How hard is it to get a Citizenship in the Netherlands?
 

How long to I have to live in the Netherlands to become a citizen?

How easy is it to open a business in the Netherlands?

Is it easier to marry a Dutch girl?

Its not that hard, i just wouldnt marry a girl to try to stay ;)

Two routes.

#1 - Get a visa for any EU country. Stay 4 years. Get an EU passport.
#2 - Get married to an EU citizen. Wait 2 - 3 years. Get an EU passport.

'Marriages Blanches' aren't exceptionally difficult to pull off, but you have to be prepared to live with the person you've 'married' for at least 2-3 years, go out together, have mutual friends, etc etc - it's generally all checked.

Unsure about NL, but it may or may not be the easiest EU member to pull it off in.

Any European can live and open a business a NL.
If you're not EU then it might be easier to marry a Euro girl.. Spanish are hotties..then move to NL.

I had a business in NL.. I'm English wife is Spanish, and it was very easy to set up.

Well, if you're british, you're already EU - no problems there...

Why is this? :winkwink:

It's not as easy as it sounds - everyone tries to scam the system this way - you have to go through a lot on your end to prove it's a 'real' marriage - and citizenship doesn't come automatically - you have to wait a few years anyhow.

Im already married with kids.

Ideally, I would want to move my family and move my existing businesses over.

I don't know about Netherlands, but you can move to Spain if you transfer about 90,000 Euros to a bank account over there and put together some sort of a business plan. You don't actually have to invest the money. This will give you Spanish residence. This renews every year for 5 years after which you have the right to live anywhere in the EU, not just Spain.

If you are interested let me know, I will send you the name of a law firm in Marbella that will help you through the process. It takes about a year to get all the paper work sorted out and get the approvals.

Are there Visa/Mastercard debit cards available with Spanish banks?

Damn, interesting. Here I am slaving my nuts off trying to get a french visa...

Neither of those two routes are guaranteed at all, and I'd say #1 is the hardest of all. In either case you have to show what you can offer the country, just like any other country for citizenship, and I'm sorry, saying you have spent the last 4 years building a drug or adult empire isn't going to cut it.

That said, if said adult or drug empire is employing say 3 or 4 locals, then it may well be an added bonus.

Oh, and not knowing the language or the words to het Wilhelmus won't help your case either
:2 cents:

Welcome to higher taxes and bad weather.

fucking good luck mate :thumbsup

I know a very good friend whose lived here for 18 years, whose primary native language is French, whose father has lived here for 27 years, whose mother died here, whose married to a Frenchy, whose daughter is French, who's son is half-french, and he still got refused nationality on his first application (now on appeal).

Yeah, that's natioanlity and not a visa, but sarko is really sticking the shitty stick in on this lot....

Of course neither are easy or guaranteed..
My point is, they're the two main options of getting citizenship.

It would be foolish to think that marriage is an 'easy' way to get a passport, and likewise equally naive to think that 4 years will instantly grant you citizenship.

BUT - if for those 4 years, you pay tax, have a job / have an asset / create a business and speak the language, it's not going to be a problem.

The French long term visa requires you to show a regular income of about $70,000 a year of passive income. So, that would be from pensions, stocks and other investments.

They don't consider online income because you are working for it. Or you show a million dollars in your bank account. In the end though it totally depends and is up to the discretion of the consulate issuing the visa.

Tell me about it. I've spent the last 2 years trying to get one sorted.
I'm self-employed (which france recognises) - but outside of france (which france doesn't recognise) - visa situation == impossible.

After 3 immigration lawyers though, putting in my new application in a month or so, fingers firmly crossed.

You set up yet as auto-entrepreneur to get that online income recognised?
--edit
maxing out that €32k might not seem much for services but it's the in-vogue sarko-approved shit atm....

nm - yeah I see your dilemma.... sorry visa to get in on the treadmill...I misread

You seem to be fairly intimate with the machinations of the system: what's your story / situation (if you don't mind me asking)

Forget about point 3.
No. 2 is the easy part, anybody can open a business in the Netherlands. As long as you pay the taxes on profits and wages (thru a good known accountancy firm), nobody will aks questions.
No. 1 is more difficult. But I assume if a company (No.2) needs to hire a "skilled worker (=you)", things get more easy over time. Start with a temp visa and try to get one permenatly (government read: buy a house, hire staff, etc.)
Governments discourage any form of parasite immegration but if you BRING (tax) money and jobs, things change quickly I am sure.

I figure if I pay about 60% in taxes to the government through my businesses I should get in easily.

Limited company profit tax is 20% currently. And tax deduction is one of the best around if you wanna write off stuff IMO.

why....?

why NOT ?:winkwink:

The only thing I would say is Dutch winters are real bastards, even worse than the U.K. *Southern England*

It's like someone turns the sun off on the 1st of November and it doesn't come back until April, my Spanish wife couldn't pull off a dutch winter. Twice she wanted to move in January.

I'd still live there, I love the place. Although I'm probably too used to the med now to suffer that damn rain for months at a time.

My advice is married with EU girl, Bulgarian or Romanian should be easiest way to get there.Also you can try with dutch girl but im not sure is it easy or not.

I'd love to move to the Netherlands. I could even pick up Dutch pretty quickly since Afrikaans is my second language. Oh well, one can always dream!