Tilburg has been a huge help as we’ve been moving out. They sponsored us for residency and they hired a company, P&DCare, to help us find a house, get bikes, etc.
Unfortunately, it turns out that the Netherlands isn’t quite equipped to handle families of more than 5 people, and we’ve run into some difficulties.
First, there are very few Dutch homes with enough rooms to fit all of us. We tried searching for a while, but got nowhere. Luckily P&DCare came to the rescue and found us a home in Molenschot, a town of about 1100 residents.
Residency papers were another matter though. The application system didn’t allow for more than 3 children. I had to contact HR. They told me they couldn’t override the settings, but they could add a second spouse. So, with my first wife, Linda, we are applying for residency for our oldest three kids. With my second wife, Linda, not to be confused with my first wife, also named Linda, but a legally different person for residency purposes, we are applying for residency for our other two children.
So, for future reference, it’s easier to have two wives than to have 5 kids in the Netherlands.
Our final problem is a car. There aren’t a lot of vans for rent or sale in the Netherlands, which made the move a challenge.
Dutch Bentleys 