England · visa route
Emigrating to England
Since Brexit, England is a real emigration country again: no visa without a job, and no move without a visa. That makes the order more important than ever — and whoever knows it has a head start on everyone still calculating with outdated B1 and fee amounts. This page shows how the journey runs.
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- Kind of journey
- Visa route — the job first, then the Skilled Worker visa
- Language requirement
- English at B2, tightened in January 2026
- Biggest cost item
- The health surcharge (IHS): £ 1,035 p.p. per year, up front
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from job offer to being settled
A visa route with a character of its own: the visa doesn't hang on points you bring but on a job you first have to find. After that come a customs border that didn't exist before Brexit, and a country without a registration counter.
- 1
Orientation
No visa without a job
The main route is the Skilled Worker visa, and that starts not with a form but with an employer who wants and is allowed to sponsor you. In this phase you check whether your occupation is on the list and whether the salary meets the threshold (£ 41,700, or the going rate of your trade if higher), you learn that the language requirement has been at B2 since 2026, and you calculate the journey — including the health surcharge that goes per family member per year and that almost everyone underestimates.
- 2
Job and visa
The sponsor carries your visa
Applying to employers from the public sponsor register, passing the language test, and then the chain: your employer assigns a Certificate of Sponsorship, you apply online and pay the fees plus the full health surcharge up front. From the Netherlands the decision usually comes within three weeks. You don't get a paper document — your status is an eVisa, and the share code from it becomes your entry ticket for employer and landlord alike.
- 3
Closing the Netherlands
A real emigration, not an EU move
The UK is no longer an EU country, and you feel that exactly here: your health insurance stops without a European safety net, your AOW accrual stops, and the tax settlement runs via the tax treaty and the M form. You deregister with the municipality, keep DigiD and a Dutch account, and gather the documents British counters will want a certified translation of.
- 4
The move
Close by, but with a customs border
The household contents go by lorry via the ferry or the tunnel — but since Brexit that's formally an import. One form (the ToR exemption) decides whether your belongings come across tax-free, and that form has to be there before the lorry drives. The car is an honest sum: bringing it is allowed, but driving on the left with a left-hand-drive car plus conversion and inspection rarely wins. The pet, surprisingly, may simply come along on its EU passport — via an approved route.
- 5
Arrival in England
No registration counter — but an order
England has no population register: you arrange separate things with separate authorities, and the order saves weeks. The share code opens the home and the job, working is allowed before your National Insurance Number arrives, the GP registers you without a single paper, and the council knows you as soon as the council tax runs. For the children you arrange school via that same council — and then the real arriving begins.
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 England journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 4.1 of your plan
Apply for the ToR exemption before the move
- Lead time
- application an evening; allow amply for the processing
- Costs
- none — the exemption itself is free
This is the step almost nobody knows about, and it's worth thousands of euros. Since Brexit your household contents are formally an import: without exemption you pay import duties plus VAT on the value of everything that goes into the lorry. The Transfer of Residence exemption (ToR) removes that — if you arrange it in time. You apply for it online at HMRC, with an inventory list (grouping is allowed, a photo of a handwritten list counts), a proof of address on both sides and your passport page. After approval you get a unique reference number (URN), and that number is what your mover needs at customs.
The conditions: you lived at least twelve months outside the UK, the goods have been in your possession and use for at least six months, you import them within twelve months of settling — and you may not sell or transfer them in the first year after import. Alcohol and tobacco fall outside it.
Where you arrange it
What this step rests on
This is step 4.1 of 37. The other 36 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
€ 7.800 – € 14.700
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden€ 3.000 – € 8.000
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 4.700 – € 6.300
- De verhuizing
- € 80 – € 400
- De eerste maanden
- € 3.000 – € 8.000
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- Visumleges Skilled Worker€ 900 – € 2.000
- Immigration Health Surcharge€ 3.500 – € 3.700
- Taaltest (SELT, niveau B2)€ 300 – € 500
- Akten, apostilles en vertalingen(estimate)€ 0 – € 100
De verhuizing
- Reis en overtocht(estimate)€ 80 – € 400
Met de auto via de ferry of de tunnel, of een korte vlucht. De ferry Hoek van Holland-Harwich begint rond € 107 voor auto plus bestuurder (vanaf-prijs, dynamisch); nachtboten en de tunnel liggen hoger, en wie vliegt betaalt per stoel plus koffers.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden(estimate)€ 3.000 – € 8.000
De borg is wettelijk gemaximeerd op vijf weken huur en de meeste verboden kosten zijn echt verboden — maar de huur zelf is de knop die alles bepaalt: Londen huurt ver boven Nederlands niveau, de rest van Engeland eronder tot vergelijkbaar. Reken borg plus eerste maand vooruit, tijdelijk verblijf tot de woning er is, en leven tot het eerste Britse salaris binnenkomt.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 3 to 8% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 7.500 to € 20.000.
De stamp duty loopt in schijven op: niets tot 125.000 pond, 2% tot 250.000, 5% tot 925.000 en daarboven meer. Op een woning van 400.000 pond komt dat neer op ongeveer 2,5%. Belangrijk voor wie nog niet verhuisd is: koop je als niet-ingezetene, dan komt er 2% bovenop. Dat bedrag kun je terugvragen als je binnen twaalf maanden na de aankoop 183 dagen in het Verenigd Koninkrijk verblijft — de aanvraag moet binnen twee jaar na de transactie bij HMRC liggen. Reken daarnaast op een solicitor van rond de tweeduizend pond.
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 14 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 England, 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 England: 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 England really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on England
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
The move
- 3 min
Your car and driving licence in England: driving on the left, NOVA, and the sums to do first
Your Dutch driving licence simply stays valid in England until you turn seventy, and exchanging it needs no test. You may bring the car too — but a left-hand-drive car needs converted headlights and an extra inspection, and only then does the real arithmetic begin.
Updated 14 August 2026
- 2 min
ToR1: the form that can save your move to England thousands of euros
Since Brexit your household goods are formally an import: without relief you pay import duty plus VAT on everything in the lorry. The Transfer of Residence relief removes that — if you apply for it before the removal company sets off.
Updated 14 August 2026
Arrival in England
- 3 min
Buying a house in England: nothing is certain until exchange — and read what you're actually buying
England has two surprises you need to know beforehand. An accepted offer binds nobody: only at the exchange of contracts is the purchase real, and until that day either party can walk away. And not every "purchase" is ownership: with leasehold you buy the right to live there for a fixed number of years. On top of that comes the stamp duty, with surcharges that hit emigrants in particular: 5 percentage points extra as long as your Dutch house isn't sold, and 2 percentage points for whoever isn't yet a UK resident.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 3 min
Renting in England: the Right to Rent check, the deposit cap and what a landlord may not ask
Before you can rent a home in England, the landlord is obliged to check your residence status — and you supply the share code for that. The deposit is capped at five weeks' rent and must go into a protection scheme; whoever knows that also spots straight away the landlords who aren't too particular about it.
Updated 14 August 2026
- 3 min
Your first weeks in England: NIN, GP, bank and council tax in the right order
England has no population register — there is no counter where you "just register". Instead you arrange four separate things, and the order saves weeks: you may work before your National Insurance Number arrives, and the GP asks for no proof of address.
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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