Surinder Singh in the Netherlands

Why the Netherlands:

It’s close to the UK and convenient to

get back for visits (though don’t do that

too often if you want to pass the

Centre of Life test).

Basically everyone speaks English –

amazingly well! You can get buy here

without needing to speak Dutch unless

it something you absolutely need for

the work you do (e.g. dealing with

customers).

There is a HUGE expat community here and the Dutch are used to and welcoming of the

Expats (though I must say I’m a white middle class Brit and my husband a white Kiwi – I

suspect that, just like in Britain, racial stereotyping will mean some people get a less

welcoming reception).

Rental housing is the norm and there is a breathtakingly good public transport system so you

can get around easily and won’t need to buy a car, in fact you can have an amazing time

getting everywhere by bike!

The Dutch are famously tolerant. They are accepting of others religions, sexual orientation

blah blah. They believe if people aren’t hurting anyone with their behaviour then they can

do what they like. Honestly they have been so friendly.

The Netherlands is soooo cute – gorgeous old buildings, canals, tulip fields, windmills….. you

can feel like you’re on holiday and really enjoy the experience of living in a funky Euro city

rather than letting the need to live outside the UK get you down!

We’ve loved it so much we decided not to bother coming back to the UK, at least not as

soon as we had originally planned.

Why not the Netherlands?

They love bureaucracy…. Its definitely not the

fastest place to do the Surinder Singh as you can expect to

take at least a month to get set up and registered before

you can start collecting time that counts for the Surinder

Singh route. Your non-EU partner may have to wait quite a

while whilst all the boxes are ticked before they can start

work (up to 2 months)

Like the UK they are concerned about economic migrants and so have similar stupid rules for

their own citizens. They have very few restrictions on EU citizens but expect to have to prove

you have some money to keep you afloat or a salary.

It’s expensive. Salaries are high to make up for that but you’ll need a decent amount of

money to keep you going before that first pay packet arrives, especially when you need to

pay a security deposit and a months rent in advance to get an apartment.

The steps to take to do the SS in the Netherlands

1. Get your docs prepared. Before you arrive in The Netherlands get your birth certificates and

marriage certificates legalised:

https://www.gov.uk/legalisation-

document-checker/y/birth-

certificate%2cmarriage-certificate.

Remember this might take several weeks,

especially if your partner is from a country

with a less efficient registration service. It’ll

cost £30 in the UK for every document you

have legalised. N.B. legalised and apostile

mean the same thing (we’d never heard of it either!).

2. Get a job. You should start looking for a job as soon as you arrive because you can’t get a

tenancy agreement without proof of salary. We moved to the Netherlands because I already

had a consultancy contract there with my old organisation so I can’t provide much advice on

job searches though I would recommend looking for a job before you arrive where possible.

It’s not so far if you need to fly across for an interview before you get here. There are plenty

of temp agencies here too though and some of the expat website (listed lower in the

document) advertise jobs more suited to expats (e.g. where you need to speak English). I

worked as a freelancer (self employed) which involved a lot of bureaucracy in the correct

order to set up. I have written a guide to that below too.

3. Find a flat. If staying in Holland more than 3 months

(which you are) you need to register with the

municipality, and when you have done so you receive

your BSN number (equivalent of NI number in UK). In

order to register you must have an address, so get

finding a flat, or register at a friends address and change

it once you have found your own place. To find a flat

check out:

a. www.funda.nl

b. www.pararius.com

c. www.expatica.nl

d. www.iamexpat.nl

Most apartments are rented on 12 month contracts so

you’ll need to negotiate something shorter if you aren’t

staying that long. Don’t be fooled by estate agents trying

to charge you one months rent as a commission. This is not legal, you should instead pay a

much lower administration fee to the estate agent. Don’t be fooled into filling in your details

on an estate agents website… this is how they justify asking you for a search fee.

Rental prices are high, brace yourself. Its cheaper if you can stay out of Amsterdam. You can

find a 1 bedroom apartment for under €1000 a month but if you can splash out a bit more

for something nicer and typically Dutch so you can enjoy the experience. We found

ourselves a flat in the old town of Haarlem overlooking a canal for €1200. You’ll need proof

of income before you’ll be able to sign the tenancy agreement so you need to find a job first

and bring a letter from your employer confirming your salary.

Utility bills are often included in the rent. Make sure the tenancy agreement is in both of

your names.

4. Register with the Municipality. You can do this by contacting your local municipality when

you have found a flat and signed a tenancy agreement. In the big city you might have to wait

2 or 3 weeks for an appointment to register – they’ll issue your BSN number basically

straight away. We registered in Haarlem a small city and registered straight away without

needing an appointment but then it took them 3 weeks to send me my BSN number. You

can’t be paid, open a bank account or basically do anything until you have that number. Too

late I realised that the smarter faster way to do this is to go to the Expatcentre and have

them organise it all, if possible using a friends address to register so you can do it straight

away before you have found a flat. Note: Your partner will not be able to get a BSN number

(or work) until you have received yours and then registered with the IND, after which the

municipality will issue your partners BSN number (with the same delay again).

5. Open a bank account. Credit cards are not used widely in Holland (they’re not even

accepted at supermarkets) so until you have a bank account and a debit card it’s hard to pay

for things and you can’t organise things like subscription services e.g. getting an OV-

chipkaart (Dutch Oyster card). ABN Amro specialise in dealing with expats. They’ll be able to

set up your account and all the various communications in English for you. Unfortunately

banks in the Netherlands charge rather annoying account fees. You can’t set up your bank

account until you have a BSN number from the Municipality. Since the EU citizen will receive

their BSN number a couple of weeks before their partner you should set up an account for

the EU person and add the non-EU partner to it, making it a joint account later.

6. Register with the Immigration Department (the IND). You need to call them up and book an

appointment, explaining that you wish to register and your partner is non-EU. You will need

to fill out the correct forms before you go (the municipality may have sent you these – but

probably in Dutch so here are the English versions):

https://ind.nl/EN/Documents/5005.pdf

https://ind.nl/EN/Documents/6021.pdf

Also take with you:

Your legalised marriage certificate

Your letter from the municipality confirming your BSN Number.

Proof of your employment and pay rate or proof that you have enough money to

support your partner. We showed them that we had €15,000 in savings and they

accepted that. I was still setting up my business so couldn’t prove my income otherwise.

The documentation the Municipality gave your partner at registration so that it could be

handed on to the IND.

You will both receive stamps in your passport there and they will take a photo and fingerprints

of the non-EU partner who will eventually be issued an ID card (residence card), though the EU

partner doesn’t get one and is supposed to carry their passport everywhere.

An overview is in this brochure:

https://ind.nl/Documents/8005.pdf

7. Organise your insurance. You’ll need to get

“Basic” health insurance for you and your partner

plus liability insurance each. Be warned health

insurance is pricey expect to pay €80 per person

per month and another €5 for liability insurance.

To compare the market check out (sorry but its

compulsory to have it):

www.independer.nl

8. Organise a utility. Many apartments are rented with utility bills included so you can’t have

one put in your name. We got around this by signing up for a cable internet/TV contract

(€80/mth). I’m sure there are other cheaper subscription services that could fill the same

role. Remember to tell them the bill has to be in both names.

Other useful information

Getting about to and from work etc.

You need an Ov-chipkaart (Netherlands version

of the Oyster card) to use public transport.

When you first arrive you can buy an

anonymous card from a train station/Schipol

airport but long term to get the best price for

your travel you need a personalised card and

buy season ticket for the train to be cheaper.

You can’t buy these until you have an address

and a Dutch bank account. Find out about

discount rates here (note this is just for the train not metro or tram):

http://www.ns.nl/reizigers/producten/abonnementen/index.html

To plan your journeys on public transport there is a fantastic website (and smartphone app):

www.9292.nl

Of course the best thing about Holland is the ability to get about by bike. You can buy a very basic

Dutch bike for around €100 but if you are going to be covering large distances you’ll want something

a bit lighter and with gears. You can also hire bikes from places outside most train stations. The bike

routes are brilliant, everywhere and well signposted. To plan some routes check out:

http://routeplanner.fietsersbond.nl/

Buying stuff

This is the Dutch equivalent of E-Bay. Open it in Google Chrome so it’ll be translated into dodgy

English:

http://www.marktplaats.nl/

You can also look at the classifieds in the expat websites which are in English.

Useful websites for Expats:

www.iamsterdam.com

www.expatica.nl

www.newtoholland.nl

www.iamexpat.nl

Setting up a Business as a Freelancer

1. You need to have a BSN Number before can start to set up a business (i.e. you need to have

registered).

2. Registration with Trade Register is mandatory – do this at the Chamber of Commerce (KVK).

As the business owner must register in person, you can book an appointment on the KVK

website (be ready to use copy and paste to Google Translate!) I went to the KvK in

Amsterdam (right next to Central Station), I booked it just a day before and the whole

process took just a few minutes because I filled out the registration form online already (its

in Dutch so again you will need to use Google Translate and be patient) www.kvk.nl .

3. When you go for your appointment you need to take:

a. Proof of ID (Passport)

b. Tenancy agreement

c. Your Dutch bank account debit card – it’s the only way to pay the €50 registration

fee.

d. Either the printed registration forms or no need if you did it online.

You will receive an 8 digit KVK number (Business registration number) which you must

display on all your business communications.

You will also receive a BTW (VAT) number. You need to pay your VAT every 3 months and so

be sure to charge VAT to the clients. The VAT rate is 6% or 21%, depending on the type of

product or service. You don’t need to pay VAT if the amount would be less than €1883 and

you are a one man band.

4. Should take out Liability insurance (personal and business) Health insurance, Income

protection insurance (1st 2 mandatory, 3rd one advisable)

5. Once registered as a business most clients will want their freelancers to have a VAR

Certificate. The VAR certificate basically provides clarity to the client that in tax terms you

are a freelancer and not considered an employee (for which they have to withhold tax,

provide employee benefits etc.)

More info:

www.kvk.nl/english/startingabusiness/