Registering with the municipality in the Netherlands

Do you intend to live in the Netherlands for more than 4 months? Then you must register in the Personal Records Database (Basisregistratie Personen – BRP). You can do this at the municipality where you intend to live.

You must register in the BRP at the municipality where your intended address is located. There is no charge for this.

If you have no fixed address, you must register your postal address. For example, if you are a ship’s captain, or where the institution that you are in, such as a prison or psychiatric facility, is located.

Are you moving from one municipality to another municipality in the Netherlands? Then you must notify the new municipality of your change of address.

You must register with the municipality within 5 days of arriving in the Netherlands. You can do this at your municipality. Are your partner and/or children are coming with you to the Netherlands? They must come with you to the municipality.

Once you register in the BRP, you will receive a citizen service number (Burgerservicenummer – BSN). You will need this number for any contact with the Government of the Netherlands, such as when managing your taxes.

Exceptions

In some situations you can register later or in a different way:

You are going to be living in the Netherlands for less than 4 months. Then you can register in the BRP as a non-resident. For this you can use an address outside the Netherlands. You will still receive a BSN.
You do not have valid residence status, and to be allowed to stay in the Netherlands, you need a residence permit (verblijfsvergunning). If you are waiting for your residence permit to arrive, you do not have to register within 5 days.
You are unable to prove your identity. This may require additional investigation. Registering with the municipality can then wait until the outcome of this investigation. After that, you will have to register.

This is how it works for you

Your (future) place of residence falls under:

Municipality of Goeree-Overflakkee

Here is some information from your municipality.

First registration in the Netherlands

Are you coming to live in the Netherlands for the first time? You must then register in person with the municipality. Make an appointment with the municipality where you will be living.

Description

If you move to the Netherlands for the first time, you must register in the Personal Records Database (BRP). You register with the municipality in which you are going to live. We call this 'first registration'. You will receive a citizen service number (BSN). You will need this BSN, for example, if you want to work in the Netherlands. Or if you want to open a bank account in the Netherlands.

Have you lived in the Netherlands before, but moved abroad before October 1994? Then you must also do a 'first registration'.

The conditions for a first registration in the Netherlands are:

you have:

Dutch nationality, or
- a passport from an EU/EEA country(link is external), or
- a residence permit for a definite or indefinite period
you will stay in the Netherlands for longer than 4 months

Take with you:

your valid ID (which shows your nationality)
proof that you have living space, such as a rental contract or proof of ownership
if you were not born in the Netherlands: your birth certificate
if you do not have European nationality: proof that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) has approved your stay
if you come from Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius or Saba: a relocation notice
possibly the following documents:
- a marriage or divorce certificate
- a death certificate of your partner (as proof that the marriage has been dissolved by death)
  the birth certificates of your children
Do you have proof of deregistration from the previous country? So take that with you.

Have the requested documents not been drawn up in Dutch, English, German or French? Or do you not have a multilingual model form? Then you have to have them translated. Is the translator sworn in in the Netherlands? Then you do not need to have the translation legalised. Is the translator sworn abroad? Then you must have the legalized original document legalized again in the Netherlands. You can read more about this at Nederlandwereldwijd.nl of the Dutch government.

The municipality of Goeree-Overflakkee works by appointment.

Make an appointment

This is how you register for the first time in the Netherlands: