How to claim child benefit (kinderbijslag) in NL

Kinderbijslag is a contribution towards the cost of caring for children under 18. It is paid by the Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) under the national child benefit act (Algemene Kinderbijslagwet, AKW), once per quarter and after the quarter has ended. It is one of three separate child payments: kinderbijslag from the SVB, the child budget (kindgebonden budget) from Dienst Toeslagen, and childcare allowance (kinderopvangtoeslag), also from Dienst Toeslagen. This guide covers kinderbijslag only, and points you at the child budget at the end.

You can only receive kinderbijslag if you are insured under the AKW. The SVB treats you as insured if you live or work in the Netherlands, but there are exceptions, and being registered with the municipality (gemeente) at a Dutch address does not on its own mean the SVB regards you as living here. If you do not hold the nationality of an EU, EEA or Swiss country, the SVB states that you need a residence permit, which you apply for at the IND. The SVB also states that if you come to the Netherlands for the first time, or return after a long absence, you are usually not insured from the date you arrive.

The SVB routes you first on whether you already receive kinderbijslag for another child, and then on how your child came to be living with you.

• Your child was born in the Netherlands and you do not yet receive kinderbijslag

  Register the birth with the municipality (gemeente). The SVB states that it then sends a letter within 4 weeks to the address where the child is registered, and its application page tells you to allow 3 to 6 weeks. The claim is then waiting for you in Mijn SVB. If nothing has arrived after 4 weeks, it is worth acting rather than waiting out the full 6.

• You have recently come to live or work in the Netherlands

  Nothing is triggered for you. For the situation the SVB labels 'you have been living or working in the Netherlands for a short time', its instruction is to claim kinderbijslag yourself through Mijn SVB, and to contact the SVB if you cannot claim there. Check first whether the SVB treats you as insured, because arriving does not on its own make you insured.

• You already receive kinderbijslag and another child is born here

  You do not claim again. The SVB states that if you have registered the child with the municipality you need do nothing: it adjusts the kinderbijslag itself and writes to you about it. Still register the child with your health insurer within 4 months of the birth.

• A child comes to live with you, or you or your child live outside the Netherlands

  If a child of yours or your partner's comes to live with you, what you do depends on whether you already receive kinderbijslag for another child. If you do, report the arrival in Mijn SVB under 'Wijziging doorgeven'. If you do not, this is a claim, not a change: apply for kinderbijslag through Mijn SVB, and contact the SVB if you cannot claim there. If you or your child live outside the Netherlands, claim through Mijn SVB, or contact the SVB if you cannot claim there.

1. 1

   Check whether you are insured for kinderbijslag

   Kinderbijslag is an insurance-based entitlement, not a payment attached to having a child. The SVB treats you as insured if you live or work in the Netherlands, with exceptions: you are not insured if you live here but work outside the Netherlands for an employer established abroad or as a self-employed person, if you work in the Netherlands on a foreign posting declaration (detacheringsverklaring), or if you are studying temporarily in the Netherlands and not working. If you do not hold EU, EEA or Swiss nationality, the SVB states that you need a residence permit, which you apply for at the IND.

   Do this: Read the SVB conditions for being insured and match them against your own work, residence and nationality situation before you claim.

   Documents needed

   • Your residence permit details, if you do not hold EU, EEA or Swiss nationality

   Common mistake: Common mistake: assuming entitlement starts the day you land. The SVB states that if you come to the Netherlands for the first time, or return after a long absence, you are usually not insured from that date, even with Dutch nationality, and that people living here only briefly, for example to study without paid work, are not insured at all.

   Official source

   SVB · Wanneer bent u verzekerd voor de kinderbijslag
2. 2

   Register your child with the municipality (gemeente)

   The SVB works from the population register (Basisregistratie Personen, BRP). If your child is born in the Netherlands, you report the birth to the municipality where the child will be registered, and the SVB says it then sends a letter to that address. If you moved here with a child who was already born, register both of you at your Dutch address in the normal way. Registration alone is not the claim, and it is not proof for the SVB that you live here: the SVB also looks at whether you work here, where your family is, whether you have a home here and why you came.

   Do this: Report the birth, or your child's arrival, to your municipality and make sure the child is registered at the address where you live.

   Documents needed

   • Your citizen service number (BSN) and your child's BSN

   Common mistake: Common mistake: stopping there. Registration does not by itself pay you anything, and it does not settle whether the SVB regards you as living in the Netherlands. Separately, register your child with your health insurer within 4 months of the birth, because the SVB warns that otherwise you risk your insurer not reimbursing medical costs.

   Official source

   SVB · Veelgestelde vragen aanvragen kinderbijslag
3. 3

   Wait for the SVB letter, or go ahead without one

   For a child born in the Netherlands where you do not yet receive kinderbijslag, the SVB states that it writes within 4 weeks of the birth being registered, and its application page tells you to allow 3 to 6 weeks. If your situation is different, no letter is triggered: for someone who has been living or working in the Netherlands for a short time, and for a child who has come to live with you when you have no kinderbijslag yet, the SVB's instruction is to claim through Mijn SVB yourself.

   Do this: If a birth was registered here, allow the letter up to 4 weeks before you act; in every other situation go straight to Mijn SVB.

   Processing time

   The SVB says a letter follows within 4 weeks of the birth being registered with the municipality. Its application page tells you to allow 3 to 6 weeks and to contact the SVB if nothing has arrived after 6 weeks, while its FAQ page tells you to check your options once 4 weeks have passed. If nothing has arrived after 4 weeks, it is worth acting rather than waiting out the full 6.

   Common mistake: Common mistake: newcomers waiting indefinitely for a letter. No birth was registered in the Netherlands, so nothing triggers one. Every quarter you spend waiting is a quarter closer to the one-year retrospective limit.

   Official source

   SVB · Kinderbijslag aanvragen
4. 4

   Submit the claim in Mijn SVB with your DigiD

   You claim through Mijn SVB, the SVB's online account. You sign in with DigiD using SMS verification or the DigiD app. If you live in Europe and hold another European recognised login means, you can sign in with that instead. If you cannot use Mijn SVB, contact the SVB: under the AKW a claim is made on an application form the SVB provides, so it can send you one. Once kinderbijslag is running, only the person who receives the SVB's post can report changes in Mijn SVB, so if that is your partner, your partner reports them.

   Do this: Sign in to Mijn SVB with DigiD and submit the kinderbijslag claim, or contact the SVB for the application form if you cannot sign in.

   Documents needed

   • DigiD with SMS verification or the DigiD app, or another European recognised login means
   • Bank account details for payment

   Cost

   Claiming kinderbijslag is free. The SVB charges no application fee.

   Processing time

   The SVB confirms your claim in writing and that confirmation states the statutory decision period. The SVB may extend that period once without your agreement, and only with your agreement after that.

   Common mistake: Common mistake: putting the claim off. Under article 14, fifth paragraph of the AKW your entitlement cannot start earlier than one year before the first day of the calendar quarter in which you submit the claim. Quarters outside that window are lost and the SVB cannot pay them, however clearly you qualified at the time.

   Official source

   Overheid.nl · Algemene Kinderbijslagwet, article 14, fifth paragraph
5. 5

   Check the amount and when it will actually be paid

   The amount depends on the age of your child and where your child lives, not on your income: there is no income test for kinderbijslag itself. Per child per quarter the SVB lists €298.40 for ages 0 to 5, €362.35 for ages 6 to 11 and €426.29 for ages 12 to 17 for the third quarter of 2026, up from €295.07, €358.30 and €421.53 in the first and second quarters of 2026. The higher amount reaches you for the first time in the payment at the start of October 2026. The bracket is decided by your child's age on the first day of the quarter being paid, so a child who turns 6 mid-quarter still attracts the lower amount for that quarter.

   Do this: Open the SVB amounts page, read off the figure for the quarter you are in, and note the next payment date.

   Processing time

   Kinderbijslag is paid after each quarter ends. For 2026 the SVB lists the payment dates as 2 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October.

   Common mistake: Common mistake: budgeting for the money as it accrues. Payment is in arrears, and a child born after the first day of a quarter only qualifies from the next quarter, so a child born on 20 June is first paid at the start of October.

   Official source

   SVB · Bedragen en betaaldagen kinderbijslag
6. 6

   Check kindgebonden budget as a separate next step

   Kindgebonden budget is a separate monthly payment from Dienst Toeslagen. It has its own income, asset and household conditions, and it is not automatically handled in every household.

   Do this: Open the kindgebonden-budget guide next to check whether Dienst Toeslagen should award it automatically or whether you need to apply yourself in Mijn toeslagen.

   Processing time

   Check this as soon as kinderbijslag is running or you expect it to start.

   Common mistake: Do not treat kinderbijslag, kindgebonden budget and childcare allowance as one payment. They come from different schemes and follow different conditions.

   Official source

   SVB · Kindgebonden budget (SVB signpost to Dienst Toeslagen)
7. 7

   Report changes to the SVB within 4 weeks

   Once kinderbijslag is running, you have a duty to report changes that affect it. The SVB gives you 4 weeks, or 6 weeks if you live outside the Netherlands, and warns that failing to report can lead to a fine. Some changes go through the municipality instead: if you live in the Netherlands, a family move within the country, a birth, a change of your child's nationality and a death in the Netherlands are passed to the SVB by the municipality. What you report to the SVB directly includes a child moving out, being placed elsewhere, going into detention, or moving back home, and any maintenance payment or foster allowance you start to receive for the child.

   Do this: Report any reportable change through Mijn SVB, or on the SVB's change form, within 4 weeks, or within 6 weeks if you live outside the Netherlands.

   Processing time

   Within 4 weeks of the change if you live in the Netherlands, within 6 weeks if you live outside it.

   Common mistake: Common mistake: reporting the wrong things. The SVB states that a child's side job has no effect on kinderbijslag whatever the child's age or earnings, and that you do not have to report the child's income at all. What does matter from 16 is education: kinderbijslag continues only while your child is in education, holds a startkwalificatie or is exempt from one, and for a 16 or 17 year old you report education changes only if your child is in private education or at school outside the Netherlands.

   Official source

   SVB · Welke wijzigingen doorgeven

• DigiD with SMS verification or the DigiD app, or another European recognised login means if you live in Europe
• Your citizen service number (BSN) and your child's BSN
• Bank account details for payment, Dutch or non-Dutch
• Your residence permit details, if you do not hold EU, EEA or Swiss nationality
• For a child aged 16 or 17, details of the education your child follows, or the qualification already obtained

• Claiming kinderbijslag is free. The SVB charges no application fee.
• If the SVB pays into a non-Dutch bank account, the transfer runs via Citibank at a cost that differs by country and is at most €0.48 per payment, the figure the SVB published when this guide was reviewed in 2026. Your own bank may charge more, and the SVB does not set that.

If a birth is registered with the municipality, the SVB says it writes within 4 weeks, and tells you to allow 3 to 6 weeks. The claim itself is a short online form in Mijn SVB; the SVB does not publish how long it takes to complete. The SVB confirms your claim in writing and that confirmation states the statutory decision period; the SVB may extend that period once without your agreement, and only with your agreement after that. Payment then follows the quarterly cycle and always comes after the quarter has ended.

Requirements depend on your situation. Check the latest requirements with the relevant authority.

• Assuming that registering with the municipality settles it. The SVB decides separately whether you actually live in the Netherlands for kinderbijslag, and looks at whether you work here, where your family is, whether you have a home here and why you came.
• Waiting for a letter that will never arrive. If you moved here with a child who was already born, no birth is registered in the Netherlands, so nothing triggers an SVB letter and you have to claim in Mijn SVB yourself.
• Reporting a child's arrival as a change when you do not yet receive kinderbijslag. The SVB only treats that as a change if you already have kinderbijslag for another child. Otherwise it is a claim, and a change notification will not establish entitlement.
• Leaving the claim for a year or more. Entitlement cannot start earlier than one year before the first day of the quarter in which you claim, so older quarters are lost outright.
• Assuming kindgebonden budget is automatic in every case. It has its own income, asset and household conditions, and households receiving no other allowance from Dienst Toeslagen have to apply themselves.

• Check the SVB amounts page for the figure that applies to the current quarter and note the next payment date.
• Open the kindgebonden-budget guide next to check whether Dienst Toeslagen should handle it automatically or whether you need to apply yourself in Mijn toeslagen.
• If you use paid childcare, look at childcare allowance (kinderopvangtoeslag) separately. It is the third of the three payments, with its own conditions and its own application.
• Note the quarters in which your child turns 6, 12 and 16: the amount rises at 6 and 12, and education conditions start to apply at 16.