u/JustConflict5918

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping someone here might be able to offer some honest advice or point us in the right direction.

My wife (30F) and I (30M) are British, and for years we’ve dreamed of building a life in the Netherlands. We’ve been visiting at least three times a year for the past five years, and every trip has only made us feel more certain that it’s where we want to be. We’ve also been teaching ourselves Dutch, and while we’re far from fluent, but can hold a conversation and are committed to continuing to learn. We have so many friends as well that we had to only see every now and then.

Since Brexit, we’ve realised that making this dream a reality is much more difficult than we first hoped. We’ve spent a lot of time researching the different immigration routes, but we’re starting to feel like we’re running out of realistic options.

I work as a seafarer and earn a good living, helped by the UK’s seafarer tax relief. I have a range of professional maritime certifications and a foundation degree, but not a full bachelor’s degree. My wife is a customs specialist for a large supermarket and is in a similar position, lots of experience, but no university degree.

From what we’ve seen, sponsored employment seems like the most realistic route. However, many vacancies require both fluent Dutch and a bachelor’s degree, even where we feel our experience would be valuable.
We’re not looking for shortcuts or expecting the rules to be bent, we completely understand why they exist. We just wanted to ask whether anyone has been in a similar position or knows of any routes we might not have considered. Is there another path that could realistically work for us, or is going back to university for 3–5 years before trying to find sponsorship our only practical option?

Any advice, personal experiences, or suggestions would be hugely appreciated. This isn’t just somewhere we’d like to move to on a whim, it genuinely feels like the place we’d love to call home.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.