Last month, Holland Expat Center South – located on the Vestdijk in Eindhoven – has served 45% more internationals than in the same month a year before. In March 2017 there were 169 (expats with family), one year later there were 246. According to director Kris de Prins, the growth in March is no exception. “We are becoming increasingly familiar with employers, with 3 to 7 new employers using us every month.” Over the whole of 2017, 2,596 internationals registered with the Expat Center; they work for 350 different companies.
“That doesn’t mean that all those companies use us every month. A number of employers such as ASML, TU/e, Yacht, Tata, Cognizant do so: they are our regular customers.”
One reason for the growth is that the Expat Center’s scope of operations has been expanded. De Prins: “We have connected new regions, which means that we are now registering for the whole of Noord-Brabant and Zuid-Limburg. However, the vast majority is still from the Eindhoven region.
An important determinant of the growth of the Expat Center is ASML, which attracts far more international employees than in previous years. According to Monique Mols, responsible for Corporate Communications & Public Affairs at the chip machine manufacturer, every month some 150 new employees start working for ASML. About 40% of them do not have a Dutch passport. Some of them are already familiar with the Netherlands because they studied at a Dutch university. For ASML, the Expat Center plays a crucial role for new international employees. Mols: “The Expat Center is an important place for our internationals, a kind of landing place from where they can feel at home in Brainport Eindhoven. It is important for them to make that connection immediately with the new environment and the residents. The Expat Center helps enormously with this, thanks to good information and professional service.”
In addition to ASML, the TU/e is also a major constant customer for the Expat Center. The origin of the internationals is very diverse, says De Prins. “Usually we have more than 30 different nationalities every month, both within and outside the EU. From outside Europe, India is clearly the largest group, then China, and then Turkey, the United States, Taiwan, Iran, and Brazil.”
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