Expatica news

International agency expats ‘want to leave’

23 September 2005

AMSTERDAM — At least 77 percent of the mainly expat staff of international agencies in the Netherlands want to leave the country.

And more than half of the Dutch employees think their organisation should relocate to another country, according to a report in newspaper ‘De Volkskrant’.

The daily paper based its story on a leaked internal survey carried out last summer by the International Organisations Staff Associations (IOSA-NL), which represents staff members of international agencies.

These include the International Criminal Court, the UN Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the International Court of Justice, the European Patent Office, the European Space Agency and Europol. The majority are based in and around The Hague.

Telephone calls to international agencies on Friday failed to generate much response to a report.

Some of those contacted by Expatica showed interest in reading the article and representatives of two organisations expressed surprise at the claims expat workers were unhappy with life here. They asked that neither they nor the organisations they work for be named.

The IOSA found 77 percent of the workers for these organisations don’t want to stay in the Netherlands. Some 3,400 people took part in the survey, amounting to 60 percent of the workers represented by the IOSA-NL.

The reasons for wanting to leave included unhappiness with the healthcare waiting lists and unsympathetic doctors; the tax system; dealing with bureaucracy; expensive childcare and the lack of suitable housing.

The conclusion of the report ‘Thuis in Holland’ (at home in Holland) states: “There is a widespread perception that international organisations and the people who work for them are no longer welcome in the Netherlands”.

The high population in the Randstad and the growing distrust among Dutch people of foreigners were other factors mentioned, ‘De Volkskrant’ said.

The list of grievances was topped off with complaints about the weather and the difficulties of speaking Dutch.

The local authority in The Hague and government agencies declined to comment about the report has it has not been published.

The IOSA-NL plans to discuss the findings of the survey with the official agencies.

[Copyright Expatica News 2005]

Subject: Dutch news