Settling in Belgium: bijlage 19, the neighbourhood officer and the complete file
Free movement doesn't mean nothing is required: whoever stays in Belgium for more than three months registers with the municipality, gets a visit from the neighbourhood police officer and then collects the EU card. Since September 2025 the bar is higher: the application is only accepted with the complete file of evidence. What has to be in that file per situation, how the chain runs — and how you get through it in one go.
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Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
Yes, as a Dutch citizen you may live and work in Belgium without a permit. But whoever stays has to be registered with the municipality, and that chain has rules, a home visit and, recently, a stricter door.
"You're an EU citizen, so you just move" is the most repeated sentence about Belgium, and so it is exactly half right.
Three things to know in advance:
- The application costs nothing.
- The card costs a few tens of euros.
- The trap is an incomplete file, because with that the municipality has sent you home since September 2025.
The application: bijlage 19, at the latest after three months
Whoever stays in Belgium for more than three months applies to the municipality of their place of residence for a declaration of registration, at the latest when those three months expire. The proof of your application is called bijlage 19 (annex 19).
Since 1 September 2025 a hard rule comes with it: the municipality only accepts the application if the complete file of evidence is attached straight away. Sending things on later, which was the practice for years, is over.
If something is missing, that is not a refusal. The municipality tells you which documents are missing, and gives you a notice of presence (annex 3ter) for the three months' short stay. If need be you get a BIS number, a temporary identification number for a service that asks for a national register number. But the three-month clock keeps running. Whoever still doesn't submit the right documents after that gets an annex 19quinquies: the application is not taken into consideration.
What has to be in the file?
| Your situation | What the municipality wants to see |
|---|---|
| Employee (also with a Dutch employer) | employment contract or declaration of engagement showing more than 3 months of work; payslips if the hours are unclear |
| Self-employed | registration in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises and certificate of affiliation with a social insurance fund, sent by the fund directly to the municipality |
| Pensioner or economically inactive (EU person of means) | proof of sufficient means of subsistence, without a fixed legal amount and never higher than the living-wage rate, plus health insurance |
| Jobseeker | proof that you are looking for work; at the earliest after 6 months proof of a genuine chance of work |
| Student | enrolment at an educational institution, declaration on honour about means of subsistence and health insurance |
For a pensioner's health insurance, proof of affiliation with a foreign public health insurance suffices, for instance your European Health Insurance Card, provided that insurer covers the risks in Belgium. The S1 form from your insurer or the CAK is the right paper for that.
A certificate from a Belgian mutualiteit (health fund) that a future affiliation is possible the municipality expressly does not accept. And whoever has a pension or benefit from another EU member state remains under the public health insurance of that country. The Belgian mutualiteit then doesn't pay merely on the basis of your entry in the national register.
Day one: the national register number
Here lies a misunderstanding that even seasoned Dutch residents of Belgium pass around: that you have to wait for your number until the check is over. Not so. At the application you are immediately entered in the waiting register, and at that moment your rijksregisternummer (national register number) already exists.
That number is the key to everything that follows: your employer's payroll, the health fund, soon itsme (the Belgian login app) and the tax return. One visit to the municipality, and the engine runs.
The neighbourhood police officer really comes
Then follows the residence check: the neighbourhood officer or an authorised official checks whether you really live where you say you live. For an address declaration that check takes place in principle within fifteen days. Name on the doorbell and the letterbox, someone at home or a note with an appointment: that's all it is. But a failed check delays the whole chain.
After a positive check you move administratively from the waiting register to the foreigners' register. Then there are two routes:
- If the municipality recognises your right of residence straight away, it is settled.
- Otherwise your file goes to the Immigration Office, which then has at most six months for the formal decision. With a pleasant legal footnote: if no decision comes, that counts as recognition of your right of residence.
And remember the follow-on rule: every later move within Belgium you report within eight working days to the new municipality. After that the neighbourhood officer simply comes round again.
The file is the whole procedure. Since September 2025 there is no second chance at the same counter: whoever comes without the certificate of the social insurance fund or without proof of health cover gets no annex 19 and doesn't restart the three months. Lay the folder out in the Netherlands, per family member.
The EU card, and the clocks that come with it
With the recognition done you order the electronic EU card: your Belgian identity document and digital key in one. It is valid for at most five years and costs around twenty euros (the fees differ per municipality). Pending it you get a paper annex 8ter.
The PIN and PUK codes of the chip come after three weeks or so. Keep them, because with them you activate itsme and open every government counter.
Your right of residence is then unlimited, but conditional for the first five years, counted from the date on your annex 19. Two dates for the diary:
- Renewal is possible between the sixtieth and the thirtieth day before the expiry date.
- After five years of uninterrupted residence you apply for permanent residence: the EU+ card, valid for ten years, with an unconditional right of residence behind it.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but applied to your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Belgium.
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.
- Agentschap Integratie en Inburgering — the procedure for EU citizens — vreemdelingenrecht.be
- Since 1 September 2025 only complete applications — vreemdelingenrecht.be
- Conditions and documents for free movement of persons, per EU status — vreemdelingenrecht.be
- The electronic residence cards (EU and EU+) — vreemdelingenrecht.be
- FPS Home Affairs — change of address and residence check — ibz.be
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