[century19]

This isn't the experience I have had. I work in an Enterprise team of 10 Developers and the last few years we have always hired from outside NL as there is a shortage of Developers. English is the business language and not just in IT departments so hiring from abroad is standard.

The most objective way to look at this is probably the 30% ruling. 30% of your gross salary is not taxed, and you are taxed as if you had earned 70% of your gross. (To the original poster, you would get this benefit if you are any way experienced.) Local Dutch people obviously don't like this setup (why is he taxed less than me?) and political parties would love to get rid of it (a real vote winner) but the economy needs it as there is a shortage of workers.

[csmdev]

What does your team work on? Is software the main product or you're just a software division in a company with a different focus? Also, what percentage of the hired expats are British?

[century19]

We work on Integration (of legacy and globally distributed applications). Standard / Boring Enterprise stuff.

0% British. Lots of different nationalities.

And I see this as the norm, having been in Amsterdam for many years and worked at a few places. All in English, all teams having more expats than Dutch members.

[csmdev]

If your company is hiring, post some details. Everybody that sees this thread would be interested.