Hi
Am Australian relocating to NL next year with a family of 2 kids and a Mrs. I am assuming that i will be unemployed for 4 mths and i only know english. We are thinking of relocating to Rotterdam.
My question is how much money should i bring for us all to surive a decent living, with kids education in a decent school , say for whole year
thanks in advance

how old are your kids ?
what do you consider a decent standard of living ?

I hate to pee on your bonfire, but I really don't think you can just up and move here without meeting the IND conditions, unless one of you is an EU citizen. My apologies if your wife has already secured a job/visa here and you will be a trailing spouse. If she hasn't, you seriously need to look at the IND website (in English) and check you can legitimately move here, because I don't think you could based on the limited information you posted here.

Having money to survive on doesn't cut it in the Netherlands, if you dont have a legitimate reason for being here.

Should you be all sorted legally, Dutch basisschool is free of charge, apart from a small donation toward non-funded activities paid directly to the school (under 50 euros). I'd advise contacting the gemeente (local town hall) for advice from their education specialist as they might know which schools are more used to dealing with foreign children.

Guys
Just adding some more information about myself. My wife is EU Citizen, from Bratislava and i am an IT Professional with over 9 years work ex. Hopefully we can move to NL
I got a sorry from Amsterdam International school and they said they have long waiting list
My daughters will be 7 and 4.5 till we move there.
AFAIK i do not need an MVV to visit netherlands, am just not sure , what if i am unable to get a job in 3 months, can i leave NL ( to anywhere in europe ) and come back ?
Also i have heard that my wife can sponsor me but she have to get a job first. She will have her Certificate 3 in children services by the time we will move there ( but with no experience ). WIll that help ? Will that help her to find a job ?
thanks in advance

Hi,

I think your original post was ... wide open - which does cause people to think ... what?

There are a LOT of variables in moving to The NL or any country for that matter so your post just did not make any sense .. thus a low response.

As Osita says ... you just can't move here and .. live off your savings. You can come here as a tourist of course, but to live here, rent a place, get insurance and LIVE like a normal family legally... you have to have a sponsor.

(Although, with 25,000 euros (per peson) you CAN live in France. Every country has different laws.)

With more input ... I can tell you the basics:

For your partner to sponsor you:

- Your EU wife has to move here and get a job. Does she speak Dutch? Without Dutch she will definitely have a hard time finding work. PLEASE BE CLEAR ABOUT THIS PART!!
- In order for you to move here ... she has to sponsor you ... so she has to earn about 1440 a month. (I am not sure about how to have the children sponsored because obviousl 1440 a month cannot support 4 people)
- see the www.IND.nl site about how to step through the above

Lastly .. not to offend, but I have never heard of Bratislava so I wonder if that country is a full member of the EU. I say that because some countries are part of the EU but they are not entitled to the same benefits as others and that is mainly involving being able to work here. So people from countries like France, Germany etc that are widely known are able to move here, get a job and live without any boundaries whatsoever but the other EU countries ... cannot do this so easily...

If you go this route... your first step would be to get this clarified with the IND.

A job sponsorship:

This would be quicker and more feasible as in your case. Being an IT Professional - it is fairly likely that a company can sponsor you IF your IT skills are in demand in this country. This is how I moved here.

In this case Dutch is not required. You just have to have the SKILLS they want.

Once you get a job (thus a residence permit), you can easily sponsor your wife and children - no problem.

You can start at www.monsterboard.com and choose jobs in The NL. The key is.. no matter how qualified you are, if the job is not able to sponsor you for a Working Permit or a Knowledge Worker permit (because the CWI won't) let them - they cannot hire you.

You need to update your CV to say something like 'you will need a Working Permit or a KM permit from the COMPANY'. Don't let them be confused thinking you already have a residence permit (and thus a working permit) via your wife.

This is the hard part. You need to get a job that is willing to sponsor you.

So start at Monsterboards.nl but start hitting the [internet] pavement talking to headhunters etc. If you have the IT skills in demand here (and I have no clue about your background) one of these headhunters or agencies will help you get a job.

Other ways to get here - start your own business (not so simple), become an asylum seeker, become an AuPair.

This post has been edited by ouloveit1: Jul 4 2009, 10:16 AM

Bratislava = Slovakia

This post has been edited by wesley-nl: Jul 4 2009, 11:20 AM

I'm not sure what a Certificate 3 is (is it social work or nursery nursing or teaching assistant ?) - your wife would need to send it to the qualifications authority in the Netherlands to see if they have an equivalent. Be warned that they do tend to downgrade the level somewhat. With no experience, she'd be starting at the very bottom and depending what she is qualified to do - if it's nursery nursing - there are lots of jobs but they are low paid and might not get you the 120% minimum wage she needs to sponsor you here?

If someone works in a social service - be it police, nursing, doctor, socialworker or childcare worker - they need dutch. Not learned-from-a-book-dutch, but sufficient fluency to have meetings on complex issues with native dutch speakers/give verbal & written reports. Again I'm assuming your missus doesn't speak fluent dutch and she might do - so I apologise if I'm wrong.

The only professions you can get away with no Dutch are (pretty much) IT, Finance or Senior Management in the international companies. You, rather than your wife, will probably be the ticket to the Netherlands if you can secure a job here: thats not going to be easy because the international companies are shedding staff fast and the Dutch companies have a huge pool of bilingual natives to choose from - it's harder for them to prove they couldn't recruit from their own country during a recession.

Jobserve.com probably has the biggest database of english speaking IT jobs in UK/Netherlands; might be worth checking that as well as monsterboard.nl

I really appreciate the response and yes Bratislava = Slovakia, which joined EU in 2004, am not sure about there rights as well to work and live in NL without permit.
We already have dropped the option of my Mrs sponsoring me as it does not looks easy and possible.
We will only come to NL if i am able to find a job in the NL market. I looked at Monster and i can see lot of jobs of my skills. but question comes down to if they are willing to sponsor ( which makes the market narrower ) . It is a challenge for us.
Can you guys please give me a hint of some good headhunters to who i should send me resume and who work with Overseas skilled prosessionals ?
We are planning a move in July next year , so when should i start looking into the market ?
Also i am thinking of doing MBA from Erasmus University and i can see that if i am lucky to get an admit there i will get work permit for 1 yr. But that's another option , which i might consider later

osito, thanks for the quick reply. Looks like my move won't be easy in these recession times, hopefully in 1 yr the market will pick up Gone were the days when i was first indian to get a green card for germany and were heaps of job oppurtunites available around europe . I won't give up and i am going to come to NL I need all yours help in guiding me in the right direction. The move is because no matter how beautiful is Australia, we are far far away from our family and friends and they all are in and around europe. And one needs to be near them
so guys wish us good luck !!

I don't know any headhunters myself. I think you just have to start sending your resume to companies via the internet and see if you get any replies.

Why not try to return to Germany?

Job market is same as NL in Germany, we lived in berlin and the market there is complete square. We still have time, we will see where to go .
Can if anyone please confirm , if my Mrs from Slovakia have the rights to work and live in NL without Residence permit ? I mean can she live more than 3 months without VISA and JOB there ?
thanks

of course she can.

So you mean any EU Citizen ( including countries which joined in 2004 / 2007 ) can live and work in NL for how long they want, no boundaries on visa / work permit for them
That's a good news

This post has been edited by tinoob: Jul 6 2009, 05:07 AM

One obstacle you defenitly have to overcome is that at current economic environment no one will hire you to come from Australia and work in the Netherlands as unless you are the ONE in your profession, there are currently thousands of skilled IT professionals who get/got made redundant. A hire from any other EU country is more likely. Hence if you approach the European/Dutch recruiters and you refer to a European address your chances already grow...but are still remote. As someone else already mention try to start up from DE or maybe the UK (although the job market there is pretty much arseways too).
Another way, which could work, if you start a company in one of the EU jurisdictions (e.g. UK) and offer your service freelance to get you in the gears

This is the part I have a had time answering.

This is because they have these funny rules about WHICH eu country can easily take a job and live here without getting a working permit.

I don't know anything about the people from Slovakia working here ..

Contact the www.ind.nl

Countries like Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungaria and Poland as well as the Baltic countires have meanwhile full EU status and the previousl deployed migration limits have been waived already, so as far as it goes from the EU status, she is as good to come to the Netherlands as Paddy, Fritz and Giovanni. However, as others already mention, without the local language, there is hardly a chance on the job market in her profession.