BSN, DigiD and registering at the gemeente: the three things you can't do without in Amsterdam

Register your address, get your BSN, then set up DigiD: in Amsterdam that order is everything, and the clock starts the day you arrive.

The short version

• Moving to Amsterdam for more than four months? Register with the City at a City Office within five days of arriving. No appointment is needed, except in Weesp [1].
• You get your BSN (citizen service number) when you register. You need it to work, open a bank account, take out health insurance and claim benefits [1][3].
• Your UK birth certificate needs an apostille from the British authorities before the Dutch will accept it, so sort it before you leave [4].
• DigiD is the login for Dutch government services. You need a BSN and a registered address, and the activation code comes by post [5].
• Staying under four months? You register on the RNI instead, and with a British passport that means Breda or Venlo, not Amsterdam [2].

Why it matters so much

Back home in Blighty there's no single register of where everyone lives. You get a National Insurance number once, sign up with a GP when you remember, and the council finds you through council tax. The Netherlands is the opposite. The Personal Records Database (BRP) is the master list, every organisation checks it, and the BSN it gives you is your key to almost everything [3].

Without a BSN your employer can't run payroll for you normally, you can't take out the compulsory Dutch health insurance, and banks won't open a proper account. Without DigiD you can't file a tax return online, claim healthcare or housing allowances, or check your details with the City. The good news is that once it's done, it's done.

Registering with the City of Amsterdam

Who has to register

Anyone moving to Amsterdam from abroad to live, work or study for more than four months must register [1]. The FCDO's guide puts the same rule in UK terms: stay more than four months and you register with your local gemeente through the BRP [3]. "Within five days" means within five days of arriving, not of finding a permanent flat, so if you're in a short let at first, check that the landlord allows registration there.

What to bring

The City wants originals in Dutch, English, French or German; anything else needs a sworn translation [1]. That's one bit of luck for Brits, because English documents don't need translating [4].

The apostille: do it in the UK

NetherlandsWorldwide is clear that UK birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates must be legalised with an apostille by the British authorities before you can use them in the Netherlands [4]. The UK issues e-apostilles for some documents, but not for civil status certificates, which need a normal paper apostille [4]. In practice that means getting a certified copy of your birth certificate from the General Register Office (or its Scottish or Northern Irish equivalent) and sending it off to the FCDO Legalisation Office well before the removal van turns up. Once a birth or marriage certificate has been apostilled, it doesn't matter how old it is [4].

A British Certificate of Naturalisation and documents issued by a British embassy or consulate don't need legalising [4].

At the City Office

1. Go in person. Every family member who's moving must come along, because you can only register yourself [1].
2. Pick your time. City Offices take walk-ins for registration Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 09:00–16:00, and Thursday until 18:00 [1]. Weesp residents need an appointment.
3. Hand over the documents. The clerk checks them and adds you to the BRP.
4. Get your BSN. After registering, you receive your citizen service number [1]. Write it down somewhere sensible; you'll quote it more often than your postcode.

If you're not sure your landlord will let you register, ask before you sign. A flat where you can't register is a flat where you can't get a BSN, and that's a headache no amount of tea will fix. Our guide to renting in Amsterdam covers the warning signs.

Short stays: the RNI

If you live abroad and will be in the Netherlands for less than four months (a contractor on a short assignment, say), you register in the Non-residents Records Database (RNI) instead, and you get a BSN on the spot [2]. Amsterdam's RNI desks in Zuidoost and West are only for people with a European passport or ID card. With a British passport you can only register at the municipality of Breda or Venlo [2]. It's an annoying train ride, but it's the rule. A short-stay BSN still lets your employer run payroll properly.

DigiD: your government login

DigiD is a username, password and app that work rather like the Government Gateway login back home, but for far more: the Belastingdienst, the health allowance, the IND, the City, your pension fund and often your GP and hospital.

1. Wait until you're registered. You need your BSN, a registered address in a Dutch municipality and a mobile phone [5].
2. Apply online at digid.nl and choose a username and password. Remember them, because you need them to activate [5].
3. Wait for the letter. DigiD posts an activation code, starting with "A", to the address the City has on file in the BRP [5]. Allow up to five working days [5]. If you've applied twice, use the code in the newest letter.
4. Activate and add the app. Once active, set up the DigiD app, which many services now prefer to a text message.

Because the letter goes to your BRP address, make sure your name is on the letterbox. Plenty of Brits in shared Amsterdam flats have lost a week because the postman couldn't see where to put it.

When you move house, or leave

Tell the City whenever you move within Amsterdam, as everything keys off your BRP address. If you leave the Netherlands for more than eight months in any 12-month period, you must deregister, on the day you leave or as soon as possible afterwards; you can report it up to four weeks ahead [6]. You can do it online if the whole family moves on the same date, at a City Office, or by post [6]. Ask for the confirmation letter if you deregister in person, as it's useful for customs, and later proof of leaving comes as an extract from the RNI [6].

Heading home to the UK? Our guide to the moving abroad checklist works in reverse too.

If you're stuck on a landlord who won't allow registration, or an apostille that's taking its time, ask in our community group for Brits in the Netherlands; someone will have been there last month.

Sources

1. City of Amsterdam: Moving from abroad (immigration) (checked 8 November 2026)
2. City of Amsterdam: Registering in the Non-residents Records Database (RNI) (checked 8 November 2026)
3. GOV.UK (FCDO): Living in the Netherlands (updated 23 December 2025)
4. NetherlandsWorldwide: Legalisation of documents from the United Kingdom for use in the Netherlands (checked 8 November 2026)
5. DigiD: Apply for DigiD (checked 8 November 2026)
6. City of Amsterdam: Moving abroad and deregistering (checked 8 November 2026)

Keep reading

• Moving to Amsterdam as a Brit: visa and residence routes
• Renting in Amsterdam
• Banking in the Netherlands as a Brit
• Moving abroad checklist for Brits