I left for a new opportunity and for the adventure of starting again new in a different country. I ended up living in 3 countries before I moved back. Living abroad makes you appreciate all the things you took for granted even more. I moved back because a great opportunity presented itself and because I wanted to be closer to my family and friends.
You are right about after living in USA (Florida) for 24 years i miss family and friends. I am moving back to Amsterdam in process of buying a apartment. There is no place like Amsterdam. Home sweet home.
Maastricht is actually a difficult area to move to. Even for an ethnic Dutch person coming from other parts of the country. Limburgers are mainly focused on other Limburgers and not outsiders. Culturally they might be closer to Belgians and Germans because of their geographic location. What also surprises people is how Dutch people form relationships with friends. Dutch people make friends when they grow up. And because it's a small country they can keep those relationships, even when moving to other parts of the country. Therefor Dutch people have no need to make friends at work or other places when they're adults.
About Limburg specifically: Not very surprising either: If you see the map, you will understand that this area has been heavily contested over the last 2000 years. That means: regular war, continuously changing leadership, shifting loyalties. Knowing who you know becomes important. Roots. I know I can trust you because our great great great grandparents also trusted each other.
@@joopdesmit Yes, when you look at the map it's actually odd that it ended up being a part of the Netherlands, when it would have been more logically to be a part of Belgium.
I was also thinking about moving from Berlin to Limburg. I lived at the border and was even allowed to visit my old neighbours in Limburg, who moved there from Germany. In the end, the loneliness shocked me. In Germany, you also like to interact with each other. Nevertheless, the Germans are more open and are happy about growth in the circle of friends. I’m now moving back to Berlin.
I find it a bit naïve to move to a country based on a single holiday experience. If she would have done her home work she would have learned that Limburg is the hardest part to integrate and be accepted when you move there. As someone else mentioned here…. even for Dutch locals that move there from other provinces.
Leaving soon to Belgium because after being here 1.5 years cannot find a not precarious place, e.g. still living illegally somewhere....wile having a full-time job speak the language have 15k in savings and both parents that can backup me legally in renting It's really a shame and inhumane I'm half dutch so I speak the language and have a dutch passport and was even born here but grew up abroad People are so passive aggressive, really not direct, and if you don't look-behave-speak accentless dutch I always get spoken to in English!!! In my own mother country!!! It's depressing and making friends its impossible, only people I bond with are other foreigners
I am Dutch. Born, raised and by blood. I moved out of the Netherlands because I was not able to stay because of the housing crisis and to be honest I don’t recognize my own country anymore.. I respect every culture and person, but I don’t understand why immigrants in the area that I am from (Randstad), barely made a effort to learn our language while living there for more than 5 years. The Netherlands is a very small country and not build for that much people also.
I am sort of involuntarily here. I moved during the lockdowns from France to be with my boyfriend. I can’t regret being with him but I am miserable here. I’m a grown adult and we are living in his fathers house because we can’t afford a place to live. I dread having energy bills of our own here. It’s too expensive and you barely get any space from what I see in rental listings. I want to leave so badly.
Find another boyfriend I would say. :) Quality of life is important. There are housing opportunities in the Netherlands, but not in the big cities...so maybe want to check if you can live in other places. Where do you live? How come you two together do not make enough to be able to rent something together. You can find a house for 1200 euro a month, but again..not in the vicinity of the center of a big city.
@@Alnivol666 If I leave him, I'm committing to a life of singleness, honestly. It's too hard to find a good guy. We hired a company that uses a bot and also manually combs through listings from hundreds of websites, and what they come up with under €1500 is maybe one or two listings a week. We are only one income right now - mine. Once we move he will begin his job search again, since we are trying to move to a different area and we don't want him needing to commute 2+ hours each day.
I love your videos so much. Thanks for sharing a different perspective. It is important to see other people's experiences. It makes me sad that it didn't work out for Nicole, especially when she worked so hard and brought a good attitude to it.
I’m glad you enjoy the videos Caethes and thanks so much for your comment. I also feel for Nicole and I hope she’s able to find somewhere she’ll feel happy to call home💕
Do I understand that you are trying to say: it only doesn't work for Nicole and people like her? Insinuating that these examples are only few people experiencing this negativity! If we do the math, you would be embarrassed of your limited research
Damn. I could never leave, people tolerate me here, its safe, green, healthy there's bike paths. It's so far ahead of any other country I have been to.
@@michalovesanime Yet still, its people are healthy. There are enough indexes for that too. It's almost like, shocker, 1 metric (air quality) doesn't influence all of the healthiness that much.
@@michalovesanime lol bullshit, spain france germany, all the big countrys much worser then NL we live next to the sea as a small country. only in the big city its worse. but all the other parts. just cleaner then all thos big countrys
and as usual we never agree with each other, we call that poldermodel. sometimes i wonder how the h do those always complaining types have a live????? i only complain about the complainers hahahaah funny.
First thank you Josphine for the time you take to produce the wonderful videos. After growing up in America and coming to Europe (via US Army), I opted out and stayed in Germany where I meet my German wife. Nothing against America but the second love of my life is Europe, and that love extended to renouncing my citizenship and taking on the German citizenship. 1. Do I feel German just because I can speak, read and write German? No, I do not. Do I feel German just because I obtained the German citizenship? No. Do I regret the process? Never have and after 20 years, doubt I ever will. My experience is that, I was accepted and respected because I could communicate with Germans in my office and in my free time in their language. My opinion is that a foreigner taking on a new citizenship will not offer the feeling of being a full fledged citizen. You have the title, but did not go trough the growing pains while growing up in that country. There have been several conversations that I could not take part in because I did not experience the school system, or further education up to entering the workforce. But, on the other hand, I am not upset because I cannot take full part of these types conversations. It doesn’t make me feel less of a citizen, I just accept the fact and move on, I am the one that changed sides of the pond. 2. When starting out in a new country, I refused to move to a city when at the time I could speak English, and wanted the international experience. If I was looking for the international experience, I could have stayed in the US and moved to New York or Chicago. I told my wife that we should move to a small town in the suburbs where I no choice but to speak German. Later I realized the benefit of this. I was surrounded by the local language, and jumped into the German experience like jumping into cold water. I can say, the learning curve was immense and intense. But, later as my language skills improved, the locals (especially the neighbors) started to respect my efforts and gain the courage to correct my mistakes in a friendly manner. I felt as well, that they realized I didn’t expect to be accepted, but gained their respect for my efforts. Now days, I am just one of the locals that took on the citizenship. I am accepted as a full blooded citizen, but respected. But, to be honest, I don’t give a hoot what the others think. Sometimes it feels like they are proud to know someone that fought through the language learning process and took on their citizenship. 3. I would never have broken ties and pulled tents from my home country like she did. Especially on a whim and after a few weeks vacation. Vacation living is not the same as working and living. My wife and love NL. We have been known to vacation twice a year in NL. As Europeans we are coming close to retirement and even considering retiring in NL. Would I break off and just move? The answer is no. We plan to rent a place for a couple of months and test if we can adjust to retirement life in NL before we break ties. And maybe do this a couple of times during different seasons. Good, being a European, your not breaking all the ties. You just change governmental systems and learn a new language. If it does not feel right we have the option to move close to the boarder and enjoy both countries. I guess what I am trying to point out, is your mentality to the whole situation. There are times to jump in life without looking forward, and then there are times to look before you leap. Don’t expect everyone to accept you like you experienced in vacation. During vacation the new experience is wonderful to the point that you overlook the things that normally would upset you. Sometimes like when you have a new love in you life. After a while you start noticing the things that disturb you. I have experienced racism. Not because of my skin color, but my accent comes through at times, when I am asked if I was in the military or opted out for social services work. When I explain that I was in the US Army and became a citizen after my military period, I get a lot of uncalled for comments. There have been times that I did not get a job because of it or I was not invited to social events. As a German citizen, I have even experienced racism in NL. It bothered me at first, but then I decided not to waste my limited time on this earth to entertain their opinions. It’s a waste of time having a battle of wits against an unarmed person. Just keep in mind when thinking that the grass is greener on the other side and you want to take part in that beauty, it still needs maintenance and hard work to keep it that way..
Sometimes life is not easy, People think in other country life is better."the grass is greenet on the over side" 🤔 Know people move more than 20 times, sometimes it's between the ears.
I was born in Amsterdam and as a Brown person, I never felt home. People are rude and discriminative due to mass immgration, refugee favouritism and are therefore xenophobic. I moved to Canada 🇨🇦 and could not be more happy. Canada is the place to raise a family.
@staedlerok Canada never made me feel this way. Even though I was born in Europe. In technical terms, I am European but Europe never made me feel that way because of racists like you. Canada made me feel home and I am accepted here. Besides Canada is a better country anyways. Less refugees, we have our own energy. Now I see Europe begging for energy etc. Cost of living is much better here. I am wealthy here so I am winning in life. Whereas, many people in Europe owns nothing and pay high taxes lol... It's funny how more Dutch people are moving to Canada these days... Oh well the downfall Europe is here....
@odellowe7340 Canada is diverse Native and Brotosh settlers where the first but soon it is a place for immigrants to make it home🇨🇦. I suggest you to study as perhaps you sound uneducated and illiterate just like the Africans in rural area. You seem to have the same IQ.
My parents sold their house, in the current market that is a big pay off. They are curently living with my grandparents. Searching on the internet for their dream home in france or spain. Where it is way cheaper to live. For the value of a family home here, you can live in a french countrystead with your own forest, river, swiming pool etc. Most dutchies start a b&b or retreat there to earn a living while getting old in a nice cozy place. On that subject, getting old in the Netherlands is not interesting. It's a part of our society that went wrong. Old people are forgotten and lonely.
Yes but where are you going to work if you don't speak that language that is already problem number 1. In France they do expect you to speak French. Spanish as well. They don't speak English very well as far I have experienced at least.
You can have the Dutch nationality without being Dutch; you still have your roots in Nigeria or Australia or whatever. Point is most people do not care where you are from and we love that you make a contribution to our beloved country.
Don't forget the weather. A part of the people who are leaving are pensioners or even younger people that move to for example Spain or Portugal, where live is not just cheaper, but also the weather is more to their liking. And also some people want to have a more natural, less urban and density populated environment.
I am Dutch - left in 2022. Early 30s. Housing crisis, safety issues, and the lockdown(s) made me look elsewhere. Living life in eastern Europe right now - and I wish I went earlier. Running an IT business from here. Most likely will never go back. I'm quite bitter about that place.
You moved to Sofia, Bulgaria? I just came from there to the Netherlands and I'm already regretting it and want to go back 😅 The more time I spend in Northern and Western EU countries the more I realize Bulgaria is actually an incredible place to live and I've been mislead by cheap propaganda my entire life
@@mmmnahfam Yes, I grew up in the Netherlands but now I moved to Sofia and I love it. The only problem (for some) is finding a good income (for me, not a problem). Bulgaria is great and I will be staying for a while.
The same here with me, i realize that in Bulgaria i had a way better lifestyle, no matter the lowest income, but i was able to go out with friends, to go to a different events, to own a nice car. Here almost all my money go for bills and food, it became maybe 30 % more expensive since im here and my salary is the same like the past year.
I moved also from the Netherlands to Prague , 11 years ago ( was in Ireland , UK , France ) and not planing to go back cause i am better here also an IT guy but I will never trow dutch people under the bus , there are a lot of good people in the Netherlands , i left for different reasons , not cause of dutch people... most of what i know today came from dutch people... BTW , i always lived in Villages in the Netherlands never in a city , people are different in Villages than cities , that's a fact. Nicole should move to a Village and see how her life gonna change
I feel bad and sad that people leave the Netherlands because people tell them to 'go home'. Please also know that i think you will sooner be confronted with someone with a negative point of view on this than with people who are fine with immigrants. At least in a real life situation. You will unfortunately find racists and xenophobes everywhere in the world. Please know that those people do not represent all of a country, and definitely not all of the Netherlands. I am a dutchie myself
Probably because the racist people are the vocal ones. Someone that is ok with immigrants will see them and pass them like they do with anyone else... it is just another person to them. Racist will let you know how much they hate you at every turn. I am convinced that a fast majority of Dutch people have no issues with immigrants and new Dutch at all.
I think it is also important to realise that people are less racist in the Netherlands than some other countries but Maasstricht is a difficult place even for other Dutch people
@@888records personally i don't like to specify a location, because depending on the circumstance one can really find racism anywhere. And i lived in maastricht myself
I think you can validate how deep the issue is by reading Local’s comment here rejecting even her personal experience and sharing how she felt during her stay.
Somehow I get the feeling that - although she learned the language - she didn't really learn about the culture. I've moved to Mexico about 10 years ago (for love, but I came back to the Netherlands because of divorce) and first thing I learned in Mexico is not only learn Spanish but also learn about the culture. Part of moving to a different country is adapting to the local culture (not necessarily adopting it). I got this vibe from the girl that she neglected to adapt to the culture of at least accept it. About reasons for leaving the Netherlands: I believe that it's mostly either refugees who return to their native country, (Dutch) people who find a (better) job abroad, indeed the high and increasing costs of living here, or people who want to start a new life for any reason. However, if we take the numbers of migration at hand, they do show an increase of immigration (and that's also a big part of the reason why the general population number is still increasing - by January 2023 almost 18 million people!): more births than deaths, and more immigration than emigration. So, although there are a number of people leaving the country, there are still more people coming in. The only thing I do miss from Mexico is the warm weather (I HATE the cold & winter).
Hi Peter, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I can understand that it’s still important to adapt to the culture, I think that takes more time and conscious effort and definitely pays off at the end. Immigration is still the major course of population growth in the Netherlands… birth rate is just slightly higher than death rate (only a few hundreds higher). The population increase by birth is a bit scary, as it’s not increasing at enough rate to handle the continuous growth in the Dutch economy. This is why I believe immigration especially for highly skilled migrants will continue for years and years unless something changes in the economy or birthrate.
@@josphineogugua Low birth rates is what every developed country has been experiencing for decades. So yes, immigration is the main factor to keep the population growing or not declining.
I was strongly considering moving to NL, but after watching your videos, I think I'll look elsewhere. Thank you for being so candid and showing multiple realities of life in the NL.
It depends on what is important to you but living in the Netherlands could be great but just do good research on every area in The Netherlands. Don’t move to Maasstricht like the girl in the video did, plenty of Maasstrichters don’t even accept other Dutch people so let alone foreigners
What exactly did you not like about the Dutch mentality? I just feel like people are so individualistic, lacking spontaneity and just difficult most of the time. They are nice but only on surface level.
My uncle left in the seventies for Norway and when I visit I see why. But I’ve also seen people leave and be back in no time. I guess the grass always seems greener on the other side. I’m going nowhere 😊
@@josphineogugua Norway, Sweden and Denmark are culturally very similar to the Netherlands and the language relatively easy to pick up, speaking Dutch and English already. So Dutchies blend in pretty easily. I guess that helps. On the other hand you find Dutchies all over the globe, expect to hear Dutch all of the sudden, no matter how remote the place is 😂
@@hunchbackaudio I was in Sweden last year and I found the words really similar to Dutch. My husband could already guess the meaning of some words as his Dutch is very good. I always thought it was only Nigerians you find everywhere on the globe but coming to think of it, I remember overhearing a family speaking Dutch on a tourist visit I had to Barcelona… I was just smiling in my mind as I could understand a bit what they were saying. 🤪
@@josphineogugua Never think you can speak openly in Dutch an expect no one to understand abroad😂 I noticed Nigerians are very outgoing as well, there's a big community in Amsterdam southeast and we live in the small city of Amersfoort and I know there a small Nigerian church close to our home.
@@hunchbackaudio for sure, someone could be hearing exactly what you’re saying 😆. I’ve heard about the big Nigerian community. I attended a Nigerians Independence Day event in Amsterdam too so I’m glad to have connected with a few people. 🤗
My experience having lived in many countries and now landing in the Netherlands for a few years: I think you can have a quiet life in the netherlands as people are really indifferent toward your culture. Maybe they judge but they are not asking you really to be the same as them as they understand you are different (they really dont care about you haha). The negative part of it is the development of closed communities living here for a while as they dont mix with dutch even though sometimes living in the same neighbourhood. It is a multi cultural country for sure, but the less mixed i have lived in so far! I see much more diversity in other countries at corporate environments, relationships, friendships...Here i have the feeling everyone stays on his own or with people that look the same. That's again my own perception, u may be experiencing something different. Again we cannot having all it is all about you fitting in this environment. The downside here is that it is quite tough to have meaningful relationships, it mainly chit chat about the weather or what i have done last weekend or the next holidays. No room for spontaneous catch up if you did not plan a coffee 2weeks upfront :) All in all, i find Dutch really respectful and nice people though compared with some other european countries
Thanks so much for sharing. I do agree with some points. The friendship circles are more closed and it requires extra effort sometimes. So people tend to mingle with those from their community or those they share common interests with.
@@charliemundo7998Yes. That's why it is better to be an entrepreneur and lead your life when you are moroccan in NL. Better than being the subject of other people perception of what they think you are.
Dear Nicole. There is no difference of acceptance in France, Spain the UK or elsewhere. So don't isolate the Dutch as the only problem. I've experienced the same in the UK and in the US.
@@Morthox so... it's wrong everywhere. If we just keep normalizing it and invalidating this violence, it's not going to change for better...so...next time you see it happening you scold who had this attitude. Simple as that.
@@dan-ronso or maybe , accept reality as it is, it is not going to change because you dont like it. besides that i hear form many expats how the are accepted here very well, i think it depends a lot of how you are.
I'm pretty much 100% certain that if I learned xhosa and move to South-Africa, some people I'd get into an altercation with, would tell me to go back home too. But valid point.
That’s a possibility Patrick but it doesn’t make it right. If you’ve lived in SA and had children, speak the language, invested in the country and made it your home… it’s a hard pill to swallow.
@Patrick Lebens Yes South Africa , my beautiful home country is extremely xenophobic, they even burn foreigners to de*th here. However those are mostly black foreigners that they hate on. If you are white, they will probably praise you, Because there is a lot of internalized self hate in South Africa, and white worship unfortunately....
@@incognito3599 I'm sad to hear that, but it's not the point I tried to make. I randomly picked SA, but this is applicable everywhere, when stupid ppl get mad stupid ppl say stupid things.
@@josphineogugua what i see again and again is : people have soem bad expereinc eyes, and thentranslate that as if thats generally the case, and that is not true. i think a lot depends how you are yourself.
I'm from an African country, born and raised but since I have lighter skin, I've heard the "go back to your country" as well. 😅Unfortunately, as humans we are extremely judgemental.
My spouse is British/Irish and I 'imported' him from Belgium almost 30 years ago. We had to go through all bureaucracy to get married and I remember that the spouse complained to a civil servant in the community who totally agreed with him and said that even he experienced the horrible bureaucracy and cultural hurdles... coming from Limbabwe (making Limburg sound like Zimbabwe to exaggerate that it is a foreign part of the country). So I think the acceptance/not acceptance will often be an issue in the Netherlands, but even between regions. If she got a Dutch passport, she had some family rights because you normally can't become Dutch and keep your foreign nationalities (or get another nationality and keep your Dutch one, my family in Australia gave their Dutch citizenship up in order to obtain Australian Nationality). There are plenty of good reasons to move away from the Netherlands (like the reasons you stated in the beginning of the video) but I'm not very impressed with Nicole's reasons.
Hi Josphine, Nicole van der Hoeven is a Dutch name. Many Dutchies moved to Australia in the fifties and sixties. I think her mother or her father was born in the Netherlands and that way Nicole picked up Dutch. Thanks for your vids. I pushed the susbribe button. Carla (Amsterdam)
Hi Carla, Thanks for your comment. I also wondered how she had a Dutch name. she mentioned she was born in the Philippines and moved to Australia afterwards… maybe her husband is Dutch? I’m not sure really…
Hi, I came across a video and from that very moment i watched multiple of your videos. Just wanted to tell you that i love you being so exciting, animated and cheerful in your presentation its a real joy to watch, the absolute highlight is how well spoken you are and the effort you put into each video, the knowledge and research you do about a topic, well done! Hope you continue for as long as you have fun doing this and share more of your experiences.
I'm definitely feel that some of us can be quite narrow-minded, as is true for a lot of people all around the world. I'm sorry they felt they were not welcome enough or weren't accepted as a regular citizen, and I have been told roughly the same even though I was born here. At least I have learned that it wasn't my shortcomings that triggered that behaviour and I hope anyone who comes to live here will certainly learn that as well, preferably soon. There are unfiltered opinions everywhere, and there's no pleasing everyone. Having said that, I want to thank you for making this video, as some of us will be blissfully ignorant of the excessively restricted frame of reference a certain part of our otherwise grounded society can display.
It's unfortunate to see the Dutch can be so unwelcoming, in contrast I've lived in the Philippines for 3 years and it felt like home there, my better home tbh.
I agree. They're so closed off and only hang out with other dutch people. They make superficial friendships with immigrants but they're only nice superficially. They'd never invite you in their circles.
Interesting comments here, I moved to the Netherlands from London England 3 years ago, I own my own property and learned the language, no country in the world is perfect..I have no problems with the dutch culture at all.
I am born and raised in The Netherlands, in the Randstad area, but moved out 10 years ago. I moved to Norway because of the housing crisis. It is just impossible for younger people to buy or even rent something. There were also better job opportunities in Norway, and I thought The Netherlands was getting way too crowded. Although I really miss the Netherlands and want to move back one day, but probably not to the Randstad anymore 😂 I still have my Dutch passport though.
Thanks for sharing Claire and I totally understand your reason for moving. I heard Norway is beautiful ( I hope to visit someday to see the Northern lights 😍). Do you get to visit the Netherlands often?
@@josphineogugua Yes, i visit the Netherlands in my holidays, 2-4 times a year. Not so much though as I would like, due to work. Yes, Norway is really beautiful and way less crowded than the Netherlands, although the culture is hard to cope with and the winters are long and dark and slippery. Thank you very much for sharing things like this on your UA-cam channel, I really enjoy watching. It gives me as a Dutch person another perspective on my country, especially since I moved out. There are a lot of things I can relate to as a foreigner in another country. Thank you so much!
@jasonwright9405 We deal with inflation and housing cost etc. but it is not as bad as netherlands... There is no lineup to buy a home lol... People in Netherland rent longer due to people having hard time to own homes as there is less available... I work in tech and make more money than I would in Netherlands cause the salary is just low there.... Healthcare is arguably bad in Canada but the way I see it its just a matter for waiting time and some surgeries will take a while for people to get... Perhaps Netherlands has better Healthcare.. Regardless, I choose Canada as I can atleast enroll children peacefully in elementary schools. Whereas in Netherlands you have to enroll 2 years or more before. Netherlands use to be a great place but not anymore...
I left the Netherlands to Belgium because of love. We had the choice and we chose the most convenient option in our situation. So nothing negative or forced to flee ;-) Many expats tell it is so difficult to get a house and so damned expensive.. well we are so loved that too many foreigners buy or rent a home in the Netherlands🙂😛 The Netherlands is not alone. Actually many Dutchies moved to the border area in Belgium! Why? Because it used to be more easy to build your own style of house in Belgium. In the Netherlands all residential building is usually done by big construction companies and you just have to settle for an available housing option. In Belgium houses are more unique and Belgians even used to design their own house !! Another reason is that in the Netherlands there is something called "wealth-tax". If you have a nice amount of money in your bank account the governement takes every year a small percentage.. Such a tax does not exist in the Belgium. Switzerland is beautiful and also loved by foreigners. But it is hard to be allowed to permanently live there. And it is damned expensive!! I think you know Josphine 🙂
I didn’t know you were a lover boy Hans. Nice to see that side of ya😆😆. Anyway, thanks for sharing about Belgium, indeed the houses here are mostly already build to taste by the companies unless you buy a landed property (which is in my opinion for the rich😅). I recently learnt about the tax on assets and savings in the Netherlands which I find a bit strange since not all countries do this. Well, I’m here now and here to stay so I’ll cry about it and move on😄.
here you can design your own home too I walk past them everyday by the way XD Just make sure that you earn enough money to live somewhere. Everywhere is more expensive now.
@@-_YouMayFind_- IF a communion ( gemeente) allows self designed houses it is usually in a dedicated plot of land. And many limitations are in function. You definately can not do just anything you like, there are landschapsplannen you have to keep to. And it’s definitely not for an average budget!
with all respect, being a 2nd generation 'outsider' and having many 'imported' colleagues and friends.. I feel this women's experience is highly anecdotal and not a good representation of the general country. Even living in Twente (rural east of The Netherlands) i have literally tens of colleagues from abroad whom all build a live here, my stepdad came from the UK to live with my mum an has already 20 years a live here and would never go back. Having listened to all her comments, the issue is more her personality and the type of people she surrounded herself with. Not the country and whether it is inviting to new people or not.
I live one and a half year in the Netherlands, but im leaving after two months. I like the country, its very peacefull, but its not for me. I have too many problems with institutions like banks, tax administration and municipality Everything here is so slow, i applied for a dutch course 4 months before in a certain university and im still waiting the letter with invitation for interview. It became very expensive, basically i work to can afford to eat and pay my rent (which is another subject) and i dont even smoke weed and go on party's like most of the people. The rent is expensive, but the problem is the condinition of the place, its full of mouses and rats, its very old and the price for a place like that its just insane. I tried to inform my landlord and the institutions for my problems, but nothing changed. I had a good and a very bad moments here, but in the end i've decide to moove back to my country, where the living standart for a educated guy like me its gonna be better!
The thing is, its mostly the very behaviour of said immigrants. Like the Morrocan ones who came, and all behave and identify more with there Morrocan roots, and getting rather criminal in there behaviour. Also, she picked Limburg, we are rather attached to our Limburgse identity, not persee the Dutch identity. And learning the Dialect is incredibly important to us, Heck its pretty based if a foreigner actually learns the Limburgers local dialect. Then we have all the issues that are happening in all Major cities, Multiculturalism is something the Dutch even voted AGAINST many times. We didnt want to be multicultural, it was simply forced upon us by the managerial rulers after WW2. The Dutch simply wished to remain Dutch, this is no longer the case in the Major cities, if you step into a classroom in say Amsterdam, its all full of children of immigrants, and they dont behave in the way Dutch kids would.
I’m as Dutch as they come. My Mother was Friesian, my Father a Twent. I have dark hair and even I got told to go back home, hahaha. There are stupid people everywhere. Don’t let those anecdotel Idiots ruin your experience!
I am leaving next week GOD spear life. It is too expensive. Lived here for 6 years. Beautiful country, dry and rigid culture but I prefer my home🏖🏝 She said exactly what I experienced. I am West Indian Dutch. So imagine her experience as foreigner.
Hi Ms. Frevry, It’s sad your experience was similar to Nicole’s and I really hope you find comfort and happiness as you make your move. All the very very best🤗
Thanks for your video. I am french and lived in amsterdam for 16 years. I bought also my place quite quite quickly. I had really great time. But i left in year 2021 to germany. Although i feel me most dutch even though today and i regret a lot having left the country there is one essential point you are mentioning in your video and you insist a lot is that. No matter you do you will never belong to. As you said learning dutch living fully in the culture they will always indirectly you do not belong to and that is a subtile game. Really a pitty as they are losing for this reason great people. Btw in year 2005 it was 10 years for the 30% tax rule and was glad to profit about it. Great video and thank you.
I was born and raised in the netherlands, and i have to say i do not care where you're from, what language u speak, what you're religion is or how much you make yearly. What i do not understand is why within 2 months she already moved here, that's not nearly enough time to actually do research about the country itself, the people or the cities you wanna live in, second the Dutch she did speak i could barely understand so to say she already speaks Dutch is to arrogant for me, learning Dutch would be a better word for it, third if you want to live in a county why keep different passports/nationalities that to me is already stating i wanna live there but do not want the nationality aka i dont want be Dutch and forth but simply not least ( i live in Groningen ) the least populated part of the country and i see alot of people from different countries moving here first thing they do is find people that speak their language to communicate with, they do not make an effort to even talk or integrate with the Dutch, so how can they expect the Dutch to accept them if they do not accept the Dutch ( if i wanted to move to a different country i wouldn't mind giving up my dutch passport especially if i want to live in that country i moved to )? Now im not saying this goes for all immigrants, there are probably plenty that actually do try and get shut down by dutch people, my personal experience is i have yet to see those people. Anyways thanks for the video, i do hope you have a great life here and you seem like a great person willing to learn about us "closed off" stubborn Dutch people 😂😂👍.
high costs, missing home, not feeling like a local, feelings you will have while immigrating to about any country.. including the "go back to your country !!"
I've been living in the Netherlands since 2010. It took me a lot of time to feel completely accepted by the Dutch people, sometimes I still get comments from strangers, but those I do not take seriously. Since last November I'm working in a Dutch environment, using Dutch on a daily basis, and I feel more and more confident every day. I visit my birth country regularly and don't feel like moving back or away anytime soon. Although, I must say, I miss the snow during winter :D
Hi Melinda. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I think having a good command of Dutch definitely helps. And there will be people who are mean for sure. I’m glad you ignore and enjoy your stay here. You mentioned you miss the snow, where is your birth country?
we're planning to move to the Netherlands from Hungary, but slightly concerned about not being accepted by Dutch people.. :') and that's just one of the obstacles out there huh
Even if you move to Maastricht from within the Netherlands as a Dutch citizen you will never be fully accepted as a local so that is not much different for Dutch people from outside that area. I also feel like I'm missing a whole section on Dutch people that leave for work in specific sectors like Agriculture, technology and waterworks. There are heaps of people that leave every year for career opportunities that they feel may be much better outside the country. Not ever being fully "accepted" is an issue no matter where you go I feel. I immigrated 26 years ago to Canada from the Netherlands and still am not considered 'Canadian" by many. I will always be considered an immigrant. Aside from those who swear my accent is from Quebec or Newfoundland (both provinces I've never been to, but hey, it's a good conversation starter). I have come to accept that it is a part of being an immigrant, it comes with it, no matter where you move. I've found it usually turns into an opportunity to engage, discuss, learn and teach, even when they tell me to "take the boat back home". And yes, that's also happened on multiple occasions. Mostly by those who have never set foot outside of their own country to learn about the rest of this planet. :)
Interesting, Ik ben ook naar Canada verhuist maar heb dat nooit gevoelt. Canada makes me feel as their own. The Dutch always criticized me as an Allochtoon whereas here I never felt an immigrant. I am doing much better in Canada than in Nederland. I own house, car and everything here. Canadians embraced me whereas the Dutch despite me....
@wout123100 The statistics proofs that majority of dutch citizens owns nothing and have no savings. Canada stats are higher. Europe is not a place to built life, Canada is
The way I see it is that most society’s are built up in circles. First yourself, your family and your best friends ( We call it the inner circle). After that friends and acquaintances we see sometimes Than random people we say hi to and have a conversation with. Colleges and neighbours can fit almost everywhere. This structure is paramount to our success in all society’s and it’s very hard to break those barriers!
Beste Josephine. Ik ben zo iemand die zodra ik eindelijk met pensioen kan gaan heel snel mijn koffers pak. Om te beginnen: jij en je man zijn fantastisch dus neem het aub niet persoonlijk! Maar ik als Nederlander voel mij geen Nederlander meer. Immigratie is prima, we leven in een globalistische wereld. Maar als ik in de stad loop waan ik me in Afrika, niet meer in Nederland. De groep immigranten waar ik het over heb, daar behoor jij helemaal niet toe. Ik heb het over mensen die met hun strenge geloof hun ideeën en gedachten goed verspreiden. Dat is heel erg zichtbaar (we kunnen wel vermijden om erover te spreken, maar ik doe het toch) Zwarte Piet bijv: toen die verbannen werd dacht ik nog: ok als het mensen pijn doet of als het als discriminatie gezien wordt: prima, weg ermee. Maar wat je nu ziet is dat er een overkill aan "sociale" regels ontstaat. Bijv het woordje slaven: men word geacht te zeggen: "tot slaaf gemaakte" Ik kan nog heel lang door gaan en vele voorbeelden noemen, maar het is verworden tot een hysterie, de vrijheid van meningsuiting waar dit land heel lang voor stond is langzaamaan weg aan het gaan. Kijk bijv naar cabaretiers: wat hebben we gelachen als gelovigen (katholieken/moslims) op de hak werden genomen. Als er nu 1 verkeerd woord over Mohammed gezegd word volgen er doodbedreigingen. De vrijheid van het gesproken woord is al verdwenen. Dan is er een grote groep (m.n Syriërs bijv) die na 5 jaar (statistieken CBS) niet werken en waarvan de meerderheid (70%) dat ook niet wilt. En er gemeentes zijn die deze grote groep voorrang geeft op woningen (vorig jaar waren dat 4 gemeentes) Terwijl in de grote steden kinderen op hun 30e nog thuis wonen. De huizenmarkt zit simpelweg op slot, de huizenprijzen zijn in de afgelopen jaren de pan uitgerezen. Daarom vind ik het helemaal niet gek dat mensen zich niet meer thuis voelen in Nederland. Wat betreft dat laatste: zonder huizen is er amper een toekomst voor jonge mensen, laat staan de hoge vaste lasten (ik betaal nu 500 euro alleen aan energie).
Wij hebben altijd in een dorpje gewoond in de Betuwe, geen last van buitenlanders, de weinigen die er waren hielden zich koest en afzijdig. Ook het levensonderhoud was nooit een probleem met twee hoge inkomens maar we merkten wel dat het besteedbare inkomen steeds lager werd door stijgende kosten, met name belastingen en accijnzen. De druppel die de emmer deed overlopen was voor mij de maatschappelijke/sociale uitsluiting omdat ik weigerde de experimentele injectie te nemen. Dwars door familie en vriendenkring heen ! Nu wonen we op Curaçao en door de veel lagere woonlasten (hypotheekvrij en zonnepanelen voor airco's) plus inkomsten uit een B&B hoeven we niet meer te werken (60 jr). Elke dag zomer, strand/zee, terrasje tot laat in de avond buiten, tijd voor vrijwilligerswerk en hobby's. Zo blij dat ik niet meer in NL woon !!!
Although I am still here meanwhile, God knows I am being as open minded as I can to getting better opportunities elsewhere. I worked and lived in Switzerland and France through the end of last year and I truly felt happy. Coming back to the Netherlands on new year's eve, there was this existential dread that dawned on me...I don't want to be here anymore. I quit learning the language, decided it would do me no good to move around. Decided to pick up learning German, french and Spanish instead and I am happy with my decision. I even feel more connected to Germany when I travel than I do with Netherlands and when I tell people I am African and I love the German language they look at me like I am crazy 😂. The Netherlands is a beautiful country but it's not as rose colored glasses. I don't see myself starting a family here because it's pretty much impossible to buy a house. The weather sucks, Dutch people don't make friends with internationals except those that travelled or lived abroad, institutional overt racism, doctors don't know what they are doing, huge huge taxes (honestly every middle income person makes the same amount after tax). It's ridiculous
Hi Omolabake, It’s a pity that you feel this way about the Netherlands and I genuinely hope that you’re able to find somewhere else where you have a better experience and feel at home. I do recognise that the Netherlands isn’t perfect and is definitely not for everyone so I’m always of the opinion that people should explore options in as many countries as they want to and I hope they are able to find one they connect with. For me the Netherlands has been that country where I felt more at home regardless of the challenges and that’s why I’m happy to be here and to raise my family. I must say though that some of the issues you raised that are wrong with the Netherlands are still issues that are known to be common or even worse in the countries you’ve mentioned. Germany and France for instance have also been accused of systemic racism and closemindedness of the people (I don’t have an opinion on this as I’ve never lived in any of the countries, I’ve only visited). Switzerland has a higher tax rate than the Netherlands and is a much more expensive country (but indeed very beautiful) Regardless of what you choose, I hope you do the research really well for most of these countries so you don’t end up with similar complaints or disappointments as you’ve had with the Netherlands . All the best in your pursuits 🤗.
First Maastricht isn't a good place to live. It's hard to explain. I can tell you this, cities differ and if you adapt and 'become' dutch you will be accepted way faster. I could tell you multiple reasons why some dutch people are not welcoming. I'm adopted, I lived in Belgium, UK and now the Netherlands. First time I came to the Netherlands to live was Nijmegen. I can tell you this, coming from 2 year UK and before that 9 years of Belgium I was surprised I was greeted with kindness. I experienced a lot of racism in Belgium and UK (a little in The Netherlands) so The Netherlands was a great experience for me. I've lived in several places in the Netherlands and not in all places do I feel accepted as dutch. But most people that got to know me do accept. To make a long story short, it's simple, you come to live here? Adapt and accept and follow the rules and way of life in the Netherlands. When you feel like you are not accepted here it's probably because YOU are the problem. And what I mean with that is, I hear many immigrants/children born here from immigrants, always complaining about everything is bad here and in their country everything is better (even the kids born here and not even from their parents country) and their children too (because they only know from their parents not of own experience) yet they are still here. I once asked them why are they still here and why they don't go back (or back to their parents country) They kind of avoid the question and curse. And for your info I'm korean and yes I am sort of racist(who isn't?), but I do feel dutch. People expect to be given everything. Earn it.
I'm sorry, but I've lived here for 57 years and nothing major has changed that hasn't happened in other countries. So either your expectations were too high or you're struggling to appreciate the things you have here...
So long as you're far away from your home country, expect anything! Its the "World" out there... A lot of crazy and nice fellows you'll meet on a daily basis! And learn to detach emotions too as you'll only hurt yourself more holding so much importance to everything you hear from mean humans who're probably just out to try to break you up!
Limburg, just like rural Friesland and Groningen, has a strong sense of having their own culture and dialect. Thinking that anyone can move there and be part of that is just very naive. If you are born dutch you could somewhat be part of the social life but if you are a foreigner you have no chance. It annoys me a bit that people have no respect for that. Respect their pride in their heritage and language, dont move there, its quite simple.
I don't think that's being naive. Because in plenty of countries foreigners make friends easily and soon. For example in Mexico or Spain. In the Netherlands though it's impossible...
As I understand she married a native Dutch. The altercation she had with a Dutch may be just because she did break some unwritten rule and quite severely and responded in a nasty way.
Maastricht? The real "Dutch"experience? The first mistake she made was thinking Maastricht was realy Dutch. I"m a Brabander and don't even want to be buried in Maastricht. Realy? All the way from Australia and you end up in Maastricht for the real Dutch experience. Should I go on?
Thank you so much for checking up on me. This means a lot. Yes I’m okay, just shuffling so many things in my life right now. I’ll be back soon, already filmed some videos just need to get around to editing and posting. Hope you’re doing well too?
Hoi Josephine, I am good! All is well with my soul, and I am glad that your are doing well to. Great your husband and lovely children for me and have a blessed Easter.
Common. Back in my homecountry things are just super bad, I mean super super bad… I will do a lot to be able to live in any other country at this point but to me if you are a fighter The Netherlands is great. I have met people who didn’t like something about me, but that’s too easy to give up after hearing someone being upset with themselves actually…
I can understand this for sure. I think living in a different country demands some type of resilience and tough skin. The Netherlands is a beautiful country no doubt but not everyone will love you and welcome you with open arms.
So the lady sold her house and leaves because she had an argument with a man telling here to go home? Wow, she must be very sensitive. There must be more than this. If not, I am sorry, I cannot take her seriously. I don't know what her expectations were when she came. But I do now that I had a colleague who went from the Leiden to Maastricht for work. He lived there for five years and returned. He said that it was impossible to integrate in the Limbourgish culture. It is too different from the "Randstad" culture.
hahahah Yes maybe she already had some kind of insecurity because there is always going to be someone that is going to piss you off in some way or form. I have that too, but I will not move because of that. There must have been a different main reason why she left. Probably a different job. Maybe she hoped a different country is better but in the end she is also running away from her own unhappiness. That is why they often say don't move because you are running away from your previous life. I hope she finds strength
This Nigerian woman resides in the Nederlands but struggles to pronounce basic Dutch name. She even pronounces it in American English. Van der Hoeven is "Fan deR Hoe fin'. Nigeriansss
Nice video Josphine Ogugua! I'm born Dutch and I left already 10 years ago to first Singapore and now living just under Singapore in Batam Indonesia. Running my company in Holland, i got a bit sick of paying to much to much tax😐! So i picked up the business and moved it to Singapore! Best tax system in the world:)! Even better when you have a Singapore company and living in Indonesia😂! Revenue first world country paid out in Indonesia, for sure recommended! Still love the Netherlands but it is not my country anymore. Love to come back for 2 weeks in Holland but even better when i fly back to Asia! Success with your channel:)
Josphine, you're such a gem, no really! I've been recommending your channel to several other "new" expats and immigrants, since you have an excellent way of explaining why things are the way they are and what one should do. As you know in a normal Non-Covid year, The Netherlands is being visited by at least 65 million people every year. Most of the foreigners whom visit The Netherlands do not speak Dutch, and they are forgiven, since they do not intent to stay here longer then their few weeks of holidays. As you have stated yourself several times; when you have chosen to become a fellow Dutchy, you are to be expected to get in all the way; Dutch culture-wise spoken, Dutch Language-wise spoken so fully integrated and so you've left your former country definitely behind you, since you are focused on your success in The Netherlands. Of course you may want to visit your "old" country of holiday purposes, but for no more than that. Now if you have gone trough all the trouble of becoming a EU Dutch state citizen and you can speak Dutch (so you've placed yourself within Dutch society!) and yet you choose to speak permanently English (or any other foreign language for all that matters) with your partner...you basically place yourself out of Dutch society again, and especially when you also behave in a way that the locals may get offended...(like entering a private garden to catch a token from a computer game: so you're not showing the respect you should have) while speaking English to your partner....well that could easily end up in exactly the experience this lady had and so the owner of the garden could easily have judged the situation as: OMG again those foreigners trespassing my garden... They are not Dutch (whilst speaking English to each other) And they don't behave like normal Dutchies would have; so as we say in Dutch: Possession which does not lead to anything is a burden: get rid of it ! And so the man told this Australian/Philippines/Dutch lady to go back home since being here leads to frustration by the locals due to their English speaking and non normal behavior. I am not defending the local Dutchy garden owner, I am just trying to explain how things easily can get wrong, even if one has a Dutch passport and in theory speaks Dutch any yet chooses to speak any given foreign language but Dutch in The Netherlands. Learning Dutch and speaking Dutch is no side dish when you are here, speaking Dutch is a permanent necessity, while one lives here and so one should speak Dutch all the time, even among immigrant/expat partners one speaks Dutch all the time. The other language you came here with, well that comes in handy in the country where you used to live on holidays for example, or maybe occasionally at given circumstances which require your mother language. But in general so at 99% of the time one should speak Dutch because you want to stay IN the society in stead of placing yourself OUT of the society by using any given foreign language. Speaking a foreign language does not help, especially if you do not look "standard Dutch" to begin with. Local people may jump the conclusion before you are able to switch back to Dutch. So talking any foreign language does not gain you anything, especially when you do speak Dutch. A foreign language is always a disadvantage...by speaking a foreign language you're basically telling the locals 1. I do not speak Dutch 2. I don't care about The Dutch language 3. You will have to take me as I am, so speak English to me
I do agree and disagree with you. My wife is a native English speaker and lives in the Netherlands for over 43 years, her Dutch is perfect and she speaks Dutch when with the Dutch but we also speak English with eachother, often what ever comes first in our minds. I don't see any harm in that.
Dutch language is not an important language with a low return on investment. Only 20 million speak it globally. When you leave the Small country where can you speak your mother language?
IF someone did say go home to her he probably ment go away out of "Limburg" because she does not have an accent on her Dutch words of Carnaval or Koningsdag. But she is missing her "limburgs-accent" How she did learn Dutch I can only guess because of her Husband who does have a Dutch name. So it might be his parents are Dutch.and left the Netherlands in the past for Australia which lots of people did.
I see your point but I still think telling people to go back home in any little fit of disagreement is childish and unreasonable. I understand that as a foreigner you’re expected to have a thick skin but sometimes it’s hard. Anyway I hope they find peace and happiness in the next chapter of their lives 🫶
if your from an indirect communicating culture or a group centered culture than you would probably have some problems fitting in. with the whole feely emo thing of not being offended and being accustomed with cultural inefficient politeness.....yeah that would be shocking to those people, realizing how we think and express ourselves. every country i've been in there are people that don't like outsiders. difference is that they probably won't admit in public or keep it covert. i lived in indonesia and there i was not wanted by some, due to being mixed dutch indonesian.....but they still smiled in my face while detesting me when i didn't looked. i rather have people honest and open on their stance. it makes accepting another point of view or difference in principle easier. makes discussion functional, etc. without starting a witchhunt towards another opinion or resolve in violence! as that freedom of expression is accepted! don't you see that? only real racism in contrast to simple ignorance i only notice when going abroad. doen't matter if the main populace is white black or colored a lot have a negative stance towards outsiders that are not only there as tourist. if you think netherlands is bad to outsiders, ou probably would never feel welcome anywhere. than it is not for you, everybody that is raised in another culture will never fully assimilates with people being raised there! you don't have to be! perfectly fine and accepted to be a non dutch citizen. you are great as you are. i don't like some dutch either, but don't blame that on them being dutch or not, but if i like the indivdual on a personal level or not. i can never be zulu or apache, i can live in the same place, but always be seen as not indigenous! as i am not indigenous. seems quite logic and factual. doesn't mean i am not accepted..... weird ass thought process.
een paar weken regen? en wanneer ik naar Amerika verhuis, moet ik ook kiezen tussen verschillende staten. uitkijken waar er geen tornado's voorkomen. Of extreme hitte of kou. Normaal is in deze periode dat het regent, heb je dat in amerika niet? Chicago is ook erg koud in de winter, en in Californie heb je kans op aardbevingen. Kan je in Florida overal zwemmen zonder een krokododil of kaaiman tegen te komen?
If your wanting to live in social housing your wanting the dutch people to support your living expenses. And that's OK if you're from the Netherlands but not that ok if you're not , this puts a strain and burden on the tax system after all the dutch governments commitment should be to the dutch people first. Many immigrants move mostly for economic reasons today with the excuse that they are refugees and that's understandable but costly to the host and we all know how the dutch feel about there money (let's go dutch). Greetings from Panamá
Nicole says she speaks the language, but actually she does not. The dialect in Limburg is so different from standard Dutch that you won't be able to understand a single word if you speak Dutch. Sure, people in Limburg understand Dutch and talk Dutch to you, but you'll remain an outsider, because you cannot join in conversation among locals. It's not nice to be told to "go back to your own country", but you should not take it literally. It means: "go away, you are not part of my community". That will always be true in some way for everyone in The Netherlands. There are many communities in The Netherlands: Maroccan Dutch, Molukker Dutch, Amsterdam Dutch, rural Dutch, elderly Dutch, orthodox protestant Christian Dutch, left/right-wing Dutch,, etc. You won't belong to all of them, and people may shut you out. You will just have to accept that not everyone wants to be your friend, no matter how hard you try. It does not mean that no one wants you in the country.
Thanks your videos are educating. I wanna know I’m planning to come to Netherland for school I’d like to come with my spouse. I hear he wldnt be able to work more than 16hrs/wk while we are there. How can we change that?
Also I had to laugh about that part of the video about the Pokemon; the Netherlands is very crowded and ver compact or compressed. So yes having those pokemon players; which is insanely popular here, standing at your front door is extremely annoying. I had one of those hotspots or whatever they call them in front of my house and I actually had to contact the creators to remove it from their map. The lady is easily offended and a bit of a Karen; that indeed does not go well with our directness and our mentality.
Indeed, she's an entitled Karen. And she wouldn't be the first pokemon player who believes that's an excuse for rude behaviour. I even had one on private property who believed is game was a good reason to be there and I would understand.
Lool making excuses and thinking she didn’t know what how to be discreat?.?? So way tell some one to go back in your country ?. Stop making shity excuses fror racist remarks
Your “directness” is what I call “pig ignorant”. I’ve seen many Dutch people comment on people weights/height/clothing etc,,, rudest people I’ve ever met. Remember that time they kicked Xabi in the chest in the World Cup final? - exactly. Animals. 🙋♂️😅
So, the big question is, she has a Dutch name, van der Hoeven married I am assuming, were they trying to match the name with the country, reason why they moved to Holland?
We (my family and I) are Dutchies, but moved to Canada 7 years ago. The grass is always greener on the other side, and for Canada and us that holds true. I lived in Holland/The Netherlands for over 35 years, born and raised. Owned a home, got married and my kids were born there. I lived mostly in de Randstad, near Delft (Voorburg and Rijswijk), but also lived in Zwolle and Weert. Lack of space (and nature); over populated; narrow minded/limited in reaching potential; plethora of rules and regulations; bicycles; sports; are all reasons for me and my family to leave Holland/The Netherlands. It took us almost 9 years of preparation to make the move, so it wasn't an ad hoc transition. And even then you come across things that you didnt know before, when you finally moved. Like I said, not all is great here, but the pros far outweigh the cons. Don't be discouraged. The cost of living is actually higher here then we have ever experienced in The Netherlands. Now, after 7 years, we can see what the differences are between The Netherlands and Canada. Some major flaws are within the educational and the health system (in comparison to what we knew, back in Holland). Even with these flaws, there is not 1 moment that we think of returning back to Holland/The Netherlands. Like the lady says in the video: we, too, are not able to become Canadian Citizens, due to The Netherlands not allowing double passports (see 1 of reasons to leave: rules/regulations). For me, I'm not fully OK with this, but want to keep my Dutch passport. Of course any situation is different and no 2 points of view are the same. I see you are doing alright in your new Home country and we are here. Unfortunately not all experiences are the same. IMO you can not make the decision to move to another country post haste. Thank you for posting this!
I agree that everyone wants to feel like they belong. But, its the same everywhere. People don't warm up so easily to people that look different from them. The US has so many people from so many different places but there's always so much conflict. The races and cultures find it difficult to mix. In a perfect world it would be different. Also, why are people moving away from their place of origin. From where they buried their ancestors where people fit in just fine? I wouldn't move away from my country unless I was forced to.
She claims to be Dutch, but Dutch citizenship like the Dutch wasn't good enough for her, she wanted to keep more citizenships, giving her rights to foreign states. She said she came to live her for good, but moves out after 5 years because two people weren't nice to her. She says she wants to be Dutch, but she's mad she has to pay taxes like the Dutch. She wanted to real Dutch experience and moved to Maastricht, showing that she didn't have any idea about the Netherlands or the Dutch. Obviously it was an impulsive decision she regrets, she was never committed at hung on to a plan B with her nationalities and she didn't try another, undoubtely more Dutch, city either. If she had become somewhat Dutch, she had taken more responsibility for her own decisions. I'm sorry but many expats and also immigrants from muslim countries want to have their cake and eat it oo. They want to keep one foot in their foreign country but want to be 100% when it suits them too. They don't truly be in the same position as the Dutch, it's not about theri background, they make it into their foreground too when it suits them. And the Dutch are expected to find them fantastic and interesting and make them feel Dutch when they feel like feeling Dutch, on their way home from socializing with other expast for example. The welcoming nature of the Dutch is taken for granted and taken advantage of. Government wants more foreigners, as much as we can bear, because more people mean higher GDP, not higher GDP per captia, it's only costing us through housing need and housing prices. The Dutch people feel the country is saturated with foreigners enough. The skilled migrants are not that exceptionally skilled to justify the tax discrimination agains the Dutch. Not to mention all the unskilled migrants, which are simply a huge burden in more than one sense.
Iam irish and have lived in THE naderhand fo 44years and I know I will NEVER be a naderlander I have my naderlands passport and I will. Never be a naderder for the only reason it’s NOT possible my son in a naderlander his fathe is a Nederland historical. Feeling like your Anything in life are just feelings and are personal Notting more Notting lest please live youlife be happy stop claiming stuip things like I am a naderlander or an Africa just live be happy
I only hear one argument and the fact she has to pay more taxes. Not very convincing. This is going to happen everywhere. I don't think most Dutch people are that way. I'm black but I'm sure if a white person goes to an African country they will experience this too. Not that that makes it ok but that's the way some people are.
Interesting... Being a US citizen, not born in the US, I can't see myself as an emigrant, never did... You talk at the end of the video about your kid...It never crossed your mind that by the moment you decided to go and live there, it will affect your entire life and the life of your kids as well... The reason why that is, is because YOU decided to live there, you were not invited to live there and that is a big difference. You speak at the beginning of this video about social housing... Guess what; here in the States the social housing is at ZERO! End of story. You speak about migrant crisis... Guess what; the south US border is literally flooded by millions of migrants and most of them make it in... These are not reasons for people to leave Holland. I bet it's the communist politics and the way people are treated by government. There is hope still after the peasants party arose and after the last elections, which some call to be won by the "extreme right", but only because they lost the political compass... I mean, most of the Dutch voted for that party and that's what a democracy is all about; the will of the many... The lady in your story is a professional emigrant or a citizenship collector... There must be a reason not being able to adapt at least in one of the countries in which she holds citizenship. To the people not so much afford of newcomers, I'd say it could be due to tax brakes, which are not given to struggling locals, who in fact have to pay for those brakes... If you're skilled and you hold a skilled job (aka well paid job), you don't need another tax payer to come-up with more taxes to cover yours... And there is that language, which makes anyone believe the person is about to vomit... Many newcomers can't learn that and understandably why; next they leave... I can't find a single reason for anyone to move there, but it is what it is...
Many of those are just buying a home in bElgium or Germany near the border, because homes are cheaper there and it is still nearby to drive or even bike to work.
Thank you for your video! I'm planning to spend 5 months in the Netherlands as a research fellow and I'll try to find out if an idea to move to the Netherlands and to get a Dutch sitizenship is good for me. But I have one question. Is it really necessary to strive after becoming Dutch in the Netherlands in the 21nd centuary? Don't people have an opportunity to be who they are in the Netherlands?
Looking at your name and last name you may have roots in other countries. ;) I have met many people who claimed to be Dutch and thinks they own the country. When you dig deeper you see they have origins in France, Indonesia, Germany, Ireland etc. It is a strange delusion to think that you own a piece of land/country in the universe. :) British King thinks he is coming from a noble blood line and you are inferior to him. There is no end to this superiority complex.
@Alnivol666 Nobody said that. Having pride in your country and defining an identity no matter how shallow it is is a right but when you cross to the side of a superiority complex then it becomes a problem in the social domain. When I look around I see this superiority complex in the Western Europen countries. Probably due to the colonial past. That causes a lot trouble and covert and systematic racism which prevents even the 2nd 3rd generation immigrants of equal opportunities.
Maastricht beautiful city, but it is a close community, I think it one of the harder place to intergrate fully even for a dutch person who is from the north or west of the Netherlands
This is very true but there is more. To be Dutch you need to articipate in dutch societey. No big things but be active at your sons school, or go to the local dutch Cafe,talk the locals , simple things like this can make a huge difference. Hopefully you understand what I mean, my english used to be better.
I live only 3 miles from Maastricht which means I do have a slight different dialect. For that reason I will be tolerated in their community and that's it, not more then that. Integration? Forget it, Maastricht is one big family because for ages they have lived very isolated within the stone walls surrounding the inner city and were very suspicious to other people not belonging to their clan.
I'm looking at some statistics concerning immigration and emigration in The Netherlands in the past ten years. Numbers are from CBS Statline. Immigration (x 1,000) 2012: 158 2013: 164 2014: 182 2015: 204 2016: 230 2017: 234 2018: 243 2019: 269 2020: 220 2021: 252 2022: 401 As you see, immigration has greatly increased from ten years ago (about 60% more, which is huge). And is has exploded in 2022, because 401.000 immigrants is an exceptional number, given the size of our country and population. Now let's look at the emigration numbers. Emigration (x 1,000) 2012: 144 2013: 145 2014: 147 2015: 149 2016: 151 2017: 154 2018: 157 2019: 161 2020: 152 2021: 145 2022: 173 This is quite another issue. No 'great increase' throughout 2012-2021. And one incidental increase in 2022 (10% more than usual). It means that people actually WANT to move to The Netherlands, but obviously NOT MANY people like to leave. If we add the numbers, we arrive at a total of 2,6 million people who immigrated to The Netherlands, while only 1,6 million have left our country in the same time. A net result of 1 million people EXTRA in only one decade. Hence the obvious shortage of houses, and prices skyrocketing, disadvantaging all people who want to live here and pay the rent or mortgage. Now, WHO WERE these people going in and out of our country? CBS Statline has the answers. 90% of immigrants were non-Dutch; and more than 80% of emigrants were non-Dutch. Even in the excessive year 2022 which you address, only 16% (one out of six) emigrants were Dutch. Thus, the huge increase in *emigration* is mainly caused by *immigrants* who leave the country (for instance, because they could not get a staying permit), hardly or not by Dutch people 'fleeing' the country for whatever reason.
yeah and in 2022 401,351 people moved here so way more than you claiming to have left. immigration is one big problem in the netherlands there are a lot of welfare seekers but we cant accept everyone. build your own country up like we did in the past
I left for a new opportunity and for the adventure of starting again new in a different country. I ended up living in 3 countries before I moved back. Living abroad makes you appreciate all the things you took for granted even more. I moved back because a great opportunity presented itself and because I wanted to be closer to my family and friends.
Thanks Heleen for sharing. I’m glad you were able to explore and then made your decision to come back home.🤗
You are right about after living in USA (Florida) for 24 years i miss family and friends. I am moving back to Amsterdam in process of buying a apartment. There is no place like Amsterdam. Home sweet home.
@@thk420 How wonderful for you! There is no place like Amsterdam! Welcome back!
@@helena19741 Not yet i am in process of purchasing an apartment. Hopefully soon. Thanks
If you're dutch you don't count.
Maastricht is actually a difficult area to move to. Even for an ethnic Dutch person coming from other parts of the country. Limburgers are mainly focused on other Limburgers and not outsiders. Culturally they might be closer to Belgians and Germans because of their geographic location. What also surprises people is how Dutch people form relationships with friends. Dutch people make friends when they grow up. And because it's a small country they can keep those relationships, even when moving to other parts of the country. Therefor Dutch people have no need to make friends at work or other places when they're adults.
About Limburg specifically:
Not very surprising either: If you see the map, you will understand that this area has been heavily contested over the last 2000 years. That means: regular war, continuously changing leadership, shifting loyalties. Knowing who you know becomes important. Roots. I know I can trust you because our great great great grandparents also trusted each other.
@@joopdesmit Yes, when you look at the map it's actually odd that it ended up being a part of the Netherlands, when it would have been more logically to be a part of Belgium.
Completely agree. I (dutch) temporarily worked in Limburg. But I never felt accepted. I would never want to live there.
I was also thinking about moving from Berlin to Limburg. I lived at the border and was even allowed to visit my old neighbours in Limburg, who moved there from Germany. In the end, the loneliness shocked me. In Germany, you also like to interact with each other. Nevertheless, the Germans are more open and are happy about growth in the circle of friends. I’m now moving back to Berlin.
Oh boy I’m moving there from the usa
I find it a bit naïve to move to a country based on a single holiday experience. If she would have done her home work she would have learned that Limburg is the hardest part to integrate and be accepted when you move there. As someone else mentioned here…. even for Dutch locals that move there from other provinces.
try friesland, and youll question if youre in a different country
Leaving soon to Belgium because after being here 1.5 years cannot find a not precarious place, e.g. still living illegally somewhere....wile having a full-time job speak the language have 15k in savings and both parents that can backup me legally in renting
It's really a shame and inhumane
I'm half dutch so I speak the language and have a dutch passport and was even born here but grew up abroad
People are so passive aggressive, really not direct, and if you don't look-behave-speak accentless dutch I always get spoken to in English!!! In my own mother country!!! It's depressing and making friends its impossible, only people I bond with are other foreigners
15k lol
sorry but lol
Where did you live?
I am Dutch. Born, raised and by blood. I moved out of the Netherlands because I was not able to stay because of the housing crisis and to be honest I don’t recognize my own country anymore..
I respect every culture and person, but I don’t understand why immigrants in the area that I am from (Randstad), barely made a effort to learn our language while living there for more than 5 years. The Netherlands is a very small country and not build for that much people also.
I have tried , but wherever I go , people hear my accent and switch back to English .
how are you liking your new local language as an immigrant? WELL?
theyre not your free language teachers, they have schools for that, made an effort thanks@@guilhermelargueza1685
im about to leave for similar reasons and I dont like some politician who i didnt vote for telling me what to do
I feel the same way about whites than settle in Bali.
I am sort of involuntarily here. I moved during the lockdowns from France to be with my boyfriend. I can’t regret being with him but I am miserable here. I’m a grown adult and we are living in his fathers house because we can’t afford a place to live. I dread having energy bills of our own here. It’s too expensive and you barely get any space from what I see in rental listings. I want to leave so badly.
Find another boyfriend I would say. :) Quality of life is important. There are housing opportunities in the Netherlands, but not in the big cities...so maybe want to check if you can live in other places. Where do you live? How come you two together do not make enough to be able to rent something together. You can find a house for 1200 euro a month, but again..not in the vicinity of the center of a big city.
@@Alnivol666 If I leave him, I'm committing to a life of singleness, honestly. It's too hard to find a good guy. We hired a company that uses a bot and also manually combs through listings from hundreds of websites, and what they come up with under €1500 is maybe one or two listings a week. We are only one income right now - mine. Once we move he will begin his job search again, since we are trying to move to a different area and we don't want him needing to commute 2+ hours each day.
at least you have free housing
imagine how hard it would be for him to find a job in france, same kind of impossibilty
I love your videos so much. Thanks for sharing a different perspective. It is important to see other people's experiences. It makes me sad that it didn't work out for Nicole, especially when she worked so hard and brought a good attitude to it.
I’m glad you enjoy the videos Caethes and thanks so much for your comment. I also feel for Nicole and I hope she’s able to find somewhere she’ll feel happy to call home💕
Do I understand that you are trying to say: it only doesn't work for Nicole and people like her? Insinuating that these examples are only few people experiencing this negativity!
If we do the math, you would be embarrassed of your limited research
Damn. I could never leave, people tolerate me here, its safe, green, healthy there's bike paths. It's so far ahead of any other country I have been to.
Yeah, but if you can't get a home with enough rooms for your own family, at some point you will look abroad. Maybe just over the border.
Euuhm don't want to be a negative nancy but the Netherlands isn't that healthy. Our air quality is one of the worst of Europe
@@michalovesanime Yet still, its people are healthy. There are enough indexes for that too. It's almost like, shocker, 1 metric (air quality) doesn't influence all of the healthiness that much.
@@michalovesanime lol bullshit, spain france germany, all the big countrys much worser then NL we live next to the sea as a small country. only in the big city its worse. but all the other parts. just cleaner then all thos big countrys
and as usual we never agree with each other, we call that poldermodel. sometimes i wonder how the h do those always complaining types have a live????? i only complain about the complainers hahahaah funny.
First thank you Josphine for the time you take to produce the wonderful videos. After growing up in America and coming to Europe (via US Army), I opted out and stayed in Germany where I meet my German wife. Nothing against America but the second love of my life is Europe, and that love extended to renouncing my citizenship and taking on the German citizenship.
1. Do I feel German just because I can speak, read and write German? No, I do not. Do I feel German just because I obtained the German citizenship? No. Do I regret the process? Never have and after 20 years, doubt I ever will. My experience is that, I was accepted and respected because I could communicate with Germans in my office and in my free time in their language. My opinion is that a foreigner taking on a new citizenship will not offer the feeling of being a full fledged citizen. You have the title, but did not go trough the growing pains while growing up in that country. There have been several conversations that I could not take part in because I did not experience the school system, or further education up to entering the workforce. But, on the other hand, I am not upset because I cannot take full part of these types conversations. It doesn’t make me feel less of a citizen, I just accept the fact and move on, I am the one that changed sides of the pond.
2. When starting out in a new country, I refused to move to a city when at the time I could speak English, and wanted the international experience. If I was looking for the international experience, I could have stayed in the US and moved to New York or Chicago. I told my wife that we should move to a small town in the suburbs where I no choice but to speak German. Later I realized the benefit of this. I was surrounded by the local language, and jumped into the German experience like jumping into cold water. I can say, the learning curve was immense and intense. But, later as my language skills improved, the locals (especially the neighbors) started to respect my efforts and gain the courage to correct my mistakes in a friendly manner. I felt as well, that they realized I didn’t expect to be accepted, but gained their respect for my efforts. Now days, I am just one of the locals that took on the citizenship. I am accepted as a full blooded citizen, but respected. But, to be honest, I don’t give a hoot what the others think. Sometimes it feels like they are proud to know someone that fought through the language learning process and took on their citizenship.
3. I would never have broken ties and pulled tents from my home country like she did. Especially on a whim and after a few weeks vacation. Vacation living is not the same as working and living. My wife and love NL. We have been known to vacation twice a year in NL. As Europeans we are coming close to retirement and even considering retiring in NL. Would I break off and just move? The answer is no. We plan to rent a place for a couple of months and test if we can adjust to retirement life in NL before we break ties. And maybe do this a couple of times during different seasons. Good, being a European, your not breaking all the ties. You just change governmental systems and learn a new language. If it does not feel right we have the option to move close to the boarder and enjoy both countries.
I guess what I am trying to point out, is your mentality to the whole situation. There are times to jump in life without looking forward, and then there are times to look before you leap. Don’t expect everyone to accept you like you experienced in vacation. During vacation the new experience is wonderful to the point that you overlook the things that normally would upset you. Sometimes like when you have a new love in you life. After a while you start noticing the things that disturb you. I have experienced racism. Not because of my skin color, but my accent comes through at times, when I am asked if I was in the military or opted out for social services work. When I explain that I was in the US Army and became a citizen after my military period, I get a lot of uncalled for comments. There have been times that I did not get a job because of it or I was not invited to social events. As a German citizen, I have even experienced racism in NL. It bothered me at first, but then I decided not to waste my limited time on this earth to entertain their opinions. It’s a waste of time having a battle of wits against an unarmed person.
Just keep in mind when thinking that the grass is greener on the other side and you want to take part in that beauty, it still needs maintenance and hard work to keep it that way..
Sometimes life is not easy,
People think in other country life is better."the grass is greenet on the over side" 🤔
Know people move more than 20 times, sometimes it's between the ears.
I was born in Amsterdam and as a Brown person, I never felt home. People are rude and discriminative due to mass immgration, refugee favouritism and are therefore xenophobic. I moved to Canada 🇨🇦 and could not be more happy. Canada is the place to raise a family.
As it should be . You are not European
@staedlerok Canada never made me feel this way. Even though I was born in Europe. In technical terms, I am European but Europe never made me feel that way because of racists like you. Canada made me feel home and I am accepted here. Besides Canada is a better country anyways. Less refugees, we have our own energy. Now I see Europe begging for energy etc. Cost of living is much better here. I am wealthy here so I am winning in life. Whereas, many people in Europe owns nothing and pay high taxes lol... It's funny how more Dutch people are moving to Canada these days... Oh well the downfall Europe is here....
Why keep running to majority white country? What happen to going to Africa for citizenship? Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana doing good
@odellowe7340 Canada is diverse Native and Brotosh settlers where the first but soon it is a place for immigrants to make it home🇨🇦. I suggest you to study as perhaps you sound uneducated and illiterate just like the Africans in rural area. You seem to have the same IQ.
@@odellowe7340because it’s sicker in Africa. I don’t agree that she says people are rude. But she maybe right that people like you are discriminative.
My parents sold their house, in the current market that is a big pay off. They are curently living with my grandparents. Searching on the internet for their dream home in france or spain. Where it is way cheaper to live. For the value of a family home here, you can live in a french countrystead with your own forest, river, swiming pool etc. Most dutchies start a b&b or retreat there to earn a living while getting old in a nice cozy place.
On that subject, getting old in the Netherlands is not interesting. It's a part of our society that went wrong. Old people are forgotten and lonely.
Yes but where are you going to work if you don't speak that language that is already problem number 1. In France they do expect you to speak French. Spanish as well. They don't speak English very well as far I have experienced at least.
You can have the Dutch nationality without being Dutch; you still have your roots in Nigeria or Australia or whatever. Point is most people do not care where you are from and we love that you make a contribution to our beloved country.
Thanks Mark. I’m glad most people are really kind and friendly anyway🤗
Yes, I'm scottish but my mum is dutch so im eligible for dutch-British dual nationality :)
that is bullsht. nazis only accept whites
no you cant.
you will never be dutch until you have that passport @@osococo8618
Don't forget the weather. A part of the people who are leaving are pensioners or even younger people that move to for example Spain or Portugal, where live is not just cheaper, but also the weather is more to their liking.
And also some people want to have a more natural, less urban and density populated environment.
This is a very valid point and thanks for mentioning this 🤗
Yess but less jobs available.
I am Dutch - left in 2022. Early 30s. Housing crisis, safety issues, and the lockdown(s) made me look elsewhere. Living life in eastern Europe right now - and I wish I went earlier. Running an IT business from here. Most likely will never go back. I'm quite bitter about that place.
Hi hi,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m glad you’re enjoying your new location ..
You moved to Sofia, Bulgaria? I just came from there to the Netherlands and I'm already regretting it and want to go back 😅 The more time I spend in Northern and Western EU countries the more I realize Bulgaria is actually an incredible place to live and I've been mislead by cheap propaganda my entire life
@@mmmnahfam Yes, I grew up in the Netherlands but now I moved to Sofia and I love it. The only problem (for some) is finding a good income (for me, not a problem). Bulgaria is great and I will be staying for a while.
The same here with me, i realize that in Bulgaria i had a way better lifestyle, no matter the lowest income, but i was able to go out with friends, to go to a different events, to own a nice car. Here almost all my money go for bills and food, it became maybe 30 % more expensive since im here and my salary is the same like the past year.
I moved also from the Netherlands to Prague , 11 years ago ( was in Ireland , UK , France ) and not planing to go back cause i am better here also an IT guy but I will never trow dutch people under the bus , there are a lot of good people in the Netherlands , i left for different reasons , not cause of dutch people... most of what i know today came from dutch people... BTW , i always lived in Villages in the Netherlands never in a city , people are different in Villages than cities , that's a fact.
Nicole should move to a Village and see how her life gonna change
I feel bad and sad that people leave the Netherlands because people tell them to 'go home'. Please also know that i think you will sooner be confronted with someone with a negative point of view on this than with people who are fine with immigrants. At least in a real life situation. You will unfortunately find racists and xenophobes everywhere in the world. Please know that those people do not represent all of a country, and definitely not all of the Netherlands. I am a dutchie myself
Probably because the racist people are the vocal ones. Someone that is ok with immigrants will see them and pass them like they do with anyone else... it is just another person to them. Racist will let you know how much they hate you at every turn.
I am convinced that a fast majority of Dutch people have no issues with immigrants and new Dutch at all.
I think it is also important to realise that people are less racist in the Netherlands than some other countries but Maasstricht is a difficult place even for other Dutch people
@@888records personally i don't like to specify a location, because depending on the circumstance one can really find racism anywhere. And i lived in maastricht myself
@@geertjejansen1974 Of course it can be found anywhere but racism is more common in some places than others and it’s alright to acknowledge that
Yes but I heard only 2 or 3 people that she came across that gave her that feeling.
I think you can validate how deep the issue is by reading Local’s comment here rejecting even her personal experience and sharing how she felt during her stay.
Somehow I get the feeling that - although she learned the language - she didn't really learn about the culture. I've moved to Mexico about 10 years ago (for love, but I came back to the Netherlands because of divorce) and first thing I learned in Mexico is not only learn Spanish but also learn about the culture. Part of moving to a different country is adapting to the local culture (not necessarily adopting it). I got this vibe from the girl that she neglected to adapt to the culture of at least accept it.
About reasons for leaving the Netherlands: I believe that it's mostly either refugees who return to their native country, (Dutch) people who find a (better) job abroad, indeed the high and increasing costs of living here, or people who want to start a new life for any reason. However, if we take the numbers of migration at hand, they do show an increase of immigration (and that's also a big part of the reason why the general population number is still increasing - by January 2023 almost 18 million people!): more births than deaths, and more immigration than emigration. So, although there are a number of people leaving the country, there are still more people coming in.
The only thing I do miss from Mexico is the warm weather (I HATE the cold & winter).
Hi Peter, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I can understand that it’s still important to adapt to the culture, I think that takes more time and conscious effort and definitely pays off at the end.
Immigration is still the major course of population growth in the Netherlands… birth rate is just slightly higher than death rate (only a few hundreds higher). The population increase by birth is a bit scary, as it’s not increasing at enough rate to handle the continuous growth in the Dutch economy. This is why I believe immigration especially for highly skilled migrants will continue for years and years unless something changes in the economy or birthrate.
@@josphineogugua Low birth rates is what every developed country has been experiencing for decades.
So yes, immigration is the main factor to keep the population growing or not declining.
Dear Josphine,
Love your channel, thank you for your videos 🫶🏻❤️
Hi from Ukraine 🇺🇦
Hi Becker. It’s nice to have you here. Hope you are doing well?🤗
I was strongly considering moving to NL, but after watching your videos, I think I'll look elsewhere. Thank you for being so candid and showing multiple realities of life in the NL.
It depends on what is important to you but living in the Netherlands could be great but just do good research on every area in The Netherlands. Don’t move to Maasstricht like the girl in the video did, plenty of Maasstrichters don’t even accept other Dutch people so let alone foreigners
Thanks for not coming. It is already too crowded. Please stay away. 🎉
Try to live in Ukraine where the action is happening
I am considering to move out of here, don't even think about it just come for a trip and see if you can live with all the obstacles then consider it
When I was 22 I left The Netherlands for good, and not one moment after 21 years do I miss the dutch mentality and my country.
we dont miss you either.
What exactly did you not like about the Dutch mentality? I just feel like people are so individualistic, lacking spontaneity and just difficult most of the time. They are nice but only on surface level.
@@Alnivol666 Where do you live?
@@rob5psv netherlands
@@Alnivol666 No which region.
My uncle left in the seventies for Norway and when I visit I see why. But I’ve also seen people leave and be back in no time. I guess the grass always seems greener on the other side. I’m going nowhere 😊
Hahaha. I’m glad you’re going nowhere 😆😆😆… Norway is beautiful, I noticed many Dutchies move to Scandinavia which I find interesting..
@@josphineogugua Norway, Sweden and Denmark are culturally very similar to the Netherlands and the language relatively easy to pick up, speaking Dutch and English already. So Dutchies blend in pretty easily. I guess that helps. On the other hand you find Dutchies all over the globe, expect to hear Dutch all of the sudden, no matter how remote the place is 😂
@@hunchbackaudio I was in Sweden last year and I found the words really similar to Dutch. My husband could already guess the meaning of some words as his Dutch is very good.
I always thought it was only Nigerians you find everywhere on the globe but coming to think of it, I remember overhearing a family speaking Dutch on a tourist visit I had to Barcelona… I was just smiling in my mind as I could understand a bit what they were saying. 🤪
@@josphineogugua Never think you can speak openly in Dutch an expect no one to understand abroad😂 I noticed Nigerians are very outgoing as well, there's a big community in Amsterdam southeast and we live in the small city of Amersfoort and I know there a small Nigerian church close to our home.
@@hunchbackaudio for sure, someone could be hearing exactly what you’re saying 😆. I’ve heard about the big Nigerian community. I attended a Nigerians Independence Day event in Amsterdam too so I’m glad to have connected with a few people. 🤗
After living almost 7 years here and having a dutch nationality, I am considering leaving because I can develop socially and finicialy
My experience having lived in many countries and now landing in the Netherlands for a few years: I think you can have a quiet life in the netherlands as people are really indifferent toward your culture. Maybe they judge but they are not asking you really to be the same as them as they understand you are different (they really dont care about you haha). The negative part of it is the development of closed communities living here for a while as they dont mix with dutch even though sometimes living in the same neighbourhood.
It is a multi cultural country for sure, but the less mixed i have lived in so far! I see much more diversity in other countries at corporate environments, relationships, friendships...Here i have the feeling everyone stays on his own or with people that look the same.
That's again my own perception, u may be experiencing something different. Again we cannot having all it is all about you fitting in this environment. The downside here is that it is quite tough to have meaningful relationships, it mainly chit chat about the weather or what i have done last weekend or the next holidays. No room for spontaneous catch up if you did not plan a coffee 2weeks upfront :)
All in all, i find Dutch really respectful and nice people though compared with some other european countries
Thanks so much for sharing. I do agree with some points. The friendship circles are more closed and it requires extra effort sometimes. So people tend to mingle with those from their community or those they share common interests with.
Space. That is the main reason to leave.
Ķoiioiiok
@@josphineoguguaplease don’t come to the Netherlands. It is already too crowded and no housing for you. Stay away please!
@@charliemundo7998Yes. That's why it is better to be an entrepreneur and lead your life when you are moroccan in NL. Better than being the subject of other people perception of what they think you are.
Dear Nicole. There is no difference of acceptance in France, Spain the UK or elsewhere. So don't isolate the Dutch as the only problem. I've experienced the same in the UK and in the US.
said the dutch...
@@dan-ronso so? he is damn right, its everywere, not only in the netherlands. thats bullshit.
@@Morthox so... it's wrong everywhere. If we just keep normalizing it and invalidating this violence, it's not going to change for better...so...next time you see it happening you scold who had this attitude. Simple as that.
@@dan-ronso or maybe , accept reality as it is, it is not going to change because you dont like it. besides that i hear form many expats how the are accepted here very well, i think it depends a lot of how you are.
Nah France is 10x worse but unlike the sutch being direct frenchies are hypocrite and more vicious in their ways to discriminate
I'm pretty much 100% certain that if I learned xhosa and move to South-Africa, some people I'd get into an altercation with, would tell me to go back home too. But valid point.
That’s a possibility Patrick but it doesn’t make it right. If you’ve lived in SA and had children, speak the language, invested in the country and made it your home… it’s a hard pill to swallow.
@Patrick Lebens
Yes South Africa , my beautiful home country is extremely xenophobic, they even burn foreigners to de*th here. However those are mostly black foreigners that they hate on. If you are white, they will probably praise you, Because there is a lot of internalized self hate in South Africa, and white worship unfortunately....
@@incognito3599 I'm sad to hear that, but it's not the point I tried to make. I randomly picked SA, but this is applicable everywhere, when stupid ppl get mad stupid ppl say stupid things.
@@josphineogugua what i see again and again is : people have soem bad expereinc eyes, and thentranslate that as if thats generally the case, and that is not true. i think a lot depends how you are yourself.
I'm from an African country, born and raised but since I have lighter skin, I've heard the "go back to your country" as well. 😅Unfortunately, as humans we are extremely judgemental.
My spouse is British/Irish and I 'imported' him from Belgium almost 30 years ago. We had to go through all bureaucracy to get married and I remember that the spouse complained to a civil servant in the community who totally agreed with him and said that even he experienced the horrible bureaucracy and cultural hurdles... coming from Limbabwe (making Limburg sound like Zimbabwe to exaggerate that it is a foreign part of the country). So I think the acceptance/not acceptance will often be an issue in the Netherlands, but even between regions. If she got a Dutch passport, she had some family rights because you normally can't become Dutch and keep your foreign nationalities (or get another nationality and keep your Dutch one, my family in Australia gave their Dutch citizenship up in order to obtain Australian Nationality). There are plenty of good reasons to move away from the Netherlands (like the reasons you stated in the beginning of the video) but I'm not very impressed with Nicole's reasons.
Her name "v d Hoeven" is a typical Dutch name so I'll guess her Husband has a Dutch nationality.
@@Mydamian55 I've been wrong about that before, when people had Dutch ancestry but no longer Dutch nationality (like my own Australian family)
All counties have problems. If we were to leave every time there was a problem, we would never stay in one place
I leaved Nederland in 86 for a year that's 37 years ago and no regrets ever I'm in Calgary Alberta
Hi Josphine,
Nicole van der Hoeven is a Dutch name. Many Dutchies moved to Australia in the fifties and sixties. I think her mother or her father was born in the Netherlands and that way Nicole picked up Dutch.
Thanks for your vids. I pushed the susbribe button.
Carla (Amsterdam)
Hi Carla,
Thanks for your comment. I also wondered how she had a Dutch name. she mentioned she was born in the Philippines and moved to Australia afterwards… maybe her husband is Dutch? I’m not sure really…
Hi, I came across a video and from that very moment i watched multiple of your videos.
Just wanted to tell you that i love you being so exciting, animated and cheerful in your presentation its a real joy to watch, the absolute highlight is how well spoken you are and the effort you put into each video, the knowledge and research you do about a topic, well done!
Hope you continue for as long as you have fun doing this and share more of your experiences.
Thank you Timothy, this means a lot. I appreciate you for watching and taking out time to comment and encourage me. 🤗
I'm definitely feel that some of us can be quite narrow-minded, as is true for a lot of people all around the world. I'm sorry they felt they were not welcome enough or weren't accepted as a regular citizen, and I have been told roughly the same even though I was born here. At least I have learned that it wasn't my shortcomings that triggered that behaviour and I hope anyone who comes to live here will certainly learn that as well, preferably soon. There are unfiltered opinions everywhere, and there's no pleasing everyone. Having said that, I want to thank you for making this video, as some of us will be blissfully ignorant of the excessively restricted frame of reference a certain part of our otherwise grounded society can display.
It's unfortunate to see the Dutch can be so unwelcoming, in contrast I've lived in the Philippines for 3 years and it felt like home there, my better home tbh.
yeah , i wonder if you read the comments. some people wont fit in here, true.
I agree. They're so closed off and only hang out with other dutch people. They make superficial friendships with immigrants but they're only nice superficially. They'd never invite you in their circles.
People leave America UK Canada and even Germany... People will always have a reason to leave
actually i think it is a healthy thing if there are always a good amount of people on the move !!
this is so true, I am Dutch Caribbean and is Witness the same thing i don't think i'll make it past 5 years either. the housing crisis is crazy.
I’ve been here for over 5 years and I’m trying to leave the Netherlands. It’s a cold place. Can’t wait to leave it behind.
It’s sad to hear how you feel after five years but I really wish you the very very best wherever you choose to move to 🫶
@@josphineogugua thank you. You’re so sweet
Yes I agree it's cold
@@noammimon Where did you live?
Totally agree. In the same situation.
Interesting comments here, I moved to the Netherlands from London England 3 years ago, I own my own property and learned the language, no country in the world is perfect..I have no problems with the dutch culture at all.
I am born and raised in The Netherlands, in the Randstad area, but moved out 10 years ago. I moved to Norway because of the housing crisis. It is just impossible for younger people to buy or even rent something. There were also better job opportunities in Norway, and I thought The Netherlands was getting way too crowded. Although I really miss the Netherlands and want to move back one day, but probably not to the Randstad anymore 😂
I still have my Dutch passport though.
Thanks for sharing Claire and I totally understand your reason for moving. I heard Norway is beautiful ( I hope to visit someday to see the Northern lights 😍). Do you get to visit the Netherlands often?
@@josphineogugua Yes, i visit the Netherlands in my holidays, 2-4 times a year. Not so much though as I would like, due to work. Yes, Norway is really beautiful and way less crowded than the Netherlands, although the culture is hard to cope with and the winters are long and dark and slippery. Thank you very much for sharing things like this on your UA-cam channel, I really enjoy watching. It gives me as a Dutch person another perspective on my country, especially since I moved out. There are a lot of things I can relate to as a foreigner in another country. Thank you so much!
I moved to Canada from Netherlands for the similar reasons. I own house, car and everything here..
@@brownnomad6805thought Canada is f’d
@jasonwright9405 We deal with inflation and housing cost etc. but it is not as bad as netherlands... There is no lineup to buy a home lol... People in Netherland rent longer due to people having hard time to own homes as there is less available... I work in tech and make more money than I would in Netherlands cause the salary is just low there.... Healthcare is arguably bad in Canada but the way I see it its just a matter for waiting time and some surgeries will take a while for people to get... Perhaps Netherlands has better Healthcare.. Regardless, I choose Canada as I can atleast enroll children peacefully in elementary schools. Whereas in Netherlands you have to enroll 2 years or more before. Netherlands use to be a great place but not anymore...
I left the Netherlands to Belgium because of love. We had the choice and we chose the most convenient option in our situation. So nothing negative or forced to flee ;-) Many expats tell it is so difficult to get a house and so damned expensive.. well we are so loved that too many foreigners buy or rent a home in the Netherlands🙂😛 The Netherlands is not alone. Actually many Dutchies moved to the border area in Belgium! Why? Because it used to be more easy to build your own style of house in Belgium. In the Netherlands all residential building is usually done by big construction companies and you just have to settle for an available housing option. In Belgium houses are more unique and Belgians even used to design their own house !!
Another reason is that in the Netherlands there is something called "wealth-tax". If you have a nice amount of money in your bank account the governement takes every year a small percentage.. Such a tax does not exist in the Belgium.
Switzerland is beautiful and also loved by foreigners. But it is hard to be allowed to permanently live there. And it is damned expensive!! I think you know Josphine 🙂
I didn’t know you were a lover boy Hans. Nice to see that side of ya😆😆.
Anyway, thanks for sharing about Belgium, indeed the houses here are mostly already build to taste by the companies unless you buy a landed property (which is in my opinion for the rich😅). I recently learnt about the tax on assets and savings in the Netherlands which I find a bit strange since not all countries do this. Well, I’m here now and here to stay so I’ll cry about it and move on😄.
here you can design your own home too I walk past them everyday by the way XD Just make sure that you earn enough money to live somewhere. Everywhere is more expensive now.
@@-_YouMayFind_- IF a communion ( gemeente) allows self designed houses it is usually in a dedicated plot of land. And many limitations are in function. You definately can not do just anything you like, there are landschapsplannen you have to keep to. And it’s definitely not for an average budget!
with all respect, being a 2nd generation 'outsider' and having many 'imported' colleagues and friends.. I feel this women's experience is highly anecdotal and not a good representation of the general country. Even living in Twente (rural east of The Netherlands) i have literally tens of colleagues from abroad whom all build a live here, my stepdad came from the UK to live with my mum an has already 20 years a live here and would never go back. Having listened to all her comments, the issue is more her personality and the type of people she surrounded herself with. Not the country and whether it is inviting to new people or not.
agree it is more of a her issue, but we have some very blunt people, mind you
@@wout123100and then how is that every international person I know says they don't have dutch friends?
I live one and a half year in the Netherlands, but im leaving after two months. I like the country, its very peacefull, but its not for me. I have too many problems with institutions like banks, tax administration and municipality Everything here is so slow, i applied for a dutch course 4 months before in a certain university and im still waiting the letter with invitation for interview. It became very expensive, basically i work to can afford to eat and pay my rent (which is another subject) and i dont even smoke weed and go on party's like most of the people. The rent is expensive, but the problem is the condinition of the place, its full of mouses and rats, its very old and the price for a place like that its just insane. I tried to inform my landlord and the institutions for my problems, but nothing changed. I had a good and a very bad moments here, but in the end i've decide to moove back to my country, where the living standart for a educated guy like me its gonna be better!
It’s really sad to hear the challenges you’ve faced. Thanks for sharing your story and I hope things are much better wherever you decide to settle.
That sounds like a terrible landlord, pretty sure those living conditions are against the law.
The question is where did you rent? because its not expensive everywhere. In the cities yes but that is logical.
again someone who tries to make a personal experience global.
The thing is, its mostly the very behaviour of said immigrants.
Like the Morrocan ones who came, and all behave and identify more with there Morrocan roots, and getting rather criminal in there behaviour.
Also, she picked Limburg, we are rather attached to our Limburgse identity, not persee the Dutch identity.
And learning the Dialect is incredibly important to us, Heck its pretty based if a foreigner actually learns the Limburgers local dialect.
Then we have all the issues that are happening in all Major cities, Multiculturalism is something the Dutch even voted AGAINST many times.
We didnt want to be multicultural, it was simply forced upon us by the managerial rulers after WW2.
The Dutch simply wished to remain Dutch, this is no longer the case in the Major cities, if you step into a classroom in say Amsterdam, its all full of children of immigrants, and they dont behave in the way Dutch kids would.
I’m as Dutch as they come.
My Mother was Friesian, my Father a Twent. I have dark hair and even I got told to go back home, hahaha.
There are stupid people everywhere. Don’t let those anecdotel Idiots ruin your experience!
There are dumb people everywhere, to expect less is quite naive. There are also very kind and lovely people everywhere too.
But more dumb people in the Netherlands.
I am leaving next week GOD spear life. It is too expensive. Lived here for 6 years. Beautiful country, dry and rigid culture but I prefer my home🏖🏝
She said exactly what I experienced. I am West Indian Dutch. So imagine her experience as foreigner.
Hi Ms. Frevry,
It’s sad your experience was similar to Nicole’s and I really hope you find comfort and happiness as you make your move.
All the very very best🤗
Thanks for your video. I am french and lived in amsterdam for 16 years. I bought also my place quite quite quickly. I had really great time. But i left in year 2021 to germany. Although i feel me most dutch even though today and i regret a lot having left the country there is one essential point you are mentioning in your video and you insist a lot is that. No matter you do you will never belong to. As you said learning dutch living fully in the culture they will always indirectly you do not belong to and that is a subtile game. Really a pitty as they are losing for this reason great people. Btw in year 2005 it was 10 years for the 30% tax rule and was glad to profit about it.
Great video and thank you.
I was born and raised in the netherlands, and i have to say i do not care where you're from, what language u speak, what you're religion is or how much you make yearly. What i do not understand is why within 2 months she already moved here, that's not nearly enough time to actually do research about the country itself, the people or the cities you wanna live in, second the Dutch she did speak i could barely understand so to say she already speaks Dutch is to arrogant for me, learning Dutch would be a better word for it, third if you want to live in a county why keep different passports/nationalities that to me is already stating i wanna live there but do not want the nationality aka i dont want be Dutch and forth but simply not least ( i live in Groningen ) the least populated part of the country and i see alot of people from different countries moving here first thing they do is find people that speak their language to communicate with, they do not make an effort to even talk or integrate with the Dutch, so how can they expect the Dutch to accept them if they do not accept the Dutch ( if i wanted to move to a different country i wouldn't mind giving up my dutch passport especially if i want to live in that country i moved to )? Now im not saying this goes for all immigrants, there are probably plenty that actually do try and get shut down by dutch people, my personal experience is i have yet to see those people. Anyways thanks for the video, i do hope you have a great life here and you seem like a great person willing to learn about us "closed off" stubborn Dutch people 😂😂👍.
high costs, missing home, not feeling like a local, feelings you will have while immigrating to about any country.. including the "go back to your country !!"
I've been living in the Netherlands since 2010. It took me a lot of time to feel completely accepted by the Dutch people, sometimes I still get comments from strangers, but those I do not take seriously. Since last November I'm working in a Dutch environment, using Dutch on a daily basis, and I feel more and more confident every day. I visit my birth country regularly and don't feel like moving back or away anytime soon. Although, I must say, I miss the snow during winter :D
Hi Melinda. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. I think having a good command of Dutch definitely helps. And there will be people who are mean for sure. I’m glad you ignore and enjoy your stay here. You mentioned you miss the snow, where is your birth country?
I wildly guess you are from Hungary? 🇭🇺 Szeretem Magyarorszagot 😀
I am from Hungary! 🥰 But this winter there was also no snow 😢
Please do tell what those supposedly comments are ?
we're planning to move to the Netherlands from Hungary, but slightly concerned about not being accepted by Dutch people.. :') and that's just one of the obstacles out there huh
Even if you move to Maastricht from within the Netherlands as a Dutch citizen you will never be fully accepted as a local so that is not much different for Dutch people from outside that area.
I also feel like I'm missing a whole section on Dutch people that leave for work in specific sectors like Agriculture, technology and waterworks. There are heaps of people that leave every year for career opportunities that they feel may be much better outside the country. Not ever being fully "accepted" is an issue no matter where you go I feel. I immigrated 26 years ago to Canada from the Netherlands and still am not considered 'Canadian" by many. I will always be considered an immigrant. Aside from those who swear my accent is from Quebec or Newfoundland (both provinces I've never been to, but hey, it's a good conversation starter). I have come to accept that it is a part of being an immigrant, it comes with it, no matter where you move. I've found it usually turns into an opportunity to engage, discuss, learn and teach, even when they tell me to "take the boat back home". And yes, that's also happened on multiple occasions. Mostly by those who have never set foot outside of their own country to learn about the rest of this planet. :)
Interesting, Ik ben ook naar Canada verhuist maar heb dat nooit gevoelt. Canada makes me feel as their own. The Dutch always criticized me as an Allochtoon whereas here I never felt an immigrant. I am doing much better in Canada than in Nederland. I own house, car and everything here. Canadians embraced me whereas the Dutch despite me....
@@brownnomad6805 you cannot translate personal experience to how it is globally, sadly i see many many doing that.
@wout123100 The statistics proofs that majority of dutch citizens owns nothing and have no savings. Canada stats are higher. Europe is not a place to built life, Canada is
The way I see it is that most society’s are built up in circles.
First yourself, your family and your best friends ( We call it the inner circle). After that friends and acquaintances we see sometimes
Than random people we say hi to and have a conversation with.
Colleges and neighbours can fit almost everywhere.
This structure is paramount to our success in all society’s and it’s very hard to break those barriers!
Beste Josephine. Ik ben zo iemand die zodra ik eindelijk met pensioen kan gaan heel snel mijn koffers pak. Om te beginnen: jij en je man zijn fantastisch dus neem het aub niet persoonlijk! Maar ik als Nederlander voel mij geen Nederlander meer. Immigratie is prima, we leven in een globalistische wereld. Maar als ik in de stad loop waan ik me in Afrika, niet meer in Nederland. De groep immigranten waar ik het over heb, daar behoor jij helemaal niet toe. Ik heb het over mensen die met hun strenge geloof hun ideeën en gedachten goed verspreiden. Dat is heel erg zichtbaar (we kunnen wel vermijden om erover te spreken, maar ik doe het toch) Zwarte Piet bijv: toen die verbannen werd dacht ik nog: ok als het mensen pijn doet of als het als discriminatie gezien wordt: prima, weg ermee. Maar wat je nu ziet is dat er een overkill aan "sociale" regels ontstaat. Bijv het woordje slaven: men word geacht te zeggen: "tot slaaf gemaakte" Ik kan nog heel lang door gaan en vele voorbeelden noemen, maar het is verworden tot een hysterie, de vrijheid van meningsuiting waar dit land heel lang voor stond is langzaamaan weg aan het gaan. Kijk bijv naar cabaretiers: wat hebben we gelachen als gelovigen (katholieken/moslims) op de hak werden genomen. Als er nu 1 verkeerd woord over Mohammed gezegd word volgen er doodbedreigingen. De vrijheid van het gesproken woord is al verdwenen. Dan is er een grote groep (m.n Syriërs bijv) die na 5 jaar (statistieken CBS) niet werken en waarvan de meerderheid (70%) dat ook niet wilt. En er gemeentes zijn die deze grote groep voorrang geeft op woningen (vorig jaar waren dat 4 gemeentes) Terwijl in de grote steden kinderen op hun 30e nog thuis wonen. De huizenmarkt zit simpelweg op slot, de huizenprijzen zijn in de afgelopen jaren de pan uitgerezen. Daarom vind ik het helemaal niet gek dat mensen zich niet meer thuis voelen in Nederland. Wat betreft dat laatste: zonder huizen is er amper een toekomst voor jonge mensen, laat staan de hoge vaste lasten (ik betaal nu 500 euro alleen aan energie).
Wij hebben altijd in een dorpje gewoond in de Betuwe, geen last van buitenlanders, de weinigen die er waren hielden zich koest en afzijdig. Ook het levensonderhoud was nooit een probleem met twee hoge inkomens maar we merkten wel dat het besteedbare inkomen steeds lager werd door stijgende kosten, met name belastingen en accijnzen. De druppel die de emmer deed overlopen was voor mij de maatschappelijke/sociale uitsluiting omdat ik weigerde de experimentele injectie te nemen. Dwars door familie en vriendenkring heen ! Nu wonen we op Curaçao en door de veel lagere woonlasten (hypotheekvrij en zonnepanelen voor airco's) plus inkomsten uit een B&B hoeven we niet meer te werken (60 jr). Elke dag zomer, strand/zee, terrasje tot laat in de avond buiten, tijd voor vrijwilligerswerk en hobby's. Zo blij dat ik niet meer in NL woon !!!
jees man je klinkt we errug rechts, maar hoop dat je ergens een fijn plekje vind, zonder al die vervelende mensen met ander ideen.
This is a worldwide problem, people tell you go back home, stupid people all over the world, just ignore them
This can indeed be experienced anywhere. I’m learning to ignore for sure 😆
Damn, so this is more common than I ever expected???
Although I am still here meanwhile, God knows I am being as open minded as I can to getting better opportunities elsewhere. I worked and lived in Switzerland and France through the end of last year and I truly felt happy. Coming back to the Netherlands on new year's eve, there was this existential dread that dawned on me...I don't want to be here anymore.
I quit learning the language, decided it would do me no good to move around. Decided to pick up learning German, french and Spanish instead and I am happy with my decision.
I even feel more connected to Germany when I travel than I do with Netherlands and when I tell people I am African and I love the German language they look at me like I am crazy 😂.
The Netherlands is a beautiful country but it's not as rose colored glasses. I don't see myself starting a family here because it's pretty much impossible to buy a house. The weather sucks, Dutch people don't make friends with internationals except those that travelled or lived abroad, institutional overt racism, doctors don't know what they are doing, huge huge taxes (honestly every middle income person makes the same amount after tax). It's ridiculous
Hi Omolabake,
It’s a pity that you feel this way about the Netherlands and I genuinely hope that you’re able to find somewhere else where you have a better experience and feel at home.
I do recognise that the Netherlands isn’t perfect and is definitely not for everyone so I’m always of the opinion that people should explore options in as many countries as they want to and I hope they are able to find one they connect with.
For me the Netherlands has been that country where I felt more at home regardless of the challenges and that’s why I’m happy to be here and to raise my family.
I must say though that some of the issues you raised that are wrong with the Netherlands are still issues that are known to be common or even worse in the countries you’ve mentioned.
Germany and France for instance have also been accused of systemic racism and closemindedness of the people (I don’t have an opinion on this as I’ve never lived in any of the countries, I’ve only visited).
Switzerland has a higher tax rate than the Netherlands and is a much more expensive country (but indeed very beautiful)
Regardless of what you choose, I hope you do the research really well for most of these countries so you don’t end up with similar complaints or disappointments as you’ve had with the Netherlands .
All the best in your pursuits 🤗.
Yes, dutch people don't make expat friends at all
I live in the Netherlands...want to go back to Greece but greek economy is trashy..Its a beautiful country but very expensive and cold.
I can relate to the weather 😆 but it’s indeed a beautiful country
I want to leave aswell, but have to be patience, what an expensive country, glad I dont have to retire here, depressing.
First Maastricht isn't a good place to live. It's hard to explain. I can tell you this, cities differ and if you adapt and 'become' dutch you will be accepted way faster. I could tell you multiple reasons why some dutch people are not welcoming. I'm adopted, I lived in Belgium, UK and now the Netherlands. First time I came to the Netherlands to live was Nijmegen. I can tell you this, coming from 2 year UK and before that 9 years of Belgium I was surprised I was greeted with kindness. I experienced a lot of racism in Belgium and UK (a little in The Netherlands) so The Netherlands was a great experience for me. I've lived in several places in the Netherlands and not in all places do I feel accepted as dutch. But most people that got to know me do accept. To make a long story short, it's simple, you come to live here? Adapt and accept and follow the rules and way of life in the Netherlands. When you feel like you are not accepted here it's probably because YOU are the problem. And what I mean with that is, I hear many immigrants/children born here from immigrants, always complaining about everything is bad here and in their country everything is better (even the kids born here and not even from their parents country) and their children too (because they only know from their parents not of own experience) yet they are still here. I once asked them why are they still here and why they don't go back (or back to their parents country) They kind of avoid the question and curse. And for your info I'm korean and yes I am sort of racist(who isn't?), but I do feel dutch. People expect to be given everything. Earn it.
maastrich is geweldig voor een weekendje eruit.
I'm sorry, but I've lived here for 57 years and nothing major has changed that hasn't happened in other countries. So either your expectations were too high or you're struggling to appreciate the things you have here...
Exactly bruh she is even mentioning housing crisis 😂 this video is total joke
Compared to other European countries Holland specially Amsterdam is way over priced
Nothing change foe you a baby boomer that has a house new generation is fucked
@@gtmlsmsc
So there's no housing shortage ?
Ok, but are you white or another ethnicity?
So long as you're far away from your home country, expect anything! Its the "World" out there...
A lot of crazy and nice fellows you'll meet on a daily basis!
And learn to detach emotions too as you'll only hurt yourself more holding so much importance to everything you hear from mean humans who're probably just out to try to break you up!
Limburg, just like rural Friesland and Groningen, has a strong sense of having their own culture and dialect. Thinking that anyone can move there and be part of that is just very naive. If you are born dutch you could somewhat be part of the social life but if you are a foreigner you have no chance. It annoys me a bit that people have no respect for that.
Respect their pride in their heritage and language, dont move there, its quite simple.
yeah i got that vibe too, bad research on her part.
I don't think that's being naive. Because in plenty of countries foreigners make friends easily and soon. For example in Mexico or Spain. In the Netherlands though it's impossible...
As I understand she married a native Dutch. The altercation she had with a Dutch may be just because she did break some unwritten rule and quite severely and responded in a nasty way.
That's one good thing about America... if your there long enough they will accept you as American.
Maastricht? The real "Dutch"experience? The first mistake she made was thinking Maastricht was realy Dutch. I"m a Brabander and don't even want to be buried in Maastricht. Realy? All the way from Australia and you end up in Maastricht for the real Dutch experience. Should I go on?
Yep
People are so spoiled, we open our borders and as thanks we get this.
Hey Josephine, I have not seen anything from you in a long time now.
Are you oké?
Thank you so much for checking up on me. This means a lot. Yes I’m okay, just shuffling so many things in my life right now. I’ll be back soon, already filmed some videos just need to get around to editing and posting. Hope you’re doing well too?
Hoi Josephine, I am good! All is well with my soul, and I am glad that your are doing well to.
Great your husband and lovely children for me and have a blessed Easter.
Me as a Dutchman born in the Netherlands i can finally move out of the Netherlands in few years waiting for this for so long
Common. Back in my homecountry things are just super bad, I mean super super bad… I will do a lot to be able to live in any other country at this point but to me if you are a fighter The Netherlands is great. I have met people who didn’t like something about me, but that’s too easy to give up after hearing someone being upset with themselves actually…
I can understand this for sure. I think living in a different country demands some type of resilience and tough skin. The Netherlands is a beautiful country no doubt but not everyone will love you and welcome you with open arms.
How is the housing situation now in 2024?
So the lady sold her house and leaves because she had an argument with a man telling here to go home? Wow, she must be very sensitive. There must be more than this. If not, I am sorry, I cannot take her seriously. I don't know what her expectations were when she came. But I do now that I had a colleague who went from the Leiden to Maastricht for work. He lived there for five years and returned. He said that it was impossible to integrate in the Limbourgish culture. It is too different from the "Randstad" culture.
hahahah Yes maybe she already had some kind of insecurity because there is always going to be someone that is going to piss you off in some way or form. I have that too, but I will not move because of that. There must have been a different main reason why she left. Probably a different job. Maybe she hoped a different country is better but in the end she is also running away from her own unhappiness. That is why they often say don't move because you are running away from your previous life. I hope she finds strength
@@-_YouMayFind_- Yeah, I concur.
Leaving next month because the country is depressing. Also, the government doesn't want us after all done so.... Yeah.
Amen to that!!
wow really?
I dont blame you, money hunting country
If you are Arab or African with no appropriate skills, than understandable.
This Nigerian woman resides in the Nederlands but struggles to pronounce basic Dutch name.
She even pronounces it in American English.
Van der Hoeven is "Fan deR Hoe fin'.
Nigeriansss
Nice video Josphine Ogugua! I'm born Dutch and I left already 10 years ago to first Singapore and now living just under Singapore in Batam Indonesia. Running my company in Holland, i got a bit sick of paying to much to much tax😐! So i picked up the business and moved it to Singapore! Best tax system in the world:)! Even better when you have a Singapore company and living in Indonesia😂! Revenue first world country paid out in Indonesia, for sure recommended! Still love the Netherlands but it is not my country anymore. Love to come back for 2 weeks in Holland but even better when i fly back to Asia! Success with your channel:)
Josphine, you're such a gem, no really! I've been recommending your channel to several other "new" expats and immigrants, since you have an excellent way of explaining why things are the way they are and what one should do.
As you know in a normal Non-Covid year, The Netherlands is being visited by at least 65 million people every year. Most of the foreigners whom visit The Netherlands do not speak Dutch, and they are forgiven, since they do not intent to stay here longer then their few weeks of holidays.
As you have stated yourself several times; when you have chosen to become a fellow Dutchy, you are to be expected to get in all the way; Dutch culture-wise spoken, Dutch Language-wise spoken so fully integrated and so you've left your former country definitely behind you, since you are focused on your success in The Netherlands. Of course you may want to visit your "old" country of holiday purposes, but for no more than that. Now if you have gone trough all the trouble of becoming a EU Dutch state citizen and you can speak Dutch (so you've placed yourself within Dutch society!) and yet you choose to speak permanently English (or any other foreign language for all that matters) with your partner...you basically place yourself out of Dutch society again, and especially when you also behave in a way that the locals may get offended...(like entering a private garden to catch a token from a computer game: so you're not showing the respect you should have) while speaking English to your partner....well that could easily end up in exactly the experience this lady had and so the owner of the garden could easily have judged the situation as: OMG again those foreigners trespassing my garden... They are not Dutch (whilst speaking English to each other) And they don't behave like normal Dutchies would have; so as we say in Dutch: Possession which does not lead to anything is a burden: get rid of it ! And so the man told this Australian/Philippines/Dutch lady to go back home since being here leads to frustration by the locals due to their English speaking and non normal behavior.
I am not defending the local Dutchy garden owner, I am just trying to explain how things easily can get wrong, even if one has a Dutch passport and in theory speaks Dutch any yet chooses to speak any given foreign language but Dutch in The Netherlands.
Learning Dutch and speaking Dutch is no side dish when you are here, speaking Dutch is a permanent necessity, while one lives here and so one should speak Dutch all the time, even among immigrant/expat partners one speaks Dutch all the time. The other language you came here with, well that comes in handy in the country where you used to live on holidays for example, or maybe occasionally at given circumstances which require your mother language. But in general so at 99% of the time one should speak Dutch because you want to stay IN the society in stead of placing yourself OUT of the society by using any given foreign language.
Speaking a foreign language does not help, especially if you do not look "standard Dutch" to begin with. Local people may jump the conclusion before you are able to switch back to Dutch.
So talking any foreign language does not gain you anything, especially when you do speak Dutch.
A foreign language is always a disadvantage...by speaking a foreign language you're basically telling the locals 1. I do not speak Dutch 2. I don't care about The Dutch language 3. You will have to take me as I am, so speak English to me
I do agree and disagree with you. My wife is a native English speaker and lives in the Netherlands for over 43 years, her Dutch is perfect and she speaks Dutch when with the Dutch but we also speak English with eachother, often what ever comes first in our minds. I don't see any harm in that.
Dutch language is not an important language with a low return on investment. Only 20 million speak it globally. When you leave the Small country where can you speak your mother language?
IF someone did say go home to her he probably ment go away out of "Limburg" because she does not have an accent on her Dutch words of Carnaval or Koningsdag. But she is missing her "limburgs-accent"
How she did learn Dutch I can only guess because of her Husband who does have a Dutch name. So it might be his parents are Dutch.and left the Netherlands in the past for Australia which lots of people did.
I see your point but I still think telling people to go back home in any little fit of disagreement is childish and unreasonable. I understand that as a foreigner you’re expected to have a thick skin but sometimes it’s hard. Anyway I hope they find peace and happiness in the next chapter of their lives 🫶
Please don’t refer to the Dutch as “Dutchies”, it’s condescending!
if your from an indirect communicating culture or a group centered culture than you would probably have some problems fitting in.
with the whole feely emo thing of not being offended and being accustomed with cultural inefficient politeness.....yeah that would be shocking to those people, realizing how we think and express ourselves.
every country i've been in there are people that don't like outsiders.
difference is that they probably won't admit in public or keep it covert.
i lived in indonesia and there i was not wanted by some, due to being mixed dutch indonesian.....but they still smiled in my face while detesting me when i didn't looked.
i rather have people honest and open on their stance.
it makes accepting another point of view or difference in principle easier.
makes discussion functional, etc.
without starting a witchhunt towards another opinion or resolve in violence! as that freedom of expression is accepted!
don't you see that?
only real racism in contrast to simple ignorance i only notice when going abroad.
doen't matter if the main populace is white black or colored a lot have a negative stance towards outsiders that are not only there as tourist.
if you think netherlands is bad to outsiders, ou probably would never feel welcome anywhere.
than it is not for you, everybody that is raised in another culture will never fully assimilates with people being raised there!
you don't have to be! perfectly fine and accepted to be a non dutch citizen.
you are great as you are.
i don't like some dutch either, but don't blame that on them being dutch or not, but if i like the indivdual on a personal level or not.
i can never be zulu or apache, i can live in the same place, but always be seen as not indigenous!
as i am not indigenous.
seems quite logic and factual.
doesn't mean i am not accepted.....
weird ass thought process.
I don't know where that woman learned Dutch, but there are quite a lot of people from Dutch origin in Australia, so that might be a part of it.
Really? never heard of that.
@@-_YouMayFind_- nou en of hoor.
een paar weken regen? en wanneer ik naar Amerika verhuis, moet ik ook kiezen tussen verschillende staten. uitkijken waar er geen tornado's voorkomen. Of extreme hitte of kou. Normaal is in deze periode dat het regent, heb je dat in amerika niet?
Chicago is ook erg koud in de winter, en in Californie heb je kans op aardbevingen. Kan je in Florida overal zwemmen zonder een krokododil of kaaiman tegen te komen?
hahaha er overal wel wat, i denk dat jij je weg wel vind , zo te horen, success gewenst !!
@@wout123100 klopt.
If your wanting to live in social housing your wanting the dutch people to support your living expenses. And that's OK if you're from the Netherlands but not that ok if you're not , this puts a strain and burden on the tax system after all the dutch governments commitment should be to the dutch people first. Many immigrants move mostly for economic reasons today with the excuse that they are refugees and that's understandable but costly to the host and we all know how the dutch feel about there money (let's go dutch). Greetings from Panamá
Nicole says she speaks the language, but actually she does not. The dialect in Limburg is so different from standard Dutch that you won't be able to understand a single word if you speak Dutch. Sure, people in Limburg understand Dutch and talk Dutch to you, but you'll remain an outsider, because you cannot join in conversation among locals.
It's not nice to be told to "go back to your own country", but you should not take it literally. It means: "go away, you are not part of my community". That will always be true in some way for everyone in The Netherlands. There are many communities in The Netherlands: Maroccan Dutch, Molukker Dutch, Amsterdam Dutch, rural Dutch, elderly Dutch, orthodox protestant Christian Dutch, left/right-wing Dutch,, etc. You won't belong to all of them, and people may shut you out. You will just have to accept that not everyone wants to be your friend, no matter how hard you try. It does not mean that no one wants you in the country.
A little undecided for such a small country
Overplayed "belonging" far too much.
Thanks your videos are educating. I wanna know I’m planning to come to Netherland for school I’d like to come with my spouse. I hear he wldnt be able to work more than 16hrs/wk while we are there. How can we change that?
Hi Titi, I’m not sure it can be changed. You can confirm the info with the school you’ve applied to just to make sure.
Also I had to laugh about that part of the video about the Pokemon; the Netherlands is very crowded and ver compact or compressed. So yes having those pokemon players; which is insanely popular here, standing at your front door is extremely annoying. I had one of those hotspots or whatever they call them in front of my house and I actually had to contact the creators to remove it from their map.
The lady is easily offended and a bit of a Karen; that indeed does not go well with our directness and our mentality.
Indeed, she's an entitled Karen. And she wouldn't be the first pokemon player who believes that's an excuse for rude behaviour. I even had one on private property who believed is game was a good reason to be there and I would understand.
Lool making excuses and thinking she didn’t know what how to be discreat?.?? So way tell some one to go back in your country ?. Stop making shity excuses fror racist remarks
Your “directness” is what I call “pig ignorant”. I’ve seen many Dutch people comment on people weights/height/clothing etc,,, rudest people I’ve ever met. Remember that time they kicked Xabi in the chest in the World Cup final? - exactly. Animals. 🙋♂️😅
So, the big question is, she has a Dutch name, van der Hoeven married I am assuming, were they trying to match the name with the country, reason why they moved to Holland?
We (my family and I) are Dutchies, but moved to Canada 7 years ago. The grass is always greener on the other side, and for Canada and us that holds true. I lived in Holland/The Netherlands for over 35 years, born and raised. Owned a home, got married and my kids were born there. I lived mostly in de Randstad, near Delft (Voorburg and Rijswijk), but also lived in Zwolle and Weert.
Lack of space (and nature); over populated; narrow minded/limited in reaching potential; plethora of rules and regulations; bicycles; sports; are all reasons for me and my family to leave Holland/The Netherlands.
It took us almost 9 years of preparation to make the move, so it wasn't an ad hoc transition. And even then you come across things that you didnt know before, when you finally moved.
Like I said, not all is great here, but the pros far outweigh the cons. Don't be discouraged. The cost of living is actually higher here then we have ever experienced in The Netherlands.
Now, after 7 years, we can see what the differences are between The Netherlands and Canada. Some major flaws are within the educational and the health system (in comparison to what we knew, back in Holland). Even with these flaws, there is not 1 moment that we think of returning back to Holland/The Netherlands.
Like the lady says in the video: we, too, are not able to become Canadian Citizens, due to The Netherlands not allowing double passports (see 1 of reasons to leave: rules/regulations). For me, I'm not fully OK with this, but want to keep my Dutch passport.
Of course any situation is different and no 2 points of view are the same. I see you are doing alright in your new Home country and we are here. Unfortunately not all experiences are the same. IMO you can not make the decision to move to another country post haste.
Thank you for posting this!
Rules are there for a good purpose XD
I really like your videos. Make more videos, OKAY?!😂
Thanks Hani,
I’ll do my best🤗
I agree that everyone wants to feel like they belong. But, its the same everywhere. People don't warm up so easily to people that look different from them. The US has so many people from so many different places but there's always so much conflict. The races and cultures find it difficult to mix. In a perfect world it would be different. Also, why are people moving away from their place of origin. From where they buried their ancestors where people fit in just fine? I wouldn't move away from my country unless I was forced to.
She claims to be Dutch, but Dutch citizenship like the Dutch wasn't good enough for her, she wanted to keep more citizenships, giving her rights to foreign states. She said she came to live her for good, but moves out after 5 years because two people weren't nice to her. She says she wants to be Dutch, but she's mad she has to pay taxes like the Dutch.
She wanted to real Dutch experience and moved to Maastricht, showing that she didn't have any idea about the Netherlands or the Dutch. Obviously it was an impulsive decision she regrets, she was never committed at hung on to a plan B with her nationalities and she didn't try another, undoubtely more Dutch, city either. If she had become somewhat Dutch, she had taken more responsibility for her own decisions.
I'm sorry but many expats and also immigrants from muslim countries want to have their cake and eat it oo. They want to keep one foot in their foreign country but want to be 100% when it suits them too. They don't truly be in the same position as the Dutch, it's not about theri background, they make it into their foreground too when it suits them. And the Dutch are expected to find them fantastic and interesting and make them feel Dutch when they feel like feeling Dutch, on their way home from socializing with other expast for example. The welcoming nature of the Dutch is taken for granted and taken advantage of.
Government wants more foreigners, as much as we can bear, because more people mean higher GDP, not higher GDP per captia, it's only costing us through housing need and housing prices. The Dutch people feel the country is saturated with foreigners enough. The skilled migrants are not that exceptionally skilled to justify the tax discrimination agains the Dutch. Not to mention all the unskilled migrants, which are simply a huge burden in more than one sense.
Iam irish and have lived in THE naderhand fo 44years and I know I will NEVER be a naderlander I have my naderlands passport and I will. Never
be a naderder for the only reason it’s NOT possible my son in a naderlander his fathe is a Nederland historical. Feeling like your Anything in life are just feelings and are personal Notting more Notting lest please live youlife be happy stop claiming stuip things like I am a naderlander or an Africa just live be happy
I only hear one argument and the fact she has to pay more taxes. Not very convincing. This is going to happen everywhere. I don't think most Dutch people are that way. I'm black but I'm sure if a white person goes to an African country they will experience this too. Not that that makes it ok but that's the way some people are.
Interesting... Being a US citizen, not born in the US, I can't see myself as an emigrant, never did... You talk at the end of the video about your kid...It never crossed your mind that by the moment you decided to go and live there, it will affect your entire life and the life of your kids as well... The reason why that is, is because YOU decided to live there, you were not invited to live there and that is a big difference. You speak at the beginning of this video about social housing... Guess what; here in the States the social housing is at ZERO! End of story. You speak about migrant crisis... Guess what; the south US border is literally flooded by millions of migrants and most of them make it in... These are not reasons for people to leave Holland. I bet it's the communist politics and the way people are treated by government. There is hope still after the peasants party arose and after the last elections, which some call to be won by the "extreme right", but only because they lost the political compass... I mean, most of the Dutch voted for that party and that's what a democracy is all about; the will of the many... The lady in your story is a professional emigrant or a citizenship collector... There must be a reason not being able to adapt at least in one of the countries in which she holds citizenship. To the people not so much afford of newcomers, I'd say it could be due to tax brakes, which are not given to struggling locals, who in fact have to pay for those brakes... If you're skilled and you hold a skilled job (aka well paid job), you don't need another tax payer to come-up with more taxes to cover yours... And there is that language, which makes anyone believe the person is about to vomit... Many newcomers can't learn that and understandably why; next they leave... I can't find a single reason for anyone to move there, but it is what it is...
And to Jason I'd like to say, tell them :) loop naar de kloten,ik ben er al. direct and to the point.
I just watched her video earlier
Many of those are just buying a home in bElgium or Germany near the border, because homes are cheaper there and it is still nearby to drive or even bike to work.
Thank you for your video! I'm planning to spend 5 months in the Netherlands as a research fellow and I'll try to find out if an idea to move to the Netherlands and to get a Dutch sitizenship is good for me. But I have one question. Is it really necessary to strive after becoming Dutch in the Netherlands in the 21nd centuary? Don't people have an opportunity to be who they are in the Netherlands?
The Netherlands belong to the Dutch. Africans should focus instead on improving conditions in their home countries.
You are literally confirming the point of aussy lady
Not anymore, my friend. Advise to make some nice visits to the big Dutch cities. Nothing Dutch about the city centers except the houses.
Looking at your name and last name you may have roots in other countries. ;) I have met many people who claimed to be Dutch and thinks they own the country. When you dig deeper you see they have origins in France, Indonesia, Germany, Ireland etc. It is a strange delusion to think that you own a piece of land/country in the universe. :) British King thinks he is coming from a noble blood line and you are inferior to him. There is no end to this superiority complex.
@@ssp99077 Dutch are a people. H
Just stop it. Only Europeans are not allowed to take pride in their people. Everyone else can. Ridiculous
@Alnivol666 Nobody said that. Having pride in your country and defining an identity no matter how shallow it is is a right but when you cross to the side of a superiority complex then it becomes a problem in the social domain. When I look around I see this superiority complex in the Western Europen countries. Probably due to the colonial past. That causes a lot trouble and covert and systematic racism which prevents even the 2nd 3rd generation immigrants of equal opportunities.
Hello Netherlands.....see you soon
Maastricht beautiful city, but it is a close community, I think it one of the harder place to intergrate fully even for a dutch person who is from the north or west of the Netherlands
A few people have mentioned this too. I’m not sure if she knew this before choosing Maastricht. I do wish her the best anyway…
This is very true but there is more. To be Dutch you need to articipate in dutch societey. No big things but be active at your sons school, or go to the local dutch Cafe,talk the locals , simple things like this can make a huge difference. Hopefully you understand what I mean, my english used to be better.
I live only 3 miles from Maastricht which means I do have a slight different dialect. For that reason I will be tolerated in their community and that's it, not more then that. Integration? Forget it, Maastricht is one big family because for ages they have lived very isolated within the stone walls surrounding the inner city and were very suspicious to other people not belonging to their clan.
I'm looking at some statistics concerning immigration and emigration in The Netherlands in the past ten years. Numbers are from CBS Statline.
Immigration (x 1,000)
2012: 158
2013: 164
2014: 182
2015: 204
2016: 230
2017: 234
2018: 243
2019: 269
2020: 220
2021: 252
2022: 401
As you see, immigration has greatly increased from ten years ago (about 60% more, which is huge). And is has exploded in 2022, because 401.000 immigrants is an exceptional number, given the size of our country and population.
Now let's look at the emigration numbers.
Emigration (x 1,000)
2012: 144
2013: 145
2014: 147
2015: 149
2016: 151
2017: 154
2018: 157
2019: 161
2020: 152
2021: 145
2022: 173
This is quite another issue. No 'great increase' throughout 2012-2021. And one incidental increase in 2022 (10% more than usual).
It means that people actually WANT to move to The Netherlands, but obviously NOT MANY people like to leave. If we add the numbers, we arrive at a total of 2,6 million people who immigrated to The Netherlands, while only 1,6 million have left our country in the same time. A net result of 1 million people EXTRA in only one decade. Hence the obvious shortage of houses, and prices skyrocketing, disadvantaging all people who want to live here and pay the rent or mortgage.
Now, WHO WERE these people going in and out of our country? CBS Statline has the answers. 90% of immigrants were non-Dutch; and more than 80% of emigrants were non-Dutch. Even in the excessive year 2022 which you address, only 16% (one out of six) emigrants were Dutch.
Thus, the huge increase in *emigration* is mainly caused by *immigrants* who leave the country (for instance, because they could not get a staying permit), hardly or not by Dutch people 'fleeing' the country for whatever reason.
shhh numbers might be scary for some, they are facts , not my opinions.
"this type of behaviour, especially from some Duchies, could actually make someone to up and leave"
Well, that's exactly the point isn't it?
Oh I wish I could leave this country. Terrible place...
yeah and in 2022 401,351 people moved here so way more than you claiming to have left. immigration is one big problem in the netherlands there are a lot of welfare seekers but we cant accept everyone. build your own country up like we did in the past
500k immigrants fled here Australia last January and made my blood boiling 🥵