Ireland · administrative route
Emigrating to Ireland
Ireland is an hour and a half's flight, English-speaking and without a single registration counter — there isn't even a population register. That sounds easy and turns around: everything revolves around proofs of address you don't have yet as a newcomer, the PPS number can only come after arrival, and the rental market is the tightest in the EU — with completely new rules since 1 March 2026. This page shows how it really works.
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- Kind of journey
- EU — no registration, but an order
- The chain
- Address → PPS number → bank → Revenue → HSE
- Note
- PPS number only after arrival; proof of address at most 3 months old
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from the proof-of-address puzzle to the car's clock series
A route without a registration counter, and so with an order of its own: first the address, only then everything else. The PPS number you can only apply for in Ireland — with the official chicken-and-egg way out that's simply on the government site. The rental market that's the tightest in the EU, with rules completely renewed on 1 March 2026. And the treaty with its threshold of € 25,000, alongside the S1 that yields a medical card here without a means test.
- 1
Orientation
No register — so everything is proof of address
As an EU citizen you don't have to report anywhere in Ireland: no immigration service, no residence card, no population register. The flip side is the theme of this journey — every authority asks for proofs of address at most three months old, and as a newcomer you don't have them yet. In this phase you learn that puzzle, choose between Dublin (the jobs machine with the most expensive market) and the rest, and have the honest conversation about the rental market, the wet climate and the most expensive electricity in the EU. And remember: Ireland isn't in Schengen.
- 2
Closing the Netherlands
The € 25,000 threshold, and the S1 that's worth gold here
The familiar list — healthcare, benefits, deregistration — with two Irish particulars. The treaty from 2019 lets only Ireland tax pension and AOW up to € 25,000 total gross, above that the Netherlands may too; and the Irish side is milder than the table — the AOW is USC-free there and above seventy the PRSI lapses. And the S1 from the CAK does something unique here: it yields a medical card without a means test, in a country where the GP otherwise costs € 60 to € 80 per visit.
- 3
The move
The long boat, and three clocks for the car
No direct ferry sails from the Netherlands: it's almost 24 hours' sailing from Dunkirk, the longer route from Cherbourg, or the land bridge through Great Britain with Brexit customs papers. The car is cheap to bring with the Transfer of Residence exemption — six months' ownership is the requirement — but gets a clock series right on arrival: seven days to claim and book the inspection, thirty days to register, twelve months not to sell. And the dog has its tapeworm window of 24 to 120 hours.
- 4
Getting the basics in order in Ireland
First the address, then the PPS number, then the rest
There's nothing to register — there's a base to build, in the only order that works. The home on the tightest market in the EU, with the RTB register as a checking tool and the legal limit of one month's deposit. The PPS number via MyWelfare, with the official chicken-and-egg way out: an energy bill from your host with a note on it. After that the bank, the Revenue registration that saves you from emergency tax, the S1 to the HSE — and the utilities in your own name, because every bill is the proof of address for the next counter.
- 5
Arrival
Working through the clock series, and making the island your own
The car through its seven-, thirty- and three-day clocks, with the ferry ticket as proof. The return with the Irish peculiarities: USC-free AOW, remittance basis for whoever brings assets. The school that's Catholic in 88% of cases — with a legal opt-out right that's entirely common. And life itself: the most expensive electricity in the EU you learn to manage, driving on the left that gets familiar faster than feared, and the pub that isn't a bar but the village living room.
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 Ireland journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 4.2 of your plan
The PPS number: only here, and with the chicken-and-egg trick
- Lead time
- application online, appointment in person; count on a few weeks
- Costs
- none
The PPS number is the key to almost everything: work, tax, healthcare, driving licence, school. And the rule that surprises everyone is stated literally on the government site: you can't apply for it from the Netherlands — you have to be in Ireland. The application runs online via MyWelfare (a basic account with email and phone suffices), followed by a compulsory in-person appointment with your passport and a proof of address at most three months old. The number then comes by post.
No proof of address? The official way out is stated there too: if you're staying with friends or family, an original utility bill of the occupant with a note on it that you're staying at that address suffices — and a hotel or hostel manager may confirm your address as well. That's not a trick from a forum; it's on the government page. That's how you break the circle, and every subsequent counter becomes easier.
What this step rests on
This is step 4.2 of 32. The other 31 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
€ 3.100 – € 9.900
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden€ 3.000 – € 9.000
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 0 – € 85
- De verhuizing
- € 150 – € 800
- De eerste maanden
- € 3.000 – € 9.000
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- PPS-nummer en papieren€ 0 – € 25
- Akten en eventuele vertalingen(estimate)€ 0 – € 60
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 150 – € 800
Anderhalf uur vliegen voor wie licht reist. Met een auto of bus vol spullen wordt het de lange boot: rijden naar Duinkerke (± 290 km) en bijna 24 uur varen naar Rosslare, of naar Cherbourg (± 700 km) voor de overtochten naar Dublin. De landbrug door Groot-Brittannië is sneller maar vraagt sinds de Brexit douanepapieren voor verhuisgoed. Reken op de overtocht met hut en een overnachting onderweg.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden(estimate)€ 3.000 – € 9.000
Wettelijk zijn de borg en de vooruitbetaling elk op één maand begrensd, maar de markt is de krapste van de EU: een nieuw huurcontract kost landelijk gemiddeld € 1.755 per maand en in Dublin ruim € 2.100, en de zoektocht kan weken tot maanden duren — reken de dure overbrugging (tijdelijke verhuur, Airbnb) eerlijk mee. Tel daarbij de aansluitingen op eigen naam en de duurste elektriciteit van de EU.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 2 to 5% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 5.000 to € 12.500.
De Ierse stamp duty is laag: 1% tot € 1 miljoen, 2% tot € 1,5 miljoen en 6% daarboven, plus de solicitor (± € 2.000-4.000), de survey en de registratie. De echte drempel is niet de belasting maar de markt: het aanbod is dun, biedingen boven de vraagprijs zijn in de steden gebruikelijk, en zonder Ierse krediethistorie is een hypotheek als nieuwkomer een traject van maanden. Huur eerst, koop later — dat is hier geen spreuk maar de gangbare route.
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 29 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 Ireland, 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 Ireland: 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 Ireland really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on Ireland
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Getting the basics in order in Ireland
- 2 min
The PPS number and the proofs of address: the Irish order
Ireland has no registration duty and no population register — and that's why everything revolves around proofs of address no more than three months old. The PPS number can only be applied for after arrival, via MyWelfare and an in-person appointment. The official way out of the chicken-and-egg puzzle is right there on the government site: a utility bill from your host with a note on it.
Updated 29 August 2026
- 2 min
Living and renting in Ireland: the new rules of 2026
Everything you read about Rent Pressure Zones is out of date: since 1 March 2026 new rules apply nationwide — a rent cap of 2% or inflation, six-year tenancies, and a landlord who may reset to market rent when you leave voluntarily. Plus the tightest market in the EU, the RTB check and the legal limit on the deposit.
Updated 29 August 2026
- 3 min
Healthcare in Ireland: the HSE, the cards and the S1 route
Without a card you pay the GP per visit in Ireland and your medicines yourself, up to € 80 per month. The cards — medical card and GP visit card — have means tests, but the S1 route via the CAK gives pensioners a medical card without a test. That suddenly makes Ireland one of the friendliest healthcare countries on this site for that group.
Updated 29 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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