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Howzit bru! South African Family considering Living in Rotterdam

darreng247
#1
Hello,

My name is Darren George. My wife and i have 2 kids (4yrs & 2yrs) and we are considering moving to the Netherlands.

Although my office is based in Rotterdam we are considering whether we would need to send our kids to a local or an international school. The kids can only speak English, my wife and I can speak Afrikaans.

Anyone else been through this and could make a recommendation?

If i need to have a longer commute to work that's OK. I want to do what's best for my kids.

I did find the website http://www.sio.nl which is good but wondering whether to go local? would they quickly learn Dutch.

Also assume that my wife and i would consider taking up some Dutch classes.

Last but not least (and i bet area dependant) what would the cost of living be for a family of 4?

I've seen alot of threads on this topic but pretty outdated. There is always https://www.numbeo.com that helps a bit but i think it's best to hear direct from the community on this site.

Any South Africans Groups i could join? would be great to know where most stay and to meet at some point should we make the final move.

Thank you in advance to anyone that responds!
See also
Cynic
#2
Hi Darren and welcome to the Forum; at the top of the page is our Handy Tools link which will take you to various articles you may find of use in planning your journey.

With regards to your other questions:

Schools.  International Schools in Holland are very expensive and whether you should use one depends on your circumstances.  If you intend to move to Holland for good and not return to South Africa, then my opinion is that at their age, you are better off sending the kids to a local Dutch school, they will learn Dutch, make friends and integrate into Dutch society much more quickly.  However, if you're intending to return to South Africa, then perhaps you should consider an International school.  When we did it, we opted for the local school and had no problems what so ever.

Where to live.  Rotterdam will be more expensive than a town or village outside the city.  I have a friend who lives in Breda who makes the daily commute into Rotterdam with no problem.  Public transport is very good.

Living costs.  Numbeo is not a bad tool for giving you a steer on costs.  That said, it's a picture of costs over the previous 12 months, if you have expensive tastes, then you should expect to pay more.

I don't know of any South African groups in Holland; Google may help you with that.

Lastly - speaking Dutch; my own opinion is that it's very important to speak the local language where you live; although many Dutch people speak some English, official life and everything around you is in Dutch.

Hope this helps.

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darreng247
#3
Thank you very much for the feedback, it really is appreciated!!
Just_Ridi
#4
Hey Darren howzit.
Great to hear that you're considering to live in NL. Being South African myself i found it quite difficult to find other South Africans except for my own fam But never the less my story is quite different.. it's my parents who decided to move to the Netherlands.
It's social networks like these where we get in touch and perhaps meet oneanother. That being said, I would love to be meet up for coffee  ( at my cost ) some day whenever you are situated in NL.  Oh and btw I suppose you and your familly most probably won't experience the struggle of learning dutch as much as most people learning the language seeing the fact that you can speak Afrikaans. The kids will learn very fast at school especially the little one ,just like me among my older brother, will be able to speak fluent in no time!
Greetings 4rm NL
Ridi.
annette.steenkamp
#5
Hi Darren

I am from South Africa living in the Netherlands with my husband and 19 year old daughter. We relocated to the Netherlands just over a year ago. I know a few South African families/friends living in South Holland and North Holland.
You will understand Dutch however the grammer (tenses) and pronunciation of word can be a real challenge but maybe the guys from Cape area have a bit of an advantage  with pronunciation :). There are a lot of online courses which can help with the basics Dutch for a start. You can take a formal course which is quite expensive.

You are welcome to send me a mail to xxx if you require more information.

Kind Regards
Annette Steenkamp
Moderated by Bhavna 9 years ago
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darreng247
#6
Thank you! The kids are always a big concern and glad you can share such a positive experience. Once we all settled it would be great to meet up.
darreng247
#7
Hello All!

We finally have received the contract, accepted and ready to make the move.

The areas we have been looking at is Utrecht, Delft and Breda which will give us some more flexibility if we decide to send the kids to an international school or local. Any thoughts on the 3 x areas?

My office is located in Waalhaven, Rotterdam.

We not city folk and prefer the country type of style and family areas.

Kind Regards,
Darren
Cynic
#8
Hi Darren - congratulations on your new job. :)

Of your 3 choices, Delft is the nearest.  I only know Breda well; it's a town in the middle of the country-side and is a nice place.  To commute to Waalhaven, it's an hours drive, or 1 hour 30 minutes on the train.  I'd prefer the train option - the traffic in and around Rotterdam in the rush-hour is horrendous.  Utrecht is about the same distance away.

Hope this helps and the best of luck for the future.
darreng247
#9
Thanks again, not really concerned about travel distance as it will have to be via car given the area where the office is. Public transport would not be an option.

It's more about where there are dutch international schools.

Have you heard or know about the school called De Bligberg  besides the travel distance? I can always use google maps for that,
Cynic
#10

darreng247 wrote:

Thanks again, not really concerned about travel distance as it will have to be via car given the area where the office is. Public transport would not be an option.

It's more about where there are dutch international schools.

Have you heard or know about the school called De Bligberg  besides the travel distance? I can always use google maps for that,


Sorry mate - never heard of that school; a quick Google search will reveal what others think about it; from what I picked up, others think it's a Montessori school, although there web-site doesn't claim to be so.  One other thing, the web-site states that they don't take children who are permanent Dutch residents, so if you're thinking of staying in Holland, you may need to think of something else.

CandiceSA
#11
Are the any recommendations for Immigration specialists? We are from Cape Town, and we would love to immigrate to NL. However we do not have EU passports. Any recommendations on very good immigration attorneys?
Would love to relocate
Cynic
#12

CandiceSA wrote:

Are the any recommendations for Immigration specialists? We are from Cape Town, and we would love to immigrate to NL. However we do not have EU passports. Any recommendations on very good immigration attorneys?
Would love to relocate


Hi and welcome to the Forum.

I'll answer your direct question at the end.

At the top of this page is a link to our Discover section, if you mouse over that, you'll get a drop-down menu with an option to select our Netherlands Guide; my first piece of advice is to read that and all the links it may contain.

Next, to live and work in the Netherlands, you will need a work/residence permit, the Dutch Government have a department set up to deal with this, they are called the IND and this link will take you straight to the relevant part of their website.

Next, work - currently in turmoil because of the Coronavirus, but assuming it goes away, it depends on what you do; if you work in a regulated profession, then you need to check that your qualifications are accepted and current in the Netherlands.  If you're not sure, then the Dutch have an organisation (NUFFIC) that can help you; this link will take you straight to their website.  Whatever, the Dutch are big in qualifications and experience, my advice is assuming you have a trade/skill, to reach out on something like LinkedIn, find your peers and speak to them.

Next, language - you say you speak Afrikaans, that may be useful in learning Dutch, but you should realise that as a language, Afrikaans is a 200-year-old language that is a mixture of old English, Dutch, German and African tribal languages that has never developed; the only people in the Netherlands that speak it are other South Africans; the thing that kills it for most of you guys is your accent, it's hard work understanding you.  Where is this going?  Learn Dutch - all of you, start now, life in the Netherlands is all in Dutch, the timetable at the bus-stop, the health advice notices in the doctor's surgery - all in Dutch.  Search on YouTube for "Naar Nederland" - it will give you all a start.

Next - the cost of living - the Numbeo website has a wealth of information that may help you along the way; this link will take you straight to a comparison I just created between Cape Town and Den Haag.  The prices are a couple of months behind, but it should be enough to give you an idea.  I will just add that unless you have a particular reason for choosing it, Den Haag is extremely expensive, you can get a lot more bang for your Euro the further east you go.

Now to answer your question - we have a Service section at the top of the page; it's a place where guys like immigration lawyers can advertise their services; I just checked and there isn't any.  Of course, it doesn't mean they don't exist, they must do, in fact, here's a link to a Google search I just did for them; but I suspect the reason that they don't get much work out of us because it really isn't that hard and the people who use such services have a lot of money.  So, my advice is, if you're rich, then Google is your friend, but if you don't mind doing a little bit of leg work yourself, then follow our Guide and the links I've given and you will already be ahead of most.

2 more points:

1.  There is a couple of FaceBook groups that may help you - link.

2.  Watch out for scammers - do not pay anyone any money or give any personal finance information to anybody.

If you have any further specific questions, please come back to us.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

1 member reacted to this post
CandiceSA
#13
Thank you for your very detailed response. Ill go through all of it, lots of info.
Thank you for the advice as I was so overwhelmed with all the info on the net, that I contacted an immigration agency. They will only look at my queries with a starting fee of 200 Euros😦
I will read through everything as Im trying to establish what sort of visa I can apply for if I dont manage to secure an employment sponsorship and if Im not considered to be a highly skilled migrant. I have completed tertiary studies so Ill start bu checking if its recognized on NL. Im definately willing to start Dutch lessons and what ever else will help with our application.
Thanks again

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