The IND celebrates 10 years in Maastricht

''Though headquartered in Den Haag, the IND has been issuing residence documents in Zuid-Limburg since 2001. This started out as a monthly service operating out of the Eurode Business Center in Kerkrade, where – assisted by the Koninklijke Marechaussee (Royal Netherlands Marechaussee) – we issued a total of approximately 300 residence documents to citizens of the European Union (EU) and non-EU citizens resident in the region. When this service threatened to disappear after 5 years due to budget cuts, the 17 mayors of the Zuid-Limburg region managed to organise with Staatssecretaris Fred Teeven that the IND would remain in Zuid-Limburg, but relocate to Maastricht.

Centre Céramique was chosen as the location. The IND was then on site twice a month to issue residence documents. The demand for this service sometimes led to some rather hectic scenes inside Maastricht’s cultural hub. However, good talks with Expat Centre Maastricht Region (then known as Holland Expat Centre South) and Gemeente Maastricht resulted in a successful alternative formula of execution.

In 2014 we entered into a formal collaboration with the expat centre and the Gemeenteloket (municipal service desk) in Maastricht, and Burgemeester Onno Hoes ceremoniously issued the 1,000th residence document (link in Dutch) on 3 March 2015. 

By becoming a permanent presence at the Gemeente service desks for 3 days each week, the IND was then able to serve 2 streams of residents. The first being highly skilled workers (knowledge migrants) and their family members, who were able to complete 3 crucial tasks with 1 visit. 

This allowed them to complete IND formalities, register in the Basisregistratie Personen (municipal database, BRP) and receive guidance and advice on living and working in Zuid-Limburg by the expat centre’s hospitality coaches. The second stream is EU citizens and non-EU citizens who already have a residence permit and need to extend or change it and asylum seekers who come to collect their temporary document or their status document. This second stream is part of the IND's vision to provide services closer to the client’s needs. 

In the beginning, the IND had regular consultations with the collaborating services to evaluate and adjust where necessary. This included a review of the cooperation between employees of the Gemeente and IND to get a clear idea of who does what and who provides what information to whom.

We are now 10 years on and the IND is still enjoying a fruitful collaboration on the 3 days when colleagues are physically present in Maastricht. My IND colleagues are happy with their Gemeente Maastricht peers, both from the Gemeenteloket and Expat Centre Maastricht Region, not only because of their presence, but also because we complement each other when faced with complicated matters. We continue to look for opportunities together to expand our work to help even more of the international residents in the Netherlands. 

I thoroughly enjoy being on-site at Mosae Forum in Maastricht when I get the opportunity. It feels good to do my work there, like home away from home.

So: how’s about another 10 years? ''