What changes financially when you move to Greece?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Greece and the Netherlands apply to your situation: which country may tax you, which schemes exist and how you get insured. With the source, so you can check it yourself.
This applies to everyone who moves. Tick above what applies to you, and the rest will appear.
Health insurance
How do you get insured, and what do you pay for it?
No excess, but a co-payment per medicine
Greece has no excess of the Dutch kind. It does have a co-payment per prescription, and that differs per medicine.
Some medicines are exempt. For others you pay part yourself. If you are on chronic medication, that is a recurring item in your monthly budget, instead of a single annual amount.
Where this comes from: Description of the system from the knowledge article. The amount differs per medicine, so there is no rate to refer to.
Read the whole storyWhat the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW accrual stops on departure: it can be repaired, within one year
As soon as you are no longer insured in the Netherlands, you build up no more AOW. Every year until your AOW age then costs 2% of your later AOW. What you have built up until you leave stays yours. So this is about the accrual, not the payment. If you already receive AOW, this no longer applies.
For most emigrants the insurance ends at the moment of departure. If you keep working in the Netherlands, or are posted abroad, you can stay insured. Voluntary insurance with the SVB, the body that runs the AOW, closes the gap, for ten years at most. That only works if your application is in within one year of your compulsory insurance ending. You must also have been insured for at least a year directly before that. The premium depends on your income and is revised annually, so no amount is given here. Put that date in your diary before you go.
- reduction per uninsured year
- 2% of your AOW
- application for voluntary insurance
- no later than 1 year after your insurance ends
- duration of voluntary insurance
- 10 years at most
Source: Algemene Ouderdomswet (General Old Age Pensions Act) — article 13(1) (2% reduction per uninsured calendar year), article 35(1) (voluntary insurance, ten years at most) and article 36(1) (application no later than one year after the compulsory insurance ends) — checked on 2026-09-19
Read the whole storyYour Dutch basic health insurance ends on deregistration
The basic insurance stops on the day you deregister with your municipality. Not on 31 December, and not later either if you let it run on.
The insurance goes with living in the Netherlands, and that stops. What replaces it depends on whether you come with a Dutch pension or are going to work in Greece.
Where this comes from: Description from the knowledge article. Checked on 27 August 2026 and no official page found that says this in so many words: the CAK describes what replaces it after your move, not when your Dutch insurance ends. Until that source exists, this remains a caution.
Read the whole storyFor inheritance and gifts the Netherlands counts you in for ten more years
The Inheritance Tax Act (Successiewet), the law on inheritance and gift tax, pretends an emigrated Dutch national still lives in the Netherlands for ten years. That applies on death and to gifts.
If you die within ten years of leaving, your heirs pay Dutch inheritance tax, as if you still lived here. What you give away in those years, to your children for example, falls under Dutch gift tax. So review your will and your gift plans before you leave. For a gift in the first year after you leave, this even applies to everyone who lived in the Netherlands, also without Dutch nationality.
- deemed residence
- 10 years
This is not tax advice
These are the rules that apply to your situation. The outcome is not included. What the rules mean together for your pension, your home in the Netherlands or your private limited company depends on amounts and years that are not listed here. Working that out is the job of a tax adviser who knows both systems. Take this list to that conversation: then you know which questions to ask.
Still deciding between countries? Put the rules of two or three countries side by side
Then actually doing it
Knowing which rules apply is the first half. The second is applying them in time: in the right order, without missing a deadline, and with your documents at hand.
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Greece: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Greece change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.