It can always be a hassle if your post gets misplaced after you have moved abroad. It may also be difficult for your friends or relatives to contact you if you have moved without letting them know in advance. There is a smart way to ensure any lost or misplaced posts by applying for this service on the Postnl website. This will enable all posts to your old address to be automatically redirected to the new address abroad. This service from Postnl is free of charge. 

To avoid confusion because the website is mainly in Dutch, there is the option of visiting a Postnl office in your area and activating this service.

You can apply for this service online by visiting their Postnl website at: https://www.postnl.nl/ontvangen/post-doorsturen/doorzendservice/.

Please fill in the Refund Request Form. If the request has been approved by the Finance Department, the payment would be made within 8 weeks. If your refund request has been rejected, you will be informed via e-mail latest within 8 weeks after receiving the refund request. If you have any further questions, you can contact registrar@wittenborg.eu.

After receiving a residence permit, foreign students can register in their municipality. All students must be registered at their local City Hall. Just call your local City Hall for an appointment.

The Front Desk can make an appointment with the Gemeente (City Hall) for registration of the newly arrived students from abroad in Apeldoorn. For the appointment, students should bring the following documents:

• Residence permit
• Passport (original copy)
• Birth Certificate (with legalised translation in Dutch or English)
• Accommodation contract

 Citizen Service Number (BSN)  

“Burgerservicenummer” (BSN) is a unique personal number that enables reliable and efficient data exchange between citizens and government. In the Netherlands, all residents must have their own BSN if they wish to engage in either part-time or full-time work or studies, and for administrative issues, such as opening a bank account. 

NOTE:

• A BSN will be issued to all students upon registering at the Gemeente.
• The whole process of the BSN number may take 2 to 3 weeks upon arrival.

You can use the Form to declare train/metro travel expenses between Amsterdam and Apeldoorn. Please note that this is valid for students only if their lessons are scheduled in a different study location by the university administration.

NOTE that this is not an option for students to follow classes at any campus. 

Submit an extension application at the IND desk where possible. If this is not possible, you can ask for a return decision at the counter. With a return decision, you then have an additional 28 days to leave the country. You can make appointments at the counter in the usual way, but bear in mind the currently limited services at the IND counters.

A residence gap is an interruption in your continuous stay and may cause problems later on if you want to apply for a Dutch permanent residence. In general, a residence permit gap has affects in the longer term, if you decide to apply for a Dutch permanent residence permit in the future. In order to apply for a permanent residence permit, one of the requirements is that you have legally resided in the Netherlands for an uninterrupted period of five years or more before you make the permanent residence permit application. This means that you require to have had a valid residence permit for the full five years, without interruptions or gaps within this period. You have thus always applied for extension of your residence permit on time. Another requirement is that within these five consecutive years you have not stayed outside the Netherlands for six or more consecutive months, or three years in a row for four or more consecutive months.

The consequence of a residence permit gap is that the period of legal residence in the Netherlands before this gap will not be taken into consideration. This means that you will have to start again building up a five-year uninterrupted period in the Netherlands to obtain permanent residency.

For example: If your first residence permit is issued from 01-09-2009 till 31-08-2013, and if you apply for residence permit extension later than your expiration date (31-08-2013), then residency gap is created, and the IND starts counting from that day onwards -- that day your application form is received by the IND. Even a single day difference is recognised as a residency gap.

For more information and other requirements for applying the permanent residence permit, please visit: https://ind.nl/en/permanent-residence/Pages/permanent-residence-after-5-years.aspx

Source: https://ind.nl

If you lose your Residence, you need to follow the instructions below to report to the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) this loss and to request a new residence permit card for yourself:

• You have already taken/will take the first step, which is physically go to the nearest police station and report everything that you have lost. You have received/will receive a copy of this report.
• The second step is to report and apply for a new residence permit online with your DigiD code or by filling in the form and sending it by post to the IND with the required documents. Whichever option you choose, you can do this via link: https://ind.nl/en/Pages/Replace-residence-document.aspx 
  If you do not have a DigiD code, you can apply for one online. It will take up-to one week before you will receive your login details by post.
• Once you have applied for a new residence permit the lost one will be permanently invalid. Even when you find the residence permit card again, you can no longer use it. You must hand in this residence permit card to the IND. You can do this at an IND Desk. For example, when you collect the replacement residence permit card. Or, you can send the card, that you found again, to the following address: IND Bureau Documenten, P.O. Box 7025, 8007 HA Zwolle.
• Once your new residence permit card is ready for collection the IND will let you know. You can then make an online appointment to go and pick it up via link: https://ind.nl/en/Pages/Appointment-to-collect-your-residence-document.aspx
• You will have to pay €139.00 to get your new residence permit card. Usually this is on the same day you collect your new residence permit.

 Finally, you need to send to the Registrar Office a front and back scan of your new residence permit once collected.

If students wish to stay in the Netherlands after graduating, they must apply for a new residence permit. They cannot stay on their study permit.  

Information about the conditions of a search year and applying for a new residence permit are on the website of the IND: https://ind.nl/en/work/Pages/Looking-for-a-job-after-study-promotion-or-research.aspx. After being hired by a Dutch company, the company will apply for a work permit for the student.