(Editor’s note: As Donald Trump returns to the White House, we have created a series to better inform aspiring American expats. We’re including this post on the Dutch economy in our Tech Tuesday series since attracting American tech talent is crucial to Europe.)
I get it, fellow Americans. With Donald Trump coming back, you’re looking to get out while the gettin’s good. We see so many posting on expat Facebook communities that they’re on the way to the Netherlands, “and oh, by the way, do you know where I can get a job? I have an English degree and I’m currently working at Home Depot. My wife is a nurse’s assistant with a lot of ER experience.”
They don’t speak Dutch or any language other than English. They have no tech skills and they’re blissfully unaware of this little complication we call “visas.”
Highly skilled workers wanted
For whatever reason, Americans have the idea they can move anywhere, anytime and be welcome with open arms. Other than United States territories such as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, I can’t think of a single place that’s actually true. It’s certainly not the case in the Netherlands, where the Dutch economy is built on its dominant position in global business including the most advanced technologies such as photolithography.
If you don’t know what that is, and never heard of ASML, we hear France is nice this time of year.
So, let’s assume you’re an aspiring American expat with skills the Dutch economy needs. Americans are not European Union citizens, which puts them behind 27 other countries when it comes to relocating in Europe. While so many Americans think they can just show up, there are in fact a limited number of paths to a long-term residence visa in the Netherlands.
To stay more than 90 days in the Netherlands, you need to check one of five boxes:
• Sufficient capital to not only start a business, but to put up a non-refundable deposit to cover a default/bankruptcy, or you have an established business with revenue that you can relocate here.
• Acceptance into a Dutch university.
• Advanced, specialized and unique skills as an engineer, physicist, manager or researcher that might possibly land you a job here. Now, only an employer recognized by the IND, the Dutch immigration and naturalization service, can apply for your EU Blue Card, the work permit for highly skilled migrants necessary to get a long-stay visa.
• A job with a Dutch or multinational company that relocates you to the Netherlands.
• A Dutch partner or a claim to Dutch citizenship, i.e., one or both of your parents were born in the Netherlands … you automatically become a Dutch citizen if one of your parents holds Dutch citizenship when you are born, or if paternity is acknowledged by a Dutch citizen. Foreign citizens can apply for Dutch citizenship if they have lived in the Netherlands legally for at least five years.
The Netherlands DOES NOT have a digital nomad visa, though you can get a visa with a self-employed status if you meet a number of criteria including a minimum monthly salary. There is a Dutch startup visa, but everyone we asked about it laughed at us and told us hardly any had ever been approved and especially not for Americans because we can start a business under the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty, designed for entrepreneurs and startups.
Politics
Politics in the Netherlands, like the U.S., has shifted dramatically, with the most right-wing government in Dutch history. Nationalists/populists such as Geert Wilders and Pieter Omtzigt advocate cutting dramatically the number of foreign students and highly skilled migrants along with restricting the use of English at universities.
Omtzigt, who heads the New Social Contract Party, favors an immigration cap as low as 50,000, for all immigration categories including foreign workers and students.
How we did it
In 2016, we decided to move back to Europe (where we’d lived for eight years) after we sold a media company in the United States. We wanted to start a new company and after reconnoitering a number of cities including Berlin and Amsterdam, we settled on Eindhoven. Once we got here under the Dutch American Friendship Treaty, we spent a lot of time with officials at the KVK, the Netherlands’ version of the Chamber of Commerce, trying to understand our visa options.
We settled on forming a partnership and were required to put up 9,000 euros, which we can’t touch. That turned out to be a mistake, as we should have formed a B.V. (LLC) but that’s beside the point. You not only have to start a company to maintain your long-stay visa, you have to make sure you A) never touch that 9,000 euros, and B) make sure you never get delinquent on your taxes.
In other words, if you think you can form a faux front company just to get a long term residence visa, you can … but sooner or later, the Dutch authorities will catch up with you. Guaranteed.
About that economy
The Dutch economy is arguably the most technologically advanced country in Europe. The most valuable tech company in Europe, ASML, is based in Eindhoven, as is NXP Semiconductors, which makes advanced chips for the auto industry, among others.
ASML has plans to add 20,000 employees, and the company already has people representing 143 nationalities. But ASML can have its pick of top talents even though it pays significantly less that American tech companies such as Intel.
The Dutch economy is built on advanced skills – engineering and physics. If you have a degree from MIT or Stanford and a little work experience, it’s possible you could come here first and get a job before your 90 days is up. The Dutch economy also needs process people with deep experience in building supply chains. If you worked for Apple or NVIDIA, that would really help.
Many global conglomerates have their headquarters in the Netherlands including IKEA and Airbus. So, this is a skills-based, value-added economy. If you think you can come here as a non-technical person, good luck with that. The Dutch economy gets service people, manual laborers and non-technical skilled labor from other EU countries, particularly the Balkans, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Baltics. And here’s the thing … unlike Americans, so many Europeans are multilingual.
That young person waiting on you at the café or working the airline ticket desk probably speaks at least three languages including fluent English.
The Netherlands is also a major banking and finance center, so jobs in management and IT are there. BUT you must have experience and skills that are in short supply. Otherwise, Dutch companies can’t hire you domestically over Dutch applicants.
Finally, professional services jobs don’t translate automatically. If you’re an attorney in the U.S., good for you, but that’s worth nothing here unless you’re in contractual law. In that case, Dutch companies in the U.S. might need your expertise Most legal and medical certifications aren’t reciprocal.
Yes, this is a fabulous place to live but get ready to make substantially less money and pay probably the same in rent as if you lived in Chicago or Atlanta.
The bottom line is this isn’t the laidback hippie heaven your parents and grandparents remember. With almost 18 million people in a tiny country, the Dutch don’t really need you unless you can do two things: add to the tech talent pool and pay taxes.
Lots of taxes!
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Read more about visas here in Dispatches’ archives.
See more about Dutch companies here in the Tech Tuesday series.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
