Thousands of residence documents delivered to your home in corona time

Last update: 3 November 2020

The IND is doing everything in its power to maintain high quality of service to the clients. That is why our desks are open more often and for longer hours. Since the summer, 10,000 residence documents have been delivered to the clients by registered mail. In this way, the IND makes sure that the clients have a valid residence document during these difficult times so that they can apply, for example, for health insurance. In the coming period, we will continue this successful method of mail delivery of documents.

Normally, clients of the IND come to one of our desks in the Netherlands, for example, to collect a new residence document. In view of the safety of our clients and desk staff, the IND has been looking for practical solutions to limit the number of travel movements during corona time. It is not always necessary for the clients whose identity has already been verified, to return to the counter if they wish to extend their stay. That is why agreements have been made with PostNL about sending this type of residence document by registered mail. If the clients present a proof of identity to the delivery person, they can receive their new residence document at the door.   

1.000 documents per week
Thanks to postal dispatch, 10,000 residence documents have already been delivered to our clients. An evaluation shows that approximately 90 per cent of the documents were delivered to clients on the first attempt. For the remaining 10 per cent of the clients, who were not at home for a long time, this was achieved at a later time. In the coming period, the IND is aiming to deliver approximately 1,000 documents to your home via PostNL every week. This is an important contribution to limiting the number of client contacts at the IND desks due to corona virus.

Brits who would like to continue their stay in The Netherlands after Brexit will also receive their residence document at home, but via a courier. 15,000 residence cards have been delivered so far. This service will stop at the end of the year.


Extra effort
Mark Schuemie is responsible at the IND for home delivery during corona time. He is pleased that this is going well: 'We started home delivery because we saw that the consequences of not having a valid residence document were becoming unacceptable for our clients. For the IND, this deviation from our usual process of issuing at the IND desk meant more and additional work to ensure that the correct documents would reach the right customers. In this way, we were able to provide thousands of our clients with their document, so it has proved more than worth the effort. We are therefore enthusiastic that we can continue to work this way in the coming period.'

Desks corona-proof
The IND is in line with the measures taken by the Dutch government to contain the spread of corona virus. Only the clients with an appointment made online are welcome at the desks. When clients come to an IND desk, for example to have biometrics done, this is done in a safe manner for both the client and the employee. For example, biometric columns are disinfected before and after use. Our desks are also corona proof, with plexiglass behind the counters and fixed walking routes so that sufficient distance can always be maintained.