For example, to get a residence permit the partner may have to wait several months. With this temporary residence permit, the partner is not eligible to work for three years. So what does a partner do? Earning an education is a costly solution. The same is true for learning Dutch. The bitter irony is that language lessons are vital to getting gainful employment once the three-year waiting period expires, but are too expensive for the partners exactly because they are not (yet) employed.
The partner may try desperately to find a decent job for a company that will take care of getting a work permit. With a graduate degree diploma, self-confidence, proficiency, work experience, and surely some job is waiting out there.
But as Vesna Radovanovic, from Serbia, attests such plans cannot always be realised: "I am a graduate in civil engineering and I sent my application letter with CV to so many places without any success. Even if there is a vacancy in a company, it is very difficult for me to get a positive answer because I am neither from Holland nor from the European Union."
Vesna also also wanted to follow Dutch language courses but with a long waiting-list for a cheaper one she joined the course in the Vrijhof paying several hundreds of euros for one week. "Can the UT do something to help us, for example by organising free Dutch language courses? As a famous university it should take care of its students and their lives. If I am not satisfied, then my partner is not either and that could affect his work."
When Abeer Shehata from Egypt started to learn Dutch two years ago she also had to pay for her Dutch courses. She came here with her partner, who is in his last year of a PhD program in Civil Engineering. She had hoped to continue her studies, but in the Netherlands she could not find anything commensurate with her background. She is interested in some free Dutch courses and a UT-based social group of partners who do not work and have free time. She wonders if the UT can organize some group where people can meet.
Goran Potic from Serbia has had similar experiences and offers some useful suggestions: "My partner is a PhD student in Chemical Technology and we have a four-year-old child. When we came to Holland, we were faced with the lack of information about life here.Maybe it would be a good idea if the UT, as an institution, makes a kind of a guide for foreign students. I hope that the UT can organize some Dutch language courses or courses on computer programmes for free or at least affordable for people with just a PhD salary. Maybe the UT can find someone who will voluntarily help us in some way. Or what about the sports facilities and activities? We want to join our partners to play sports, in order to socialise with people, not only the Dutch but foreigners as well, but the price of a Union plus card is too high for both of us. Perhaps there is a chance to decrease it if we cannot receive it for free."
Searching for worthwhile professional or social activities, getting used to the new environment, learning a new language all demand a great deal of patience at best. They can also lead to sleepless nights, irritability, and, at worst, depression. Furthermore this dissatisfaction can affect the other partner's work at the UT. In this initial period, partners need to be social, to be part of some group consisting of other people undergoing some of the same frustrations. The UT should seriously consider founding such a group.
