Say I wanted to move to the Netherlands...

September 25, 2013 9:43 PM

I like the Netherlands and think I could happily live there. How might I achieve this with my specific, mostly academic skill set?

I've visited the Netherlands several times and have always liked it for many reasons. These include the friendly but plain-spoken style of interaction, the social-democratic political system, the fact that being secular and liberal is more or less a default, and the clear distinction between personal and professional life (e.g. weekends and holidays are sacrosanct, and generally most people's identity seems less tightly bound up with their career than it does in the US). For all these reasons (okay, and some fed-upness with America) I'm thinking I'd like to move there. I speak some Dutch (though this doesn't matter that much since everyone in NL speaks English), but I don't have an EU passport. My skills are mostly academic: I've never had a proper job, but have an MA in Classics and am currently finishing a Ph.D. in Linguistics. I'm on the academic job market and as part of my search have been looking for positions in the Netherlands through academictransfer.com, but nothing suitable has come up so far. I'm not wedded to the idea of being an academic, though, and am very open to looking for other kinds of jobs; for example, with my skills I could work for an academic publishing house like Brill (though from their website it doesn't look like they're hiring). In the past I've worked as a freelance Hebrew to English translator, but I doubt there's any demand for those in NL, and my Dutch isn't good enough to be a Dutch to English translator. I don't have any IT skills, unfortunately.

(Note: my grandmother was born in NL and used to have Dutch citizenship, but formally renounced it when she moved away. As far as I've been able to figure out from Dutch government websites, this doesn't give me grounds for requesting Dutch citizenship. Marriage to a Dutch national is not on the cards.)

Are there specific occupations which are in demand at the moment and which aren't miles away from my field of expertise? What other directions could I explore for working and living in NL?

posted by zeri to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Response by poster: Sorry to add an only tangentially related question, but this just occurred to me right after I posted. "My grandmother was born in NL and used to have Dutch citizenship, but formally renounced it" is what she says herself, but this was a long time ago and I suppose there's just a chance that she's misremembering (maybe she intended to renounce it and never got around to it?). Is there any way I could find out if she might still be a Dutch citizen?
posted by zeri at 9:49 PM on September 25, 2013

If you are an American with €4,500 ($6075) to invest you can use the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty to get a visa. You have to have an approved business plan and jump through a bunch of other hoops. Once you get the visa, you can pretty much run any business but a law firm or doctor's office.

With this visa you can get a Dutch passport after five years if you want one.
posted by Gringos Without Borders at 10:14 PM on September 25, 2013 [3 favorites]

Could you keep working on your Dutch with an eye to bringing it up to a translation skill level? I have Belgian and French friends in the Netherlands who are translators, and they make pretty decent livings. Not like it used to be, most translation agencies are cutthroat these days, but you can still live on it if your skills are in demand (and to be perfectly honest, that's a big "if"). Another caveat is that they are Flemish-French translators, which doesn't have quite as saturated a market as any translating to English does. Still, it would be a good professional feather to have in your cap. Also, while Hebrew may not be in much demand in Europe, it is still something you can translate from as a freelancer. I focus on the Dutch because, as I imagine you've figured out too, it will indeed look much better to immigration officials than a freelance business plan for a translator that only has Hebrew to English.

Otherwise everything you write sounds great, you're approaching this pragmatically, in the smartest way to get to another country. The economy is only just starting to pick back up here (Western Europe, that is), on wobbly legs, so don't read too much into not having found a position yet.

Have you looked in to an expatriate route? As in, are there any non-academic jobs in your area that might be able to send you to the Netherlands? I'll be honest, I don't personally know anyone who's done that... most of my friends who aren't natives of the countries they live in, have gone there under their own steam (myself included), as you're planning to. It really seems to work out for the best. It can take longer upfront, but it's one of those things that acts as a test of will, too; you know that if you stick to it for a while (I have friends who took years; I started planning to live in France when I was 19, came as a student when I was 21, left to work in Finland at 22, returned to work in France at 24, been here since!), you really, really do want it.
posted by fraula at 12:14 AM on September 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

As you said, I don't think that your grandmother's Dutch citizenship would enable you to live and work in the Netherlands, even if she didn't renounce it. But you could try contacting the Consulate General and/or the IND. I've had good experiences with both. It may be better if she contacts them herself, if she can.

Have you posted your CV on monsterboard.nl? It's very popular with Dutch recruiters. Also, keep an eye on indeed.nl.

The Dutch-American Friendship Treaty is a good option if you feel confident running your own business. If not, you may be employable through the kennismigrant program.

STEM jobs are in high demand in the Netherlands right now. Unfortunately, the commercial translation market is not great. I don't know what the academic job market is like.

You can try reaching out to companies that don't have openings posted online. I did this and had good results. It can also be a way to make contacts. Networking can be useful when trying to break into the job market here.

Keep working on your Dutch; it matters much more than you'd think. And when it comes to writing and communications jobs, there is a niche market for native English speakers who are fluent in Dutch.

I've been through several job hunts as an American in the Netherlands, so feel free to send me a MeFi Mail if you have any more questions.
posted by neushoorn at 12:17 AM on September 26, 2013 [2 favorites]

You're good with language, you'll learn Dutch easily. I would really focus on that first. It's true that most people here speak some English, but unless you want to stay in Amsterdam or The Hague and live an expat life you will probably be much happier if you speak Dutch. Limiting yourself to those two cities would make finding an academic job even more difficult.
posted by davar at 1:32 AM on September 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Hmmm. I have Dutch citizenship through my father who became an Australian citizen and I have a feeling that you can get it two generations removed. The Dutch consulate were able to determine all this for me though. I would seek advice there.
posted by jojobobo at 1:39 AM on September 26, 2013

Just to clarify a couple of things tha Gringos said; the DAFT gives you a temporary residence card, not a visa, and after 5 years of successful annual reviews, you get a permanent residency card.

I have several friends in various stages of the DAFT, and have started down that road, but haven't filed yet myself. I can put you in touch with a good lawyer, and there are expat handlers like total in support which will cost you but are very helpful.
posted by humboldt32 at 2:17 AM on September 26, 2013

Also, this is perhaps confirmation bias, but it seems to me that the Dutch more than any other non-native English nationality use LinkedIn pretty heavily, so might want to beef up your profile and connections.
posted by digitalprimate at 2:54 AM on September 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

To somewhat answer your tangentially-related question, my parents were both born in NL in the 1930s and emigrated with their families to Canada a few years after WWII. My mother told me that she and my dad both became Canadian citizens before they had my siblings and me, and had to renounce their Dutch citizenship - something about not being able to have dual citizenship. Sounds similar to what your grandmother has told you. Admittedly I've not looked into EU citizenship myself, but I do recall one of my older brothers not being able to manage it based on my parents already being Canadians when he was born. However, I don't know how much research he did or how quickly he gave up, so YMMV.
posted by champagneminimalist at 1:04 PM on September 26, 2013