On this page:

• Cage the collaborators
• Permit problems
• Immovable imams
• Kick 'em all out
• Delight in Drenthe

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Re: Like a slow train coming

Shame on you for not seeing through the self-congratulatory backslapping by the Dutch rail company NS.

Apologising six decades after assisting the Nazis to deport 100,000 Jews is nothing to be proud of.

How is it possible the company feels sticking up a few posters against racism is sufficient recompense?

The International Criminal Court should act since the Dutch State has failed to prosecute the NS executives who organised the transports to the concentration camps.

Nazi fugitives are hunted to this day — why are Dutch collaborators not treated in the same way?

Instead the author of your article is content to go along with the code of silence in the Netherlands about the crimes of the Dutch during the war.

Regards,
Mike Dubois

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Re: In defence of the system

First of all, I would like to thank you for maintaining such a valuable source of information for the expat community in The Netherlands.

I'm a Colombian citizen and I've been in the Netherlands for two years. I followed an international Master programme at the University of Twente in English, including a fulfilling internship period.
 
Fortunately, the company offered me a position based on the new fast-track knowledge migrant policy.

In my case, the procedure worked quite well but not as smoothly as the IND claims.

The company first had to make an agreement with the IND to be able to apply for these special residence permits. For my company, a small software development house, it was approved quite fast — between two and three weeks.

I was told by  phone it would take between three and four weeks so I was happy with the result (faster than they claimed, that do not happen very often).
 
I had to go to the IND office at Rijswijk in The Hague. They have a special counter for this type of application; an IND employee actually walked me from the locket to a private office.

They provided very nice personalised attention, a form of genuine customer service (something not very common around here).

I just handed in my application, they checked everything was complete and inserted a temporary sticker in my passport. The whole thing took less than 30 minutes.

However, after waiting for three week I got nervous about when I would get the actual permit. I called the IND and a woman told me everything was fine. Then she said it could take as long as six months.  I almost fainted. I have already signed a contract for an apartment.
 
They told me the following crazy story that I still do not find very convincing. Because I was changing my STUDENT residence permit for a knowledge worker residence permit, two different procedures were involved and the processing could take 6 months.

It almost made me want to commit suicide. Who can complain to? Who can you go to and cry???   
 
Thankfully, God is great and the process was completed in seven weeks — after my boss sent a fax asking for a SPOEDIG (speedy) determination.

My story ended happily but I suspect many other students could face the same problem.
 
Regards,
Juan Diego Quesada Ocampo

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Re: Extra integration course for foreign clerics

Whatever you do to educate those imams will achieve nothing. Their brains are full of their old fashioned, wicked and vacant ideas.

Plan to minimise them greatly and, when possible, send them back to their countries.

Transfer the money earmarked for their integration courses to budgets for schools, hospitals, and the old people who created this sweet country.

Regards,
Dr K.K

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Re: Which way is the wind blowing for Holland?

As someone who has lived in the Netherlands of and on for the  last ten years, I have seen first hand how the country has been changing.

During the time that I lived here, I learned Dutch and respected Dutch culture. This, however, cannot be said of the thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers who have been allowed to enter the country. The most logical solution would be to simply expel all of them — by military force if necessary.

Although the article points out that the crime rate is down, I would like to see some statistics on what the crime rate was when the Netherlands had a homogeneous population.

In fact the crime rate has gone up in all European countries since the "invasion" began.

All of the immigrants who did not originate from other western countries or who are not pulling their own weight should all be removed by force if necessary. Especially those who are receiving government assistance which could be diverted to Dutch families to increase the white Dutch birth rate.

Otherwise, the Netherlands will have an Islamic majority before the year 2030. When this becomes the case, what is to prevent the Muslims from electing a  clerical government?

The only thing that they seem to understand is violence. They will get their jihad.

Regards,
Thomas Verseti

Editor replies: As an expat website Expatica does not advocate or support using the military to expel foreigners from the Netherlands. Expatica has even less empathy for the racist notion 'only white is right'.

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Re: Weekend break: Back to nature in Drenthe

Your recent article on Drenthe was fantastic.

I am planning our next trip based on the  information found in this article.

Thank you for the great information on the travel destination.

Regards,
Arlene Barr

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DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are not necessarily Expatica's. Letters may be edited for reasons of space and clarity.

23 September 2005

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Life in the Netherlands, expat opinion