ok first off the visa, alot of places will say you need a visa to work before you come over technically this is true but just so they can charge you about 40x the prive you can pay, what you do (atleast in amsterdam) is get there wait about 4-5 days then go to the IND office in sloterdijk an say like "hey i was traveling through asmterdam i met this dude/did something an got offered a job but i dont have a visa cause i wasnt intending on staying so the guys just told me to come down here..... you need to take your passport, your health insurance, and either a bank statement showing enough funds to buy a ticket home or a return ticket, i just booked a one way flight an told the customs dudes at the airport and at IND the same deal i was gona travel down the west coast an didnt want a return ticket to govern where i had to be to fly home. anyway 43e later an bang i have my visa stamp for 6 months.
ok the next part is tricky, the SOFI number BSN number social security whatever you wanna call it, has a stupid cycleto get one you need to register an address an have id from the landlord and blah blah blah, obviously this is a problem cause 1 housing is fuck hard to find in dam unless you know someone and 2 alot of places wont let you register their place anyway, SO what you do it ring up the tax office an tell them you have a place but the owner is not in the country and as such cannot sign rego or provide id an stuff then what happens is they take your number an call you back in a couple days with an appointment an bang there you go, atleast thats how alot of people say it should work but in actual fact the tax office will only speak to you in dutch as i have found out so unless you get someone to speak dutch on your behalf you have to do what im goin to do, go to the tax offive in sloterdijk (just round the corner from the IND bulding) and talk to them in person with the same story owner not in town , you really need this number cause you have a job lined up but they wont hold it forever yadda yadda yadda" and they should make an appointment between the next 2 days or 2 weeks not really sure how it works yet but ill find out.
Now the third thing is finding a place to live believe it or not this is actually the hardest part of getting your shit together in amsterdam, there are soooooo many scams out there its ridiculous, ive been looking for 2 weeks straight an have had 2 viewings over that time, unless the apartment is insanely expensive in the centruum area a 2-3 bedroom place in that area will be a scam, theyll ask you for a wire transfer an give you some crap along the lines of i live in the U.K/USA on the first year of a five year job contract/doing an internship/parents died an left the place to me, then theyll say something like oh our family lawyer can take care of the viewing and documents, basically the rule here is DO NOT SEND MONEY BY WIRE TRANSFER ! always meet the person first, this is why i stopped looking for apartments and started looking for rooms to rent instead as atleast you can meet the person see their place and if they do screw you hey you know where they live....... on the other hand you can always go round town asking for the manager of the little pizza places takeaway joints restaurants cause usually they own the whole building so they might have a room available you just gotta put yourself out there. or go through a leasing agent but they usually charge commission or have massive security deposits to each their own i guess
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