Frequently asked questions about child benefit
The first time you register the birth of a child with your municipality (gemeente), we will let you know within 4 weeks how to claim child benefit.
If you have another child, and you have registered the birth with the ‘gemeente’, you will start receiving child benefit for that child automatically.
But what if you do not live in the Netherlands or you are divorced?
See Frequently asked questions (FAQs).
If you live in a member country of the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA) or in a treaty country, you can normally get Dutch child benefit if you work in the Netherlands.
We send the letter to the address where the child is registered as living.
If you have not received a letter from us within 4 weeks after you registered your child with your municipality (gemeente), answer the following questions to see what you should do.
Yes, that is possible for children aged 3 to 17. If your child needs extensive care because of illness or disability, you can apply to us for child benefit at twice the basic rate to help cover the extra costs.
We ask the Care Needs Assessment Centre (CIZ) to give us their medical opinion. The CIZ will send you a form for this. They will then assess the extent of your child’s care needs. We will send you a decision on your claim for child benefit at twice the basic rate within 8 weeks of the date of your claim.
Yes, that is possible, for example for children who live away from home because of illness or disability or for educational reasons. It depends on what kind of education it is, and how much you contribute financially to your child’s support. There are also other conditions you will have to meet.
We can pay the child benefit to the person who lives with the children for at least 4 nights a week. If your child goes to live with the other parent, you must let us know. We can change the way we pay the benefit, but only if you both agree to it.
If you are co-parenting, you must agree on how you want to divide the child benefit between you. If you have a written agreement with the other parent or a decision by the court, we will pay the benefit accordingly. If there is no agreement, you will automatically get half of the benefit each.