Help in sight with the expatriation
process into the Netherlands?

16 Nov 2009

October this year sees the launch of the
Expatise HR Portal, which is an initiative of the
Dutch Expat Foundation with support from the
Dutch Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van
Koophandel). The idea is to provide a one-stop
information shop for expats and employers in the
Netherlands on issues such as immigration
policies and processes, employment rights,
insurances, tax, pensions and relocation. It will also provide an opportunity for people to
share information and experiences and follow
courses.
For many expats, finding their way round the
systems in the Netherlands can be somewhat
problematic. The Dutch Expat Foundation lists
the top five annoyances of expats in the
Netherlands when it comes to getting
established here:

› Dutch forms
› poor provision of information
› bureaucracy
› Dutch websites
› not feeling welcomed at institutions

I can certainly vouch for the top annoyance.
None of my encounters with the IND (Immigratie
en Naturalisatie Dienst) have been positive
experiences. The first application for a residence
permit was made in Voorschoten, where I then
lived. A few months later we moved to The
Hague. We were assured that the paperwork
would be transferred and we had to take no
further action. Six months later we thought it
strange that we had heard nothing, and nine
months after I arrived in the Netherlands I was
no closer to obtaining the required documents. One telephone call with the IND revealed that
The Hague region had no idea about my
application and I was not in their system. No
paperwork could be traced so it was back to
square one. A mountain of paperwork, copies of
documents, and copies of copies.

About a year after I entered the Netherlands I
became the owner of a residence permit, which
lasted for five years. Deep joy: five years later I
could enter the spider web of Dutch bureaucracy
once more.

Three attempts to ascertain which forms were
necessary for a "verlenging" of my residence
permit resulted in the IND sending me three
different forms. The first two got responses from
the IND, months after sending them in, detailing
that the forms were the wrong ones. To make
matters worse, instead of returning the forms to
me they had destroyed them. Back to square one with form three... which incidentally looked
EXACTLY like the first form I completed!

A call to the IND and we were told that the
organization had recently gone though a bit of a
reorganisation and the forms had been
streamlined and redesigned. The result was that
staff were a little unsure of the correct forms to
be used in the different circumstances. And yes
indeed, form three was indeed the same as form
one...

I then got a letter back telling me the photo was
not suitable for resident's card, as the rules had
just changed and I needed to send in another
photo. A day later I received a letter from
Zoetermeer council telling me that I could come
and pick up my new resident's card from the
town hall.

Let's hope the new portal goes some way to
clearing up the confusion expats feel when faced
with the Dutch paper trail.


About the author
by Amanda van Mulligen
info@thewritingwell.eu

“Amanda van Mulligen is a British expat who has
lived in the Netherlands since 2000. She writes
about expatriate, mobility and career issues,
particularly those facing women as well as about
life in the Netherlands. She also focuses on
profile pieces to spread the word about people
who are positively influencing the world we live in
or who achieve something spectacular or
unexpected. For more information visit her
website www.thewritingwell.eu or catch up with
her on her blog or on Twitter“.