Censo, cedula and personal number: registration on Aruba, and the three numbers that hang on it

Yes, you register on Aruba as in any municipality, but not online and not from the Netherlands: whoever "moves from abroad to Aruba and is going to live here" makes an appointment at the Civil Registry and Population Register Service (DBSB, Censo) at Schoolstraat 2 and comes in person, with the whole family. The digital desk Digilok is reserved for Dutch citizens born on Aruba and for whoever re-registers within five years. The find on the government page is the processing time: at most two weeks, after which you collect an extract of Afl. 5, the paper the bank and the utility companies want to see. After that, three numbers hang on that registration: the cedula (identity card), the declaration of registration of Afl. 10 for customs and the driving licence bureau, and the personal number of Departamento di Impuesto, which your employer needs for the first payslip. The pitfall is the order: without a DIMAS decision no registration, and without registration the AZV window does not start running.

What do I bring to Censo?

For "other registrations", and that is you as a European Dutch citizen, the list for the appointment applies: valid passport; birth certificate (apostilled or legalised for whoever was born outside the Kingdom, a recent one suffices within the Kingdom); a tenancy or purchase agreement or written permission from the homeowner with a copy of their ID; the proof of deregistration from the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten or the BES islands; marriage or divorce certificate where applicable; and, because you were not born or naturalised on Aruba, a recent decision of the DIMAS (declaration, ruling or permit) showing there is no objection to your settling. Of all documents you bring the original and a copy.

For a family you make a separate, consecutive appointment per family member, and everyone is present, children too. Whoever does not know that stands outside again with two children and one appointment.

Document or number	Where	Cost	Timing
Registration in the population register	DBSB, Schoolstraat 2, by appointment, in person	the registration itself: no item on the page	processing at most 2 weeks
Extract from the population register	DBSB or a district office	Afl. 5, cash or card	immediately at the counter
Cedula (identity card)	DBSB	see Censo's page	valid 5 years, or as long as your permit runs
Declaration of registration	DBSB	Afl. 10	valid at most 6 months for the driving licence bureau
Personal number	Departamento di Impuesto, online via BOi	none	with passport or ID and a bank statement

What is the cedula, and how long is it valid?

The Aruban identity card is a credit-card-sized card with which you identify yourself at bank transactions and counters, so your passport can stay at home. In principle everyone registered qualifies; you must be in the population register, actually live there, and if you need a permit be able to show it. For whoever needs no permit the card is valid five years; for everyone else, so also for the European Dutch citizen in the first five years, the validity runs with the residence permit. Every annual renewal at DIMAS is therefore also a new cedula. Children under sixteen come with a parent who has custody; from sixteen they apply themselves.

What do I need the extract and the personal number for?

The extract proves that you are actually registered and is asked for when "applying for many services on Aruba, such as a connection to water and electricity, cable, opening a bank account". You collect it by appointment at the head office or without appointment at a district office, on presentation of driving licence, cedula or passport, for Afl. 5, and you get it immediately.

The personal number is the seven- or eight-digit number under which you are registered at Departamento di Impuesto: without that number no payslip and no tax return. You apply online with a BOi account (username plus personal e-mail address), a valid passport, driving licence or ID card and a bank statement of a current account at a local bank; if you do not have that account yet, you can still continue. Whoever is not yet at Censo also hands in a declaration from the owner of the home address and a copy of the employment contract. A proof of your number you collect in person at Camacuri 2.

What is the pitfall?

Censo only registers you with a recent DIMAS decision, and Censo is the date the AZV and customs count from: the AZV window starts at the registration date, and customs gives you a year from that date for the exempt import. Whoever leaves the DIMAS application until after arrival pushes the whole chain, and their health cover, weeks back.

How the weeks after registration run is in your first weeks on Aruba; what belongs at DIMAS before landing, in Aruban admission.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Aruba or go straight to step 4.2 in the open plan.