Who joins and how

  • Spouse or partner: married, registered, or in a durable relationship with proof. They may do any work, as noted on their residence card.
  • Children under 18: residence as family members; school-age children register at school within weeks of arrival.
  • You file their applications together with yours or later. Each family member pays the family-reunification fee and attends the biometrics appointment.

Choosing a school

Dutch public schools accept newcomer children and are tuition-free. Larger cities have international transition classes for the first language year. International schools teach in English with familiar curricula. There are many in the Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Eindhoven regions. Many families choose the school region first, and then arrange housing, commute and social life around it.

Healthcare and registration

Each family member registers at the municipality for their citizen service number (BSN). Each one also takes out Dutch health insurance within four months. This costs roughly €150 per adult per month, and children are insured free on a parent’s policy. Once everyone has a BSN, you can arrange childcare and child benefit. See the checklist for health insurance and the BSN.

Two careers, one relocation

In many DAFT couples, one partner manages the treaty business. The other partner has full work rights, and takes a Dutch job or starts a second business. Both incomes are taxed in the Netherlands. See taxes for US citizens under DAFT for how your household is taxed.

Compare the Netherlands with Ireland and Germany on tax, substance, running costs and time. See setting up a Dutch subsidiary for a foreign parent company.

In the Netherlands, a family office has three parts: a holding company, a foundation that issues depositary receipts (STAK) and a foundation for giving. Families organise the decisions in three ways. Read more on a family office in the Netherlands.

More on settling in

All twenty-one guides are together on the DAFT hub, grouped in the order of the steps.

Your DAFT permit, arranged with us

We arrange your DAFT application. An immigration lawyer from our network prepares it and files it with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND). We set up your company and business bank account and provide the company documents your application needs. The IND decides on your permit.