For internationals who are leaving
Leaving the Netherlands as an expat
You came for a job, a degree or a partner, and you are leaving again. Closing down your life in the Netherlands is then the same paperwork as for a Dutch national who emigrates, with a few things that only apply to you: your residence document, the expat scheme, and the AOW state pension you quietly built up here and can simply claim later.
What is different for you
You only get proof of deregistration on the day itself
You can deregister from five days before you leave. You only get an international proof of deregistration if the date of deregistration is the same as your date of departure; ask for it at the counter right away. Your new country, your bank or your insurer will ask for it later. Some municipalities, such as Amsterdam, accept the notification four weeks ahead.
The AOW you built up stays yours
For every year you lived or worked in the Netherlands you built up two per cent of AOW, the Dutch state pension, whatever your nationality. After you leave the accrual stops, but what you have stays. You apply for it yourself, six months before your AOW age; within the EU you can do that with the pension authority of the country where you then live. Whether it is paid out outside the EU depends on the country.
The expat scheme stops with your job
The expat scheme (the former 30% ruling) ends shortly after your last working day. For the year you leave, you file with the M form, online or on paper; the Belastingdienst officially takes up to three years to process it. If you get money back every month through a provisional assessment, stop it yourself, or you will repay it later.
NetherlandsWorldwide — tax return for the year you move abroad
Your residence document has to go back
The card is the property of the Dutch state: you invalidate it and send it to the IND, or hand it in. If you hold an EU, EEA or Swiss passport, you do not have to tell the IND anything. Think before you go: anyone who is away for more than six consecutive months has moved their main residency, and that can end your right of residence.
Your occupational pension: small ones may be bought out, the rest you can take along
A pension below the buy-out limit (2026: € 632.63 gross per year) may be bought out by the provider with your consent. A larger pension can be transferred tax-free to a foreign pension institution if you have permission, work outside the Netherlands for at least five consecutive years and the new institution cooperates.
Belastingdienst — taking your Dutch pension to another country
Sort out DigiD before you go
A DigiD you already have keeps working after you leave. Before you go, switch on the app and SMS verification: you can only add SMS verification if the app is already active, and not every foreign subscription receives Dutch text messages. You will need DigiD later for your tax return, your pension overview and your AOW.
Exporting your car also ends the insurance
Once you register the car for export with the RDW, you may drive it on Dutch roads for another fourteen days, provided the APK is valid. Note: as soon as the car is off the register, your Dutch insurance lapses. If you move to another EU country, you can reclaim part of the bpm if the car is registered there within thirteen weeks.
You can take unemployment benefit along for three months, with a form in advance
If you go to look for work in another country of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, you can take your WW benefit along for a maximum of three months. You must already have had WW for four weeks and apply for form PD U2 no later than a week before you leave. Also request the PD U1: the proof of your insured periods, for a later benefit elsewhere.
Checked on 19 September 2026. Amounts are those of 2026.
Closing down the Netherlands, in the right order
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 11 September 2026
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
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 11 September 2026
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 September 2026
Tax in the year you leave
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 11 September 2026
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
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
What you take with you: pension, AOW and medicines
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 19 September 2026
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 September 2026
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 September 2026
Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank: every cancellation letter in one go, with the date each letter has to go out. The letters are in Dutch, because the recipients are; the screen is in English too.
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