[arp242]

> Yes, but you don’t need a bill for that, you can just get it from the municipality where you are registered.

You can't "just" get it if you don't have a fixed address, or if the address isn't eligible for registration (the rules for that are rather strict).

Netherlands is one if the hardest countries if you end up in an "exceptional" situation; you can work around "proof of address" (not always, but frequently), but it's much harder to work around the municipal registration.

Yes, there are rules for exceptions (e.g. "briefadres") and there's stuff like https://www.basisbankrekening.nl – but in reality people are so strict with this that it might as well not exist for vast swaths of people.

If you've never been in an exceptional situation you think it's easy and works grand, and it does, right up to the point it doesn't, at which point you're pretty fucked. People are unaware because they've never experienced it, but it's really awful.

Last year it took me 5 months and a lot of proverbial "banging fist on the table" to get a bank account in the Netherlands. It took me about 2 weeks in Ireland. Just sayin'

[throwaway2037]

What makes your situation exceptional?

[arp242]

I returned to Netherlands after many years abroad and didn't have anything set up except a tax number (BSN) like everyone. This may not sound too bad, but:

- Few people are willing to rent to you if you don't have a Dutch bank account and current registration.

- You can't get registration without a place to rent that qualifies (and many places don't).

I was earning €90k/year at the time; it wasn't a money issue.