Red_Wine_Fairy

Why thank you sir


Incidently, the address you need for Amsterdam City Hall is Amstel 1. Ignore the Expat Centre - they will charge you a fee for doing what you can do yourself for free - and your money is best off in your pocket (they exist to extort money from well off expats with relocation budgets )

Leeeef

Lots of tips, dankjewel!

I'm actually learning Dutch at the moment, and thoroughly enjoying it
Really getting to grips with the language and improving my vocabulary every day.

I did focus on jobs first, but after applying to hundreds of vacancies over the last few months I was left with the same message - 'We are currently only looking for people who already live in Amsterdam'; this is why I have spent the first part of this year making sure I have enough funds to keep me going for a few months in the city while looking for employment.

The good news is I already have profiles with a couple of job agencies (having been through an interview phase via telephone) who seem like they are ready to help me on arrival.

The tip on temporary residence is super helpful. Can I still do that with a rental contract? It seems a good idea while I'm job seeking, as I can use my EHIC.

Thx for the advice on Expat centre. I guessed it would be best avoided.

Alweer bedankt!

Cynic

Je hoeft me niet te danken

Red_Wine_Fairy

Just bear in mind what it says on the webpage - you get 4 months to sort something out (after which I guess they expect you to move on, which they can't legally force you to do if the UK is still in the EU, but funds will be dwindling by that point in time and you don't get transfer of any jobseeker benefits after that time).

Can you be classed as a tourist/temporary migrant once registered as a resident with their own legal housing contract for a longer period? What do you think?
If you read that webpage you will see there are two registers: a temporary one, and a residents one. Once you are on the latter, you will see a stream of bills for everything from health insurance to council tax bills and everything inbetween. I'd say you'd have to be slightly crazy to declare yourself resident until you have that permanence (regular income long term) sorted, if you don't need to do so.

I'd also err caution and say from experience that employment agents here are every bit as duplicitous as the British version, and they'll find another excuse why they can't find work for you once you're here. The fact is that they work for their client, and that client is the company who pays their bills: they don't work for the job seeker. Don't put all your eggs in their particular basket.

Cynic

My daughters experience of the agencies was all good (which surprised me as my experience mirrors RWF's comments). When I discussed it with her, it was probably down to the fact that she had come with relevant experience of a blue-chip multi-national, which the new employer was keen to make use of. 6 months on, she's still there, dragging them kicking and screaming into 2016.

Leeeef

Looks like i'll register as a temporary resident on arrival then!

Thank you so much for all of your help

Red_Wine_Fairy

Good Luck - you might need it (particularly to secure housing).

In your shoes and with the benefit of experience, I'd be trawling facebook expat groups for students who are leaving for 6 months to do an internship abroad: that's about the best way to secure a mid-term rental but registration could cause a problem (unless you got your BSN first as a temporary resident ).

Cynic

My daughter used Air BnB for the first week of her return to Holland. It worked for her, it was cheap; she was able to get somewhere permanent in that time.

Leeeef

Hello again!

Sorry to dig up an old thread but I thought it would be best in regards to describing my situation.

I'm finally moving to Amsterdam next week! Thanks to your amazing help I have got an appointment at the city hall for a kort verblijf BSN to see me through for the beginning of my Dutch journey.

I have a question about opening a bank account in the Netherlands without having a NL address. Has any one managed to do that? If so, which bank did you use? I'm thinking of doing this in my first week if possible.

In addition to this, if I were to be renting a room short-term (3-4 months), but had a job, could I get by with my kort verblijf BSN or would I have to change?

Sorry if this brings back the same answers but I'm having trouble working out what's best.

Cheers!

calman014

I would not worry about a bank account until you have a job. Firstly banks are not likely to give you an account without evidence of a source of income and address. Also short term accounts will attract higher bank charges. The rules are very strict these days and a real pain in the neck. Good Luck.

Cynic

ABN-Amro used to offer a banking service for overseas customers that could be turned into a normal account on arrival in Holland; I'm not sure if this is still the case, but at the time, I found the information (in English) on the ABN-Amro web-site.

Hope this helps.

Leeeef

Hello again everybody (sorry to dig up old thread)

One year on since the first post in this thread, I am happy to say that I now have a full time job with a good salary, an great apartment right in the middle of Amsterdam, and an incredible & diverse group of friends who have helped me to settle in to the city.

I achieved all of this without a university degree, without financial aid from friends / family, from having a place to stay for only one week, speaking very limited Dutch and initially knowing only two people in the whole city. I did save some money to fall back on, but this was nothing more than £2000.

In the end, it wasn't even that hard to do. To anybody who is debating whether to make such a move, I say this - if I can do it, you can too!

A big thanks to the people in this thread that assisted me along the way. Big up yourselves.

Veel succes!

- C

StevieLW

great to hear Leeeeeeeeeef, and thanks for giving us an update, dat was lief of you.

Paxo16

It's great to know that Leeeef has made such a success of his Dutch venture. I've been here for 2 months. My situation is different in that I am retired and arranged rental through the internet. I went to the bank and was advised to get a BSN if I wanted an account. I did both those things within 5 days. I have not yet arranged health insurance. Reading the comments in this thread, and that it is "illegal" not to have it, may I ask how this is policed? Does some official at some stage ask you to prove it? Can they do that? I feel a little like a criminal (!). Maybe I'm being paranoid but seeing the word "verboden" everywhere does not give me a warm feeling.

Red_Wine_Fairy

Gefeliciteerd, Leeeef! It's always lovely to hear someone made a successful move: thank you for remembering us.

Paxo, I'm not sure I can help you - do you qualify under S1 as a retiree? I admit I'm not sure how that works.

Dutch Basic health insurance is a legal requirement once resident. You arrange it or, when they catch up with you, they will arrange it for you and also backdate it to the date you registered at the Town Hall (They = the relevant gov't agency who is linked into the National Database). They'll also probably fine you, just to stick the boot in.


This government information in English covers healthcare in some depth, so I hope you find the answers you need (you need to copy paste it, sorry, as it won't let me link)

https://www.government.nl/topics/hea...ance/documents >> Healthcare in the The Netherlands