I’m curious to hear opinions on how bureaucracy/inefficiency impacts day to day life. We often hear how Western Europe is horrendous with being able to get things done efficiently- but I’m curious to hear for Europe as a whole, are there any exceptions? Would like to hear about the “less popular” expat locations in Europe.
For activities such as getting internet set up in a new flat; or having the heat break and needing the repair company to come look at it- which countries in Europe would be the most efficient?
There’s a lot of things I don’t like about the Netherlands, but I would say that it’s pretty efficient. Got my residence permit within a couple months of applying, and they let you stay legally while you wait for the outcome of your application. Then, once you have that, you can apply for a social security number. Can usually get an appointment within a month. Easy to get a bank account. The tax office takes care of most of your tax issues for you. Signing up for (mandatory) health insurance takes 10 mins.
The downside is that the fine-tunes machine can fuck you over if anything weird happens. I know an American guy who moved over here for his wife, later got divorced, which made him ineligible for his residence permit, but the courts ordered that he live in the same town as his ex-wife for the sake of the kids. So, he legally had to stay in the country, but was technically an illegal resident, so he has no social security number, no legal address, no work rights, and no access to healthcare. Finally, after nearly a decade, he finally raised enough money to get a lawyer to take his case to sort it all out. The courts decided to deport him.
That’s a horror story, but I have found in general that the Netherlands works well as long as you don’t fall between the cracks. If you do, you’re pretty boned.
I dont think he would have been deported back if he had just bougth a ticket and went.
No, but he would have broken the terms of his divorce agreement and forfeited his rights to see his children.