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I'm an American who moved to Amsterdam three years ago, with that DAFT visa. This is a fantastic society that's figured out so much — I love it. Happy to answe

I'm an American who moved to Amsterdam three years ago, with that DAFT visa. This is a fantastic society that's figured out so much — I love it. Happy to answer questions and/or meet up with fellow HN readers here in town.

bogomipz 8y ago
What was the DAFT process like? What type of business did you start? How often do you need to do reporting to maintain the DAFT visa?
- adrianh 8y ago
  An immigration attorney handled it for me, so it was relatively stress-free. Hardest part was getting the various documents (birth certificates apostiled). The reporting is just the annual accounting/taxes.
  - bogomipz 8y ago
    Thanks, can I ask how long the whole process took? It's also my understanding that you actually have a certain amount of money in a Dutch banking account as well correct?
estsauver 8y ago
I sent you an email!
magduf 8y ago
Do they smoke as much as the Germans?
- estsauver 8y ago
  1400 cigarettes/year on average. Germany is 1599.5/year, US is ~1016.6.
  - magduf 8y ago
    I wonder where those numbers come from. I just spend 2 weeks in southern Germany, and it seems about 80% of the men there smoke, and at least 25% of the women. I couldn't go anywhere without running into clouds of smoke. Smokers were all over the place on city sidewalks, they blocked entrances to restaurants, they were everywhere. I was just glad they didn't seem to have any indoor smoking. It really sucks that Germany doesn't have the 50-foot rule we have in America (no smoking within a certain distance of the entrance to a public building), so non-smokers don't have to walk through clouds of smoke or right by smokers as they enter or exit public establishments. By contrast, here in the US, I rarely see smokers. Of course, I'm a city dweller and live in a liberal city, but smokers are relatively rare here. I don't constantly get choked by smoke as I walk for miles around the streets of DC, the way I did in Munich. Also, I don't even see cigarettes for sale in the US anywhere except shitty gas stations and the like, whereas normal grocery stores in Germany had them for sale near the checkout, plus they even have outdoor vending machines where anyone (including children) can buy them! We banned those things ages ago in America to keep kids from getting hooked on them. I suspect that in the US, the vast majority of those cigarettes are being smoked by poor people in more rural areas, especially in the South, and that's why I don't see it much. There's a huge and growing division in US society between the rural/conservative and urban/liberal people, and we're evolving into almost two different nations.
    - estsauver 8y ago
      I haven't found the smoking to be overwhelming here, but I also don't super mind it. I've never been a smoker, but I was in the high school debate community in the US which is littered with smokers.
dmode 8y ago
Is language a barrier in both personal and professional life ?

bogomipz 8y ago

What was the DAFT process like? What type of business did you start? How often do you need to do reporting to maintain the DAFT visa?

adrianh 8y ago
An immigration attorney handled it for me, so it was relatively stress-free. Hardest part was getting the various documents (birth certificates apostiled). The reporting is just the annual accounting/taxes.
- bogomipz 8y ago
  Thanks, can I ask how long the whole process took? It's also my understanding that you actually have a certain amount of money in a Dutch banking account as well correct?

estsauver 8y ago

I sent you an email!

magduf 8y ago

Do they smoke as much as the Germans?

estsauver 8y ago
1400 cigarettes/year on average. Germany is 1599.5/year, US is ~1016.6.
- magduf 8y ago
  I wonder where those numbers come from. I just spend 2 weeks in southern Germany, and it seems about 80% of the men there smoke, and at least 25% of the women. I couldn't go anywhere without running into clouds of smoke. Smokers were all over the place on city sidewalks, they blocked entrances to restaurants, they were everywhere. I was just glad they didn't seem to have any indoor smoking. It really sucks that Germany doesn't have the 50-foot rule we have in America (no smoking within a certain distance of the entrance to a public building), so non-smokers don't have to walk through clouds of smoke or right by smokers as they enter or exit public establishments. By contrast, here in the US, I rarely see smokers. Of course, I'm a city dweller and live in a liberal city, but smokers are relatively rare here. I don't constantly get choked by smoke as I walk for miles around the streets of DC, the way I did in Munich. Also, I don't even see cigarettes for sale in the US anywhere except shitty gas stations and the like, whereas normal grocery stores in Germany had them for sale near the checkout, plus they even have outdoor vending machines where anyone (including children) can buy them! We banned those things ages ago in America to keep kids from getting hooked on them. I suspect that in the US, the vast majority of those cigarettes are being smoked by poor people in more rural areas, especially in the South, and that's why I don't see it much. There's a huge and growing division in US society between the rural/conservative and urban/liberal people, and we're evolving into almost two different nations.
  - estsauver 8y ago
    I haven't found the smoking to be overwhelming here, but I also don't super mind it. I've never been a smoker, but I was in the high school debate community in the US which is littered with smokers.

dmode 8y ago

Is language a barrier in both personal and professional life ?