Start COA links you to a municipality
COA links you to a municipality
Share this article
If your asylum application is approved, you are entitled to a home. The Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) will choose a municipality for you. That municipality will then arrange a home for you. On this page you can read how this works.
You are not allowed to choose your own municipality to live in
If your application for asylum been approved by the 
You are not allowed to choose a municipality where you will live. Which municipality you are linked to depends on how much space there is in that municipality. How many houses there are for people with an asylum residence permit differs per municipality. A larger municipality has more houses for people with an asylum residence permit than a smaller municipality.
COA tries to take your situation into account
COA tries to choose a municipality that best suits your situation. That is why COA asks you for information about your situation. For example, COA asks how big your family is, what kind of work you want to do and whether you want to study.
Sometimes you can indicate to COA a preference for a municipality
If you have good reasons to live near a particular municipality, you can let COA know. If one of the reasons below apply to you, COA will try to find you a home within 50 kilometers of where you want to live.
If you are going to do a course that is in a specific place. And cannot be taken at any other place.
If you have a job for which you work for at least 6 months and at least 20 hours per week.
If you need medical or psychological help that can only be given by a particular doctor.
If you have parents, brothers or sisters in the Netherlands who already live in a particular municipality and you want to live nearby.
COA will only look at these special reasons if you have written proof of them.
Fill out a form
You must show COA yourself that such a reason applies to you. You must fill this in on a form. COA will give you this form.
If you do not do this, or you only provide the reason after COA has already linked you to a municipality, COA does not have to take your preference for a municipality into account.
