What the BSN is
BSN stands for burgerservicenummer: the citizen service number (BSN) in the Netherlands. This unique personal number has 9 digits. Everyone who is registered in the BRP (Personal Records Database) gets one, and it stays the same for life.
The Dutch government uses the number to find your personal data, so different organisations do not have to ask you for the same details again. Before 2007, the Netherlands used a sofinummer (tax and social insurance number). The BSN replaced it. If an employer, bank or website asks for your social security number in the Netherlands, they mean your BSN.
How to get a BSN
You do not apply for a BSN separately. You obtain a BSN through the registration process, and the route depends on how long you are staying in the Netherlands.
Living in the Netherlands for more than 4 months. If you have moved to the Netherlands, you must register in the personal records database (BRP) with your gemeente (municipality) within 5 days of arrival. You make an appointment, bring a valid passport or ID card as proof of identity, and register at your home address. Partners and children who move with you come along to the appointment.
Some municipalities give you the number at the appointment; others send it by post shortly after. See the government page on registering as a resident.
You must be lawfully resident to register. If you come from outside the EU, you may need a residence permit or a decision from the IND first. The municipality can also ask for extra documents, such as a birth certificate, if your identity or family details need checking.
Staying less than 4 months, or living abroad. Then you register as a non-resident in the RNI (Non-residents Records Database) and receive a BSN that way. The Netherlands has 19 RNI desks, for example in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Please note: if you do not have Dutch nationality or the nationality of an EU country, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, you can only register at the RNI desks in Breda and Venlo. People who live abroad may also need a BSN for a Dutch pension (AOW), benefits, student finance or taxes.
Where to find your BSN
- On a Dutch passport, ID card or driving licence. Dutch documents show the BSN. If yours does not, the gemeente can tell you the number.
- On letters from the government. The confirmation from your municipality and letters from the Belastingdienst (Tax and Customs Administration) show it.
- In MijnOverheid. With a DigiD you can view your BRP data, including your BSN, online.
- At school. In education, people call the same number the personal identification number (PGN) or education number.
Keep your BSN private. When you hand over a copy of your passport or ID card, make the BSN unreadable, including in the code strip at the bottom. The government's free KopieID app does this for you.
What you need it for
You need your BSN for most official steps when you work in the Netherlands or set up your life here:
- Work. Your employer needs your BSN to pay your salary and deduct tax.
- Health insurance. Insurers and recognised care providers, such as your huisarts (GP) and pharmacy, must use your BSN.
- Banking. Banks ask for your BSN when you open a bank account, because they report Dutch bank account details to the tax authorities.
- Benefits. The Benefits Office checks your data with your BSN. Childcare organisations must ask for your BSN and your child's BSN, and landlords and health insurers supply data for housing benefit and healthcare benefit.
- Government services. You use the same number for taxes, DigiD, the municipality and DUO.
Non-government organisations may only use your BSN if a law requires it, as in healthcare. A shop or gym has no reason to ask for it.
Who can see your BRP data
Only organisations with a public or social task can access BRP data, and only the data they need for their work. Most are government bodies, such as organisations that collect taxes or pay pensions, benefits and allowances. An organisation needs an autorisatiebesluit (authorisation decision) from the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations first. These decisions are public.
A municipality uses BRP data for passports, driving licences and voting cards. It may also share data with organisations that have a social task, such as housing corporations, if a municipal regulation allows it. Access is logged: records of who viewed or changed your data are kept for 20 years. More on the government BRP page.
What the BRP holds about you
For residents, the BRP holds your name, date and place of birth, sex, address, BSN, nationality, residence status, voting rights, travel documents, parents, children and partner. For non-residents in the RNI, it holds a shorter record with your address abroad. The data is stored permanently.
Some changes are recorded automatically, such as a marriage or a child's birth registered in the Netherlands. A newborn child gets a BSN through that registration. Other changes you report yourself. When you move to another municipality, you register with the new one, which takes care of the rest. A move within the same municipality must also be reported. If your data is wrong, ask the municipality (or an RNI desk) to correct it and bring documents that prove the right information.
What the KNM exam asks about this
In the KNM exam (Knowledge of Dutch Society), the BSN belongs to the theme instanties (institutions). Expect practical questions: where you register after moving to the Netherlands, what the BSN is for, where you find it, and who may ask for it. Practise this kind of question on DUO's official practice page.