Canadian spouse of postdoc in the Netherlands..visa options?

[tmiddel]

Hello,

My spouse has been offered a post doctoral position in the Netherlands for 13 months and we have decided to accept. We are both Canadian citizens.

My current job will allow me to take up to two years off (leave of absence) with a guaranteed job when I return. I'm a research fisheries biologist here.

I'm trying to figure out whether there is any chance that within 13 months I would be able to obtain a work visa in order to work while I am over there. From what I have read it seems possible but the sense of the procedure I am getting is that by the time I went through the process to obtain a work visa our stay might be over. If this is indeed likely to be the case then I'll pursue opportunities to work remotely for a Canadian employer while in the Netherlands combined with pursuing volunteer opportunities.....and just enjoying the visit!

The thing that is unclear to me in is how my wifes status as a postdoctoral employee affects the process. Some articles I've read have said that postdoc visas are a bit of a 'grey' area?


I'm going to visit the Dutch embassy in Toronto within the next few weeks but thought in the meantime someone here might be able to help a little.

Thanks in advance.

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Do you or your spouse have parents or grandparents who were born in or lived in Europe? If so you might have citizenship in one of the European countries, and then visas for both of you would be trivial.

[tmiddel]

Well, ironically, both my parents and my wife's parents were born in the Netherlands. They moved to Canada in the 50's. Both of my parents gave up their Dutch citizenship but my father-in-law is still a Dutch citizen. Neither my wife nor I are Dutch citizens unfortunately. I've looked into whether I can apply for citizenship based on my parents ancestry but from what I found I could only have done so before I turned 24. I'm 37 now.

If anyone knows differently I'd be happy to hear about options, it looks like we'll be moving over in Sept!

Cheers,

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

Depending on your wife's age and details of her parent's history, she may have dutch citizenship. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_nati ... tch_parent