DigiD in the Netherlands: how to apply and what you use it for

DigiD is your personal login for Dutch government and public services online. With a BSN and a Dutch registration address, you apply on the DigiD website, receive a letter with an activation code and activate your DigiD within 21 days. Registered only in the RNI, or living abroad? Your route is different; see below.

What you use DigiD for

DigiD lets you identify yourself online with the government, educational and healthcare institutions and your pension fund. You are likely to need it for:

• The Belastingdienst and Toeslagen. In Mijn Belastingdienst you file your income tax return and change your bank account number; see your first tax year in the Netherlands. Allowances (toeslagen) have their own portal, Mijn toeslagen (in Dutch), where you apply, update your details and read your decisions.
• MijnOverheid. It shows some of the data the government holds on you, such as your details in the Personal Records Database (BRP). Its Message Box (Berichtenbox) gets government post. You can choose whether to receive Belastingdienst post digitally under Settings, then Message Box organisations. Some tax post may still arrive digitally even if you choose paper, so check the Berichtenbox regularly.
• UWV and DUO. In Mijn UWV you apply for benefits, report sickness or changes and exchange messages. Mijn DUO takes the DigiD app or a password plus SMS code.
• Your health insurer and your municipality. Both use DigiD. Still arranging cover? See our health insurance guide.

You are not legally required to have a DigiD, but more and more government organisations use it. Without one, ask the organisation how else to arrange things.

Which route is yours

• Registered at a Dutch address. Use the standard application below; your activation code comes by letter.
• Here under 4 months and registered only in the RNI. You lack the municipal address the standard form needs; see “Registered only in the RNI”.
• Living abroad or in the Caribbean Netherlands. A separate form, with the activation code collected at an appointment; see the section on living abroad.
• Acting for someone, or letting someone act for you. Use DigiD Authorisation, never another person’s login.

Who can apply

For the standard route you need a citizen service number (BSN), a registration address with a Dutch municipality and a mobile phone. For SMS codes, DigiD also takes a landline or foreign number and can call you with the code. Not registered yet? See registering your address and getting a BSN.

No home address, or living in an institution? Your municipality can register you at a postal address (briefadres) if it decides you qualify, with written permission from the person or institution whose address you use. If you cannot find an address yourself, the municipality must register you at one, such as the town hall. Whoever receives your post there must make sure government post, such as tax forms, reaches you.

DigiD is personal: you may not apply for someone else. Parents and guardians may help a child aged 13 or under; from 14, children apply themselves.

How to apply for DigiD, step by step

1. Open the application form on digid.nl. It asks for your BSN, date of birth, postcode and house number (in Dutch).
2. Choose a username and password, and remember both: you need them to activate.
3. Add a phone number for SMS codes, and your email address. Without both, you cannot reset a forgotten password by email and SMS.
4. Wait for the letter at your address in the BRP. Post can be delayed, and DigiD asks you to allow 5 working days before treating it as missing. The activation code in it starts with an A; codes DigiD sends by email or SMS cannot activate your account.
5. Activate on the website or in the DigiD app with your username, password and the code; the app also asks for an SMS code.

No letter, or lost it? Look for a white envelope; if you had just moved, it may have gone to your old address. If it has not come after those 5 working days, or you have lost it, you can request a new code once, in the DigiD app (“Apply for a new letter”) or through “Enter activation code” on digid.nl. The new code is valid for 21 days. If that letter is also lost or does not arrive, apply for a new DigiD; if no letter comes then either, call the DigiD helpdesk.

The DigiD app, SMS codes and the ID check

DigiD offers four ways to log in: the app, password plus SMS code, password alone, and an identity document. At many organisations a password alone no longer gets you in (in Dutch) or soon will not, DigiD says; the Belastingdienst already accepts a password only with an SMS code (in Dutch). Set up the app or SMS codes early.

The DigiD app replaces your password with a PIN code you choose. You can activate it with the ID check, by SMS code if your phone number is on your DigiD, by letter, or with an app already activated on another device. It is free to download and works on up to 5 devices, including a computer with Windows 11 or later or macOS 15 or later (in Dutch).

Each service sets how strong a login it needs. Logius, which runs DigiD, describes four assurance levels:

For the High level, DigiD lists a Dutch identity card issued from 13 March 2021 or a Dutch driving licence issued from 26 May 2018. For a driving licence, check for the ID symbol on its back, as the RDW specifies. This is not the app’s ID check: you activate the document’s login function with its own PIN code, supplied in a letter from DigiD. Keep that letter; the DigiD helpdesk can send a copy only within 6 weeks of the document’s issue. DigiD presents this login as access to particularly sensitive data in the future, and logging in with a driving licence is not mandatory. On a licence the function costs €3.50 (DigiD’s figure in October 2026); since 1 July 2023 you pay it automatically when you apply for the licence. For a licence issued between 26 May 2018 and 1 July 2023, request the function in My DigiD and pay the €3.50 once to the RDW.

Services holding sensitive data, such as health information, can require the Substantial level, and a growing number of organisations ask you to add the ID check.

• What you need. A smartphone with an NFC reader (not a computer) and a Dutch passport, identity card or driving licence. Foreign ID and residence documents, such as a residence permit, do not work, so if a service insists on the check, ask it how else you can arrange things.
• No NFC phone? Someone who has one can help you add the check through the Check-ID app.
• Once a year where required. If you log in to organisations that require the check, the app asks you to repeat it once a year.
• Not always needed. If your phone number is on your DigiD, you can skip the check, activate the app by SMS and stay at the Middle level.

Letting someone help you

Never give your login details to anyone. DigiD Authorisation (DigiD Machtigen) lets someone you trust, such as a family member, social worker or tax adviser, handle a specific task like your tax return for a fixed period.

• You request an authorisation code and give it, with your BSN, to your helper, who activates it with their own DigiD.
• No DigiD? Apply by phone through the DigiD helpdesk, or have your helper apply; the code is then posted to your address in the BRP, and you pass it on yourself.
• Abroad or in the Caribbean Netherlands, a letter cannot reach you, so apply at machtigen.digid.nl with your BSN and DigiD or another recognised European login; the code appears on screen.
• My authorisations lets you see, extend and revoke them. If one is expiring or broken and you cannot log in, call the DigiD helpdesk on 088 123 65 55 (from abroad +31 88 123 65 55).

If you lose access

• Forgotten password. Reset it with an activated DigiD app, by email and SMS (if both are on your DigiD), or by letter. Forgot it before activating? Apply again.
• Forgotten username. Look it up in My DigiD with the app, or request it with your BSN and password if your phone number and email are registered.
• New phone number. Change it via your old number or the DigiD app. If you lost the old number and live abroad or in the Caribbean Netherlands, or have “Always log in in 2 steps” on, only the app works.
• Phone stolen. In My DigiD, choose “Deactivate this DigiD app”. Cannot log in? Call the DigiD helpdesk.
• Someone knows your login. Change your password in My DigiD at once and check your usage history. Tell the DigiD helpdesk, the organisation where someone logged in and, if bank details are involved, your bank. Report fraud to the police. Identity fraud victims can get extra support from the CMI (Central Identity Theft and Error Reporting Centre).

Spotting a fake DigiD message

DigiD never puts a link or QR code in its emails, texts or letters, and its staff never ask for your login details. Threats (pay now or lose your account), spam-folder messages and poor Dutch are other warning signs. Forward a fake, or a photo of one, to [email protected], then delete it. Genuine automatic emails do arrive when your account changes.

Registered only in the RNI

Staying less than 4 months? You can register in the Non-Residents Records Database (RNI) instead (page in Dutch), but since January 2026 only the Breda and Venlo RNI desks register people who are not EU, EEA or Swiss nationals. NetherlandsWorldwide says you can apply for DigiD once registered and links to the route for people living abroad, described below; RvIG links the same route for non-residents staying in the Netherlands.

That route is written for people who live outside the Netherlands, so ask the DigiD helpdesk to confirm it fits your situation before you apply. If it does, you cannot use the video call while you are in the Netherlands. You collect your activation code at a DigiD service desk in the Netherlands instead, usually by appointment.

If you live abroad or in the Caribbean Netherlands

With a BSN, you use a separate application form. You need a valid passport or identity card (a driving licence does not count), registration in the RNI, a phone that receives Dutch text messages abroad, and an email address. Two different codes follow:

1. Service desk code. It comes by text message and email after you apply; NetherlandsWorldwide calls it a collection code. It starts with a B, is valid for 30 days and is not your activation code. If it expires, you apply again.
2. Activation code. You receive it at an appointment, in a video call (not while you are in the Netherlands) or at a DigiD service desk, such as an embassy, a participating municipality or Schiphol Airport. It comes by text message and email, starts with an A and is valid for 21 days.

Not every country has a desk, and the wait for an appointment can exceed those 30 days, so book before you apply. Leaving the Netherlands? Before you go, add the ID check to the DigiD app and switch on SMS codes; your existing DigiD keeps working abroad.

Common questions

I am from another EU or EEA country. Can I use my own country’s login?
Sometimes, if it is an approved login key. NetherlandsWorldwide keeps the list by country and says a key not on it is not yet approved. Organisations that accept them include the SVB, the Belastingdienst, DUO and UWV, usually with your BSN. Look for a “European login” or “Log in with eIDAS” button. At the Belastingdienst, a European login must be at least the Substantial level (in Dutch). Not every organisation accepts one, so if you live here, apply for DigiD as well.