Kevin(29)

With a salary of €4,500 gross as a software developer at an Amsterdam tech company, I could barely buy an apartment in Almere — everything above €350,000 for a two-bedroom apartment. When my employer agreed to full-time remote work, I started looking further. A colleague from Belgian Limburg tipped me about Genk.

Genk surprised me. It's not a picturesque Flemish town, but a modern, multicultural city with affordable housing. I bought a new-build BEN home (nearly energy-neutral) in Winterslag for €265,000. Registration duties were 3% (only own home), and I got a mortgage from KBC at 3.2% interest. Monthly costs are €200 less than what I paid in rent in Almere.

Fiscally, remote working from Belgium for a Dutch company is a puzzle. You're taxed in Belgium if you live and work there, even if your employer pays from the Netherlands. My employer had to set up Belgian payroll administration through a social secretariat (they chose SD Worx). That was the biggest hurdle — it took two months to arrange everything.

I got my Belgian eID and rijksregisternummer quickly. At the Genk municipality the process was smooth — many Dutch people live in Belgian Limburg, so they know the procedure. I arranged my mutualiteit with Helan (formerly Independent Health Fund). The co-payment system differs from Dutch health insurance, but for a healthy thirty-something the costs are comparable.

What I hadn't expected: Genk has a lively tech community. The Corda Campus — a former Ford factory converted into a tech campus — houses dozens of startups and tech companies. I work from home, but regularly go to the coworking space at Corda for networking events. The Limburg tech scene is growing rapidly.

My tip for Dutch remote workers: check if your employer is willing to set up Belgian payroll. It costs them something, but it's legally required if you spend more than 25% of your work time in Belgium. And look at Belgian Limburg — it's close to the Netherlands, Dutch-speaking, and housing prices are a fraction of Randstad levels.