Data from Tax Consulting South Africa and Xpatweb shows the Netherlands has quietly become one of the top destinations for professionals looking to leave South Africa.<\/p>\n
Career opportunities, a secure lifestyle and value placed on South African professionals appear the main attractions for this becoming a most favoured destination, said Marisa Jacobs, director of Xpatweb. She added that skilled local professionals are in high demand in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
“Not only is the Netherlands attractive in terms of their work\/life balance, but the Dutch government offers enticing tax incentives for highly skilled migrants, especially in the financial, engineering and information technology fields.”<\/p>\n
Jacobs noted that Xpatweb also met with the deputy ambassador of the South African High Embassy at the World Trade Centre in The Hague to discuss the growing migration trend.<\/p>\n
Data provided by the deputy ambassador shows that 35,000 South Africans currently live in the Netherlands<\/strong>, of which 20,000 are working, with the balance being spouses and children.<\/p>\n Why the Netherlands?<\/strong><\/p>\n Covid-19 and its far-reaching effects have not deterred the economic growth of the Netherlands. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), economic growth rose to 4.8% for 2021.<\/p>\n With the economy growing at such an exponential rate during a pandemic, the Netherlands faces a different dilemma, job vacancies are now outnumbering the number of unemployed people. This means that there are roughly 123 vacancies per 100 unemployed people according to the CBS.<\/p>\n It is not just the growing pool of vacancies that\u2019s attractive for South Africans. The Dutch work\/life balance is another contributing factor to why the Netherlands is seen as an emerging hub for skilled migrants.<\/p>\n The Dutch put a lot of emphasis on ‘family\/leisure time’ and working hours are fewer than in most European countries. Most Dutch professionals work on average 35 hours per week where a few of those days can be used for remote working.<\/p>\n The Netherlands also has fantastic \u201csoft landing\u201d programmes for expats, with efficient government agencies such as the international Expat Centre offering on the ground assistance to expatriates.<\/p>\n
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