Captain Canuck

Hey Green Apple, Ferkew, been eavesdropping on your conversation, hope you guys don't mind!

I am a chiropractor from Toronto, Canada and I am seriously thinking of accepting a job just outside Amsterdam. I have ALWAYS wanted to work and live in Europe but I don't want to make a hasty decision of relocating to the Netherlands and regretting it later.

By my estimation, I expect to make around 42,000 Euro my first year and want to know if this is a reasonable salary to live comfortably on. I have serious student debt and I also married so I would be supporting two.

Secondly, how well known is chiropractic in the Netherlands? I am told there aren't many chiros over there so I could do well, but conversely, the Dutch may not be that familiar with the chiropractic profession and therefore, I may have to work twice as hard to market myself to explain what I do. If you don't mind me asking, what do you know of the chiropractic profession in the Netherlands? Do the Dutch people go to chiropractors? Do chiropractors do okay over there? Please offer advice!

furkew

Welcome to the CLub CC.

Feel free to join in the conversation.

I dont know about salaries for Chiropractors, but if you are starting on 42K per year, then you will be earning above average, and you should be able to settle OK.

If you have read this, and other Dutch related posts, then you wil have seen about holiday pay, 13th months etc. Make sure you find out what extra's are involved in your salary package.

The one thing in Holland that can make things hard, is the housing market. Prices are quite high, especially in the Amsterdam areas. Expect to pay about 300,000 euro + for something reasonable, and 400+ for something above average.

Interest on the other hand is low, with tax rebates on interest paid as well, but you need to be able borrow the money in the first place.

Regarding Chiropractors in Holland, the Dutch are very advanced in their thinking regarding health etc, and you will i'm sure be quite pleased with the quality of Hospitals, Health clinics, etc etc. The health system here is probably one of the best in the world. I'm sure you will find it quite easy to settle in and work.

I have used one for a number of years because of rugby injuries, and my insurance has always covered everything. Here a couple of Dutch links :

http://www.expatica.com/source/forum...hread_id=29109

http://www.lifestylechiropractic.nl/

I could ask my Chiro if you can contact him with some questions. I'll let you know. I need to visit fairly soon.

Captain Canuck

Thanks for repying Ferkew, and yes, that would be great, if you could ask your chiropractor on your next visit.

I played rugby myself, played winger, in a men's league in Ottawa, Canada, and an injury introduced me to a chiropractor for the first time. Eight years later, I am a chiropractor myself. Weird where life takes you!

Actually, I have read reference to this 13th month pay, but do not understand what it means. Is this holiday pay? Does it equal an actual month's pay? Is every Dutch employee entitled to it?

The chiro I am negotiating with, I have only been in discussion for a week, so everything is very new, but that term, "13th month" has not come up. Could you provide a brief explanation please?

furkew

I played back row. Flanker/number 8. After a broken jaw, broken collar bone, numerous fractured fingers & slipped neck and back vertebrae, I decided to call it a day.

I do miss the game.

About the 13th month, this is a full months salary extra (normally in December) It is not compulsory, but is fairly common. You could always ask if the package includes this. It might nudge him into thinking about it.

What is compulsory is holiday pay. This should be outside the 42,000euro salary. This is again a months salary (net) normally paid out in May each year. This also has nothing to do with taking paid holiday (23 days legal minimum) During holidays and illness, your salary must always be paid in full.

hope this helps.

radicalbyte

Tax works like in the UK...

Tax-free on lowest part
30% tax on next part
42% tax on next part

Not sure what the thresholds are right now, but a bit of googling'll get you there.

Now the rule you're mentioning is the 30% rule.

Basically, you are exampted from tax on 30% of your income. The remaining 70% is taxed as per the scheme above.

The period lasts for the first two years, then you pay tax like the locals.

If you buy a house and take an interest-only morgage, you can claim the interest payments back from your tax. This means that you can probably reduce your taxes to a very small amount for the first two years.

Captain Canuck

Thanks Radicalbyte, for that tidbit of info. Are you a brit working in the Netherlands? As mentioned above, I am in serious negotiations with an employer in Holland and I've pretty much decided to accept the offer, so I am super excited but now the seriousness of immigrating to the Netherlands kicks in.

I also had a good opportunity in Australia and I was, and suppose I still am, a bit torn of which job to take. The dealbreaker was the stronger Euro over the weaker Australian dollar, and the closer proximity to friends and family back home in Canada.

My other BIG concern is learning Dutch quickly. Do you, or anyone else listening in on this thread, have any input on how hard Dutch is to learn?

radicalbyte

I moved here 6 months ago, and now live/work here. Done most of the usual things except buying/renting (living with parents-in-law), though we'll be doing the buying really soon (just found a nice house!).

I'm finding the language really hard, but I'm terrible with languages. Got most of the pronounciation nailled, though (except the R).

Make sure to take a proper course, the evening courses are 4hrs / week and take you along at a steady pace.

snowbunny

Wow, you got the "g" right? Can you roll a Spanish "r" at the front of your mouth? It substitutes okay for the Dutch rolled "r" at the back of your mouth.

I find Dutch grammar hopeless and focus on vocabulary (mind I don't live in the Netherlands but my husband and in-laws are Dutch). It's easy enough to pick up what you need for everyday use but if I had to work or learn in Dutch I'd be sunk. I'm okay on languages -- not a whiz, not horrible.

radicalbyte

I can only get the spanish "r" with with some effort, and can create the sound in the back of my throat (same place the g comes from). Just find it very hard to prounouce in words, especially in words with the "g" or "ch" sounds.

The 'g' is fine, it's the same action as clearing your throat before spitting. Similar to if you try and make a cat-like hissing sound.

Toontje

Actually, holiday pay is 8% of your annual salary (overtime will be excluded from this calculation). And that is before taxes. What you will get in your bank account will be close to a normal months salary though.

Starseed

I'm good with languages, but what gives me despair in European languages, is that every friggin' noun has a GENDER.:curse:

First French, then German, and now Dutch as well. It's INSANE!

Japanese has simplified language the way they simplify technology. If it's not necessary, OUT!. They don't even have definite and indefinite articles in Japanese ( "a", "an", "the" ). Gender of nouns must be utterly staggering a concept for the poor Japanese trying to learn ( non-English ) European lingos.

erg moeilijk!

.

radicalbyte

Yet isn't Japanese extremely hard for us Europeans to learn? Especially the written language, as they seem to use at least 3 different languages (the chinese characters, the latin characters and the phoenetic characters in names etc).

Starseed

I don't think so. I spent two years in Japan, prior to which I studied the language in adavance, as their English is poor

You only need to learn the spoken language of course, unless you're emigrating forever to Japan, and that's written down in "romaji" - a romanised version of their spoken language. e.g. the romaji for "do you speak Japanese" is:

"Nihongo wakarimasu ka" If you can pronounce this, you can say it to a japanese, and they'll understand.

The two written forms you refer to ( hiragana, katakana ) have only about 25 characters in each, and are a shorthand way of expressing the gazillion Chinese characters ( kanji ), which of course take ages to aquire. After two years I knew some basic kanji , but it wasn't essential, unless you want to read japanese. ( yikes! )