This is a guide for students who need help registering their address in Maastricht. It is a legal requirement to register your initial address with the municipality if you are planning on staying in Maastricht for more than 4 months. Students who are not staying for longer than 4 months (such as exchange students) do not have to follow this registration process, but should register with a desk for the Registration of Non-Residents (RNI) (see below for more info on this).
Registering with the municipality can be done online but you will also have to visit the municipal office afterwards. Registering is free, super easy and essential. Registering will give you your Burgerservicenummer (BSN), which may be necessary for administrative matters like opening a bank account, getting a local phone number or applying for subsidies. After registering online, you will receive a link within 2-4 weeks to book an appointment at the municipality to submit some documents in person. Please note that in the beginning of the academic year there are a lot of students who need a BSN number so it may take a bit longer to receive your link for booking a time. You need to book a slot to pick-up your BSN within two months of receiving the link. The documents you must bring to this appointment are:
- A valid identification either a passport or an identity card
- A rental or purchase contract (printed and signed by both parties) or a written permission from the principal occupant
- Your birth certificate (if you were born abroad)
- Proof from the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation service (Immigratie- en Naturalisatie Dienst or IND) that you have legal stay in the Netherlands if you are a non-EU-national
- A proof (notification) of deregistration if you come from: Aruba, Curaçao, Saint Martin, Bonaire, Saint Eustace or Saba
If said required documents are not written in Dutch, English, German or French, then you have to get them translated. You don’t have to legalize the translation if the translator is sworn in the Netherlands, but in all other cases, you must re-legalise the original document in the Netherlands.
Exchange students and students not living in the Netherlands
If you’re coming to live in Maastricht from abroad for less than 4 months, to either work or study, you can register at one of the 19 municipalities with a desk for the Registration of Non-Residents (RNI). The RNI is part of the Personal Records Database (Basisregistratie Personen or BRP), which contains details of persons who do not / no longer live in the Netherlands or have lived in the Netherlands for less than 4 months. For residents of Maastricht, the nearest RNI desk can be found in Heerlen (in Dutch).
Do you need a BSN, but don’t live in the Netherlands? Then you’ll have to call the municipality of Heerlen at +31 (0) 45 560 50 40 (also from abroad). They’ll give you an appointment and you will actually have to go there in person to pick up the document with your BSN.
Moving within Maastricht
Further, if you are moving to another address (within Maastricht) during your stay, you are obliged to notify the gemeente of this change, and to register your current address with the municipality (of Maastricht). Again, this can all be done online – check out our guidance document below for a clear breakdown of the process! Are you a non-EU student? When you pick up your residence permit at the visa office, you will be registered by the municipality.
Also bear in mind that if you’re living within the Netherlands, but not in Maastricht, you still have to register your address at whichever municipality you live in.
Scroll down for a step-by-step guidance document to help you with the process!
Deregistering
Lastly, don’t forget to deregister from the municipality once you leave Maastricht! You can do so online. You must deregister if you are going to live abroad for longer than 8 months within one year, even if this is not for a continuous period. Deregistering is important! If you don’t, there could be problems for your roommates or the person that moves into your room when you leave.
