Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then

You deregister with your municipality from five days before your departure up to the day itself. It's compulsory as soon as you're outside the Netherlands more than eight months a year. Deregistering ends your registration as a resident of the Netherlands in the Personal Records Database (BRP).

Deregistering itself takes ten minutes. Yet it's the step with the most consequences of your whole departure. On the date of deregistration these three things switch over with it:

• your health insurance;
• your benefits;
• your AOW accrual (the Dutch state pension).

So arrange those consequences before those ten minutes, instead of discovering them afterwards. This article explains when you deregister and what changes then. The rules are exactly the same for Spain as for Australia.

When is it compulsory, and when is it possible?

The obligation is in the Personal Records Database Act. You make a notification of departure, the official name for deregistering, if you can reasonably expect to stay at least two thirds of the time outside the Netherlands during a year. NederlandWereldwijd turns that into "more than 8 months". Those months don't have to be consecutive: two periods of five months in one year count too. Whoever emigrates is above that by definition. So for you it's not a choice. Whoever doesn't do it "can be fined".

The timing: you deregister with your own municipality, from five days before your departure up to the day of departure itself. Earlier isn't possible, and that's just as well. You don't want to spend weeks without registration in the Netherlands while you still live there. How it's done differs per municipality: in writing or at the counter. In person is compulsory if not all family members move along.

What happens to your data?

You don't disappear from the records. Your data move from the residents' part of the Personal Records Database to the Register of Non-Residents (RNI): the same register, a different department. Your citizen service number (BSN) simply remains valid. That's important, because you still need your BSN for the return for your emigration year and for every later contact with the Dutch government.

Give your new address when deregistering if you already have it, or adjust it later. Then the government knows where post about assessments and pension should go. A Dutch correspondence address, an address in the Netherlands where you only receive your post, is no longer possible if you're away more than eight months a year. The municipality passes your deregistration on to the tax office, the health insurers and the pension funds. The Belastingdienst processes a written change of address within ten working days, one submitted online within five.

Ask for an international proof of deregistration when you deregister. You only get it if the deregistration date equals your emigration date, and not every municipality issues it. Foreign agencies can ask for it when you register there, and it's the kind of document you get at the counter just like that and can later only obtain laboriously: an international extract at one of the 19 municipalities with an RNI desk, by post within three weeks, at a cost that differs per desk.

What	Term or rule
Deregistration compulsory	more than 8 months a year outside the Netherlands
Notification of departure	from 5 days before departure up to the day itself
International proof of deregistration	at the counter, only if deregistration date = emigration date
RNI extract afterwards	at 19 RNI municipalities, sent within 3 weeks
Change of address at the Belastingdienst	10 working days by letter, 5 working days online
Citizen service number	remains valid
Dutch correspondence address	not possible when away more than 8 months