Doichin Denchev
Doichin Denchev

Moving to Amsterdam

Amsterdam Canal

With a job based out of Amsterdam secured, Dyan and I made the move to Amsterdam. Moving to a city for an extended duration is quite different than renting an AirBnB for a month in a given country. In this article I share my experience of securing the basics and getting setup in a new city.

Table of Content

Finding Housing

Finding a decent apartment in a major city around the world can be challenging. However, Amsterdam proved to be the toughest for me. Dee and I hired Habsburg Legal Services (HLS) to help with our verification against EU law application. Luckily it turned out that they also offered moving assistance that included finding a suitable living arrangement. My expectation was that government paperwork would take months to process, while that we would find an apartment we liked in just a few weeks.

That assumption was incorrect.

The government paperwork processed relatively quickly and within the expected time. Finding an apartment took two months.

Thankfully, we had started the process early. Our process for looking for an apartment was as follows. Dee and I would look online on websites like Funda. We would look through the newly available apartments and ask Richard (who works for HLS) to apply. In many cases we would never hear back from the people who advertised the apartments. In cases where there was an open house, Richard would be our man on the ground and video walk us through the apartments.

After the open house, there is an application round. We would often bid over the asking price and still not make the final bidding round. In one case, we bid 500 EUR over the asking monthly price, as well as 6 months prepaid rent and still didn't get a call back.

In two cases where we did make the final round, we had to do a video interview with the owner (something that I had never had to do before). Suffice to say my success rate at interviewing for an apartment was far lower than my success rate at interviewing for a job.

All totaled, it took close to two months and over 100 applications to land a place we liked. We ended up staying in the beautiful (but pricey) neighborhood of Oud Zuid. At the time we got the apartment, we weren't super thrilled with it. However, once we arrived, we fell in love with it and with the cosy neighborhood that surrounds it.

Registering at the Gemeente

As an expat arriving to the Netherlands, one of the first things you need to do is register with the Gemeente (municipal administration office). The Gemeente is the one that issues a citizen service number (BSN). The BSN is used when interacting with virtually all government services.

Due to the Ukraine refugee crisis the Gemeente in Amsterdam was overwhelmed when we arrived. Even so, they were able to accommodate us within a couple of months. More impressively however, the government systems were designed with that in mind. It is possible to do just about anything, including get a local bank account and receiving a paycheck, while waiting for your BSN. The system is designed with the initial BSN gap existing for expats and handles it gracefully.

Dealing with the Weather

Amsterdam Weather

Before moving to the Netherlands, I had visited twice as a tourist. Both my visits were during the summer. The summer weather in the Netherlands is beautiful. Most of the time the temperature stays under 30 degrees Celsius and days are long, making afternoons and evenings very pleasant. Fall and spring weather is very rainy, but can still be pleasant.

Winter is by far my least favorite season here. Winter days rarely get cold enough for snow, and are often short and overcast. The long stretches of back to back rainy dark days, really brings down my mood.

Month Precipitation (Millimeters) Precipitation (Days)
January 65 12
February 50 10
March 50 10
April 40 9
May 55 9
June 65 10
July 80 11
August 100 12
September 85 11
October 85 12
November 85 13
December 80 14
Year 850 133

Naturally, conducting a quick fact check of the rain data indicates that it rains just as much in Summer as it does in the winter. It looks like the warmer, brighter days in the summer make all the difference.

Transportation - No Car Needed

Getting around the city is pretty easy. There is an extensive network of trams, buses and a metro. Moreover, the bike infrastructure is world famous. Renting a bike is very easy even for the long term. A popular option is Swapfiets (fiets means bike in Dutch).

Amsterdam Swapfiets

In the picture above, I've illegally parked my swapfiets bike near a canal. Another option is to just buy a used bike from one of the city markets or bicycle shops. A 7 speed bike in a decent shape can be had for less than 200 EUR.

A First Look at The City

Amsterdam is a beautiful city. One thing that continuously strikes me is that I enjoy my experience of the city, even when I am running chores. Even when I am on my way to work on a rainy day, navigating bike rush hour, I find myself enjoying the experience. This is such a striking counter point to my experience of commuting within the US. Navigating rush hour traffic around DC or Boston was always a detracting experience.


← Back to home
© 2024 Doichin Denchev

Moving to Amsterdam

Amsterdam Canal

With a job based out of Amsterdam secured, Dyan and I made the move to Amsterdam. Moving to a city for an extended duration is quite different than renting an AirBnB for a month in a given country. In this article I share my experience of securing the basics and getting setup in a new city.

Table of Content

Finding Housing

Finding a decent apartment in a major city around the world can be challenging. However, Amsterdam proved to be the toughest for me. Dee and I hired Habsburg Legal Services (HLS) to help with our verification against EU law application. Luckily it turned out that they also offered moving assistance that included finding a suitable living arrangement. My expectation was that government paperwork would take months to process, while that we would find an apartment we liked in just a few weeks.

That assumption was incorrect.

The government paperwork processed relatively quickly and within the expected time. Finding an apartment took two months.

Thankfully, we had started the process early. Our process for looking for an apartment was as follows. Dee and I would look online on websites like Funda. We would look through the newly available apartments and ask Richard (who works for HLS) to apply. In many cases we would never hear back from the people who advertised the apartments. In cases where there was an open house, Richard would be our man on the ground and video walk us through the apartments.

After the open house, there is an application round. We would often bid over the asking price and still not make the final bidding round. In one case, we bid 500 EUR over the asking monthly price, as well as 6 months prepaid rent and still didn't get a call back.

In two cases where we did make the final round, we had to do a video interview with the owner (something that I had never had to do before). Suffice to say my success rate at interviewing for an apartment was far lower than my success rate at interviewing for a job.

All totaled, it took close to two months and over 100 applications to land a place we liked. We ended up staying in the beautiful (but pricey) neighborhood of Oud Zuid. At the time we got the apartment, we weren't super thrilled with it. However, once we arrived, we fell in love with it and with the cosy neighborhood that surrounds it.

Registering at the Gemeente

As an expat arriving to the Netherlands, one of the first things you need to do is register with the Gemeente (municipal administration office). The Gemeente is the one that issues a citizen service number (BSN). The BSN is used when interacting with virtually all government services.

Due to the Ukraine refugee crisis the Gemeente in Amsterdam was overwhelmed when we arrived. Even so, they were able to accommodate us within a couple of months. More impressively however, the government systems were designed with that in mind. It is possible to do just about anything, including get a local bank account and receiving a paycheck, while waiting for your BSN. The system is designed with the initial BSN gap existing for expats and handles it gracefully.

Dealing with the Weather

Amsterdam Weather

Before moving to the Netherlands, I had visited twice as a tourist. Both my visits were during the summer. The summer weather in the Netherlands is beautiful. Most of the time the temperature stays under 30 degrees Celsius and days are long, making afternoons and evenings very pleasant. Fall and spring weather is very rainy, but can still be pleasant.

Winter is by far my least favorite season here. Winter days rarely get cold enough for snow, and are often short and overcast. The long stretches of back to back rainy dark days, really brings down my mood.

Month Precipitation (Millimeters) Precipitation (Days)
January 65 12
February 50 10
March 50 10
April 40 9
May 55 9
June 65 10
July 80 11
August 100 12
September 85 11
October 85 12
November 85 13
December 80 14
Year 850 133

Naturally, conducting a quick fact check of the rain data indicates that it rains just as much in Summer as it does in the winter. It looks like the warmer, brighter days in the summer make all the difference.

Transportation - No Car Needed

Getting around the city is pretty easy. There is an extensive network of trams, buses and a metro. Moreover, the bike infrastructure is world famous. Renting a bike is very easy even for the long term. A popular option is Swapfiets (fiets means bike in Dutch).

Amsterdam Swapfiets

In the picture above, I've illegally parked my swapfiets bike near a canal. Another option is to just buy a used bike from one of the city markets or bicycle shops. A 7 speed bike in a decent shape can be had for less than 200 EUR.

A First Look at The City

Amsterdam is a beautiful city. One thing that continuously strikes me is that I enjoy my experience of the city, even when I am running chores. Even when I am on my way to work on a rainy day, navigating bike rush hour, I find myself enjoying the experience. This is such a striking counter point to my experience of commuting within the US. Navigating rush hour traffic around DC or Boston was always a detracting experience.


← Back to home
© 2024 Doichin Denchev