Moving to the Netherlands from the UK

Our residency index: 60/100, possible, with conditions. It is our own rating of how realistic long-term residency in the Netherlands is for UK citizens, based on the routes the Netherlands publishes. Long-term residency runs mainly through employer-sponsored skilled-worker permits (highly skilled migrant and EU Blue Card) or a points-tested self-employment permit; the investor golden visa was abolished and there is no passive-income or self-sufficiency route for non-EU nationals.

Our dataset has no self-funded income or savings threshold for the Netherlands. Check the official requirements before you apply.

For short visits, UK passport holders can visit visa-free for up to 90 days, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit.

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold UK passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

1. 1

   1. The Hague

   79% match

   Est. cost

   €3,793/mo

   Avg temp

   11°C

   Safety index

   72/100

2. 2

   2. Utrecht

   79% match

   Est. cost

   €3,755/mo

   Avg temp

   11°C

   Safety index

   72/100

3. 3

   3. Rotterdam

   79% match

   Est. cost

   €3,891/mo

   Avg temp

   11°C

   Safety index

   72/100

4. 4

   4. Amsterdam

   78% match

   Est. cost

   €3,865/mo

   Avg temp

   11°C

   Safety index

   72/100

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €3,755 a month in Utrecht to €3,891 in Rotterdam. For comparison, we estimate €4,315 a month in London. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

The Netherlands is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax); the UK is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in the UK after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

• Best cities in Europe where English is widely spoken
• Best places to live in Western Europe
• Best English-speaking cities to move to
• Safest cities to live in Europe
• Cities with the best healthcare to move to
• Best coastal cities to live in Europe

• Moving to the Netherlands from the US
• Moving to the Netherlands from Canada
• Moving to the Netherlands from Australia
• Moving to the Netherlands from Ireland
• Moving to the Netherlands from New Zealand

Every country and origin we cover

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

• Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
• Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
• City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding UK passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
• Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
• Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.