency permit is Free of charge and is a Yellow sticker which will be stuck on your passport.
Good luck
I hope this info will be of much help.

Z

dutchmarbel

Hi Darna, and welcome to the area. When I have to describe the ins and outs in the Netherlands to foreigners, I quite often look things up at expatica.com for the Netherlands. I can also recommend browsing through this page

I live in Haarlem, which is ca. 30 kilometres south of Alkmaar. It has a city guide for English speakers; I am Dutch but my husband is British/Irish and we have three bilingual kids so I sometimes search for English language/culture things for them. Since it is not far from Alkmaar you might find some things to do too.

Ron Baker

hi, how did you or are you getting on with your move? i may be doing the same in the summer? is there any pitfuls to watch out for? any advice on what to do first ? we want to rent in or around Amstelveen ? ...thanks Ron

trutje

I also miss carnaval, but that's about it, oh yeah, still miss frikandellen and kroketten ,Furkew

furkew

Hi Ron,

Have you had a good read of all the posts on the Dutch forum ?

There is plenty of advice on all the different htreads.

Cost of living generally from one "gemeente" to another is pretty much the same except for the rental prices. Amstelveen is fairly close to Amsterdam, so ideal for commuting which can make it fairly expensive to live there compard to other towns. Actual rental costs i'm not sure, but I thought there was a link on the Amstelveen thread to an estate agent.

A few words worth learning if you are looking at Dutch sites :

makelaar (estate agent)
appartement
Maand (month)
Prijs (price)

Here is a link which shows rental places from €600-€1000 p.m in a 1km radius of Amstelveen. As you can see only 13 houses.

http://www.funda.nl/WoningAanbod/Huu...&er=0&ut=False

This one is €1000-€1500 p.m

http://www.funda.nl/WoningAanbod/Huu...e=&ZoekSoort=1

22 rentals

Ron Baker

Thats great , i will read more on these threads and check out the link you sent and maybe Utrecht or Hilversum area could be better ?, much appreciated............cheers Ron

furkew

Where will you be working ?

Ron Baker

Hi, my work is based in Amstelveen but i dont mind driving upto 20km ? My wife prefers a village/town type living rather than a big city ? any idaeas? and the rentals site is quite good i just need to scrub up on my geography ?

furkew

I would suggest looking at Amstelveen itself then. 20km driving doesnt sound too far, but if it takes an hour every day to get to work, it might sound different.

In Holland, cycling, bus or tram to work is the easiest way. My BIL lives and works in Amstelveen, and he swears by it. He used to work in Utrecht, and that was a nightmare commuting.

I would suggest emailing one of the estate agents asking for advice on housing in the Amstelveen area. They all speak good English, and i'm sure they can give you a good idea of what, when & where.

Have you looked at the Amstelveen website ?

http://www.amstelveen.nl/web/show?id=44489&langid=43

They also have a fairly decent Rugby team if that is your sport.

Ron Baker

Thats great advice ! what agents do you advise (the one you recommended) or is there another link ? im still looking thru all the threads like you suggested also !