Registration and your BSN
The one thing that decides whether you can open a bank account, get health insurance, or claim huurtoeslag. Sort this before anything else.
Inschrijving means registering your address with the city (the gemeente). When you do that, you get a BSN (burgerservicenummer), the Dutch personal number. Without a BSN you cannot open a Dutch bank account, get a phone contract, take out health insurance, get a job, or claim any allowance. Everything hangs off it.
The rule
If you're staying more than 4 months you must register within 5 days of arriving. In practice the gemeente is booked out, so book the appointment before you land.
What you need at the appointment
- Passport or EU ID card
- Your rental contract, or a signed letter from the landlord saying you live there (called toestemming hoofdbewoner if the landlord lives at the address)
- Sometimes a birth certificate. Non-EU students: bring the legalised, translated version if you have it. EU students rarely need it in Maastricht.
Why some landlords say no
This is the trap. A landlord who says "no registration" is usually renting illegally (no permit, too many tenants, or they don't want to lose a tax break). If you can't register, you can't get a BSN. For most internationals that makes the room useless, no matter how nice it is. Casa flags every listing where registration is refused or not mentioned, and puts the question in your first message so you never find out in week three.
Maastricht specifics
Book at gemeentemaastricht.nl. Around August and September there are extra registration sessions for students, sometimes on campus. Ask your university's international office which dates they have.
If your landlord won't cooperate
You can still try to register with proof you live there (contract, bank statements to that address). The gemeente can investigate and register you anyway. Message our team if you're stuck, we've seen this before.