China · visa route
Emigrating to China
China doesn't select with a queue but with a threshold: an employer plus a bachelor and two years' experience — or sixty points — and you're in; the visa is days of work after that, not months. This page shows where the real decision sits: a life in Chinese, behind a filtered internet, in the country where the Netherlands arranges the least for you.
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- Kind of journey
- Sponsored work visa — a threshold, not a contest
- Lead time
- About 6 months; the chain after the job counts in weeks
- Note
- No healthcare treaty, no full AOW export — and the internet is filtered
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from the threshold to the three clocks
The selection sits before the application: finding an employer, and being honest about life there. After that the journey is a chain of short clocks — twenty working days for the notification, four for the visa, and after landing 24 hours, 15 days and 30 days.
- 1
Orientation
A threshold, not a contest — and the honest conversation
China has no pool and no ranking: class B asks for a bachelor plus two years' experience, or sixty points — whoever gets over it is in. In this phase you count your points, calculate the journey and have the two conversations the recruitment stories skip: about language and internet (Google and WhatsApp don't work there; life runs on WeChat), and about the family — because on an S1 family visa your partner may not work, and for singles the AOW drops permanently to the married rate there.
- 2
Job and visa
The selection is the job application; the chain is counted in weeks
Your employer applies online for the work permit notification (free, legally twenty working days), you get the Z visa in The Hague (four working days, € 111.55 per person) — and the papers you gather for it all carry a six-month clock. The good news of this route: since November 2023 one apostille suffices where there used to be two counters, and the PU letter from the corona years no longer exists. Whoever has a pet also starts the titre route past quarantine here.
- 3
Closing the Netherlands
The treaty country where the treaty arranges the least
The most honest phase on the site. China is on the treaty-country list, but the treaty arranges no export: for singles the AOW drops permanently to fifty percent — the mirror image of Japan. There's no CAK healthcare route, the protective assessment asks for security outside the EU, and the tax treaty lets the Netherlands tax AOW and facilitated pension alike. What did become smoother: posted workers stay Dutch-insured for up to five years, and the apostille replaced the double legalisation. Whoever knows the gaps covers them — that's exactly this phase.
- 4
The move
The border is strict on paper and on numbers
Your container can only go in once work permit and residence permit are done — you first, the things after — and the "exempt" first shipment still taxes twenty categories, from computers to furniture and lamps. Medicines count in days: methylphenidate at most fifteen days' supply, and amphetamine preparations aren't a medicine there at all. The pet can go without quarantine via the titre test at the recognised lab in Lelystad. And the car you sell at home: ordinary employees may not import one, and a plate is drawn by lottery or auctioned.
- 5
Arrival in China
Three clocks, one order — and the slip that opens everything
Within 24 hours to the police, within 15 days the work permit (digital — a card no longer exists), within 30 days the residence permit, for which your passport stays behind briefly. After that everything builds in one order: SIM card in your own name, then the bank account, then WeChat Pay and Alipay. The driving licence asks, as the only country on the site, for a theory test — in English, and learnable. And your salary may go to the Netherlands without a ceiling, as long as contract and tax certificate cover it.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the China journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 3.2 of your plan
AOW and pension: the treaty that doesn't quite do enough
- Lead time
- an afternoon of research; decide on voluntary insurance
- Costs
- voluntary AOW insurance: 17.9% of income (min about € 569/year)
China is on the SVB's treaty-country list, and yet what applies here is what you don't expect from a treaty country: the treaty arranges no export of benefits — the minister confirmed in 2024 that China, next to Pakistan, is the only one for which it works out that way. Concretely: a single person drops permanently for the AOW from 70% to the married rate of 50%; a couple keeps twice 50%. What the treaty does do well: whoever is seconded by a Dutch employer (at most five years, with a Certificate of Coverage from the SVB) simply stays insured in the Netherlands. Whoever signs locally builds up a 2% AOW gap per year here — the voluntary insurance (apply within one year of departure) closes it. And note for later: your compulsory Chinese pension contribution (8%) is paid out to you as a balance on definitive departure.
This is step 3.2 of 36. The other 35 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
What it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 3.600 – € 11.600
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden€ 3.000 – € 10.000
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 250 – € 650
- De verhuizing
- € 350 – € 900
- De eerste maanden
- € 3.000 – € 10.000
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- Visumleges (Z- en S1-visa)€ 100 – € 200
- Residence permit (na aankomst)€ 50 – € 150
- Apostilles, VOG en vertalingen(estimate)€ 100 – € 300
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 350 – € 900
Een enkele vlucht Amsterdam-Shanghai of Amsterdam-Peking per persoon, plus ruimbagage. KLM vliegt rechtstreeks (± 11 uur); met een overstap in het Midden-Oosten is het vaak honderden euro's goedkoper.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden(estimate)€ 3.000 – € 10.000
Borg (1-3 maanden huur), courtage (tot een maand, in Shanghai vaak de helft) en de eerste huur — in de expatwijken van Shanghai en Peking is de huur zelf de grote post. Daarbij: inrichting, de medische keuring, het rijbewijsexamen (tientjes), een eventuele internationale zorgverzekering tot de werkgeversdekking loopt, en leven tot het eerste salaris. De internationale school staat hier bewust níét in: die loopt per kind in de tienduizenden euro's per jaar en hoort in de salarisonderhandeling — de publieke school is vrijwel gratis, maar volledig Chineestalig.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 1 to 3% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 2.500 to € 7.500.
De kosten zelf zijn laag: de deed tax (契税) is 1 tot 3%, afhankelijk van de oppervlakte en of het je eerste woning is. Daarnaast kleine registratiekosten. Er is geen jaarlijkse onroerendezaakbelasting. Reken op 1 tot 3% in totaal — laag in vergelijking met vrijwel elk Europees land.
Note: buying isn't simply allowed here
Je mag pas kopen na minstens één jaar legaal verblijf in China op een werk-, studie- of verblijfsvergunning, en dan één woning, voor eigen gebruik. Steden stapelen daar hun eigen eisen bovenop: Peking vraagt vijf jaar sociale premies, Sjanghai twaalf maanden belastingaangiften. Kopen is dus geen eerste stap maar iets voor na je eerste jaar.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 21 August 2026.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in China, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for China: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that only a short update when something in China really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on China
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Arrival in China
- 2 min
Buying a house in China: only after a year, one home — and the land stays the state's
China lets foreigners buy only after at least a year of working or studying in the country, and then one home for their own use — cities add requirements of their own on top. What you buy, moreover, is never the land: that stays the state's, you buy the building on a land-use right of seventy years. The deed tax has been mild since December 2024: 1% up to and including 140 square metres, above that 1.5%.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 3 min
Internet, WeChat and paying: digital life in China, honestly
Google, WhatsApp and Instagram don't work in China, and that's not a fault but policy. Daily life runs on WeChat and Alipay — your contact with the Netherlands shifts there too. What that means in practice, what employers arrange, and where the law stands.
Updated 21 August 2026
- 3 min
Your first weeks in China: three clocks and one order
Within 24 hours to the police, within 15 days the work permit, within 30 days the residence permit — and after that everything builds in one order: SIM card, bank account, payment apps. The registration slip from day one is the key at every step.
Updated 21 August 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 9 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and why "just staying registered" isn't an option.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
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