Last summer, I initiated and a few months ago successfully completed a job change process that led me to relocate to the Netherlands. Do you want to know how it was? Welcome under cat. Beware - very long post.
Part one - while we're still here
Last spring, I thought about the fact that I want to change jobs. Add to it a little of what I had previously done only as a hobby. Expand your own profile, so to speak - to be not only an engineer, but also a programmer. And in Erlang.
In the city where I lived, probably no one writes in Erlang. Therefore, I immediately prepared to move ... but where? I didn’t want to go to Moscow from the word “absolutely”. St. Petersburg ... perhaps, but also did not cause much enthusiasm. What if you try abroad? And I'm lucky.
One of the international job search sites showed me a vacancy that perfectly matched my desires. The vacancy was in a small town near the capital of the Netherlands, and some items in it did not quite correspond to my abilities, but I nevertheless sent a response to the indicated address, filling it out in the form of a “checklist” - the requirement is such and such a check, such and such a check, but this failed, and briefly described why. For example, in failed I marked fluent English. In fairness, I will say that all working skills were in check.
While waiting for an answer, I began to study what was happening with the relocation to the Kingdom. And everything is fine with her - the Netherlands offers several programs for moving, we are interested in the one called High-Skilled Migrant (Kennismigrant). For a skilled IT specialist, this is a treasure, not a program. Firstly, a diploma of higher education is not a mandatory criterion (hello, Germany with a profile requirement). Secondly, there is a lower bar for the salary of a specialist, and this figure is quite serious, and if you are over 30 (yes to me :)), this figure is even higher. Thirdly, part of the salary can be withdrawn from the tax, which will give a solid increase in the amount “on hand”, this is called “ruling” (30% ruling), and its execution is the good will of the employer, and not a mandatory procedure, by all means check it out! By the way, another funny moment is connected with it - its registration takes up to three months, all this time you pay the full tax, but at the time of approval you will be refunded everything overpaid for the previous months, as if you had it from the very beginning.
Fourthly, you can bring your wife with you and she will automatically get the right to work or open her own business. The downside is that not all offices have the right to invite employees under such a program, there is a special register, a link to which I will give at the end of the publication.
In parallel, I studied everything about the company itself, since it has a very good informative website, there are several videos on YouTube, in general, I searched for everything I could.
While I was learning the basics, a very polite response arrived the very next day. HR got interested in me, clarified whether I agreed to the relocation, and immediately appointed several (specifically two, then added one more) interviews. I was wildly worried, because I had problems with understanding English speech all the way, and for greater convenience I used a huge headset from Sony PS4 - and, you know, it helped. The interviews themselves were held in a good atmosphere, there were both technical and personal questions, no pressure, no “stress interview”, everything was very good. In addition, they did not take place on the same day, but on different ones. As a result, I was invited to the final interview on the spot.
Soon I received plane tickets and hotel reservations, issued the first Schengen visa in my life, and on a beautiful August morning I boarded a Samara-Amsterdam flight with a change in Helsinki. The on-site interview took two days, and consisted of several parts - first with specialists, then with one of the first persons of the company, and then - the final group, with everyone at once. It was very cool. Plus, the guys from the company offered to go for a walk in Amsterdam in the evening, since “coming to the Netherlands and not visiting Amsterdam is a big mistake.”
Some time after returning to Russia, they sent me an offer and a letter saying - we are preparing a contract, please start collecting documents for the IND - Immigration & Naturalization Department, a government structure that decides whether to let a specialist into the country or not.
И started.
Some documents were sent to me right away - they only had to be filled out and signed. It was the so-called Antecendents Certificate - a paper in which I signed that I did not participate in illegal actions (there is a whole list). A similar one had to be signed by my wife (it was immediately about our joint relocation). Plus a copy of the marriage certificate, but legalized. Also needed (they will be needed later) are legalized copies of the birth certificates of both. There was also a funny note that I agreed to sponsor my family - in other words, that I provide for my family myself.
Legalization is as follows. First, you need to put a special stamp on the document, called an “apostille”. This is done at the place of issue of the document - that is, in the registry office. Then the document together with the apostille must be translated. On one thematic forum dedicated to moving to the Netherlands, they write some fierce stories that the document was apostilled, certified by a notary, translated, apostilled the translation, certified by a notary again ... well, this is complete nonsense, and it is enough to do the following: put an apostille (2500 rubles, I was torn apart by greed), and send a scan of the document to a translator certified by the government of the Kingdom (he is also called a sworn translator). The automatic translation made by such a person is considered correct. On the same forum, I found a girl who perfectly translated three of our documents - a marriage certificate and two birth certificates, sent us scans of the translations, and at my request sent the original translation of the marriage certificate to the company. A nuance with a marriage certificate - you need to have a notarized copy of the Russian version, done in three minutes at any notary, this will come in handy when obtaining a visa. In general, there are small pitfalls here.
Somewhere around that time, an official contract arrived, which I signed, scanned and sent back.
Now all that remained was to wait for the IND's decision.
A small digression - I still had a birth certificate of the USSR sample, a small green book, and even issued very far away, in Transbaikalia, I had to request reissue and apostille by e-mail - I just downloaded the sample applications, filled them out, scanned and sent it to the registry office’s email address with a simple letter like “please reissue and apostille”. An apostille costs money, I paid for it at a local bank (it turned out to be not easy to pay with a strictly defined appointment to another area), and I sent a receipt for payment by registered office to the registry office, and even called them periodically reminding me of myself. But in principle, everything was successful, although it took a decent amount of time. If anyone is interested in the details of this procedure - write in the comments, I'll tell you.
And one fine day I received a message that the IND had issued a positive verdict. The entire decision-making process took less than two weeks, although it can take up to 90 days.
The next step is to get an MVV visa, which is a special type of entry visa. You can get it only at the Embassy in Moscow or St. Petersburg, and only by online appointment for a specific time, and the entry there is not for “tomorrow”, something around two weeks, and even find a link to this entry very difficult. I can't give it here, because it can be considered an advertisement of the commercial resource on which it is located, only with the permission of the moderator. Yes, this is kind of weird. However, there is still a personal.
Around this period, I wrote "on my own" at my current job. Of course, this was not a surprise, I informed the boss even before the trip to the first interview in the Netherlands, when it was August, and now it was November. Then my wife and I went to Moscow and received our MVVs - this is done in one day, in the morning you hand over a bunch of documents and a passport, in the second half you pick up a passport with a visa already pasted.
By the way, about a pack of documents. Print everything you have in multiple copies, especially translations. At the Embassy, we handed over a copy of my employment contract, printed scans of translations of marriage and birth certificates for both (plus we were asked to see the originals), copies of passports, completed applications for MVV, 2 color 3.5x4.5 photographs, and fresh ones (in the application form) we don’t glue them!!!), we had a special folder full of all these things, a lot - not a little.
Got a passport, admired the visa? Now, that's all. You can take a one way ticket.
Part two - now we're there
Housing. How much there is in this word… while still in Russia, I began to study the rental housing market in the Netherlands, and the first thing I learned was that nothing can be rented remotely. Well, if you're not a tourist, then go to Airbnb.
Second, it's hard to take off. Few proposals, many applicants.
Thirdly, they prefer to rent for a long period (from a year), so renting something for a month is unlikely.
At this point I was helped. In fact, they showed me the apartment and the owners via Skype, we talked, and then they said that it would cost so much per month. Agree? I agreed. It was a great help, I signed the papers and received the keys on the day of my arrival in the Kingdom. There are two types of apartments - in shell condition (bare walls) and furnished (furnished, completely ready for living). The latter, of course, are more expensive. Plus, there are many small details and nuances - if you are interested, comment.
I will say right away - the apartment costs me a lot. But it is well equipped, really huge and located in a very good area. All rent / rent goes on two large sites, for links - in a personal, again, they might think about advertising.
The first thing to do upon arrival is to register at the place of residence (yes, there is a residence permit, it's funny), get a BSN - this is a kind of unique citizen identifier, and get a residence permit. There are two options here - free and slow, and for money and fast. We took the second route, on the day of arrival I already had an appointment at the IN Amsterdam Expat Help Center, where I went through all the necessary procedures - that's when I needed birth certificates! In general, everything is very fast and convenient, put your finger here, look here, sign here, please listen to the introductory information, here is your residence permit. Without BSN, nowhere, corny without it, you will not be able to get paid.
The second need is to get a bank account and a card. It’s very inconvenient with cash here (and I was carrying money in cash, due to the fact that it has its own card system, and a card issued by a Russian bank may not be accepted outside the tourist zone). Did I already say that everything here is by appointment only? Yes, the bank too. It so happened that in the first week I had no bill, and the biggest headache was ... transportation. Because in department stores, of course, they take cash, but transport ... is paid for with a special plastic card, went in - made a beep, left - also made a beep. And it is replenished mainly by bank transfer, there are few devices that accept cash. Here we got a lot of adventures and useful experience, if you are interested - write, I will share.
The third is utilities. It is necessary to conclude contracts for the supply of electricity, water and gas. There are a lot of companies here, choose which one suits you for the price, sign an agreement (everything is done by e-mail). Not without a bank account. When we moved into the house, everything was included, of course, we just reported the date of entry and the readings of life support meters at that time, and in response we received a certain figure - a fixed payment every month. At the end of the year, we will check the meter readings again, and if I overpaid, they will return the difference to me, if I didn’t pay, they will recover it from me, everything is simple. The contract is concluded for a year, it is very, very difficult to terminate it earlier. But there are pluses - if you moved - the contract moves after you, the address just changes. Comfortable. The situation is the same with the Internet. With mobile communications - too, at least for a year, well, or use an expensive prepaid.
Regarding heating, by the way, there is a nuance. Keeping the usual +20 all day is wildly expensive. I had to get into the habit of turning the thermostat and actually heating it only when necessary - for example, when I go to bed, I switch the heating to +18. Getting up in a cool apartment, of course, is not very comfortable, but it invigorates.
Fourth, health insurance. This is a must, and it costs about a hundred euros per person per month. Alas, you will have to pay for it. It is given 3 months after entering the Kingdom for its registration. Plus, you need to pass a fluorography - a TB test.
Perhaps someone will not like it, but I decided not to disclose the amount of the salary and what specific benefits I received during the relocation, after all, this is an individual approach. But I can talk about the costs easily, ask questions. And not only about expenses, the long post came out crumpled in places, but if I start writing in great detail, ten articles will not be enough here, so if you want - ask me anything, I like to share my experience, and maybe the bumps stuffed by me will allow someone avoid them in the future.
But in general - I'm here very like. Incredibly cool job, nice people, nice country and all the yachting opportunities I've dreamed of for the past few years.
Links (let them not be considered advertising, all resources are purely informational!):
Social Security has to be paid, don't turn it off.
Thank you for attention.
Source: www.habr.com