After a long trip, you have finally arrived in the Netherlands, but what’s next? Where can you collect your residence permit, is basic health insurance mandatory, and do you need a personal travel card? Find out all you need to know about arriving as an au pair in the Netherlands below.
You can book the appointment here. You’ll receive an invitation to collect this via email.
Here you can register as a resident at your host family’s address. Take your passport, residence permit card, apostille birth certificate and civil status certificate with you. You will get a BSN (identification number needed for every step below) via the post.
Make your appointment here.
Apply here for your DigiD. You will get a letter within 3 days with an activation code to use the app on your phone and gain acces to many official sites that use your BSN.
We recommend larger Dutch banks like ABN AMRO or ING as their apps are easy to use. This only takes 15 minutes via the app and you get access to your account after confirmation via the post in a week.
You can go with any insurance provider of your choice, but we recommend Zorg en Zekerheid because they are familiar with the laws of au pairs not being employees.
If you set the deductible amount to €500, then your monthly payments go down. It will most likely be close to €97 monthly. It is best to pay this with your own account because of the care allowance which is discussed in the next step. You will be charged for health insurance for the months from your date of entry.
This is a government subsidy for people who don’t earn an income in the Netherlands called zorgtoeslag. They will send you approximately €100 every month that you have basic health insurance.
You will continue to receive your care allowance until you stop your basic health insurance and inform the Belasingdienst that you are leaving the Netherlands and deregister yourself from your host parent’s house. We will remind you to do these things before you leave the Netherlands.
Click here to make your appointment. Contact the GGD local to you. If you don’t do this, your residence permit could be taken away. Please let us know when you book this! You can google: “GGD + your town name + TBC onderzoek” to get the contact details for the GGD clinic responsible for your region. Take your passport, residence permit card and/or visa approval letter and this TB test referral form with you, completed and signed.
If your country of origin is on this list, you do not need to do this.
Get your OV-card here. If you are going to use public transport every week you need an OV-chipcard. You can use it on any mode of public transport across the Netherlands. It costs €7,50 to register and after this you can add credit to it from your bank account.
Make sure that there is at least €20 on this card to get onto a train. Remember to always tap in and out at the beginning and end of every journey on every mode of transport. If you forget this, you will be charged the maximum fare.
The train company in the Netherlands is called NS. They have various subscriptions.Your host agreed to pay for a monthly subscription for discounted travel for you. Talk to your host about the subscription that suits your needs.
Is the bundle adequate for your needs?
Remember to switch to wifi at home and at friend’s houses so you don’t use up all your data. We recommend BEN but your host might have chosen a different company if the coverage near their home is better. The host is obligated to pay a minimum of €10 for your mobile phone usage.
Communicating clearly and openly will save you a lot of hassle! Spend a weekend day at home to bond with your host family at least once every two weeks (especially at the beginning).
