25th April 2023

Spuerkeess the ideal partner for the international community

In Luxembourg, nearly one in three of the active workforce is a foreigner and almost half of the working population are residents of our neighbouring countries. The country has a big expat community, foreigners that come to work and live in Luxembourg. We spoke to our colleague Simône van Schouwenburg about our Spuerkeess onboarding services for new arrivers to Luxembourg.

At Spuerkeess you oversee business development and expat services, what does this exactly entail?

When I arrived at Spuerkeess four years ago, I had been asked to set up the Expat Desk. Today the term Expat is not that appropriate anymore and I much prefer to call our service “onboarding of new arrivers (expats) in Luxembourg”. However, our clients like to belong to the Expat, International Community in Luxembourg. 

An Expat and newcomer for Spuerkeess  is considered as a person that has signed a work contract and will start to work and live in Luxembourg. 

We facilitate the opening of the bank account ahead of the client’s arrival and enable transfers into the account, debit and/or credit cards to order ahead of time, help putting in place the rental guarantee (garantie locative) so that everything is ready upon arrival and our customers will be able to start their job without stress. 

Furthermore, we have created a platform with our expat partners providing many services one needs when arriving in the Grand Duchy such as: insurance, telecommunication, home search, relocation services, private car lease, languages courses and many more.  

Also, an expat guide to Luxembourg has been put online with many useful tips and goings about Luxembourg 

Our principal aim is to allow our clients to concentrate on their new job, familiarize themselves with their new surroundings while providing them with the peace of mind knowing of properly arranged banking services ahead of time.

How would you describe a typical onboarding of a newcomer?

Since Spuerkeess has established over the years a large network of partners throughout the community, we are able to provide expats with a smooth landing.  

Before arrival:
Before arrival:
  • Account opening and money transfer
  • Preparing and finalizing the rental guarantee
  • Ordering debit and/or credit card(s)
  • Connecting the newcomers to our partners for facilitation/organization:
  • home search;
  • schooling;
  • housing insurances;
  • internet and mobile facilities;
  • private car lease (e.g. LeasePlus)
  • language classes.
Upon arrival:
Upon arrival:
  • Appointment with their dedicated future relationship manager;
  • Finalizing last documents;
  • Initiating the internet application S-Net.

Once arrived and settled, think about:

  • Insurances for your car, domestic pets, etc.
  • Tax deductible products the bank can help you with such as: complimentary health insurance, additional pension plan, home savings plan, etc.;
  • For your children to open a bank account according to their age (e.g. our packages Tweenz and Axxess)

Spuerkeess can also assist with your integration process:

  • We can help you pave the way and put you in contact with many social networks such as LuxTimes, Paperjam, City Savvy, Just arrived, Luxembourg Expats, internations, Chambers of Commerce, ladies' clubs, The Network, LuxWMN, Kaachen and many others 

  • We organize social events dedicated to our Expat customers from the international community in Luxembourg; 

  • We accompany spouses with regular workshops organised with our dedicated partners (e.g. how to set up your business in Luxembourg?); 

  • We holds seminars in our historical Spuerkeess 19Lib premises on multiple topics that are of interests beyond the expat community; 

  • We contribute to the organisation of Family days for the International Community. 

Finally, Spuerkeess also contributes, promotes, and sponsors external events with several Chambers of Commerce (International community) such as The British Chamber, The American Chamber, The French Chamber and Chinese Chamber and more to come.

Our speciality and expertise are to provide newcomers with a smooth landing to Luxembourg
Simône van Schouwenburg