For entrepreneurs
Running a business in the United States
There is no general emigration route to the United States — you need a specific key, and for entrepreneurs that is one almost only Dutch nationals have. Thanks to a treaty from 1957 you can get an E-2 visa: invest in a real American business and run it yourself. No employer, no lottery, no minimum amount. But one hard limit.
The E-2 is not a route to a green card. The file has to be right, the issuance fee is well over two thousand dollars, and the residence hangs on the business — anyone who realises that before giving up their Dutch life weighs it differently from someone who discovers it at renewal. Your partner comes along on a status that gives more than people think, but that partner's Dutch administration does not sort itself out.
As soon as you live in the US, America taxes your worldwide income — including your Dutch savings and your BV. On top of that there are two reporting duties that exist side by side, not instead of each other. And anyone who has a child there gives that child an American passport and a filing duty that lasts a lifetime. On departure the Netherlands imposes the protective assessment on your substantial interest, and that one never expires.
Administratively you start from zero: no credit history, no health insurance, no number. The order determines how quickly you can live normally — the SSN first, the insurance within sixty days, the credit card you need to ever rent a house. And the healthcare story is hard: no treaty route, no safety net.
The key: the E-2 visa
The five keys to America: which routes really exist?
There is no general emigration route to the United States. You need a specific key: an employer, a business of your own, extraordinary talent, family, or luck in the lottery. This is what each route demands — and why ESTA is none of them.
Updated 11 September 2026
The E-2 visa: the American door that stands open only for Dutch citizens
Thanks to a treaty from 1957, Dutch citizens can obtain an E-2 visa: invest in a real American business and run it yourself. No employer, no lottery, no minimum amount — but a file that has to be right, an issuance fee of over two thousand dollars, and one hard limit: this is not a route to a green card.
Updated 11 September 2026
Liable for American tax: two reporting duties, and the child born there
As soon as you live in the US, America taxes your worldwide income — including your Dutch savings and your BV. On top of that stand two reporting duties that exist side by side, not instead of each other. And whoever has a child there gives that child an American passport and a filing obligation that lasts a lifetime.
Updated 26 August 2026
Coming along on an L-2: what you let go of in the Netherlands — and what you get back for it
Your partner is being transferred to the United States by the employer on an L-1. You come along on an L-2, without a job of your own, with the plan to be in the Netherlands for part of the year. The L-2 gives you more than you think: residence, the right to work, free travel. What it does *not* arrange is your Dutch administration — and that's where the knot is.
Updated 9 September 2026
Arriving from zero
Your first weeks in America: SSN, health insurance and a credit history from zero
In America you start administratively at zero — no credit history, no health insurance, no number. The order determines how quickly you can live normally: the Social Security Number first, the insurance within sixty days, and the credit card you need to ever rent a home.
Updated 21 August 2026
AOW, healthcare and tax in America: what comes along, what stops — and what works like this nowhere else
Thanks to the treaty, the AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the US — but as the only destination it remains taxed exclusively in the Netherlands. The notorious American WEP reduction has been abolished since 2024. And the healthcare story is hard: no treaty route, no safety net — you insure yourself.
Updated 28 August 2026
Buying a house in America: no notary, but an escrow — and three days to read everything
America has no notary as the Netherlands does: the purchase runs via a settlement agent — a title company or closing attorney — who holds the money, has the deed signed and records the documents with the county. By law you receive the Closing Disclosure at least three business days before the closing. After that your property taxes often simply run in your monthly payment, via your bank's escrow account.
Updated 28 August 2026
Your car and your household contents to America: what is allowed, and why the car had better stay behind
Your household goods come along duty-free if you had them in use for a year. Your car is another story: customs itself warns about sellers who promise that a European car is "easy to adapt", and whoever brings it anyway is tied to an export obligation within a year.
Updated 11 September 2026
Closing the Netherlands as an entrepreneur
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
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
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
Want to walk this journey with the order watched — the E-2 file complete before the appointment, health insurance within sixty days, the reporting duties not forgotten? The American step-by-step plan is ready for you.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Choose your destination and we'll send you the departure guide: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that at most one mail a month: first the question where your plans stand, then now and then one thing that fits the time of year or your country. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Forty-four journeys are fully ready: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.