Do we have any residents of the Netherlands on here who can offer a bit of advice? An opportunity has.come up at work and I may end up in Amsterdam for 2 to 3 years. If it happens it is likely to be quite quick so i'm trying to figure out if i could maybe take my car and finish it there?

Also any advice on general things like cost of living would be greatly appreciated

There is no such think in Holland and its not permitted. You could however, make the car in the UK and export it?

I have a friend over there, and we were talking about it about a month ago.

Yes, we have something similar since May 2009. However, up until now there has been (to my knowledge) only one car that has passed it. And I'm not even sure that's really final now (apparently there's still discussion about calculations to be done on seatbelt anchorage). The rules are pretty strict; for instance BEC's will have a very hard time to comply to the noise limits.

There are more than 25 cars waiting to start the process, but everybody is waiting for the current guinea pig to succeed.

In my personal view I would say; try to get it SVA'ed in UK, and drive it around on UK plates when you're here.

Marcel

Cheers fellas, maybe it could take it over to finish the build and just bring it back via Hull to IVA

Hello,

There is now an IVA in the netherlands, I'm still planning on putting mine through the UK iva, and exporting it mainly as I understand the IVA process, and the import process.

Not many cars have got through the test here yet though, a Zcars mini was one of them.

Importing a kit car here is pretty easy, there was no BPM tax to pay on mine when i imported it officially from the uk a year or so ago.

Cost of living here varies with what you want, cost of an appartment in the center of amsterdam will cost you as much as the center of london, but it will be half the price and have a wierd toilet.

Price of food is a little more expensive, but as an expat you'll be getting 30% of your income completely tax free, and normal tax rules on the rest (30% ruling.) which will more than offset any increase in rental cost.

Other things are more expensive, insurance, etc. Council tax is lower, income tax is higher, car tax is by weight, 80eur/qtr for an mx5, less for a seven.

I've been out of the uk for a while, however Dave Ashurst was over here for about a year for work recently, he might be able to give some good advice on the costs of living here compared to back home.

Overall I rate the netherlands quite highly, its very easy for an expat to live here, culture is familiar, low chav/pikey factor.

Its also quite cheap to get back to the UK both flying and via ferry/train. Driving over here is DULL and slow, but there are countries nearby who have a more favorable view to fun driving within an hour or so anyway.

Finding a house with a garage will be a hunt, but you can usually rent a single garage for 100-150euro/month.

I'm renting a small industrial unit on the outskirts of the city for 400eur/month which stores all my toys, and my neighbours cheer when i rev my engine rather than scowl.

If you want to get a view for house costs for renting, try directwonen.nl, and rotsvast.nl, and to buy have a look on funda.nl will give you an idea of living expenses per region.

www.expatica.nl has some advice for expats settling here.

Paperwork and formalities are very easy and can be done in english post arrival once your working.

Cheers for the very detailed response - very much appreciated.

Does the 30% rule apply to all expats or just certain jobs? I was under the impression it was "specialist" roles only?

Not that the job isn't specialist but I'm sure there's people ove there just as capable as me

Its all in the covering letter I think if you've been hired from the UK, its almost a given.

There are a few rules and what have you, I think a lot of it is down to the covering letter, if you can justify it, you can get it.

Mostly nice helpful people the Dutch