Almost 6,700 American nationals had applied for a visa to work, be with family or study in the Netherlands by the end of November this year, according to immigration service figures, and that is by far the highest number in the past 10 years.

The total is likely to be higher once December, traditionally a busy month, is taken into account, current affairs programme Nieuwsuur reported at the weekend.

Many have applied to move to the Netherlands under the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty, a visa system which allows Dutch nationals to set up companies in the US and vice versa relatively easily.

Some 700 people had applied for a DAFT visa by September, compared with just 300 five years ago, Nieuwsuur said.

A DAFT visa for the Netherlands requires applicants to start a company and bring in €4,500 in starting capital. After five years, recipients can apply for permanent residency.

Earlier this month The New Yorker magazine published an article about the relative ease in which US nationals can move to the Netherlands, focusing on the DAFT visa.

“What interested me in the story … was the fact that this new expat class did not seem to be composed entirely of the super-rich,” author Atossa Araxia Abrahamian said. “Middle-class people I spoke to said that they were leaving for the same reasons their ancestors moved to America in the first place: opportunity, stability, and freedom.”

Dutch News reported in April on the increase in American nationals considering a move to the Netherlands to escape President Donald Trump’s policies. Lawyers and community groups have also noted a rise in inquiries, and a number of small firms have sprung up to help US citizens make the move.

Asylum requests submitted via the IND are also rising, with over 60 since the beginning of this year, compared with around 20 in the whole of 2024. Most are from members of the LGBTQ+ community fleeing repression under Trump.

However, earlier this month a transgender woman from the US lost her appeal against being refused a refugee permit by the Dutch immigration minister.

Judges ruled that while the position of transgender people in the US has worsened since the election of Trump, there were not enough grounds to grant her refugee status.

The number of American nationals living in the Netherlands reached 78,700 by 1 January this year, compared with 60,200 five years earlier, before the coronavirus pandemic, according to figures from national statistics agency CBS.

Are you an American national who moved to the Netherlands recently and would you like to share your experiences for an article? Please email editor@dutchnews.nl.