Look inside
The plan for China, from the inside
These are all 36 steps of the China journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 36
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 66
- Only for your situation
- 9
Phase 1
6 steps
Orientation
China has no queue and no lottery — a threshold and an employer, nothing more. The real decision lies elsewhere: whether you want a life in Chinese, behind a filtered internet, in the country where the Netherlands arranges the least for you.
- 1.1
Understand the system: three papers, one chain
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.2
Check the threshold: class A or B
- Lead time
- an evening with the classification table
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 1.3
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.4
Be honest about the language — and about the internet
- Lead time
- a week of research and trying it out
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 1.5
Take the decision together
- Lead time
- no fixed one; take your time
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- five minutes, below
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
6 steps
Job and visa
The selection is in the job application. After that the chain is predictable: your employer applies for the notification, you collect the Z visa in The Hague — and the papers you gather now all carry a clock of six months.
- 2.1
Find an employer willing to sponsor
- Lead time
- weeks to months — this is the real work
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 2.2
Gather the papers: one apostille, valid six months
- Lead time
- 2-4 weeks, timing is critical
- Costs
- VOG about € 42; apostille € 27 per document; translations
3 official sources
- 2.3
The notification: your employer lodges, you supply
- Lead time
- legally 20 working days; cities promise faster
- Costs
- free
2 official sources
- 2.4
The Z visa: four working days in The Hague
- Lead time
- regular 4 working days
- Costs
- € 111.55 per person (regular, including service fee)
1 official source
- 2.5
With your family: the S1 visas and the certificates
- Lead time
- runs alongside your application
- Costs
- € 111.55 per person
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.6
With a pet: start the titre route now
- Lead time
- count on 2-4 months for the whole chain
- Costs
- chip, vaccinations and titre test, see the cost indication
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 3
11 steps
Closing the Netherlands
The most honest page of this route: China is the treaty country where the treaty arranges the least. No healthcare route, no full AOW export, no more deductions — what did become easier are the apostille and the secondment route. Whoever knows the gaps can cover them; whoever discovers them once living there is too late.
- 3.1
Healthcare: no treaty route — build your own cover
- Lead time
- arrange the connection before departure day
- Costs
- international policy: count on thousands of euros a year
2 official sources
- 3.2
AOW and pension: the treaty that doesn't quite do enough
- Lead time
- an afternoon of research; decide on voluntary insurance
- Costs
- voluntary AOW insurance: 17.9% of income (min about € 569/year)
3 official sources
- 3.3
The tax office: the Netherlands keeps taxing — and China counts years
- Lead time
- with pension or substantial-interest assets: with an adviser
- Costs
- possibly advice and a bank guarantee
3 official sources
- 3.4
Allowances and child benefit: everything stops, nothing comes along
- Lead time
- an hour, partly by phone
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.5
Deregister with the municipality
- Lead time
- possible from 5 days before departure, up to and including departure day
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.6
DigiD, bank and your vote: there's no counter in China
- Lead time
- an afternoon
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 3.7
The M return and the departure file
- Lead time
- the return follows after the year of departure
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.8
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few actions to arrange
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.9
Partly staying in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.10
The house in the Netherlands: sell, let or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when letting possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.11
Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and after that one notification a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 4
5 steps
The move
The Chinese border is strict on paper and on numbers: your container can only come in once your permits are complete, twenty categories of goods stay taxed even in an "exempt" shipment, and medicines are counted in days. The pet can come without quarantine — provided the lab in Lelystad took the sample in time.
- 4.1
The household goods: your container waits for your permit
- Lead time
- sea freight 5-6 weeks; customs clearance only after your residence permit
- Costs
- see the cost indication
2 official sources
- 4.2
Medicines: here the border counts in days
- Lead time
- applying for the CAK declaration: about 4 weeks
- Costs
- the medical declaration is free; count on pharmacy costs
2 official sources
- 4.3
The pet: the flight and the port of arrival
- Lead time
- NVWA legalisation at least 14 working days in advance
- Costs
- titre test, NVWA certificate and the flight, see the cost indication
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 4.4
The car: sell it at home
- Lead time
- selling and deregistering, 1-2 weeks
- Costs
- none — this brings money in
3 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 4.5
Travel day: fingerprints, currency and the declaration
- Lead time
- the journey itself
- Costs
- the flights
2 official sources
Phase 5
8 steps
Arrival in China
Three clocks in your first month: 24 hours for the police registration, 15 days for the work permit, 30 days for the residence permit. After that everything builds in one order: SIM, bank, payment apps — and the registration slip from day one is the key at every step.
- 5.1
Within 24 hours: the police registration
- Lead time
- day one, and again after every move or trip
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 5.2
The medical and your digital work permit
- Lead time
- medical a few days; apply for the permit within 15 days
- Costs
- the medical; the work permit is free
2 official sources
- 5.3
Within 30 days: the residence permit
- Lead time
- decision within 15 working days; your passport stays there for a while
- Costs
- ¥ 400 to ¥ 1,000, according to validity period
2 official sources
- 5.4
SIM, bank and the payment apps — in that order
- Lead time
- SIM an hour; bank half a day; apps right after
- Costs
- SIM from about ¥ 30 a month
1 official source
- 5.5
Housing: deposit, agency fee and the registration chain
- Lead time
- searching and signing, 2-4 weeks
- Costs
- count on 2-4 months' rent up front (deposit, agency fee, first rent)
1 official source
- 5.6
The driving licence: one theory test, in English
- Lead time
- translation, medical and test: count on a few weeks
- Costs
- test ¥ 50; issue ¥ 10; translation and medical separately
1 official source
- 5.7
School: the choice that decides your district and your budget
- Lead time
- orient as soon as the city is known; intake per semester
- Costs
- international ¥ 140,000-450,000 per child per year; public almost free
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
- 5.8
Live with the clocks of your status and your money
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
9 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
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 China journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 3.2 of your plan
AOW and pension: the treaty that doesn't quite do enough
- Lead time
- an afternoon of research; decide on voluntary insurance
- Costs
- voluntary AOW insurance: 17.9% of income (min about € 569/year)
China is on the SVB's treaty-country list, and yet what applies here is what you don't expect from a treaty country: the treaty arranges no export of benefits — the minister confirmed in 2024 that China, next to Pakistan, is the only one for which it works out that way. Concretely: a single person drops permanently for the AOW from 70% to the married rate of 50%; a couple keeps twice 50%. What the treaty does do well: whoever is seconded by a Dutch employer (at most five years, with a Certificate of Coverage from the SVB) simply stays insured in the Netherlands. Whoever signs locally builds up a 2% AOW gap per year here — the voluntary insurance (apply within one year of departure) closes it. And note for later: your compulsory Chinese pension contribution (8%) is paid out to you as a balance on definitive departure.
This is step 3.2 of 36. The other 35 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on China?
All 36 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 399 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for China: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in China really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.