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    NL, my new home?
    Ana Pereira
    25 november 2010 - Portuguese Ana Pereira is a product developer with printer producer Océ in Venlo. In the chemistry group she is working on the development and improvement of ink. In 2007 she obtained her PhD at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry. “It’s just the way things went”, is her level-headed response to the question when she decided to stay in the Netherlands. Her boyfriend is Dutch, and while they will be celebrating their wedding in Portugal next year, their life is here.
    Ana Pereira. Photo | Bart van Overbeeke

    What is an essential quality that you need to have in order to function here? “You must accept that there are differences. Sometimes you have to let go of things from your own culture. For example, at Océ I cannot, as I would do in Portugal, sit down at my ease to have a nice cup of coffee after lunch. I would be sitting alone, for that matter, for here everybody finishes their sandwiches within thirty minutes and goes back to work again”, she adds with a smile.

    “And if you want to stay here, it is important that you can speak Dutch. It is nice enough that the Dutch speak English, but when you use Dutch you can function much better, and you also feel better. You can understand everything and take part in small talk. So go and learn Dutch in a serious manner, don’t stop with a course that will teach you to say one or two things in the supermarket.”

    Pereira can see why the Cabinet has plans to curb immigration. Even if this implies that there will be fewer know-ledge workers coming to the Netherlands in the future. “I think that the problems resulting from immigration are bigger than the problem of the shortage of technical people. The latter shortage you can try to solve in a creative way. For instance by finding better ways to get them (new, Dutch technology students, ed.) to the universities.”

    One day Pereira hopes to settle in Portugal again. “That is a vague idea, though. Our careers are just starting and traveling in Europe is getting easier and cheaper. I can work during the day and be in Portugal by dinner time. In terms of salary it’s also more attractive to stay here.” (SK)