ACCESS NL > Leaving the Netherlands > Deregistration from the Netherlands
Deregistration from the Netherlands
Do I need to deregister with the municipality before I leave the Netherlands?
For EU/EEA or Switzerland and non-EU citizen
When you first arrived in the Netherlands, you were obliged to register with the Basisregistratie Personen (BRP) ( municipality’s personal records database) of your city or town of residence. Similarly, when you leave the Netherlands, you must deregister. This is important as the gemeente (municipality) will need to remove your personal details at the same location. The municipality will also be obliged to inform other government authorities of your departure.
The first step is to report your intended departure to the stadhuis (town hall). You are advised to check with your municipality about the required notice period for notifying them that you intend to leave the country. The notice period may vary from one municipality to another.
The deregistration process may vary slightly from one municipality to another. Some municipalities may ask you to complete a form notifying them of your imminent departure prior to visiting the town hall.
If all family members are leaving the country, you may have the option to inform the hall town in writing. For the Den Haag municipality, a letter can be sent which contains the following information:
- Your old and new addresses
- List of names of all your family members
- The date of departure
- Signature
- You must also supply a copy of your proof of identity with the letter
Once you have deregistered from the BRP as a resident, your personal data will move to the non-residents part of the BRP, the Non-residents Records Database (RNI). This is for people who do not live in the Netherlands anymore, or who live in the Netherlands for less than 4 months. You can ask for a proof that you deregistered. You can apply for this proof from one of the following RNI-municipalities with a Non-residents Records Database:
• Alkmaar
• Almelo
• Amsterdam
• Breda
• Doetinchem
• Eindhoven
• Goes
• Groningen
• The Hague
• Heerlen
• Leeuwarden
• Leiden
• Nijmegen
• Rotterdam
• Terneuzen
• Utrecht
• Venlo
• Westland
• Zwolle
The international extract is available in Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, French, German and English.
If you have a Dutch residence permit and are leaving the country on a permanent basis, then you must return your residence permit as follows:
- either at the airport ID checkpoint in the Netherlands
- or by post to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst – IND)
Note that the residence permit is state property and thus it is your personal responsibility to ensure that it is returned as part of the deregistration process. Find the address of return and more information about this matter here.
It is advised that when returning your residence permit by post, you send it with a short accompanying letter and make a copy of both the front and back of the card for your future reference.
When you deregister with the municipality they will notify all the other governmental institutions like the UWV, SVB, kinderbijslag, etc.
For commercial services such as utilities, you will need to notify them. If you cancel your parking permit before the end of its validity period, you could be eligible to claim some money back, for this you need to cancel the parking yourself. Keep in mind it can take up to six weeks before you get your money back, so you may need to keep a bank account open for this period.
Diplomats, consular officials and employees of an international organisation
At the start of your assignment, you will have been registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken – BZ). Similarly, on departure you must deregister with the Protocol Department. When the posting of a privileged person comes to an end, the employer (embassy or international organisation) should send a ‘note verbale’ to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informing them that the posting of the person and/or of members of his family has come to an end. The ‘note verbale’ also informs the Ministry of Foreign Affair whether or not the person(s) is(are) departing from the Netherlands. The BZ ID card(s) should also be returned with the ‘note verbale’.
What happens to my DigiD? Does everything get deactivated?
The DigiD is linked to the government database; therefore they should get a notification from the municipality about your deregistration. However, you will still be in the records database because this is a unique login connected to your social security number in the Netherlands. The DigiD will expire after three years if it has not been used. If you choose to come back to the Netherlands after that time, you will need to reactivate it.
In order to claim back employment tax after leaving the Netherlands, you will need to keep your DigiD activated. Take into account that you cannot activate a new DigiD account from abroad unless you are a Dutch citizen or the nationality of an EEA country (EU plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland).
I have left before deregistering with the municipality - What should I do?
If you leave the Netherlands without deregistering at the stadhuis (town hall) of your municipality, then it is essential that you contact the municipality where you were registered in the Netherlands as soon as possible in order to resolve the situation. Otherwise, you will continue to be deemed as officially resident within the Netherlands and can be liable for taxation and national insurance payments on this basis.
What if I only intend to live abroad for part of the year?
If you intend to live abroad for more than eight month, i.e.: have a second residence outside of the Netherlands, you are required to report your move abroad to the municipality. Please note that this eight-month period does not need to be continuous. The move needs to be reported on the day of departure or a maximum of five days prior to the move. You will then be deregistered from your address in the municipality.
When reporting your intended move to the municipality, you will be required to state your new residential address abroad. If at the time of this notification, you do not have a fixed address abroad, you will be obliged to specify where you will be staying (e.g. the address of a hotel, family member or friend). The report will be processed on the same day you report your move. This information may vary depending on your nationality and marital status.
For confirmation concerning your situation, we suggest you to call the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (Immigratie- en Naturalisatiedienst – IND) office. Please note that for Dutch citizens the period is six months (foreign residents).
