Someone signs a document.
Source: Cytonn Photography
Article

This is how you get a personal number (BSN) to handle your affairs in the Netherlands

Last updated: 10/15/2024, 1:11 PM

If you are in the Netherlands for more than 6 months, you will get a personal number: a citizen service number (BSN). You need this number to arrange your personal affairs in the Netherlands. Read here how to get such a number.

For this you can use your BSN

You need a

BSN
to arrange things in the Netherlands or with the Dutch government. For example, you need the number to:

  • Open a Dutch bank account

  • Work in the Netherlands

  • Apply for unemployment or welfare benefits

  • Take out health insurance (if you have an asylum residence permit)

  • Apply for allowances (if you have an asylum residence permit)

This is how to get a BSN in the Netherlands

Are you in the Netherlands for more than 6 months? Then you can get a BSN. This is done in 2 steps.

  1. The

    Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA)
    will make an appointment for you to register with the municipality. You then register in the
    Dutch population register (BRP)
    . After COA makes an appointment for you, you will go to a special
    BRP street
     to register.

  2. As soon as you are registered with the BRP, you will automatically receive a letter containing your BSN from the government. You will usually receive a letter containing your BSN within 4 weeks of your registration in the BRP.

Please note: You cannot make your own appointment to register at the BRP street. COA must arrange this appointment for you.

There are long waiting times for a BSN

Please allow for a longer wait for registration in the BRP due to a shortage of staff. People who already have an asylum residence permit are given priority for registration.

Sometimes you can get priority to get a BSN

Sometimes you can be registered in the BRP as a priority, which means you can get a BSN faster. COA determines whether you can be registered with priority. You can sometimes be registered with priority if:

  • You have an asylum residence permit and have already found work

  • You have an asylum residence permit and you are offered housing

  • You need a BSN with a medical reason

  • You do not yet have an asylum residence permit, but do have a

Through the information desk of the COA reception location where you live, you can ask if you can be registered with priority.

Sometimes you cannot register in the BRP

You cannot register in the BRP if one of the following situations applies to you:

  • You fall under the

    Dublin procedure

  • You come from a country that is considered a safe country by the Netherlands

  • You already have a residence permit in another country within the European Union (EU)

  • Your identity has not yet been established by the

    Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND)

What do you think of this article?