Education, Rental and general advice needed.

Hi,
I am seriously considering moving to Amsterdam with my Tunisian husband and thirteen year old son. Plans to do this are mid next year. In the meantime I would really appreciate any advice that can be offered especially regarding school for my son and a rental apartment until we find something more permanent. Are the school fees expensive and being a British national would he have to go private.
My reasons for moving there is to give us all a brand new start to live all together as a family. Getting my husband to England is proving to be near impossible due to all the ever increasing charges and I don't earn enough to meet the sponsorship requirements. I have tried living in Tunisia however the life is completely different from that of a European country and after much thought and discussion this is the only solution we feel is best for us as a family.
I thank you all in advance for any advice offered.

Hi Malheiro,

Welcome to the forum. :)

At the top of the page is a toolbar with some links; select the "Handy Tools" one and you'll get some more options, select the "Expat Guide" which will lead you to a lot of further subjects which will answer a lot of the questions you have.

Please read them, then if you have any specific questions, please come back with them.

Best of luck.

Thank you for your speedy reply. I think I have a grip on most things now after a lot of thorough reading. One thing I am confused about however is the evidence needed for my husband's residence application. Do I have to prove my income with the application along with bank statements or is this not required as a sponsor. There are a lot of conflicting opinions on this subject. Some say that a part time job along with the other proof of marriage and accommodation is sufficient where as others say I will need to have savings or a minimum income of 35,000 euro per annum along with bank statements. I'm totally confused on this one matter.
Once again any advice would be greatly appreciated
Kind regards

You may find yourself in a chicken/egg situation here.  You as an EU national have the right to live and work anywhere in the EU, pretty much under the same rules as a national of that country.  You will (like all the Dutch people) have to register with the local authority (Gemeente) when you arrive; once you have done that you'll be issued a BSN number; without this you won't be able to work, register with the doctor, register a car in your name, or open a permanent bank account.

With regards to the income, in this respect, Holland is very much like the UK.  To be able to register, you must live in Holland and  when you do that, your husband can join you.  There used to be a requirement for a joint regular income in Holland that you must already have at the time of application - you can't say "we'll work when we get there".  I can't tell you how much that is as the link I have no longer works, which makes think they are revising it - where did you get the 35k euro figure from?

My advice to you is to contact the IND and ask about this, you can e-mail them via [email protected] , or phone them on +31 88 0430 430.

Hope this helps.

Hi,

Im english and lived in NL for 9 years. My wife is from Amsterdam even though we currently live in the east (which we are going to change).
Your child could go to an everyday school. You will find the dutch speak brilliant english at nearly all ages. Theyre probably the most tolerant nation there is too towards other cultures. When we moved here I was 33 and had a very stressful job that demanded a massive amount of time and yet I still elarnt to speak dutch fluently in 2 years, since then I have been improving the grammer and fine tuning expression.

Privates schools like anywhere will be super expensive. One thing to consider, Holland is very expensive.  cars are nearly twice the price as in the UK and other costs would be about 30% more. beer and coffee however are not expensive. Tax levels are very high however there IS a possibility for expats to have the 30% rule. This reduces the tax level you pay by a lot however I do not know what conditions need to be met to get it these days. This runs for 10 years once you have it. Housing is way more expensive but a mortgage is more accessable than in the UK. standard of living is way better, its clean and everything works, even though it can be a little stiff with all the rules and social controls (as we call them - like your garden being tidy or dogs being on a lead EVERYWHERE, even in the woods).
Education standards are better too. Social and health aspects are better as well. Health is more like an american systems for me, its expensive (i think we pay about 150euro per adult per month) but this covers things like physiotherapy and rebates on reading glasses ect. This is a mid package. We are not covered for dental care for example. Also, if you were to work here and ever lose your job, the unemployment benefit (as we would call it) is enough to live on, usually being upto 75% of your income for the first 12months. I believe it declines after that by a bit but I am not sure.

Amsterdam will be extremely expensive!!  Anywhere in the Randstad (the edge cities, which is basicaly anything between Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht will be more.

but its a great place. you get a lot more back for the money you put in, in the sense of living standard, cleanliness etc. Also, should either of you want to start your own business, competition here is not as aggressive as the uk. You can earn a very good living much more easily. In the uk, you basically cant compete, but here you can. Due to the hire prices of everything, people seem to be able to earn well even though they are not particularly special, intelligent or unique. I am not suggesting either of you are any of those things but the dutch seem to be prepared to pay out way more for things than we would consider there worth.

Salaries are also much higher here.
thats about all i can come up with for now, hope it helps.

As an EU citizen you can apply for verification against EU law for your family, Please se the attached link:

https://ind.nl/en/other/eu-eea/Pages/Fa … ality.aspx

Hello everyone,
It feels really great when a family is together, don't worry your intentions are good everything will be okay.
All the best :)