Expatriate community: From Vancouver to Maastricht: Working Holiday Problem

“Alien Police”, “MVV”, “Residence Permit”, “SoFi Number”– just a few terms I’ve come across during my quest for work in Maastricht.

It started last August when I successfully got a “Working Holiday Programme” Visa glued into my Canadian passport from the Dutch Consulate in Vancouver. I remember thinking that everything was set: “Great, now I can work in the Netherlands, no problem”.

How naïve of me! Jumping through the bureaucratic hurdles in Maastricht to secure a job has been an utter nightmare!

Step 1: Working Holiday Programme Visa
Earlier this year I decided to move to the Netherlands. My boyfriend is Dutch and lives in Maastricht. Sometimes it’s a good thing to follow your heart, even to a country where you can’t speak the language.

The obvious option was to apply for a Working Holiday Programme Visa. I just needed to be Canadian and under 30 years old with a desire to work and travel in the Netherlands. It sounded so perfect!

Before leaving Canada I found several different sets of requirements for the programme. I asked repeatedly what was exactly needed for the application and was told a range of things by Dutch Consulates in Canada. I had to get a legalised birth certificate and some other documents, which took a lot of time and money.

When I went to the Dutch Consulate in Vancouver, I was also asked for a passport photo. But not just any passport photo. The photo store next to the Consulate said they were the only shop in the entire province that could produce the Dutch passport photo because the new 2006 Dutch requirements are so finicky. They said it is by far the most difficult passport photo to produce in the world. It cost around CAD 30 (EUR 20). As luck would have it, when I picked up my visa a week later, there wasn’t any photo attached. I should have realised at that point that this process was going to be challenging.

Step 2: Alien Police
I arrived in Maastricht in September with strict instructions to report to the “Alien Police”. My boyfriend had no idea what this meant and took me to the police station. The front desk receptionist was spraying air freshener everywhere because she said a very stinky man had just been at the counter.

“Do you know where the alien police are?” I enquired. She stared at us. My boyfriend translated my request in Dutch and she looked even more confused. Eventually she said that I needed to go to the municipal government.

I called the local authorities. I was informed that in spite of my visa, I needed to apply for a Residence Permit. They said I couldn’t come in for two weeks because they were so busy with appointments with exchange students also applying for Residence Permits.

I took a look at the Residence Permit prices online, and almost passed out. If staying in the Netherlands for more than three months, it costs EUR 433 to study and EUR 830 to visit family! Then thankfully I read that it only costs EUR 30 for a Working Holiday Programme Residence Permit.

Step 3: Municipal Government
At my appointment with the municipal government, I learned that all I had been told in Canada was incorrect. There are no alien police and I didn’t even need the visa stamp since Canadians do not need to get MVVs. These are temporary Residence Permits and apparently what my visa from Vancouver also is. We managed to figure out the paperwork (i.e. authenticated birth certificate, proof of funds, etc). My proof of funds was a little outdated so the clerk let me use her computer to go onto my bank’s website to print out my financial details. She even left her desk for a while, so I checked my email! When I closed my documents, I couldn’t help noticing that she had left an official-looking database open.

She returned and told me that I would get my Residence Permit in about… three months. She stuck a temporary sticker in my passport authorising work in the meantime. She said I had full authority to work and that I didn’t need to do anything else. “Well at least this is good news”, or so I thought.

On my way out, I asked about Dutch language courses in Maastricht. The lady gave me a coupon to bring to the front desk. There I exchanged it for a bag full of welcome material all written in Dutch. As I stood by my beaten up bike outside of the building, I laughed at how ironic this is for newcomers – how is one supposed to find out about Dutch language courses when all the welcome information is in Dutch?

So I headed back inside and began to ask, “Excuse me, I looked through the bag but it’s all in Dutch and I’m actually looking for some language courses…” The man looked annoyed and cut me off: “Sorry the information only comes in Dutch,” and he was about to turn away so I insisted: “Look, I actually want to learn Dutch, but I can’t find anything in these welcome brochures since they’re only in Dutch.” He got the point and spent five minutes looking, but finding nothing for me while the line of people glared at me.

Step 4: Get a Job
I called at least 20 temp agencies (“uitzendbureaus” in Dutch). One asked if I had customer care experience. “Well yes”, I replied, “actually a lot”. “I was even a Guest Relations Host at a resort and received a month of customer relations training,” I added. Unimpressed the employee noted: “But you weren’t dealing with customers on the phone, were you?” I answered that my experience was even better since I had dealt with people in person. She wasn’t amused and she didn’t think I should apply. After two university degrees, I couldn’t even get call centre work.

I finally spoke to an agency with a job in mind for me. I was asked to send a CV and was even invited for an interview the next day at 14.00.

Finally I was getting somewhere. I showed up at the agency but there was no record of me, no CV and not even a 14.00 appointment! My boyfriend had warned me about how disorganised Maastricht temp agencies are, but I thought he was exaggerating. Luckily an employee agreed to meet with me and photocopy my CV and passport.

She informed me that “there are tons of positions”. “But”, she added, “the problem is that you’re not a native English speaker.”
Excuse me?
“We’re actually speaking English right now, I’m English,” I said.
“Oh you are English”.
“No, I’m Canadian but our official language is English”, I explained, while thinking to myself: “and we’re still part of the Commonwealth and our Head of State is the Queen of England…”
She rebutted with: “Well there’s obviously a big difference between UK English and the American type of English you speak.”

I got a bit agitated and explained that there isn’t any difference besides accent. I had also just spent a year working in London and didn’t have any problems with the language barrier. This convinced her that I might have a chance and she agreed to check with the company.

Then she asked: “Do you have a SoFi Number”?
A What-Fi number? She explained that everyone must register with the tax office (Belastingdienst) to work in the Netherlands. “The Belastingdienst will give you a SoFi Number. A SoFi Number is necessary for deducting your taxes and social security contributions,” she said. Hadn’t the lady at the municipal government assured me that I didn’t need anything else to work?

“There isn’t any tax office in Maastricht, so you’ll need to go to Heerlen”, the temp agency employee added. My patience was wearing thin but I remembered that I am new here and need to respect the Dutch love of red tape.

Step 5: Get a SoFi Number
I called the Heerlen Tax Office on the 13th of October and tentatively asked whether my visa made me exempt from applying for a SoFi Number. The clerk said he didn’t know since “you are the first person I’ve ever spoken to with a Working Holiday Programme Visa.” Oy.

He said that he would set up a number for me anyway. An hour later, someone in Heerlen called to fix an appointment for the 25th of October so I could pick up my SoFi Number. It looked like I would have a couple more weeks of holidays, watching way too many episodes of Days of Our Lives.

I called the temp agency to let them know that my application to work would be delayed. I learned that they had lost my documents again! I ended up sending my CV for the third time. The employee casually mentioned that as long as I had applied for the SoFi Number I was permitted to work. This is the strangest system.

Step 6: The interview?
The following week, I received an email from the temp agency saying that I was invited to an interview with a company. I should study their brochure to be prepared for the interview, the message said. “What brochure?” I enquired when I called back. The woman from the agency quickly apologised and admitted she had forgotten to send it to me.

The interview turned out to be a large group meeting. We filled out forms explaining why we wanted to work with the company.

The temp agency called me a few days later informing me about a real interview. Then the agency emailed me asking if I could legally work in Netherlands, this in spite of the fact that they had already copied my passport and Working Holiday Programme visa…

A week later, not hearing anything, I called the agency to find out when my real interview would take place. But it turned out that the woman who normally “helped” me was out of office for the whole week and no one knew anything. The agency had not informed the company that I could legally work here either. By the time they figured it out, my interview was lost as well as potential work and earnings.

On the 31st of October I spoke to the agency again, and it went something like this: “You know Danya how I told you that I would be speaking with the company today.. well the lady cancelled the meeting because she’s sick. Also the woman I gave the copy of your passport to in our office is sick and obviously won’t be in for the next four days.” Then she added that I would have to come to the office so she could make all the copies again. So I did.

Finally I was called and learned that a language test and interview will take place next week.

At this point I think maybe this is all being filmed as part of a reality TV show. The producer is trying to aggravate me to the point that I have a conniption fit. Well I’m not giving in and I’m determined to find a job in the lovely city of Maastricht.

By Danya Chaikel

Danya Chaikel is from Vancouver, Canada and recently graduated from law school. She has a background of working with migrants and promoting human rights. Danya recently moved to Maastricht to be with her Dutch partner.