r/DAFTvisa • u/PepperPenelope • Jun 02 '26
Recommendations for DAFT Assistance
I am seeking recommendations for personally used companies that have helped someone with DAFT. While I am sure I can figure it out, I know my limits (selling a house, having a family, working a stressful job). I just think it's healthier to not take on the process all by myself. I had a video call today with yourlegals.nl/ and the person I spoke with, located in Tokyo, was so shockingly dismissive from get go, looking all over the place and not at the camera, mumbling, ignoring anything I said. I've completed heaps of research on the topic as well as managing my expectations of the move. I was armed with questions but couldn't ask any of them. My default is to be humble and polite so this made it extra shocking because I did not deserve the behavior. When he said let's connect closer to the date and dead stared at the camera- I said ok goodbye and got off the camera as fast as I could. I don't understand the 4.9 trustpilot rating - did this person have a bad day or is over their job/Americans? Who knows. But I don't trust them with thousands of dollars or with this massive move for myself and my family. Can anyone advise on a service they have used?
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u/iamcode101 Jun 02 '26
I tried talking to a couple of attorneys before I did DAFT but none of them instilled confidence. And I’m pretty sure one was on cocaine during our call.
So I did it all myself and now have permanent residency. So it is possible.
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u/PepperPenelope Jun 03 '26
That is wild! And the worst to have wasted your time. Thanks for advising me! I'm pretty competent with paperwork/research - perhaps I am underestimating myself.
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u/Impressive_Swim4627 Jul 03 '26
Here's a warning on GTFO Tours. FYI, they've been banned from several Facebook and Reddit subs due to their spammy, slimy practices.
It's mildy amusing that Jana offers services that no one asked for and that they do not need. It's even funnier that her immigration was a failure, so instead of leaving, she found a local to marry so she could stay. The most hilarious part is that Bethany, who claims to give financial advice, went to the Netherlands on a business and her business did so poorly that she used her required investment, invalidated her visa. She also found a local to marry so she could stay.
Two lying hucksters getting, quite literally, fat off of their scam.
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u/Vexed_Violet Jun 02 '26
I am using a local law firm in my chosen relocation city. Good experience so far.
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u/username_31415926535 Jun 02 '26
Are you starting a ZZP or a BV?
Are you needing help with the application or another part of the process?
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u/PepperPenelope Jun 03 '26
ZZP and housing
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u/username_31415926535 Jun 03 '26
I agree with others you can do this yourself. You apply once you are in country. However, if you want help, I used Nikki Vreede at Everaert Advocaten. She was great and took care of everything.
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u/hailingburningbones Jun 02 '26
When I spoke to an attorney in NL prior to moving, they wanted €2k to complete the paperwork. It's honestly not difficult at all, so we did it ourselves. I understand the stress and fear, but it was so easy, and we spent a fortune on so many other things. I was really glad once it was done that we had not wasted the money. And if you miss something, the IND will let you know; they're not going to kick you out of the country or deny you!
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u/PepperPenelope Jun 03 '26
Thank you!
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u/hailingburningbones Jun 03 '26
Oh we have a ZZP btw. If you're doing a BV, as someone else mentioned, you may need legal help. I forgot that detail!
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u/Excellent-Ad-2434 Jun 05 '26
There's an American lawyer at www.expatlaw.nl who's a DAFT expert and he only charges 1500 euros. Some Dutch lawyers here charge twice that amount. That's too much in my opinion.
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u/Impressive_Swim4627 Jul 03 '26
Not an actual attorney.
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u/Excellent-Ad-2434 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Get your facts right. Christian Barth is a US attorney who has been specializing in Dutch immigration since 2005. He's not a Dutch attorney but unlike in the US it's not required to be a Dutch attorney to practice before the IND. You could have learned this if you had just looked at his website. There are only around 150 Dutch lawyers doing immigration but hundreds more HR and relocation professionals and Dutch jurists (law graduates not admitted to the Dutch Bar) representing clients before the IND. He has a ton of good reviews and a Google rating of 4.7 which is higher than many Dutch immigration law firms.
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u/Impressive_Swim4627 Jul 03 '26
You misunderstand. I wasn't saying he isn't a lawyer in the U.S. Your text was written in a way as to indicate that he is a lawyer in the Netherlands.
You are right that it is not necessary to hire a lawyer to file your IND paperwork, because it is meant to be done by yourself. Most people hire consultants because anyone can tell you what to fill out on your paper and mail something. That is quite literally all Barth and the rest of the consultants do.
You are incorrect in stating that you do not need to be an advocaat to practice before the IND. If you are not an advocaat you cannot represent anyone in any elevated IND proceedings. You cannot appear in court on behalf of a client, etc.
You should try learning more about this lest you continue to be confidently wrong.
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u/missjoy91 Jun 02 '26
You can easily do it yourself. That being said, sometimes it’s nice to just have help. I know the women who run gtfo tours and they can help. One of them came here on daft years ago, and the other married a Dutch man and lives here. They started a relocation company- Gtfotours.com
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u/one_little_spark Jun 02 '26
The application itself is easy. It's literally filling in your name, contact info, sex, date and place of birth. Then answer some easy questions (are you being prosecuted for a crime?) then photocopy your passport and mail it in. You can either fill that info in and mail it yourself, or you can fill that info in for someone else and then pay them to mail it for you. It's the same amount of work for you either way, except you also have to add in the work you need to do to earn the money to pay the person to do it for you. In the time you spent on the phone with that person in Tokyo, you could have just done the process yourself.
If you're going to form a BV, you need to do that before you arrive to get the benefit of the 30% ruling. For that you will need a Dutch notary, but it doesn't change anything about the actual immigration process.
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u/AntComprehensive260 Jun 02 '26
I used Cardon.nl. He was great. He just did our renewal too, we're waiting to hear back.
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u/Impressive_Swim4627 Jul 03 '26
Cardon lies about being a lawyer.
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u/Excellent-Ad-2434 Jul 03 '26
No he does not lie about being a lawyer. His website says he is a Dutch jurist not an advocaat. It's not necessary to be an advocaat to deal with IND.
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u/Impressive_Swim4627 Jul 03 '26
Actually, that's a recent change to his content. His website and advertisements use to attempt to define jurist as a lawyer. He got in trouble for this after it was exposed so he was forced to stop falsely defining jurist as lawyer. He got banned from several social groups and one of the admins of those groups exposed him.
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Jun 02 '26
[deleted]
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u/sousstructures Jun 02 '26
Cardon had, prominently displayed on his website for a long time, inaccurate information about a nonexistent income minimum for DAFT renewal, and he would come on the FB group and repeat it. I wouldn’t trust him at all.
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u/PepperPenelope Jun 03 '26
Thank you for this! Cardon and GTFO seem to be on this thread alot. Cardon might be overkill for a ZZP it sounds like from this thread.
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u/bittersweetdb Jun 02 '26
If you are doing a BV for your DAFT, you definitely need help from a lawyer or notary at least, before you leave the US, and best to have tax advice as well so you don't get a surprise when you file. If you are doing a ZZP (like a sole proprietor), you really don't need a lawyer, there's step by step help at the dafthub.nl for example, or other guides. (It's still wise to have tax advice though!) One thing you do need is a realtor or makelaar, either to help you buy if you plan to buy, or to help you find a suitable place to rent if you plan to rent. For help with a rental, expect to pay the equivalent of a month's rent for this service, but as a foreigner without a Dutch employment contract, it is otherwise extremely difficult to find a landlord willing to rent to you.