WOERDEN, The Netherlands—Once upon a time the Netherlands was a progressive, tolerant trade nation. As a great small nation we interacted with different cultures and countries and were inventive in order to keep up with global developments. We used to be proud of being able to speak many different languages and possessed knowledge of foreign cultures. But enough of that.
In last June’s elections, Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam Freedom Party came out as one of the winners. Wilders, and the 1.5 million people who voted for him, believe that immigration is the primary source of misery in the Netherlands.
Wilders primarily points at immigrants from Islamic countries as the culprits for violence and the economic downturn. To simplify the issue further, he’s now calling for a complete moratorium on all immigration from non-Western countries for five years. Never mind that Dutch immigration policy is already one of the strictest in the world.
I happen to be married to a Chinese woman for three years now and am still applying for a long-term residency permit so she can come live with me. I am an old-fashioned guy that thinks husband and wife should be together. But being married alone means scratch to the Dutch state. To bring her here I must satisfy requirements of income, duration of contract, age, and so on.
Before you are even allowed to apply for a residency permit for your spouse, they must pass a Dutch language test and a so-called culture test. We had to pay 350 euro (US$450) and my wife had to travel 12 hours to the Dutch Embassy in her country, where they dialed up the Netherlands by a crackly phone connection to do a 10-minute phone test. The culture part consists of a selection of 100 preset questions about minor historical details, supplemented by questions, such as: “Is it allowed to hit your wife in the Netherlands?” My wife passed this exam about a year ago.
The day before New Year 2010 a cold envelope was delivered to my doormat. It was a letter from the Dutch immigration office informing me that the visa application for my wife had been turned down because they decided I couldn’t guarantee financial support. At the time, I had no job with a contract in the Netherlands. It took them three months to decide this.
In the letter I was told to seek resort in a third country, i.e. not the Netherlands and not China.
I desperately sought out other options. I would have gone anywhere. I decided to try my luck in Belgium, with its milder immigration policies. As it happened, a few days before I planned to leave, the European Court overruled parts of the Dutch immigration policy as being in conflict with European regulations.
Soon thereafter, I found a job at a hospital that offered me a year contract. Never mind that I had never done this type of work before, and it left almost no time to run my little company, or complete my full-time translation studies.
It has been two months now since my last application and each time I call I’m told to wait.
My new colleagues, many of whom voted for Wilders, tell me it is going to be all right, since they’re sure Wilders’ policies only target the “bad people” out to take advantage of the Dutch.
Within a month I will get an answer, and by that time it is also likely that a new government coalition will have formed. Regardless of the outcome, this small country seems to be getting smaller each day.
In last June’s elections, Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam Freedom Party came out as one of the winners. Wilders, and the 1.5 million people who voted for him, believe that immigration is the primary source of misery in the Netherlands.
Wilders primarily points at immigrants from Islamic countries as the culprits for violence and the economic downturn. To simplify the issue further, he’s now calling for a complete moratorium on all immigration from non-Western countries for five years. Never mind that Dutch immigration policy is already one of the strictest in the world.
I happen to be married to a Chinese woman for three years now and am still applying for a long-term residency permit so she can come live with me. I am an old-fashioned guy that thinks husband and wife should be together. But being married alone means scratch to the Dutch state. To bring her here I must satisfy requirements of income, duration of contract, age, and so on.
Before you are even allowed to apply for a residency permit for your spouse, they must pass a Dutch language test and a so-called culture test. We had to pay 350 euro (US$450) and my wife had to travel 12 hours to the Dutch Embassy in her country, where they dialed up the Netherlands by a crackly phone connection to do a 10-minute phone test. The culture part consists of a selection of 100 preset questions about minor historical details, supplemented by questions, such as: “Is it allowed to hit your wife in the Netherlands?” My wife passed this exam about a year ago.
The day before New Year 2010 a cold envelope was delivered to my doormat. It was a letter from the Dutch immigration office informing me that the visa application for my wife had been turned down because they decided I couldn’t guarantee financial support. At the time, I had no job with a contract in the Netherlands. It took them three months to decide this.
In the letter I was told to seek resort in a third country, i.e. not the Netherlands and not China.
I desperately sought out other options. I would have gone anywhere. I decided to try my luck in Belgium, with its milder immigration policies. As it happened, a few days before I planned to leave, the European Court overruled parts of the Dutch immigration policy as being in conflict with European regulations.
Soon thereafter, I found a job at a hospital that offered me a year contract. Never mind that I had never done this type of work before, and it left almost no time to run my little company, or complete my full-time translation studies.
It has been two months now since my last application and each time I call I’m told to wait.
My new colleagues, many of whom voted for Wilders, tell me it is going to be all right, since they’re sure Wilders’ policies only target the “bad people” out to take advantage of the Dutch.
Within a month I will get an answer, and by that time it is also likely that a new government coalition will have formed. Regardless of the outcome, this small country seems to be getting smaller each day.
