Indians in The Hague: the 2026 guide to the Hindustani city, the embassy, Shell and the international institutions

The Hague — Den Haag, 's-Gravenhage on the documents — is a city of 569,468 people (1 January 2026) on the North Sea coast, the seat of the Dutch government and parliament, of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, of Shell and of nearly every foreign embassy in the country, including India's. A quarter of its jobs are in government or international institutions, and it is a city of two Indian communities that between them go back a century and a half.

The older is the Surinamese-Hindustani community — commonly put at around 45,000 people, the largest ethnic group in the city — descended from the indentured labourers who left Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for Suriname from 1873 and came to the Netherlands around Surinamese independence in 1975. They built the Transvaal district's Paul Krugerlaan into the Hindustani shopping street of the Netherlands, the Shri Sanatan Dharm Dew Mandir on Gaslaan, the Arya Samaj mandir in Laakkwartier, the Sri Guru Singh Sabha gurdwara, the Divali torch procession to the two monuments on the Hobbemaplein and the Milan Summer Festival in the Zuiderpark, the largest multicultural open-air festival in the country. The newer is the Indian expat community — 6,407 residents of Indian background in the city, plus 2,138 in Delft, 1,465 in Leidschendam-Voorburg and 641 in Rijswijk — who came for Shell, the ministries, the institutions, TCS and the tech firms, and who live in Ypenburg, Leidschenveen, Bezuidenhout, Voorburg and Rijswijk.

Everything national — the knowledge-migrant permit, the 30% ruling, health insurance, tax, the licence rule — is in the Netherlands guide and applies here unchanged.

The Hague runs from the beach at Scheveningen through the government quarter and the nineteenth-century districts to the Vinex new-builds of Ypenburg and Leidschenveen on the far side of the A4 and A12. Rents are Numbeo's September 2026 figures (one-bedroom €1,463 in the centre, €1,150 outside; three-bedroom €2,475 and €2,034) and the Pararius average of €22.42 per square metre — a fifth below Amsterdam.

Renting in The Hague

The rules are national — a two-month deposit cap, no agency fees, permanent contracts, the points system that caps regulated rents at €1,228.07 for 2026 and the Huurcommissie, registration as a right and a duty — and are in the Netherlands guide. The Hague's market is softer than Amsterdam's: a family three-bedroom in Ypenburg runs €1,800–2,300, a one-bedroom in Bezuidenhout €1,300–1,600, and the Vinex houses are where Indian families buy after two or three years. The city's GP shortage is the worst in the country (three-quarters of practices in the Haaglanden region were closed to new patients in 2024), which is the one thing to sort before choosing a street.

The national sequence — the sponsor's TEV application, the MVV, registration within five days, the BSN, the residence card, health insurance within four months, the TB test within three — is in the Netherlands guide. The Hague's particulars:

Work

The Hague's economy is government, institutions and Shell: the ministries (Defence, Justice and Security, Foreign Affairs, Housing) and their agencies, the international institutions (the ICJ, the ICC, the OPCW, Europol, Eurojust, the European Patent Office in Rijswijk), Shell's Dutch head office, Siemens, the insurers (Nationale-Nederlanden, Aegon), TCS and the IT services firms serving them, the Hague Security Delta cluster, and TU Delft and Leiden University's Hague campus. Indian knowledge migrants here are in IT, engineering, energy and the institutions' technical staff; EPO and institution posts are open to non-EU nationals in a way EU-institution posts in Brussels are not. The salary thresholds, the 30% ruling and the search period after a job ends are national and in the Netherlands guide.

Getting around

HTM trams and buses and the RandstadRail light rail (to Zoetermeer, Ypenburg, Leidschenveen and Rotterdam), checked in with a bank card. Two stations — Den Haag Centraal and Hollands Spoor — with Rotterdam in 25 minutes, Leiden in 12, Amsterdam in 50, Utrecht in 40 and Schiphol in 30. The city is flat and cycle-friendly; the beach is twenty minutes by bike from the centre. A car is manageable in Ypenburg and Leidschenveen and a chore in the centre; parking permits are easier than Amsterdam's. An Indian licence cannot be exchanged unless you hold the 30% ruling; the rule is in the Netherlands guide.

The Hague is the best-supplied city in the Netherlands for Indian food, because the Hindustani community has run its shops here for fifty years. Addresses were checked in September 2026; hours change, so look before you go, and treat these as pointers rather than endorsements — the live directory beneath this section is where the community rates them.

Groceries

• Supermarkt Mittal, Paul Krugerlaan 50 — thirty years, 1,700 products and 300 spices, Indian, Sri Lankan, Surinamese and Thai.
• Bharat Kings, Paul Krugerlaan 194 — since 1972, 500 square metres of religious and traditional Hindustani goods, "the largest in Europe": pooja items, sarees, brass, the works.
• India Gate, Hobbemaplein 50 — the toko on the square, since 2009, open seven days.
• The rest of the Paul Krugerlaan: Sharina's Boetiek (no. 252) and SAFCO (no. 134) for Indian clothing, jewellers, sweet shops, roti shops and a dozen tokos.
• Ypenburg and Leidschenveen: Amazing Oriental (Laan van Haamstede 36) and Passage to Asia (Jaap Hoekdreef 66) for the Vinex families.
• Albert Heijn and Jumbo for basics; the Haagse Markt — the largest open-air market in Europe, on the edge of Transvaal — for vegetables, coriander, chillies and mangoes at the lowest prices in the city; Dookan delivers.

Restaurants

Every kitchen has a full vegetarian menu; the Hindustani roti shops are where a newcomer learns what bara and phulauri are.

Temples and gurdwara

• Shri Sanatan Dharm Dew Mandir, Gaslaan 74 — the Hindustani community's main temple and among the largest in the Netherlands.
• Arya Samaj Nederland mandir, 1e van der Kunstraat 75, Laakkwartier — the Arya Samaj tradition, which is strong in the Hindustani community.
• Shri Radha Krishna Mandir and the smaller mandirs of Transvaal and Laak — the Hindoe Raad keeps the full list.
• Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Herman Costerstraat 140, Transvaal (an older address on Scheepersstraat 54 also circulates) — langar and Sunday diwan.
• The Hindustani Muslim community's mosques in Transvaal and the Schilderswijk; every mosque welcomes South Asian Muslims for Eid.

Associations

The Netherlands-India Association is based in The Hague; the Gandhi Centre, the ICCR's cultural centre at the embassy, runs Hindi, yoga and dance classes; Kallol, the Indian Bengali association founded in 2010, holds its Durga Puja here; the Hindustani organisations run the Divali procession and the Milan festival; Kalpanarts is the city's Indian dance company; and the cricket clubs are Voorburg CC (Groene Zoom 20, Voorburg — it hosted the T20 World Cup qualifier in July 2025) and HCC (Van Hogenhoucklaan 37, founded 1878), both with junior sections and both recruiting.

The festival year

Dates are on the festival calendar. The Hague's: - Holi: the Hindustani Holi in the temples and the parks in March. - Milan Summer Festival, 21–23 August 2026, in the Zuiderpark — the largest multicultural open-air festival in the country, with Indian and Surinamese-Hindustani food, Bollywood workshops and three nights of music. - Navratri and Durga Puja: Kallol's 16th Durga Puja, 18–21 October 2026, at Zalencentrum Kristal, Wegastraat 77; the temples keep Navratri. - Diwali: Divali Den Haag's torch procession through the centre to the two monuments on the Hobbemaplein (12 October 2025; the 2026 date follows the calendar) and Lakshmi puja at the mandirs on the day (8 November 2026); the embassy's Diwali reception. - Guru Nanak Jayanti at the gurdwara in November; the embassy's Republic Day and Independence Day gatherings. The events posted near The Hague are listed below as they are added.

The national picture — prices above Belgium and Germany, below the Nordics, rent the variable that decides everything — is in the Netherlands guide. The Hague's own numbers, from Numbeo's contributors (2026) and the Pararius rental monitor:

Two budgets

A single knowledge migrant in a one-bedroom outside the centre spends roughly €2,300–2,600 a month all-in — a fifth less than Amsterdam; a couple in Bezuidenhout about €3,300; a family of four in a Vinex house in Ypenburg about €5,300–6,000 before international-school fees, and the International School of The Hague's subsidised fees keep those modest.

Salaries are not indexed automatically as in Belgium and Luxembourg, but the 8% holiday allowance is a legal floor, a thirteenth month is common in IT and finance, and the 30% ruling — 30% of salary tax-free in 2026, 27% from 2027 — is what makes the first five years' arithmetic work. Compare offers on net-of-tax terms and ask whether the employer grosses up.

Energy and water

The Dutch energy market is open: you choose an electricity and gas supplier on a comparison site (Independer, Gaslicht) and can switch yearly; the grid operator that owns the meters and handles connections and moves is Stedin. Water is a regional monopoly with no contract to shop for — Dunea here; notify the move-in date and the meter reading. Most flats are gas-heated with a combi boiler; new-build in the Vinex districts is increasingly all-electric with a heat pump, which shows up as a higher electricity bill and no gas bill. Set up the smart-meter app on day one — Dutch winters are billed monthly on an estimate and settled once a year, and a wrong estimate is a nasty April surprise.

Waste

The Hague collects residual waste, paper, PMD and GFT in underground containers per block or wheeled bins per house on a fixed calendar, with glass and textiles to street containers and bulky waste by appointment through the municipality. Every municipality charges a fixed annual waste tax (afvalstoffenheffing) and a water-board tax on top of the rent, and both arrive by post once you are registered; the municipality's app knows the collection days for your street.

Phones and internet

KPN, Odido and VodafoneZiggo are the networks; SIMs are sold with ID at any supermarket and registered in minutes; a 10 GB plan is about €15–20 a month and fibre or cable internet €40–55. The country code is +31; mobiles start with 06.

Parking and the car

Resident parking permits are available in most districts without Amsterdam's waiting lists; the centre is paid parking and a low-emission zone for older diesels; Ypenburg and Leidschenveen have driveways. The RandstadRail and the trams make a car optional in the city and useful in the Vinex districts. An Indian licence is valid for 185 days after registration and cannot be exchanged unless you hold the 30% ruling — the rule is in the Netherlands guide. Most Indian families in the cities manage without a car in the first year; car-share (Greenwheels, MyWheels) covers the weekend.

The weather and the calendar

Maritime and mild: an annual mean around 10–11 °C, rain and wind in every month, short winter days, a heatwave or two in summer; a good rain jacket beats an umbrella on a bicycle, and Dutch GPs prescribe vitamin D to almost every newcomer from India. Few public holidays — King's Day on 27 April is the one the whole country celebrates in orange — and shops open on Sundays in the cities. The beach at Scheveningen is the city's summer and the North Sea wind is its winter; the Milan festival in the Zuiderpark in August is the community's own day.

The order matters more than the speed, and half of it is national. This is the year as The Hague families describe it in the groups, with the national steps linked to the Netherlands guide.

What people wish they had known

• The GP is the bottleneck, not the permit: start ringing practices the day you have a postcode, and use the expat centre's list.
• "No registration" flats are illegal and common; walk away, however good the flat.
• The 30% ruling is negotiated, not automatic: ask in the offer, and ask whether the employer grosses up.
• The Dutch school split at twelve decides more than any international school does; understand it before your child is ten.
• The groups know first — which grocer has curry leaves this week, which crèche has a place, which GP opened its list. Ypenburg, Leidschenveen and Rijswijk are where families buy

Every Indian who has moved abroad has the same first move: find the WhatsApp group. The Hague has them — "Indians in The Hague", the Shell and EPO groups, the Ypenburg parents, the Telugu, Tamil, Malayali and Bengali ones, the Delft PhD groups, the cricket groups — and, unusually, a Hindustani community whose networks run through temples and family rather than phones. They are how the community has always run, and this guide is not going to pretend otherwise.

What the groups are good at, and what they are not

They are fast and warm: ask at nine in the evening which GP in Leidschenveen is still taking patients and somebody who registered last month will answer before ten. But you need to know somebody to get the link; the links that circulate are stale, and the live ones are where the "flat, pay the deposit first" scams start. A group of 1,000 people has no moderator, so the same three questions are asked every week and the answers scroll away. Every member can see your phone number. And a group does not know where you live: the flat in Rotterdam and the garba in Amstelveen arrive with the same weight as the one in Ypenburg.

What Namaste Community does instead

Namaste Community is a free app, built in the Benelux by members of this community, that keeps what the groups do well and fixes the rest. It launched in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and works in every country.

• Everything is ranked by distance from you — events, groups, questions, businesses and things for sale, within 10, 50, 100 or 200 km, your choice — so a Hague member sees The Hague, Delft and Rijswijk first.
• Groups with a place and a moderator, joined by people within their radius, with polls, join modes and a member limit; your phone number is never shown, and you can post under your name or an anonymous handle.
• Ask, and the answer stays: the question about the 30% ruling, the ISH waiting list or a GP taking patients is answered once, in a thread the next person finds.
• A directory with reviews of the Paul Krugerlaan shops, the restaurants, tailors, tutors, accountants and driving schools, listed free by the businesses themselves.
• The events calendar — Milan, Divali, the Durga Puja, garba and every cricket match near you, imported daily and moderated, with an RSVP; the same calendar behind the festival pages.
• Marketplace and rooms from members near you.
• Verified members, moderation, and a report button on everything.

Your first week in the app

1. Install it, sign in, set your location to The Hague and the radius to 10 km. Get the app for iPhone or Android.
2. Join the general Hague group and the one for your language or interest. Read before you post.
3. RSVP to one event in the next fortnight — a temple programme, a cricket practice at Voorburg, a Durga Puja evening.
4. Ask the question you actually have, and say which stadsdeel you are in.
5. When you have found your flat, your GP and your toko, leave a review or an answer for the next person from Chennai or Kolkata.

The groups near The Hague are listed below, ranked by how active they are. If the one you need does not exist yet, start it: it takes a minute, and it shows up here for the next person searching.

Schools and childcare

The International School of The Hague (Wijndaelerweg 11, Kijkduin; about 2,000 students; IPC, IB MYP, DP and CP) is Dutch-subsidised and the affordable choice, with waiting lists at the entry years; the British School in the Netherlands has its Junior School Leidschenveen campus (Vrouw Avenweg 640) among four; the American School of The Hague is in Wassenaar. The International Centre publishes the full list of international primary and secondary schools in the region. The free Dutch schools take children from four with newcomer language classes; there is no Indian-curriculum school, and Hindi classes run through the Gandhi Centre and private tutors. Daycare is private and subsidised through the childcare allowance (up to 96% of €11.23 an hour in 2026); register in pregnancy.

Health

Basic insurance within four months (about €159 a month, €385 deductible); a GP the day you have an address — Haaglanden is the hardest region in the country; the TB test at the GGD Haaglanden within three months; the HMC and Haga hospitals and the LUMC in Leiden. The rules are in the Netherlands guide.

Hindustani and South Asian neighbours

The Hague is where an Indian newcomer meets the Surinamese-Hindustani community at full strength — some 45,000 people, Sarnami-speaking, Sanatan and Arya Samaj Hindus and Muslims, who built the temples, the Paul Krugerlaan, the Divali procession and the Milan festival and whose roti is the city's cheapest Indian meal. The city also hosts the embassies of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh (Nepal is covered from Brussels), Pakistani and Sri Lankan Tamil communities with their own mosques and temples, and Bangladeshi Bengalis who share Kallol's Durga Puja. Everything on this page applies identically to all of them; the Netherlands guide has the detail, including the TB-test exemption that Sri Lankans, alone among South Asians, enjoy.

The embassy and the national rules

The Embassy of India at Buitenrustweg 2 has delivered passports, OCI and visas directly since June 2025 — no VFS; the Netherlands guide has the contacts and the Gandhi Centre. Everything national lives there and applies here unchanged: permits, the 30% ruling and tax, housing law, health, transport and the licence, temples nationwide. The other city guides: Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Utrecht.