There are organizations dedicated to supporting expats, such as the municipality of The Hague with ‘The Hague International Centre’ and ACCESS, a non-profit organization that offers support and assistance to the expat community and is entirely staffed by volunteers with an expat background.

 Both organizations are involved in providing help in the areas of housing and work. At the municipality, one can go for more formal procedures, such as registration with the municipality, issuance of a citizen service number (BSN), and issuance of a work and residence permit.

ACCESS provides free advice on formal matters, but you can also go there for questions about healthcare, the school system, housing, language courses, and how best to connect with your neighbors. They also provide information about Dutch culture and which social clubs exist for expats.

There are international websites that focus on expats worldwide, such as expatrepublic.com. This website has a Dutch page with practical information about living and working, and there are live webinars that offer additional information.

 Iamexpat.nl is a website that mainly focuses on the expat community in the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland, and they also provide information to expats.

They also organize the IamExpat Fair once a year. On November 9, 2024, this event will be held in the Grote Kerk, where companies and other organizations that focus on this group can connect with the expat community.

Their business model is based on referring to commercial partners who pay the organization behind the website for this service

There are also websites focused on developing social networks.

 ‘Meetup’ is one such website that expats around the world use. Based on your location and interests, you can find like-minded people here to develop social activities.

Expats in the Netherlands also use this to meet other expats, go cycling together, attend a workshop, or simply organize a drink.

There are also many WhatsApp groups that expats use to meet other like-minded expats.

Conclusion: The expat community in The Hague is extensive. Social contacts mainly occur within this community, but there is less contact with regular residents of The Hague.

Many of them wish to connect, but due to the language barrier, this remains difficult, and we primarily see a community living in a parallel society.

RTV Discus wants to help break this isolation or at least reduce it. The content of the programs should therefore primarily contribute to this goal.