Amsterdam for Expats

Amsterdam’s position as the best place in Europe for the international business community to settle has dropped from sixth place in 2007 to eighth place in 2009. This is bad for both Amsterdam and the expats that live there.

If you decide to pursue an international career, then you will want to live in a city where businesses want to settle and where you are welcome.

Amsterdam is a wonderful city, characterised by its stately homes, its museums and its tolerant, creative atmosphere. The city is also full of tourists enjoying the scenery, but if you live in Amsterdam as an expat, you need a little more.

You want to live in a city that listens to you, that keeps you in mind and that makes you feel that you are truly welcome. On 3 March 2010, expats registered in Amsterdam will vote in the municipal elections.

The election covers some important issues, a very good reason to make your expat voice heard.

In 2007, 48% of expats felt welcome in Amsterdam. This figure has now dropped to 37%. As many as seven out of ten expats want to leave Amsterdam in 2010. The VVD asks you to stay because Amsterdam needs you. More than one third of expats who wish to leave, do so because they can enjoy a better quality of life in their home country.

We, the VVD, promise to improve the quality of our city over the coming years to your benefit.

A city needs to be clean for you to feel welcome and for you to welcome your international guests. We want a cleaner city and so will also clean the city during nocturnal hours so that when you wake in the morning you are not confronted by last night’s party-goer rubbish.

Retail in Amsterdam could be and should be much better. We want to stimulate the establishment of stores in Amsterdam that can complete with the best fashion houses in Milan, with the best caterers in Paris and the best department stores in London.

Transport in Amsterdam needs drastic improvement. This means a better quality taxi company in Amsterdam, an underground system that is finished on schedule and the opportunity to park near your house without having to pay excessive parking charges. You, after all, are a resident of this city. The VVD wants to lower your parking charges.

We need to simplify the process of gathering information about living in Amsterdam, about education for your children, about work visas and about how legislation in the Netherlands and Amsterdam works. We therefore need to expand the expat centre in the World Trade Center and make it available to more expats. The city needs to make it easier for you to shape your own life and not just act as a stumbling block and send you down the wrong path.

If you’re young with an international career, then you want to live in a lively metropolis so there needs to be more opportunities for expats to meet each other. Amsterdam's nightlife needs to return to being real nightlife with more fun and hip restaurants and bars, liberal opening hours and more opportunities for parties and events. The VVD says ‘down with dreary’.

Amsterdam needs to be a city that welcomes you, the expat - and where you also feel welcome. The VVD is glad you’re here, but many people in Amsterdam’s services industry just aren‘t customer-friendly, something we believe needs a lot of improvement. The VVD wants to introduce a customer service programme for all staff in public service positions, such as taxi drivers, tram drivers and field workers such as security staff.

 You live in Amsterdam as an expat. You are not a tourist, but a valued resident of this city, no matter if your stay is long or short. But if Amsterdam continues to slide down the scale of places favourable to international trade, your colleagues will depart, leaving the city to the tourists. The VVD does not want this to happen, which is why the VVD is working towards less bureaucracy, lower expenses and taxes for Amsterdam residents, better public transport and increased numbers of international businesses who have chosen to base their operations in Amsterdam.

Nearly ninety percent of expats advise friends, colleagues and family to come visit Amsterdam, but less than half give the same advice as regards doing business here. The VVD wants to turn this around so you are not the only expat among all the foreign tourists who only come to Amsterdam to take a quick look at the canals.

The VVD will make the choices necessary to bring this about just as it has always done in the past, and will remain doing in the future. Can we count on your vote? The municipal elections take place on 3 March 2010. Vote VVD. Vote for Our Amsterdam.