Blog 10 Xpats

For this blog I spoke to one of the information officers working at the Xpat Desk. He told me their service is way behind municipal matters. In the pyramid of Maslov you will find the needs of persons in any situation. This theory is also applicable for expats. People want housing, food, drinks, security at the basic. Things like yoga, religion and self-development come in a later stadium. After the necessary administration they also want to find internet, sport and cultural events. This information is also given by the Xpat Desk.

In The Hague the Xpat Desk is working together with the expat volunteer organization ACCESS. A volunteer organization for and operated by internationals. This people already experienced the process of relocation himself or herself.  It is easy for them to identify with the problems expats face in their relocation process.

New in The Hague is the service or registration in municipal database records (GBA) for high skilled knowledge migrants. This particular group gets their working permit, residence permit, municipal registration and tax number in one visit. It is all arranged by their company. It makes a  big different in the world. This people can choose where to work and live due to their skills. With this special procedure it makes it easy to settle in The Hague.

Knowing it takes a long time to get a working internet connection the municipality hands out welcome packages to new residents. All the information is available on the internet but a physical information package is still appreciated by new arrivals.

They also created a “welcome to The Hague program”. This is a nice program starting with a welcome by the deputy mayor. An introduction of the service given by the Xpat Desk and includes a guided tour in the old part of the city centre. This program helps expats to settle and meet other internationals as well.