How we made the decision to move to the NL - Part 1
From my friends when we told them where we were moving: “What. I thought you were moving to Germany.”
My husband, teen and I began talking about moving to Europe years ago. In late 2021 we began looking at various countries: Portugal, France, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. We have zero connections to any of these countries other then vacationing there but love their cultures passionately. Every week I meet people who are leaving the US for abroad so I thought I might share some tips that helped us.
Step 1: Use a Spreadsheet!
After weighing various factors (check out this awesome spreadsheet Dennis Jansen created here. Thanks Dennis!), it became obvious to us that Germany was in the lead, mostly due to the apparent ease of my husband obtaining a Blau Karte (the secret sauce of easing into Europe life) for work. We also really loved the culture (and Bier!). We visited Germany over two summers (with a side trip to the Netherlands .. little did we know …) and checked out various cities. Due to my husband’s remote work, we could live anywhere but focused on Munich. We began to learn German (our teen is already fluent) and began figuring out the work visa. We had more spreadsheets that helped us sort our more detailed thoughts regarding visas etc. Your brain will be overloaded with data, it’s nice to have one place to dump it all.
Step 2: Research
People who know me know I’m the research queen! Early on, I joined several country’s expat Facebook groups (the only reason I still have FB, the expat groups are a lifesaver!). Some are very useful regarding just being an expat, no matter what country. France has a particularly helpful group. What surprised me is that each country's expat FB group has a personality. I’m not sure if that’s from the expats themselves or the people who run the groups but it was quite telling. Here are some of the groups you might find helpful depending on where you’re headed. Also if you have kids, there are lots of helpful groups for each country:
Americans Retired and Thriving in France
Americans Living in/Considering a Move to Germany
DAFThub for those interested in applying for DAFT
Americans & FriendsPT (Weirdly enough my husband is friends with one of the moderators and we had no idea until he mentioned that ‘___ had moved to Portugal’ and I said ‘Huh, his name sounds really familiar!’. Talk about some inside advice from an expert!)
Other areas to research: cost of living, local news, language, whatever passion you have (for me the art scene/husband the music scene/teen the universities), weather, transit, Google Maps (my favorite!), retirement etc. Just dig, dig, dig. Eventually you’ll get a pretty clear idea of how well the country will fit you and how much you’re willing to shift your mindset to fit the country. I’m aware that we will be shifting our mindset in ways I can’t even foresee. Wish us luck on that!
Step 3: As soon as you think you know where you want to move, hire a relocation specialist.
It is worth your money to hire someone in that country for a reality check. There’s a right time to connect and that is something you’ll have to determine. In retrospect, I wish we would have spoken to one sooner for Germany but honestly, we were still figuring out the work visa so at the time it didn’t seem to make sense. Second time around, once we decided on the NL, we hired a NL specific specialist within weeks and wow, we saved so much time talking to them up front but also opening up more options we didn’t appreciate.
Advice for along the way:
More coming shortly but one piece of advice I’ll end this post with relates back to the title of this piece. Allow your mind to change and lead you in a different direction. What you thought was too risky a path two years ago could sound completely plausible down the road. We had written off the NL because it just seemed too easy …
The best part of Substack is the community. I’d love to hear your thoughts!