How to Find a Financial Advisor for the DAFT visa in The Netherlands

It can be difficult to find a financial advisor that suits your needs under normal circumstances, let alone with moving to a new country for visa requirements. My experience is with the DAFT visa so that's what I will be referencing in this article.

We're in the final stretch for our DAFT visa application with these last few tasks to complete, marking this as the last of my initial DAFT visa immigration posts. Already registered with the Dutch Municipality? Great. Registered your business with the KVK? Excellent. Opened your business bank account with a Dutch bank? Perfect. Then yes, the end of your application journey is in sight!

After opening your business bank account and placing your capital investment in it, it's required to have a financial advisor/accountant (or a licensed professional with a BECON number) sign off on and verify your opening balance sheet + bank statement. This provides official proof to the IND that your capital investment is where it should be.

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Finding a Financial Advisor

This step can get kind of expensive, and if you know someone in The Netherlands who is qualified for this step, then that's already solved for you. But if you're like me and aren't as fortunate, then it will be trickier for you.

Note: It's best to find someone you want to work with on your taxes in the future since you'll already have an established relationship. I've read it's strongly recommended to go to a tax professional every year instead of tackling the taxes on your own and many tax professionals want an established working relationship before this.

At first I contacted local financial advisors/accountants in the area I was living in, but only one out of five responded to me and I wanted to keep looking before I settled on a steep price. I was beginning to feel stressed until I found Celeste Stanton as a listed recommendation. She's a financial advisor well versed in DAFT, Dutch, and American tax systems and completely understood what I needed. I highly recommend her services if you're looking for a financial advisor for this step! This was probably the best experience I had through the entire DAFT process.

If you're interested in her services, here's a link to her website Stanton Financial Consulting. You can also find valuable tax information pertaining to DAFT there.

The basics to show to your financial advisor:

1. The bank statement from your business bank account showing the 4,500 Euros capital investment.
2. See if they can make the opening balance sheet for you since it can get complicated, especially if you have expenses counting as assets with your business. Bring proof of purchase of such assets.
3. Valid proof of identity
4. Anything else they may require of you. You can even show them the letter from the IND if you want for a better understanding.

Here are some additional resources regarding DAFT financial advisor advice and DAFT tax advice since it's explained better there. It's also where I found the Stanton Financial Consulting recommendation (changed as of writing this article) and further up-to-date information regarding the visa:

dutchamericanfriendship.com - How to Get a Daft Visa

dutchamericanfriendship.com - Taxes as a Freelancer in The Netherlands

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Coming up with a business plan

This is an optional part that's not required for the DAFT application submission, though recommended or even required by the IND if you have a complex business. If you do, it needs to match the information you submitted to the KVK and meet the IND's conditions. In the event you're uncertain whether this applies to you or not, you can always ask the IND.

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Final document submissions to the IND

And that's it! You can submit a copy of your KVK Trade Register and the verified opening balance sheet + bank statement to the IND either by post in the envelope they send you, making an appointment in person, or scans via their online portal called Mijn IND (if this option is still available). You'll need to have your DigiD app on hand to access the online portal. I submitted mine both via the mail-in and online submission routes because I was paranoid about one method failing and that's my life, honestly.

Congratulations! You've done all the work with your DAFT application, now you just have to anxiously wait for the verdict. They have 3 months to let you know from the time you submitted your application. I didn't have to wait long because I had to keep requesting extensions.

Speaking of extensions, if you were following along with my "personal experience with the DAFT visa" segments in my previous posts, the last one mentioned I was having trouble getting in touch with my Caseworker for another extension. I did hear back from them during one of the days I was working on this step, thankfully giving me a third extension of 2 weeks to my deadline since I was so close to the end, and at that point it really was more than enough time. The Deadline Clock had been defeated.

A rough timeline

My timeline was as follows, though bear in mind I also did this during the Covid-19 pandemic, so yours may be different:

August 14th: submitted my application —> August 18th: received my first IND letter that marked the official start of the application —> November 9th: received the IND letter stating my DAFT application was approved on November 4th —> November 27th: traveled to the IND desk to pick up my residence card

A note on obtaining your residence card: they won't mail it to you, you have to go pick it up in person. The IND has a specific phone line extension to press when you call them to schedule this appointment.

Sometimes it might feel like you're burning up from stress or become discouraged when you encounter a hiccup in your DAFT immigration, but just remember to take a deep breath. The obstacles will be conquerable and you'll always have an employee at these organizations to assist you. You'll have to maintain a firm grip on persistence and patience, but you got this! Now go forth in confidence and begin your Dutch immigration!

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Hey there! I appreciate you taking the time to read my article. If you found any of this information/my experience interesting or helpful, please give it a like and share!

Check out my other DAFT How-to's linked in this article and on my Vocal page for more information about immigrating from the US to The Netherlands via the DAFT visa!