Aachen ranks 11th place worldwide in the Expat City Ranking conducted by InterNations. Unfortunately, the other major cities in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, Liège, Maastricht and Hasselt were not considered in the survey. It would have been interesting to see where they stand. The same goes for neigbouring tech hub Eindhoven which has a considerable expat community. The only Belgian City in the report is Brussels (30). Dutch cities with a ranking are The Hague (9), Rotterdam (32) and Amsterdam (48). The report includes several German cities, such as neighbouring Düsseldorf (31) and Cologne (50) as well as the high-tech city of Munich (51).

Aachen ranks first place for urban work life! The city offers great career opportunities and most expats are satisfied with their financial situation, also because of reasonable cost of living, although it can be difficult to find suitable housing. Looking just across the border in the Netherlands or Belgium can help finding affordable housing close to the city. Getting settled in and feeling welcome is not always easy, also because of the experienced language barrier. The Maastricht International Centre – offering most information also in English both online and offline – could serve as a positive example. And of course, the welcome events that are organized as part of the youRegion project help newcomers feel welcome in the region. For more information on settling in in Aachen you can contact the Aachen Newcomer Service (stephan.schaefer@mail.aachen.de)