foreign students must register
That registration is needed to get a Social Security number so they can claim under a side job. They must register and provide their new address within five days of arrival.
Nicolas and Pinja, two 22-year-old students from Finland, have both been waiting at Bos en Lommerplein for about half an hour. Both will study business administration at the HvA. Despite the heat, they don’t mind waiting. “Everything has been arranged after today, we were able to find a room through the AUAS. We know that many foreign students have problems with that, we were lucky.”
Pleasant ambience
A little further on, two Americans, a Norwegian and a Singaporean student, are talking while waiting. They, too, are there for about half an hour, but the atmosphere remains well below. “I know people who didn’t have a room until a few days ago,” says the 23-year-old American. “I myself found a room just in time through the university, but the result took hours; the site kept crashing because everyone was logging in at the same time.”
22-year-old Ana from Spain has just arrived in Amsterdam and joins the queue with suitcases and all. She is going to study physics at the UvA and has also found a home through the university. She doesn’t mind waiting. “I’m glad I found an affordable room for a long time.”
Amsterdammers don’t have to worry about practicalities: a separate counter has been opened for foreign students.
Listen to the episode of podcast Amsterdam metropolis about international students: