thanks, everyone. sorry, i kind of forgot about this post. i was extremely angry about this situation after it first happened, but i've cooled down alot since then. that being said, i would still prefer to leave this place.
if there is no benefit to being a natural US citizen, then why would it be better to live here than anywhere else? that is the biggest questioin i have at this time
here's some info i got from a relative who lives in the netherlands:
"The ways I know to get residency in The Netherlands are as follows:
- Get an employer to sponsor you. - Difficult right now under the current economic conditions, which are not as bad as the U.S., but they're not good. Requires you to have specific skills that are in demand here.
- Hook up with a Dutch partner who is willing to sponsor your stay. They have to be willing to take legal and financial responsibility for you. This can happen pretty fast, but you'd have to find someone. And that's not too easy to do on-demand!
- School is also an option - an education visa.
That's all I can think of right now off the top of my head. The only other thing might be to come over here and hang out for a while as a tourist and see what you can find out.
Otherwise you should try to do some additional research on the Internet and see what the possibilities are. You could also try a company called "The Undutchables" here in Amsterdam that specializes in placing English-language temporary staff."
"The official Immigration & Naturalization Service website for The Netherlands is
http://www.ind.nl. Click on ENGLISH and then follow the instructions. Should tell you what you need to know!
The issue will be that, in order to stay in the Netherlands as anything other than a tourist, you have to either be here for work, study or a relationship. And it would have to be work that's either 1) in service of a Dutch employer who gets you a work permit, or 2) on your own, but then you'd probably have to meet a whole lot of extra requirements.
So go explore and see what you can find. Perhaps coming here as a "tourist" and looking for work for a while would be one option. All you need to do that is a valid passport.
Regardless, if you ever want to get citizenship here, it would be a 5-year process if you stay employed the whole time, or a 3-year process if you manage to hook up with a Dutch chick.
"
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thought that might help anyone else interested in this topic (i know there's at least one other in this thread.) anyone from the NE disagree w/ any of that?