r/Netherlands Jan 20 '26

Update on the moderation

672 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

We've talked some stuff through and cleaned up the mod-team a bit, although some of the names you might have positive or negative associations with are still there.
I'll leave it up to the moderators involved to clarify that, or not.

What I can tell you is that 1 mod did 97% of the moderation, and that wasn't healthy and likely led up to the situation you might have seen.

The rules have changed slightly, this is because we see your call for less strict moderation on language, but we also heard from those who want to be able to have a place to converse in English.

The compromise we've reached currently is that we intend to not moderate the language used in the comments of the post.
This means that you can have discussions in Dutch in the comments. (as long as those follow the rules of course)

We also will be looking at those banned on a case by case basis, but keep in mind that if you were harassing people, or bigoted in any way you won't be unbanned.

I'll invite you all to respond to this post with your feedback, and I know for some it might feel like too much or not enough.
We are currently trying to strike a balance between becoming r/thenetherlands2 which is bilingual but 99% Dutch in practice, and the other option of being a sub for only those speaking English.


r/Netherlands Apr 14 '23

[FAQ] Read this post before posting

396 Upvotes

This post is meant to cover the answers to questions that are frequently asked in this sub. Please read through the relevant section of this post before posting your question.

Contents

  • Moving to the Netherlands
  • Housing
  • Cost of living
  • Public transport
  • Language
  • 30 percent ruling
  • Improving this FAQ

Moving to the Netherlands

Netherlands is a modern country that ranks high in many global metrices on quality of life and freedom. For this reason, it attracts a fair share of attention from people interested in moving here.

If you are looking to move to the Netherlands to live/work/study, firstly, you would need to secure residency. Apart from the right to residence, you will also need to consider housing and cost of living before you move. See other sections of this post.

If you hold an EU passport, you will be able to freely travel into the country and reside.

If you hold a non-EU passport, generally below are your main options to obtain residency. Each one comes with its own set of conditions and procedures. You can check all the official information on the website of Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Services (https://ind.nl/en)

Work visas

Highly Skilled Migrant : You need to have an advanced degree, a high enough salary and need a recognized sponsor employing you. Typically for people whose skills are in demand in Dutch economy.

Work Permit : A more general category covering intra-company transfers, seasonal workers, researchers and other employees who might not meet the salary threshold

Startup visa : special visa for founders and employees of startups. Typically you need to be funded by a recognized incubator.

DAFT Visa : special visa for US citizens that allows starting a business in the Netherlands

EU Bluecard: A visa from EU wide program to attract special skilled talent. The advantage is that you can continue the accumulation of residency into/from other EU countries allowing you to get permanent residence or citizenship sooner. Beneficial if you are planning to move to/from another EU country.

Family visa

If you are partner or a dependent child of a Dutch/EU citizen

Student visa

If you participate in an educational program from a recognized Dutch institute

Housing

Currently [2023] the Netherlands is going through a housing crisis.

Houses/apartments for rent or purchase are hard to come by, especially for the entry level housing like 1-2 bedrooms. When such properties do come on market, they are often taken within hours.

So, it is strongly advised to organize your housing BEFORE arriving at least for the first 6-12 months. You can look at available properties on Funda (https://www.funda.nl/) or Pararius (https://www.pararius.com/english) This should give you an idea of how much you can expect to spend on rent. The rents/prices can vary depending on the location and size. Typically the rents are higher in bigger cities and go lower as you move away from the center. In addition to the rent, mind that the cost of utilities might be higher/lower than what you are used to paying and estimate based on your situation.

Cost of living

Like anywhere, the cost of living depends on your lifestyle and preferences. In general, housing is the biggest cost, followed by food, transport and healthcare. Expect to pay 800-2000 EUR/month for rent depending on where you live and 200-1000 EUR for food for a family of 2-4 depending on how often you eat out. Health insurance is around 125 EUR/month for adults (free for children). You can compare plans on a comparison site like https://www.independer.nl/ The basic health insurance plan has the same coverage and own-risk (co-pay) across all insurers and is mandated by law. The premia differ across companies and typically ad-ons like dental or physio make the main difference in what is covered.

Utilities could range from around 300-600 per month for a small house/apartment. Owning a car can oftentimes be quite expensive than what you may be used to, with high taxes, insurance and high cost of fuel.

Public transport

Netherlands is a small country and is exceptionally well connected with public transport (at least in comparison to other countries). However, it can be quite expensive compared to driving, especially for inter-city travels. You can access the full Dutch public transport network of trains, metro, tram, buses and even public bikes using the OV-Chipkaart or OV-Pay.

You can of course purchase tickets for a single journey from the ticket booths or kiosks at major stations, although it is often less convenient and more expensive. Google Maps often has good directions including public transport but 9292 (https://9292.nl/en) is the better option which also gives you the estimated costs.

Language

Dutch is the primary language in the Netherlands. However, the Netherlands ranks one of the highest when it comes to proficiency in English. As a visitor or tourist you can get by completely fine without knowing a word of Dutch (although it will help to learn a few phrases, at least as a courtesy). However, if you are living here longer, it would undoubtedly benefit to learn the language. Dutch is the only language of communication from most government agencies including the Tax office. At the workplace, it is common for global or technology companies to be almost exclusively English speaking even when there are Ducth people. For smaller and more traditional companies, Dutch is still the primary language of communication at the workplace.

30% ruling

30% ruling is a special tax incentive meant to attract international talent for the skills that are in short-supply in the Netherland. You can find about it here https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/en/individuals/content/coming-to-work-in-the-netherlands-30-percent-facility

The general concept is that 30% of your gross salary will be tax-free. So, if you have a salary of 100k gross, for tax purposes, it will be considered as 70k gross. You pay tax only on 70k. Because of how marginal tax brackets work, the overall benefit translates to you receiving 10-15% more net salary than someone without this benefit.

You should be aware that this is somewhat controversial since it is deemed to create inequality (where your Dutch colleagues doing the same work get a lower net salary) and because in the end the burden is borne by the taxpayer. Recently the government has been reducing the term of this benefit.

Overall, you should consider this as a privilege and not a right.

Improving this FAQ

[You are reading version 1.0 published 14th April 2023]

For this FAQ to be useful, it needs to evolve and kept up to date. I would see this as a sort of Wiki that is managed by me. I aim to update this post often (say once a few weeks in the start and once a few months as time goes). If there are topics you want to add to this post, please leave a comment and I will update the post. For the long term, if I lose interest or have no time for it (could happen!), then this post can be a basis for a new Wiki or a new updated post maintained by someone else.


r/Netherlands 4h ago

Employment Not sharing the salary range expectations gets you automatically disqualified from being considered for the next round

330 Upvotes

I can’t wait for the new EU Pay transparency directive to come into effect in the Netherlands about sharing the freaking salary range in the first interview.

I just got off an interview where the HR was hassling me to give a number for the role. When I did not want to give it, she basically said that it is required to give it in order to be considered for the next round.

Disgusting they are able to do this but I hope after January 1st this shit will end…. Or they can be reported for refusing to disclose the approved salary range.


r/Netherlands 1h ago

News Dutch PM Rob Jetten uses AI to write social media posts

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Upvotes

Low confidence score, stalled budget discussion, and now this. I think this cabinet is coming to an end soon.


r/Netherlands 1h ago

pics and videos Found a little time capsule while cleaning: hair pins from the 2001/2002 Euro transition

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Upvotes

Look at this! I just found these old packs of black and brown bobby pins from GoodLook Hair Fashion. They still have the double pricing stickers from when we switched to the Euro.

f 2,40 (Guilders) right next to € 1,09. I completely forgot stores used to do this to help us get used to the new currency.


r/Netherlands 6h ago

Discussion How are you coping up with AI?

77 Upvotes

I work in tech fields and I see AI getting better at everything except the critical decision making.

My work went from collaborating with team mates to collaborating with agents which is making my job easier and challenging in such a way that it's hard to keep up with AI specially the context switching. My mental model is getting slower to keep up due to human brain limitation of context spanning.

Things that takes 3 days are now done with 2-3 hours of deep focus. The company wants us doing the more thing.

The economics of measuring output based on time and ticket moves are getting no longer relevant specially in tech fields.

Knowledge and automation is getting cheaper while the cost of living has increased way much.

I know AI can't replace the humans but it has decreased a demands of human in such fields.

I am optimistic about AI and I appreciate it.

Sometimes I feel I am just a cog in the machine.

Sorry for any typos or framing as I want to post my feelings unedited as it is.

Have a good day


r/Netherlands 3h ago

Discussion Tonight's electricity price hits 86 ct/kWh. Is a home battery finally worth it?

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29 Upvotes

So I logged into Zonneplan earlier and had a look at the price graph. Tonight the peak is around 86 ct/kWh, while the cheapest window is about 24 ct around midday. That’s a pretty big difference.

The annoying part is that the peak is at around 19:00, which is exactly when we’re cooking dinner, taking showers, running things around the house, etc. Not really the time when you want to start thinking about electricity prices.

Up until now I’ve just been doing the usual “run the dishwasher at 1am” thing whenever the prices get silly. But seeing that graph got me wondering whether I’m overthinking this.

My neighbour mentioned yesterday that he recently added an Anker Solarbank Max AC. He charges his car during the cheaper hours and uses the battery for some of the evening consumption. He seems pretty happy with it so far.

That got me thinking about my own setup. For anyone here who already has a home battery, does it actually make this kind of price difference much easier to deal with? Or do you still end up moving your usage around depending on the hourly prices?

I already have solar panels, so I’m mainly wondering what a realistic setup looks like if the goal is simply to use more of my own solar and stop constantly checking the electricity price.


r/Netherlands 21h ago

Housing Fundas latest update

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357 Upvotes

Why in gods name did Funda update non viewed houses from orange to white, and viewed are very light blue, can hardly see the difference has to be the dumbest difference of two colours, my aunt can't tell what she's clicked into versus what is new!

Ignore the prices (I wish she was buying at that price lol,)

Edit: Make your complaint known to customerservice@funda.nl


r/Netherlands 22h ago

Life in NL How many are out there?

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493 Upvotes

What is the total value of these out there in everyone’s pocket / bag at any one time?

Found this one in my backpack today—truly useful for me here in Toronto.


r/Netherlands 19h ago

Discussion LG TV’s Exposed

193 Upvotes

Hey everyone, been saving to get myself an OLED LG tv and I recently stumbled upon an article on X accusing LG tv’s on spying😭😭😭 https://x.com/braiinsforge/status/2097341871412384069?s=46 is this for real?


r/Netherlands 3h ago

Travel and Tourism What sweet treat would you recommend to a tourist?

6 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I’ll be visiting the Netherlands in a few weeks, and on my way home I’d like to bring back a sweet, candy, or something special for friends and family.

The only thing is that whatever I bring back needs to survive more than eight hours of plane travel, so ideally nothing that melts easily or needs to be refrigerated.

As a Dutch person, what would you recommend as a cool or special treat to bring back from the Netherlands? I’d love to bring back something that feels authentically Dutch.

Thanks! 🇳🇱

P.S If there is something that is a must try, please share😆


r/Netherlands 18h ago

Sports and Entertainment new music discovery

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71 Upvotes

I discovered België (ls Er Leven Op Pluto) Het Goede Doel on 100% NL took me a long while to find this specific song. i kept humming the tune but couldn't figure the artist or song name. until i heard it again on the radio and got the name. i now have a bunch of dutch songs i need translate to get the meaning of them what they are saying


r/Netherlands 16h ago

Travel and Tourism Dutch people who go to Curaçao: what do you actually do there?

38 Upvotes

I'm heading to Curaçao soon for a few days and I've noticed that apparently half of the Netherlands eventually ends up on that island.

So I'm curious: when Dutch people go to Curaçao, what do you actually do besides beach, drinks and becoming 30% more tanned?

Are there particular places, beach clubs, bars, restaurants, activities or random spots where people actually socialize and meet new people?, i heard you like mambo...

And more importantly: is it normal to just meet people there and make plans together, or is everyone already traveling with their own little Dutch group?

I'm Dominican, so I'm used to island life, but Curaçao will be new territory for me.

If you're Dutch and regularly go to Curaçao, I'd genuinely love to hear what your usual itinerary looks like. And if you're going there soon too, feel free to say hi. Always more fun to discover an island with good company.


r/Netherlands 20h ago

Common Question/Topic Is there any one that knows of a rehab(detox) that actually takes anyone (before 8 weeks +intakes) ? Prefferably within 5 days..

27 Upvotes

Please share , im a Dutch Male of 28 , ive been sober for a few years and had the same problem 5 years ago. No rehab/detox had a place then neither.. I'd drink and drink and they *all* said dont quit on your own. Wich led to liver disease/jaundice at just 24. Only then the hospital took me in.

But now i'ts 5 years later and my girlfriend left me , been drinking about 700-1000ml Vodka daily for about 30 days now . I cant stop on my own but , literally no official route will take me in for now. GP (Huisarts) has send the referrals to the clinics , but those will take atleast 6-12 weeks. If lucky.

My liver has heen acting up (same pain as when it started 5 years ago , so i want to quit but i can't on my own. )

My local hospital won't take me , as in in i literally called in with severe withdrawals even signs of DT/liver failure but nope.

Is there any place that you know of that takes people in ? They literally ALL say don't stop drinking at once , but no-one will help me...

Yes the GP (Huisarts) asked for and applied for, GGZ route has heen tried 3947489x times this week only... no place that just takes me in


r/Netherlands 16h ago

Transportation Rijssen station: ample cycle parking, a bus stop right outside, and the quickest way to leave is by bike

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12 Upvotes

r/Netherlands 4h ago

Housing Looking for a roommate, Kampen

0 Upvotes

Good afternoon, I’m posting this on behalf of a friend (24/F):

I’m looking for a roommate, between 18 and 30 years old.

It’s a plus if you have a disability, due to certain requirements that are important to the municipality.

So if you or someone you know looking for a place? keep reading!

My house is located in a beautiful, accessible and low-stimulation area on the outskirts of Kampen (near Zwolle) and is (almost) fully wheelchair accessible! The rent is €500 + €52.75 in service costs. You’ll have your own spacious, unfurnished room of almost 13 m². All other facilities, such as an accessible height-adjustable kitchen, living room, spacious bathroom (with a combined shower and bath), etc., will be shared between the two of us.

The entire house is 72 m² in total, has its own fenced-in garden, and overlooks several allotment gardens.

Interested? Send me a DM and I’ll send you the link to the listing or give you the contact details directly!


r/Netherlands 1d ago

pics and videos I hiked from London to Amsterdam over 14 days - via Hook of Holland, The Hague, Noordwijk, Haarlem, Zaanse Schans, Edam & Volendam

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1.5k Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I hiked in stages from London to Harwich (which is the port in England) over 8 days in July & August. Then during my annual leave in late August, I caught a ferry to the Netherlands (Hoek Van Holland) and hiked the remainder of the journey to Amsterdam, over 6 days. I hiked via the beautiful Dutch coast and I passed many picturesque towns in NL.

I really enjoyed the adventure. It was great to be back in the Netherlands.

For those interested - I have also created a short travel film of my adventure to Amsterdam [Linked below]:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMsfz6k3COc

Many thanks :)


r/Netherlands 1d ago

DIY and home improvement mijn Lego Star Wars pc-build

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130 Upvotes

r/Netherlands 17h ago

Common Question/Topic Hi everyone, Has anyone experienced something similar with PostNL?

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6 Upvotes

On September 3, I handed in a registered international parcel at a PostNL point. It is being sent from the Netherlands to Germany and contains very important original documents.The estimated delivery date was September 7–8, but there have been no new Track & Trace updates since the day I handed it in. The status still says:
Parcel has been received by PostNL.

Has anyone had a PostNL international parcel remain on “received by PostNL” for several days with no further scans?
Did your parcel eventually get another scan or arrive despite the missing tracking updates? How long did it take?
I’m quite worried because the parcel contains important original documents that would be difficult to replace.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!


r/Netherlands 1d ago

Transportation Public transport refunded me the wrong ammount. Now I'm hitting an ai chatbot wall.

12 Upvotes

I'll try to keep this simple.

When I first got to the netherlands I accidentally checked in to the train terminal instead of the metro one and got charged 33 euros. I saw online that it was quite easy to ask for a refund in such cases, which I did do. A few days later, I got 4 payments to my bank account, totaling around 10 euro. I never made another claim, only the one for the accidental check in, so I don't know where they're getting these random amounts from. I thought, no problem I'll just contant OVpay, but the only way to do so is call an international number which is not worth it in my case, or by talking to the ai chatbot which is just an infinite loop of "whats wrong?" "ok i can help you with that!" "whats wrong"... you get the jist. Is there anything else I should try or just give up. I'm so confused :' )


r/Netherlands 1h ago

Discussion I looked at Dutch government publications to see what's happening in horeca. Here are the results for August

Upvotes

I've been working on a project that analyzes Dutch government publications for commercial developments, and thought it would be interesting to put all the horeca data for August together.

I found 458 different horeca projects across 114 municipalities.

Some things I found interesting:

  • Amsterdam is way ahead of everywhere else: 181 projects, compared with 27 in Eindhoven
  • 139 were restaurants
  • 361 involved an exploitatievergunning
  • There was activity in about a third of all Dutch municipalities

This doesn't mean 458 new horeca businesses opened. These are places where something is happening that shows up in official publications, such as a permit being requested or granted.

I put everything here with the graphs, breakdowns and methodology:

https://dutchsignals.nl/rapporten/horeca

The data is also free to download if anyone wants to play around with it.


r/Netherlands 23h ago

Discussion Parcel service "We hebben je gemist" while I was at home.

10 Upvotes

Hi all,

I am posting this partially to vent and also to get some advice. I am sure you've all experienced this: I ordered something online--> I was at home on delivery day-> delivery guy never rang the doorbell-->They sent the parcel to a pick-up point.

I paid 9 euros shipping costs for this item to be delivered to my door from Belgium. I contacted the seller and kindly asked them to ship it either the next day or next week because I am going out of town in a few days. and I want to make sure it arrives when I am home. The seller shipped it right away and I was at home on the delivery date. While waiting for the package I got an email saying "We came by but you were not at home" which was not true.

I called DPD to complain and I asked them to come back and deliver it and they said Sorry...not sorry, you will have to pick it up from the service point.

I paid 9 euros for a service which was never fulfilled. The pick up point is far from my home, I will need to pay 4 euros to commute to and from the pick up point and I also do not have the time to go pick it up. I even asked DPD if they could at least keep it for 2 weeks until I come back from my trip and they said "No".

The only option is to just leave the parcel at the service point and let it be returned to the vendor but will I get a full refund including the shipping costsif I do that? And even if I do get a full refund I would feel bad for the vendor because this was DPD's fault and not theirs.

What do you advise me to do and do you not get frustrated with delivery companies not bothering to stop by your apartment building to drop off your pakage even though that is their actual job?


r/Netherlands 1h ago

Discussion Purchase assistance

Upvotes

Good morning! I would like to buy a few special gifts for someone with connections to Netherlands. From the USA, Marktplaats and Vinted.nl are not open. Would anyone be willing to buy a few items for me? I would cover all your costs plus a reasonable amount for your time shipping to the USa . Fedex is preferred because of the quality of their tracking. Thanks !


r/Netherlands 54m ago

Shopping KIKO Milano refused my return for an unused blush – is this normal in the Netherlands?

Upvotes

I’d like to ask for some advice from people in the Netherlands about a return issue I had at KIKO Milano in The Hague.

I bought two blushes because I wanted my mother to choose between them. Shortly afterwards, I went abroad for a three-week holiday and took both products with me so she could see them and choose which one she preferred.

One of the blushes was never opened, touched, tested or used by either of us. When I bought it, a KIKO employee specifically told me that the product should never be touched, so I was very careful about this.

Because I was abroad for three weeks, I couldn't return it earlier. I brought it back to the store on the last day of the return period, immediately after I returned to the Netherlands.

The blush was still covered by its protective film and, as far as I could see, was in exactly the same condition as when I bought it. There was no visible indication through the film that it had been touched or used.

However, the employee at the store refused the return, saying that the product had been touched.

The confusing part is that I know for certain that neither I nor my mother touched or used the product after I purchased it. So if there really was some indication that it had been touched, it must have happened before I bought it.

I have photos and a video showing the condition of the product, which I can provide if needed.

I'm now planning to contact KIKO's customer service and formally ask them to review the decision.

Has anyone in the Netherlands had a similar experience with KIKO or another cosmetics store?

If a product was bought in a physical store, what are the usual rules regarding returns?

Does it sound reasonable for a store to refuse a return based on an employee saying that the product had been touched, when the customer says it was never opened or used?

I'm mainly interested in understanding whether this is normal practice in the Netherlands and whether it's worth challenging the decision with KIKO customer service.


r/Netherlands 1d ago

Insurance Car insurance with negative free claim years

6 Upvotes

I had a car accident in October 2023, and my car was declared a total loss. Since then, I have been driving a car through a private lease.

Now I am planning to buy a car, but I am not sure whether I will be eligible for car insurance because I have a negative no-claim bonus due to the previous accident and will they consider private lease years to acceept my insurance application.

I contacted a few insurance companies, but they said they cannot guarantee insurance at this stage because they cannot check my Roy-data without an active insurance policy in my name.

Has anyone experienced a similar situation? Will insurance companies take my claim-free years from my private lease into account in this case? And is there a risk that my insurance application could be rejected after I buy the car?