Working in Maastricht

[er340790]

Lived and worked in Maastricht from 1997-2004 and loved the place. Only went for 3 years initially, but stayed seven, which says something. The old town centre is great, the restaurants and bars as good as anywhere in Europe and the Cloggies are generally good eggs. 99% of them anyway. House prices were quite reasonable back in 1997, but had more than doubled by the time we left in 2004. Equivalent to UK 'home-counties' prices.

A lot of people moved just over the border into Belgium from 1999 when the Dutch tax authority allowed mortgage interest tax deduction on Belgian mortgages.

After the first year, we moved up to Margraten in the 'mountains' or heuvelland. I'm good with languages, but it still took me 3 years to get to grips with Dutch expecially the Zuid Limburg 'Dialekt'.

I think Eurocontrol pay their salaries net of tax. If not, you can get the 30%-Rule or 35%-Rule as it was when I arrived. This meant the TOP 35% of your income was disregarded for Dutch tax. Also you can park any savings offshore if you register with the Belastingdients as a 'Non-resident Resident'(!) A bit like the UK non-domiciled status.

I'd certainly recommend it.

[dimdelu]

Hi,
They said on the eurocontrol website, that the extra money for people working on shift is 1530 euros. ("Working shifts entitles staff to payment of a flat-rate shift allowance which is set at € 1530 for those working a 24/7 shift .").

Is it tax free?

Because we can read on the forum that you ll get just over 6000 € once qualified (all in) and the eurocontrol website says that starting net "basic" salary is 4457 euros.

So, are the 1530€ tax free?

[GlobalJourney]

Hi Dimdelu,

I believe the FRSA (Flat Rate Shift Allowance) is taxed, but with other adjustments and allowances the amount of "ancilliary" pay is actually about the same after the tax, so therefore you are correct that the monthly net pay for a newly qualified controller with both sector ratings is approximately €6300.

[futureATCO]

This thread is very outdated.

Is anyone here a current controller at MUAC who could shed some light on the working conditions there? Is the management good? What is the pay like nowadays?

Cheers,

[Planetick]

I would say working conditions are still good. View on the management probably depends on every single colleague. I am personally very happy there. Colleagues are nice, the OPS room atmosphere is nice as well. Fully qualified the salary starts somewhere around 8k net.

[LuCst]

Is it correct that nowadays it is more or less impossible to get hired externally into MUAC, and that they only take people from their own courses?

[Planetick]

I think this is still the case, yes. I am not aware of any qualified atcos joining recently and have not seen any vacancies.

[futureATCO]

Originally Posted by Planetick

I would say working conditions are still good. View on the management probably depends on every single colleague. I am personally very happy there. Colleagues are nice, the OPS room atmosphere is nice as well. Fully qualified the salary starts somewhere around 8k net.

Is 8k net a sufficient amount to live in the local area? I'm not familiar with cost of living in the Netherlands. Does the pay increase regularly as you become more experienced?

[Planetick]

It definitely is, yes. Working in Maastricht you also have the possibility to live in Belgium or Germany. In any of the countries the salary is more than sufficient. Salary increases regularly with smaller steps every 2 years followed by bigger steps every 5 years if I recall correctly.

[futureATCO]

How did you find the first year, I think it is in France? Are there lots of people failing?

Do most students live together like at University or renting privately an apartment?