Moving to NL...
Discussion
Well 7 months after the original job advert I've just been told I should be getting a provisional job offer in the next few days (currently contracting in the same department).
So what questions do I need to be asking either here or in the UK before accepting?
I'll need to confirm with someone how tax in the UK would work, my wife will be staying in our house in the UK for the first 6 months or so and then we'd be looking at renting it out, so I'll have an income in the UK, but the NL salary is tax free so I assume the reciprocal tax agreements don't come in to it and I just self asses in the UK as normal. Do I need a random UK accountant for that or someone who specialises in ex-pats?
Any good recommendations for online estate agencies to look at housing options, I've been browsing funda.nl so far. Job's on the outskirts of The Hague so good transport links around but I've got used to being close enough to run commute while I've been contracting here so it'd be nice to be relatively close.
What's the cheapest way to move money from the UK to NL? I have sayings in the UK that Id be looking to move to NL to buy a house 6 months or so down the line, so I've got a bit of time to wait to see if the exchange rate gets any better.
Job includes medical insurance, and I believe that will also cover my wife, but are there any other expenses I need to be thinking about that I don't have in the UK?
On the assumption that I'll eventually move back to the UK (it's an initial 3 year contract with a reasonable chance of extending to 9 years and slim chance of longer), is it worth, or is there even a mechanism to, pay UK national insurance so I'm still eligible for a UK state pension if they still exist when I get there in 22 years time?
I'm assuming at the moment that my wife being able to work here after March 2019.
So what questions do I need to be asking either here or in the UK before accepting?
I'll need to confirm with someone how tax in the UK would work, my wife will be staying in our house in the UK for the first 6 months or so and then we'd be looking at renting it out, so I'll have an income in the UK, but the NL salary is tax free so I assume the reciprocal tax agreements don't come in to it and I just self asses in the UK as normal. Do I need a random UK accountant for that or someone who specialises in ex-pats?
Any good recommendations for online estate agencies to look at housing options, I've been browsing funda.nl so far. Job's on the outskirts of The Hague so good transport links around but I've got used to being close enough to run commute while I've been contracting here so it'd be nice to be relatively close.
What's the cheapest way to move money from the UK to NL? I have sayings in the UK that Id be looking to move to NL to buy a house 6 months or so down the line, so I've got a bit of time to wait to see if the exchange rate gets any better.
Job includes medical insurance, and I believe that will also cover my wife, but are there any other expenses I need to be thinking about that I don't have in the UK?
On the assumption that I'll eventually move back to the UK (it's an initial 3 year contract with a reasonable chance of extending to 9 years and slim chance of longer), is it worth, or is there even a mechanism to, pay UK national insurance so I'm still eligible for a UK state pension if they still exist when I get there in 22 years time?
I'm assuming at the moment that my wife being able to work here after March 2019.
RizzoTheRat said:
Provisional job offer arrived...for about 15% more than on the original job advert as that was on last years pay scales and they've bumped me up several pay steps within the grade, so it looks like this may well be happening.
Any expat advice gratefully received.
How did this go for you OP? I've got an assignment to Emmen in the north east coming up in a few months and have started looking at things. Luckily it is on assignment terms so we will be getting a bump to help with costs.Any expat advice gratefully received.
Got the job, moved over...and then met troc 
Things would have been a lot smoother without Covid, which complicated things a lot. We rented out the house in the UK, fully managed through an agency, but gave the agency the keys 2 days before the first Covid lockdown so it took a while to get anyone in, and nobody was moving here either so took about a year longer to find a place to buy than expected, with most of our furniture in storage all that time.
Buying a house here is so easy compare to the UK though, once you've had an offer accepted you pay a deposit within a couple of weeks and then if one party pulls out they have to pay the others costs up to 10% of property value. No gazumping which was reassuring at a time when house prices were rising really fast. As an added bonus you can claim income tax back against the mortgage. No time consuming searches either as all the details are held centrally.
My wife had a year or so living the life of leisure before getting a job at the British school, so no language issues. She's doing a residential course in the summer to get her up to I think B2 level but my Dutch is still embarrassingly crap.
When I was having lessons my Dutch teacher was fantastic though. I ended up googling her after a few things she said, she's the one on the right
I always said I didn't want to be one of those expats who never learns the language, but it is hard. Everyone below the age of about 60 speaks better English than most Brits (at least in the Randstad area, probably different further out), the cinemas show films in thier original language with Dutch subtitles rather than dubbed, and lots of TV channels are in English. Hence I'm no where near as motivated to learn is if I'd moved to somewhere like France or Germany where I'd be fluent by now because I'd need to be.
Quality of life is great, but not ideal for petrolheads. We cycle pretty much everywhere, my wife bought an e-bike as her commute is about 45 mins by bike, she sometimes takes the car if the weathers bad but I'm only 3k from the office so cycle every day. I even have a trailer for my bike for when I want to carry more stuff around. Historically the idea of long commutes that seem normal in the UK are a bit alien to the Dutch, it's started to become more common due to rising house prices but even then it's quite a small country with a decent rail service. I spent years commuting 60-90 minutes each way in the UK, now it's less than 15 minutes door to door.
Prices for everything are generally higher than in Germany though, so if you're looking at somewhere as close to the border as Emmen it may be worth having a look the other side of the border too.
Things would have been a lot smoother without Covid, which complicated things a lot. We rented out the house in the UK, fully managed through an agency, but gave the agency the keys 2 days before the first Covid lockdown so it took a while to get anyone in, and nobody was moving here either so took about a year longer to find a place to buy than expected, with most of our furniture in storage all that time.
Buying a house here is so easy compare to the UK though, once you've had an offer accepted you pay a deposit within a couple of weeks and then if one party pulls out they have to pay the others costs up to 10% of property value. No gazumping which was reassuring at a time when house prices were rising really fast. As an added bonus you can claim income tax back against the mortgage. No time consuming searches either as all the details are held centrally.
My wife had a year or so living the life of leisure before getting a job at the British school, so no language issues. She's doing a residential course in the summer to get her up to I think B2 level but my Dutch is still embarrassingly crap.
When I was having lessons my Dutch teacher was fantastic though. I ended up googling her after a few things she said, she's the one on the right
I always said I didn't want to be one of those expats who never learns the language, but it is hard. Everyone below the age of about 60 speaks better English than most Brits (at least in the Randstad area, probably different further out), the cinemas show films in thier original language with Dutch subtitles rather than dubbed, and lots of TV channels are in English. Hence I'm no where near as motivated to learn is if I'd moved to somewhere like France or Germany where I'd be fluent by now because I'd need to be.
Quality of life is great, but not ideal for petrolheads. We cycle pretty much everywhere, my wife bought an e-bike as her commute is about 45 mins by bike, she sometimes takes the car if the weathers bad but I'm only 3k from the office so cycle every day. I even have a trailer for my bike for when I want to carry more stuff around. Historically the idea of long commutes that seem normal in the UK are a bit alien to the Dutch, it's started to become more common due to rising house prices but even then it's quite a small country with a decent rail service. I spent years commuting 60-90 minutes each way in the UK, now it's less than 15 minutes door to door.
Prices for everything are generally higher than in Germany though, so if you're looking at somewhere as close to the border as Emmen it may be worth having a look the other side of the border too.
I realise we have ludicrously long gaps in this post but lets try a 2018-2024-2025...
I had to laugh reading this & the Dutch food post. I relocated to The Netherlands about a year ago from West Yorkshire with my partner who works for IKEA.
We too have struggled along with the various daily challenges - Google translate in the Supermarkets aisles, the random bicycle lanes & the Dutch social ways.
Rizzo I realise this is all too late for you now but If anyone else is thinking of moving to The Netherlands, I would say do it. As said above, the quality of life in general is much better here. Everything is more expensive than the UK but only just. We are very lucky to live in Delft which is beautiful. It's a good mix of Dutch, international students & tourists at the weekends... probably the most similar to York in the UK if I had to say somewhere? The social side of things, honestly has been a hard one. Dutch people overall are lovely. Warm & helpful to speak to, and as said before most speak English but to really become friends with one... you need to invest a lot of time. Especially if like me, you can't speak Dutch.
One thing we haven't enjoyed as much as we said we would do, is travel over the borders. We've spent a good few weekends in Germany & Belgium but we still have places in The Netherlands we want to visit. We really need to start doing some of France as well but it always ends up quite far down the list.
Troc are you still in Delft?
I had to laugh reading this & the Dutch food post. I relocated to The Netherlands about a year ago from West Yorkshire with my partner who works for IKEA.
We too have struggled along with the various daily challenges - Google translate in the Supermarkets aisles, the random bicycle lanes & the Dutch social ways.
Rizzo I realise this is all too late for you now but If anyone else is thinking of moving to The Netherlands, I would say do it. As said above, the quality of life in general is much better here. Everything is more expensive than the UK but only just. We are very lucky to live in Delft which is beautiful. It's a good mix of Dutch, international students & tourists at the weekends... probably the most similar to York in the UK if I had to say somewhere? The social side of things, honestly has been a hard one. Dutch people overall are lovely. Warm & helpful to speak to, and as said before most speak English but to really become friends with one... you need to invest a lot of time. Especially if like me, you can't speak Dutch.
One thing we haven't enjoyed as much as we said we would do, is travel over the borders. We've spent a good few weekends in Germany & Belgium but we still have places in The Netherlands we want to visit. We really need to start doing some of France as well but it always ends up quite far down the list.
Troc are you still in Delft?
Ahh excellent! We're now at a point in Delft where we know which restaurants we like & which we don't so any recommends please?
I'm sure there's more important things to discuss but we're big foodies so thats my first question...
Stromboli is (imo) the best Italian & Tapas & Mezzes is always a very good evening
I'm sure there's more important things to discuss but we're big foodies so thats my first question...
Stromboli is (imo) the best Italian & Tapas & Mezzes is always a very good evening
The main problem I find with restaurants in this area is there's so many of them you can't try them all
One really good restaurant that used to be near us, De Eetkamer in Scheveningen, has recently relocated to Delft and is now called Ludique. I've not tried the new place yet.
https://restaurantludique.nl/
One really good restaurant that used to be near us, De Eetkamer in Scheveningen, has recently relocated to Delft and is now called Ludique. I've not tried the new place yet.
https://restaurantludique.nl/
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Friday 7th February 14:11
Paz565 said:
Ahh excellent! We're now at a point in Delft where we know which restaurants we like & which we don't so any recommends please?
I'm sure there's more important things to discuss but we're big foodies so thats my first question...
Stromboli is (imo) the best Italian & Tapas & Mezzes is always a very good evening
Best restaurant in delft is the kruydt. We like bar sil on the beeatenmarkt a lot and can also recommend de waag and de boterhuis (both behind the old city hall)I'm sure there's more important things to discuss but we're big foodies so thats my first question...
Stromboli is (imo) the best Italian & Tapas & Mezzes is always a very good evening
De Gist is also excellent and does proper beer and decent fish and chips in a basket.
Mehlong serves excellent Thai food.
The doerak is my watering hole of choice.
Jlock said:
Hello from Scheveningen!
Howdy neighbour 
Lovely being able to hop in the sea in the summer and just amble home afterwards, although a bit annoyed that they're in the process of moving the beach about 20m further from our house!
Also still in a right hand drive car, but hardly use it these days. I cycle to work every day and is only about a 20 minute cycle in to town.
Guys the centre of earth revolves around Amsterdam dont you know ?
I do miss the Pistonhead gatherings and general meets and run outs !
I'll offer again - if anyone likes track day, you are more than welcome to join me at Zandvoort - happy to give passenger rides to enthusiasts
I'd be a millionaire by now if i got paid everytime i had to answer a question on driving a RHD car in NL
I do miss the Pistonhead gatherings and general meets and run outs !
I'll offer again - if anyone likes track day, you are more than welcome to join me at Zandvoort - happy to give passenger rides to enthusiasts
I'd be a millionaire by now if i got paid everytime i had to answer a question on driving a RHD car in NL
Try driving car that was never sold in NL. I've had random strangers stop me in car parks and petrol stations to talk about my car or tell me it's nice, my wife's had a colleague's husband excited to have finally found out who owned it after seeing it several times in the car park, and I've found photos of it online (try googling your number plate, it can be... interesting) with numerous comments and likes.
I'd understand it if looked like your picture, but It's a 16 year old diesel Skoda!
I'd understand it if looked like your picture, but It's a 16 year old diesel Skoda!
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