Dutch Big Brother

July 3, 2012 4:22 AM

Does the Netherlands keep any records of the foreigners who have previously lived in the country?

I have been living in the Netherlands for one year as a student, and, according to the regular procedure, I registered with the city of Utrecht. I would like to know what kinds of records will the city keep once I deregistster and leave the country.

posted by Omon Ra to Law & Government (2 answers total)

If you are not a national of a Schengen signatory country, you will have a VIS and your records and fingerprints will be kept on file for five years in the national database.

If you are a national of a Schengen signatory country, it looks as if records of your registration in Utrecht will be transferred from the active municipal database to the archives after a period of time... The site says "alle registers", but only specifies birth, marriage, death.

So your best bet for a definitive answer is to contact the Afdeling Dienstverlening (info at the bottom of the Gemeente Utrecht link) or the Utrecht Archives.
posted by likeso at 5:44 AM on July 3, 2012

Certainly the record of your name, nationality, DOB and address will be kept indefinitely, regardless of where you come from. I do a lot of archival research and am able to look up details of who lived at which house in the past, where they came from (eg either city and country or full Dutch address), date they moved in, date they moved out, and where they moved to (city and country or full Dutch address). I'm not sure how long it takes before these details become a matter of public record (you would have to ask them), but rest assured that it certainly doesn't happen immediately.
posted by rubbish bin night at 6:27 AM on July 3, 2012