We hare having some trouble with the BSN number

Francis H2O wrote:

Hello! My name is Francisco and I moved to Rotterdam from Portugal a week ago with my girlfriend Inês.

We hare having some trouble with the BSN number because we don't have a permanent address. We're currently staying with family but can't put their address in the forms.. So... that's a bummer  Does anyone have any tips for us? can we apply without an address?

Anyway, this blog has been very helpfull and hopefully we'll meet some people through here and, maybe, be the ones who answer the questions of other newcomers in a few months

Best regards.

If you're staying for less than 4 months, you don't need a BSN number.  If you're staying longer, you do.  You're not the first one to be caught out by this; you can't get a BSN number because you don't have a place to live, but can't get a job to pay for one as you can't get a BSN number.  You'll find that there are lots of things you can't do without a BSN number (i.e. open a bank account, register at the tax office, doctors or even register your car).  You may need to invest some of your money in a home.  It's how the Dutch control temporary residents.

You can apply from a rented address; just be careful as some landlords make it a feature of the rental agreement that they do not permit this.

Don't forget your medical insurance; you can't claim under the EU emergency scheme as a Portuguese citizen once you live in Holland.

Hi Francisco,

Welcome to Expat.com!

Thank you for this intro.

A new topic has been created as from your post on the Rotterdam forum

It seems that you can give your adress in your country to get the BSN (ex-SOFI)

Little link (in French)

http://www.leforum.nl/wiki/index.php/SOFI

Unfortunately you will not be able to register for a BSN number without an address in the gemeente (municipality)  you are living in. As other people have said you will only need to do this if you only want to stay less than 4 months,You will have to present a copy of the lease for your apartment or written permission from your landlord to use the address to register. There are no shortcuts to this process.The only way is to find a landlord that will allow you to register using their address. Good luck.

Hello everyone! Thank you for all of your help! What I did was ask for a short stay and I was able to have my BSN number only registering my portuguese address. I gave the address from where I am staying here in The Netherlands but I did not have to register it, I will only have to do it later on, when I find a "definitive" house. But yes, I know it will be hard to find a good house with good prices for me and my girlfriend to live in, it has been a difficult task. If anyone knows something (room for two/studio) in Rotterdam, Den Haag or somewhere around there we would be gratefull for all eternity

Studios is very rare in NL... What is your budget??? I can give you some websites but you can look at also in newspapers, where there are a lot of housing offers and try to see in rela estate agencies

Hi if you want to stay in the Netherlands for more than four months you will have to re-register for your BSN because you will be required to have health insurance. You cannot do this with a Portuguese address.

Yes, I am aware of that fact but I did this now only to have a BSN number and work while I search for a house to register in.