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In this section I will cover the things that have to be done when you first arrive in NL with regards to your BSN (Burger Service Nummer) and the IND. You should do this as soon as possible after you land but you may in fact experience some of the things further down in the first before you get to this item itself.
You should inform the IND that you have arrived and schedule an appointment to apply for your residence card (Apply for the endorcement sticker). They will require a photo and biometrics which you make a separate appointment for, they will send you a letter when they are ready for you to make the appointment. I made an appointment at the Amsterdam IND office for my biometrics but they gave me a different IND office to collect my actual permit from.
Once you have done biometrics, you will receive a confirmation letter which you can now use to register for your BSN. The letter confirms that they are processing your application and if you can work or not in the meantime.
You should get a letter from the IND a few weeks later to let you know your residence card is available for collection if it was approved, you can make an appointment to collect it at the IND Office they mention in the letter.
You can use this link to make all the different appointsments you need to make.
https://ind.nl/en/service-contact/make-an-appointment-with-the-ind
Now that you have received the confirmation letter from the IND that says you can register for your BSN, you can make an appointment at the Gemeente where you live to do this. You can read more here.
You will need the following documents:
Passport
Letter from IND
Unabridged birth certificate (with Apostille)
Unabridged marriage certificate (with Apostille) - if relevant
Proof of Address (rental agreement)
Employment Contract
When I arrived in NL, I had a relocation agent from my company that made an appointment for me at the IAmsterdam offices in Amsterdam Zuid, at that time I did not have my birth certificate but I was still able to register. I received my BSN Number immediately which they printed and told me that I had to present my birth certificate and marriage certificate within 3 months. I had to do mandatory quarantine for 10 days so I could not register within 5 days. (I arrived on 24 June and my appointment was 5 July).
When my husband arrived, he had to wait for the letter from the IND, we made an appointment at the Gemeente as soon as we got it. He had his birth certificate and marriage certificate which he had brought with him so he could already provide those documents in his appointment. We made an appointment online and he already received his BSN number immediately which they printed on a confirmation letter for him. I have heard that others have to wait for it to be sent via the post, which can take up to 2 weeks.
Once you have your BSN number you can now do your 30% ruling application if it applies to you. My company provided a agency that did the application for me.
You can find more information and apply for your ruling here:
You will need the following documents:
Passport
BSN Confirmation letter from Gemeente
Full CV including the location of each job
Signed employment contract
Declaration / employment amendment from your employer
Proof of address for the last 24 months
Rates and Taxes/water bill
Bank statements
Any other bills with your name and address
I sent my bank statements as well as my water/rates & taxes bill and my bond/mortgage statements from SA
All documents that need signatures must be actual signatures and not digital signatures
Application forms
If someone is doing on your behalf you will need to sign a Power of Attorney statement as well
The agency did mention that it can take up to 12 weeks to receive the outcome.
Timeline:
24 June 2021: Landed
5 July 2021: Received BSN number
6 July 2021: Sent application to Belastingdienst
22 August 2021: Received approval from Belastingdienst
If you received the 30% ruling, you and your spouse will be able to swap your South African drivers license for a Dutch one. If you did not get the 30% ruling, then unfortunately you have to start the process from scratch and do the theory and practical tests.
To swap your license, you need to do the following:
Complete the health certificate
You need to get a health certificate before you can exchange your license, you can do this online via cbr.nl. You can find a list of the questions here. You can also find more information here. I think the cost is now €41. It takes about an hour to get the actual certificate which is emailed to you.
Make an appointment at the Gemeente
You can do this via their website, make sure you choose the drivers license option. It will cost about €55.
Prepare your documents
You need to take the following documents with you to the Gemeente:
Passport
SA Drivers License
BSN Number
CBR Health Certificate
Passport photo
30% Approval letter
Exchange your license
Go to the Gemeente at the date and time of your appointment, present all your documents. Some Gemeentes are not aware that you are allowed to exchange your license (you and your spouse) so you need to refer them to the RDW website if they do question it. You can find that information here. They will take your SA license and give you a photocopy of it with their stamp as well as the receipt. You keep this to collect the drivers license when its ready.
Wait for the letter
You will receive a letter confirming your exchange is allowed to be done and that it will be ready within 2 - 4 weeks. We made an appointment with the Gemeente for 10 days after receiving the letter as they were quite fully booked and we didn't want to wait too long.
Wait for collection letter
You will get a letter when your license is ready for collection at the Gemeente.
Collect License
You can now collect your license in the appointment slot you've booked. Bring the receipt that you got in the first appointment with you to collect. You will notice that you can now drive a tractor as well.
You can find the associated costs here:
https://www.cbr.nl/nl/rijbewijs-halen/auto/kosten-autorijbewijs-halen.htm
Only look at the ones that would be relevant for you.
You can get your bank account as soon as you have your BSN number and residence permit. When I arrived in NL the relocation agent made an appointment for me at ABN Amro to apply for my bank account in person. When my husband arrived, we just opened his bank account using the ABN Amro app. Its a very easy online process and you need your passport and BSN number. Once you've followed the steps within the App, you can see your Iban number and your card will arrive within 5 days. You will get 3 letters from the bank, one with the card, one with the pin and you will also get a e-identifier which you use to activate your card and perform certain transactions. Its a device that needs your card and provides you with one time pins that you use in the app or internet banking.
You should be all set now in terms of the important legal stuff, in the sections below you will read about the every day things that I learnt in my time here.
When I arrived in NL, I had my dog with me so I paid for a taxi from Schiphol to my rental in Amsterdam and therefore did not experience the public transport system until after my quarantine (10 days).
There are different types of transport that you can use within NL.
Sprinter (Train)
These are trains that travel a longer distance between cities. Typically they stop at all the bigger stations on the line that you are travelling on and tend to have quicker transport times.
Intercity (Train)
These are trains that travel a shorter distance and stop at all the stations between cities. These trains generally take longer depending on where you are travelling to.
Metro (Train)
These are the trains within the bigger cities that travel between the different metro stations. You can find the different lines and map here. You will see a big "M" above the metro stations.
Tram (Train on the roads)
These are the trams that run on tracks on the road, once again they have more stops through the city that you are in. There are many different tram lines that you can travel on.
Bus
There are many different bus lines throughout each city that you can use.
In general the public transport in NL is excellent and you will find trains, trams or busses that will get you where you need to go. I have a personal travel card (OV Chipkaart) which you can use all on the different types of transport however a lot of them now accept bank cards as well. If you want to buy a travel card, there are 2 options you can use, the first is a anonymous travel card which you can just get at a station that has a ticket office. You pay for the card and then you can load money onto it. The second one is a personal travel card, which you have to order on the website, you need a bank account and profile photo. You can set up automatic top up and you can add different travel packages on as well (monthly packages). You can buy this card here: https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/
I would walk everywhere in the first month when I had arrived as I didn't know where to buy a card or how to pay on the bus or tram. I did eventually figure out that the tram stations have a cash desk when you get on and you can buy a ticket from them. You can buy different types of passes, like a 1 hour pass or a day pass. Depending on where you are, you need to find a station with a ticket office to buy the travel card or you can buy it at schiphol if you are planning on taking public transport directly after landing. Just a note, most of NL only accepts Maestro cards and therefore our SA bank cards don't work, make sure you take some cash with you so that you can buy a sim card and travel card upon landing.
Most stations have gates that you scan your travel card / bank card on that checks you into the station. You have to tap in and out when you are travelling so that the correct amount is taken off your card. Some stations don't have gates and you can just walk in or out, I made the mistake of not tapping out - you have about 6 hours to tap out again or go onto the website to add your exit. When you tap in, depending on the type of transport, they reserve money on your card, for trains its €20, for busses its €4. When you tap out, they will calculate the actual cost based on where you tapped in and then reverse the reservation and take off the actual amount.
When you are in a station that has Sprinters, Metro's and Intercitys you will find some platforms have the tap in/out scanners so that you can switch between the metro and sprinter/intercity. It is important to remember to switch over by tapping the relevant in/out scanner. I.e. if you travelled via Sprinter/Intercity and you want to switch on a metro on the same platform, then you tap out on the Sprinter/Intercity scanner and tap in on the metro scanner.
The following apps are really useful to have on your phone, to see which trains, trams or busses you need to take and what times they run. They will also show you the costs of your ticket.
GVB - https://www.gvb.nl/en
9292 - https://9292.nl/
NS - https://www.ns.nl/en
Glimble - https://glimble.nl/
When I arrived in NL, I had to do 10 days of quarantine due to Covid and I had no way to get groceries. I had taken €900 cash with me as I wasn't sure if my cards would work. I saw that Albert Heijn did deliveries so I ordered some groceries online, I did notice that I couldn't pay for it online and the site said that I would have to pay upon delivery. When they showed up, none of my cards worked and they did not accept cash so they had to take all the groceries away again and I was stuck with no food. Luckily a friend of mine saved the day and brought me some groceries.
That's when I discovered that Mastercard and Visa cards are not accepted at a lot of the stores in NL. They only accept Maestro cards. Before I got my bank cards, I used my cash to get me through and a few stores that did accept credit cards charge you extra for the fees they are charged.
The first few times I went to the shops I went to the cashier counters as I didn't know how the self check out worked and they were always quite busy. Eventually on a quiet day, I figured out how to use it and you can select english.
With regards to the grocery stores this is how I classify them:
Albert Heijn - Similar to Woolies
Jumbo - Mix between Shoprite and Checkers
Van Der Broek - Similar to Checkers
Lidl - Similar to Shoprite but in bulk
I also order food from these sites:
Hello Fresh - choose meals and get the exact ingredients delivered each week
Marley Spoon - same as Hello Fresh
Thuisbezorgd - Fast Food delivery service
Uber Eats - Fast Food delivery service
I haven't really done a lot of clothes shopping but this is how I classify the ones I have been to:
Primark - Similar to Mr Price / Ackermans
H&M - Similar to Edgars / Foschini
Zeemans - Similar to Pep
Its tricky the first few days because you constantly convert to rands to determine whether something is expensive or not but you shouldn't as ratio between income and expenses are not the same as in SA. In saying that, you shouldn't do it the other way around either, for example something that's €100 is not R100. Definitely do some comparisons between different brands to try and figure out whether something is a good price or not.
For other shopping and online shopping these are some stores. I don't do much online shopping but these are the sites that I use the most:
Bol.com - you can find almost everything here, always look at who is supplying the goods to see if they have good ratings or not.
Amazon.nl - I'm not a big Amazon fan but if I need something that Bol.com doesn't have and Amazon does, then I will buy it, once again, check the ratings of the seller to avoid issues.
Cool Blue - similar to Incredible Connection. Good for electronics and household appliances.
Media Markt - similar to Hi Fi Corp in my opinion, good prices for pretty much everything electronic, appliances, TV's etc
There arn't a lot of shopping centres or malls in NL, you will find more main roads with shops on the street. There are a few malls mainly:
WestField (https://www.westfield.com/en/netherlands/mallofthenetherlands)
Hoog Catherijne (https://hoog-catharijne.klepierre.nl/)
When you go shopping, you should take your own bags with, a lot of shops do have bags but they are expensive. You can buy those tote bags to keep in your handbag for whatever shopping you do.
You also have to pack your own bags, they do not pack it for you, they will scan your items extremely quickly and basically almost throw your stuff down the till for you to pack.
Before getting my car, I had to walk or cycle everywhere, for the first week I was so paranoid about walking to the shop, worried about being mugged etc but you really don't have to worry. There are a lot of people walking and cycling around and its pretty safe. You can walk with your phone in your hand and your handbag over your shoulder without worrying about them being stolen.
If you do go to the tourist areas (Amsterdam etc) then you need to be careful about pick pockets so rather keep your important stuff concealed where they can't snatch them out of your pocket or bag. I've travelled home from Amsterdam in the dark many times on public transport and its really safe.
There are no burglar bars or safety gates, the houses don't have fences around them and people even leave their doors unlocked. There are no beggars at the robots or people digging in bins or ringing your doorbell asking for work or money. Its a refreshing change not to be bothered by those things on a daily basis.
There are still a few homeless people but if you say No to them, they pretty much leave you alone.
In saying that, don't leave things lying around or leave things in your car or close to an open window, obviously there are still thefts and breakins but its just not as extreme as SA.
When you arrive in NL, you would be able to buy a sim card at the airport, I bought one at the first counter I found but then I struggled a little to eventually switch the number over to the network I actually wanted to sign up with. If you can find a KPN / Ziggo / Vodafone sim then I would go with that. I chose KPN as they had the best coverage over NL.
One warning, the providers reuse numbers in NL like they do in SA and with the first number I got I kept getting random calls at 2am in the morning and eventually I got a whatsapp asking if I was active. I had no idea what they were asking so I asked them to clarify and unfortunately the number that I had gotten used to belong to an escort and it was still listed on her website which explained the 2am calls I was getting. I called KPN and asked them to give me a new number which they did. I still get random sms's here and there which I assume was meant for the previous owner of the number.
When you get your number, best to google it and see if any dodgy websites come up or services that you might not want to be associated with.
If you take a internet and/or tv package with the same provider you should get some discount as well so you can do everything through one provider.
Each Gemeente has a slightly different way rubbish works. Recycling and sorting your rubbish is very important here. There are different bins for different types of rubbish.
For example in Amsterdam, they had the underground bins that you would have to go to. They would have ones for Paper, Glass, Plastic, food scraps/leaves and Restaval (which is everything else). You will also find on some corners a floor marking with a specific day, you can put out big things that the Gemeente will then collect on the specified day, you should only put things out the night before or the early morning.
In other areas, we still have the wheely bins for paper, plastic and scrap food/leaves/garden refuse. We have the underground bins for restaval. You need to check which provider your Gemeente uses and then check their website for the dates of refuse removal and which bins they have.
Here are a few other things in no particular order.
There are some weird rules in NL when it comes to driving, for example if you are not on a priority road, then people coming from the right, have right of way. So if you are driving straight and a car comes out of a side street from your right, if they have no yeild signs (sharks teeth) then they have right of way and you need to stop to let them out.
I would suggest buying a drivers book and learning the road signs and rules as it makes driving much easier.
In the majority of the restaurants you don't have to wait to be seated, you can just grab any seat. Don't expect to be served immediately, the service is very different to SA, you can wait for the waiter / waitress to eventually come and take your order or you can get up and order from the counter. When are you ready to pay, you can also go to the counter to pay, if you wait for them to bring it to you, you could wait a while.
Its a thing here, people just spit on the ground, out in the open and they do it alot. You have to get used to it.
People don't pick up their dog poo, its everywhere, on the grass, on the pavement, everywhere. Be careful and watch where you walk as you will probably step in it.
NL is very dog friendly, you can take your dog with you pretty much everywhere, they are allowed on public transport and even in the malls. You need to look at the signs specifically signs where dogs are not allowed.
Don't walk in the bicycle lane, they are mostly red payment/concrete or they will have the bicycle sign on them. The cyclists will knock you over and you would be liable. Be very careful when you walk around.
Its mostly an unsaid rule in NL, that you walk on the right, so whether you are walking down the road or in a mall, you should walk on the right side. Some pavements have arrows painted to show you the direction to walk. Also on escalators, you stay on the right and people pass you on the left.
If you watch Tik Tok, then there are a few people you can follow that you would probably be able to relate to once you are here, they make tik toks about daily life in NL.
Dilem in NL - dilemkasap
Ethan - ethan_florens
Sarah - Brit in NL - warsawsworld
visitingdutchcountry - visitingdutchcountryside
Madagaskatwins - madagaskatwins
Double Dutch - letsdoubledutch
rashi.in.amsterdam - rashi.in.amsterdam
Somi Lynda - driplist
Rogier Bak - rogierbakcomedy
sjoerdscott - sjoerdscottt
Matheus Santana - santanamath
Jovie - jovieshome