Coming back after a world trip: registering, care, allowances and work
If you stayed registered, you mainly pick up where you left off. If you had deregistered, you register within five days, take out health insurance within four months, and apply for child benefit and allowances again. Watch out for a postal address at your parents', and for your WW: after a year without work you usually don't have it.
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Coming back after a world trip goes quickly if you know what comes first. If you stayed registered with your municipality, you mainly pick up where you left off. If you had deregistered, you register again within five days, take out health insurance within four months, and apply for child benefit and allowances again. Watch out for two things: a postal address at your parents' can affect their AOW or allowances, and after a year without work you are usually not entitled to unemployment benefit (WW).
Three things to know in advance:
- Make the appointment for your registration before your journey home.
- Everyone moving with you comes along to the municipality in person.
- If you come back without a job, don't count on WW.
What if I stayed registered?
Then little changes. Your health insurance and child benefit kept running, as long as the SVB saw you as a resident. Report back to the school, report a new income to the Benefits Agency, and end the suspension of your car. Your WW right does depend on your work before the trip; more on that below.
How do I register again?
If you stay in the Netherlands for longer than four months, you register with the municipality where you are going to live. The Personal Records Database Act says: "no later than the fifth day after the start of his stay, in person". This is how it goes:
- Make an appointment before your journey home. NederlandWereldwijd advises doing this a few weeks before you leave: municipal desks often have a waiting time.
- Bring everyone. "Everyone who moves with you must come along in person."
- Bring your passport, and more if needed. A municipality can ask for "extra proof" that you are still a Dutch national. Check the municipality's website in advance for the papers you need.
If you miss the deadline, you can be fined.
Can I register at my parents' address?
If you are going to live with them, you register at their address as your residential address. If you don't have a home yet and don't live there, you can ask the municipality for a postal address. That is an address where you only receive post. The municipality decides, and you must show that you have no other option. You need written consent from the main occupant, and a copy of their identity document.
Discuss with your parents what this means for them. NederlandWereldwijd warns: "Are you using the address of an acquaintance or family member? That can affect the amount of, for example, their AOW or allowances." Have them check this in advance with the SVB and the Benefits Agency.
You don't automatically get priority for social housing. "You do not automatically get priority if you don't yet have a home in the Netherlands."
When must my health insurance start again?
If you were no longer insured, you take out basic insurance within four months of arrival. If you do so in time, it applies retroactively to the day you became obliged to insure again. That is in article 5 of the Health Insurance Act. For children under 18, basic insurance is free. Only cancel your international policy once the new one starts. More in health insurance on a world trip.
Child benefit and allowances
If child benefit had stopped, you usually don't have to chase it yourself. NederlandWereldwijd: after your child is registered, you "usually receive a letter from the SVB within 3 to 6 weeks". It explains how to apply for child benefit. Nothing after six weeks? Then contact the SVB. The child-related budget then usually follows automatically.
Healthcare allowance, rent allowance and childcare allowance you apply for yourself, in Mijn toeslagen. For that you need DigiD.
School
Compulsory education applies again to children aged 5 to 16 who live in the Netherlands. If your child followed Dutch education on the road, ask that school or provider for an educational report. It contains the results and how your child has developed. The new school uses it to decide the level. If the entry level is unclear, Stichting NOB can help. More in compulsory education on a world trip.
Student debt with DUO
For the monthly amount, DUO looks at your income of two years ago. So a travel year without income only counts later. If your income dropped, you can ask DUO to use a more recent year. A payment break is possible for up to 60 months. If you are in arrears with DUO or the Tax Administration, your passport can be refused, NederlandWereldwijd writes.
Work and the WW
You are only entitled to WW if, in the 36 weeks before you became unemployed, you worked in at least 26 weeks. That is in article 17 of the Unemployment Insurance Act. Anyone who resigned and travelled for a year does not meet that.
If you had unpaid leave, it is different. Weeks of unpaid leave don't count for those 36 weeks, up to 78 weeks (article 17a). If you lose your job after your return, the UWV looks back at the time before your leave. More in a sabbatical for a world trip.
No work and no WW? Depending on your situation, you can apply to your municipality for social assistance. Look for work via werk.nl of the UWV; for all the options there you need DigiD.
And your AOW?
Once you register again, your AOW build-up usually starts again. If you had insured yourself voluntarily, tell the SVB that you are back. Check in Mijn SVB whether there are years in which you were not insured.
The return plan at back to the Netherlands lists all the steps of coming back. If you actually lived in another country, also read moving back to the Netherlands.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey for a life on the road or go straight to step 5.1 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Personal Records Database Act (Wet BRP), article 2.38 — register no later than the fifth day, in person — wetten.overheid.nl
- NederlandWereldwijd — back to the Netherlands, registering, postal address, care, child benefit and school — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- Health Insurance Act, article 5 — the insurance applies retroactively if you take it out within four months — wetten.overheid.nl
- Unemployment Insurance Act (WW), articles 17 and 17a — worked 26 of the 36 weeks, and unpaid leave doesn't count up to 78 weeks — wetten.overheid.nl
- NederlandWereldwijd — student debt, the income of two years ago and the payment break — nederlandwereldwijd.nl
- Stichting NOB — help with returning to a Dutch school — stichtingnob.nl
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