Qualified IT professional. Learning Dutch

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

What nationality are you and your wife, what passports do you hold?

Cynic
Expat Team

We are both US citizens with US passports.

Hi again and thanks for the update.

I asked the question as I was hoping you or your wife may have an EU passport - you don't, but that's not the end of the world.  I assume you've mentioned your Aunt as you think she could perhaps help in you getting your visa(s) - unfortunately that's not the case, family sponsors are limited to husband/wife/kids; which is useful as you don't then have to live with her.

You will need to apply for work/family visas in your own right and while US citizens are exempt the language exam requirement of MVV (the Dutch joint entry and work visa), you will still be assessed on what the Dutch governments interpretation of your job prospects, you say you're an IT professional, whether the Dutch need people with your skill set is another matter.

There is a way around that assessment, that being if you or your wife can get a highly skilled migrant visa (HSM), then the other accompany on a sponsored family visa.  The
HSM has 2 basic requirements, it must be for a skill that is in short supply in the Netherlands and they have to pay you over a certain salary level - you can read all about them on the Dutch Government website; this link will take you straight there.  It's nothing unusual to do it in this way, there are many people working in the Netherlands HSM visas.

So how do you do that, you need to find a qualifying job.  LinkedIn would be a good place to start, reach out to your peers already in the Netherlands, see who is hiring, find out where, how much they are paying.

To get back to your original question.  To get a decent job anywhere you need 4 things:

Relevant experience
Relevant qualifications (are yours recognised in your new country?)
Speak the local language
Luck

You can do the maths yourself of what your chances are.  The skilled migrant route knocks all those off in one swipe.  However, if you live in Holland, while it's true that many Dutch people speak English, many don't.  Life around you is in Dutch, it's really useful to be able to read the bus timetable, ask for directions, read the health notices in your doctors surgery, the letters you get from the bank and the taxman - they're all in Dutch.  If you have kids and they go to school, they will speak Dutch.  If you don't qualify for a HSM visa and don't speak Dutch, then my advice is to stay in the USA until you do.

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

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team

My daughter has duel citizenship to both The Netherlands and United States.
Could she possibly get me in to become a permanent resident of The Netherlands?

Hi again.

So your talking about a family visa.  They only extend from Partner 1 to Partner 2 (so wife to husband or vice-versa) and then to children under the age of 18; so, ordinarily, no, you can't do it.

The only circumstances where I've heard of a daughter/son sponsoring their own parents was where later in life, the single parent was wholly dependent on the child for all support and there was documentation from the medical/social services confirming that.  Whatever, the way to find out is to get your daughter to go to the IND and ask how she can get you both to come and live with her.  I am doubtful whether this will work for a couple of working age with no social/medical problems, but as they say in Dutch, you have no, you may get yes.

Hope this helps.

Cynic
Expat Team