Antwerp city hall registration: can you register during a temporary stay?

You are moving to Antwerp for work, waiting for a new home or staying a few months, and someone asks for your address. Can you register where you are staying, and do you have to? This guide sets out what the city and the federal sources say.

When is Antwerp city hall registration required?

Antwerp city hall registration is required when you move into the city and it becomes your main residence. The City of Antwerp asks you to report your new address online within 8 working days. You need the national register numbers of everyone moving with you. Reporting a move is mandatory, also for a move inside the city.

Not a Belgian? Then the route depends on your situation. Non-Belgians who want to settle in Antwerp register through the city’s migration desk, Loket Migratie, which works by appointment only. Employees with a long-stay visa often come through the city’s expat desk, which handles files prepared by relocation partners.

Workers on a single permit have a deadline of their own. They apply for registration at the municipality where they live within 8 working days of entering Belgium, the Immigration Office says. EU citizens who stay more than three months apply for a registration certificate before those three months end.

For the bigger picture of a move, read our guide to living in Antwerp.

How does the city check where you live?

The city checks your address with a residence check by the local police officer, the wijkagent. The City of Antwerp’s page on reporting a change of address says the check always happens at a random moment. You can state a preferred time, but it is not guaranteed.

What is the officer checking? Whether the address is your main residence. The National Register defines the main residence as the place where you usually live, based on the facts. It looks at things such as where you work, where your children go to school and where you use energy.

After a positive check, you are registered at the new address. You then book an appointment to update the chip of your eID or foreigner’s card. The city says this can happen at the earliest five days after the check.

Can you register your address during a temporary stay?

Registering your address during a temporary stay is only possible where the stay is your real main residence. A furnished stay of a few weeks, with your home and life elsewhere, usually is not. The municipality decides from the facts, not from what you or your host prefer.

Hoost does not allow address registration in its apartments. Your domicile stays where it is now: your current home in Belgium, or your home abroad. This is the same for business guests, people relocating and families.

If your permit, employer, bank or school needs a registered address in Antwerp, you need a lease for a home you will live in. Our guide on short-term leases and furnished stays explains the difference between the two.

Address declaration or registration: what is the difference?

An address declaration and a registration are two different procedures. The declaration tells the authorities where you are staying during a short visit. Registration puts you in the population register at your main residence. A third procedure, temporary absence, keeps you registered at home while you are away.

Three address procedures compared

IBZ says the online declaration is “in no way proof of legal residence, identity or nationality”. If you need such proof, ask the municipality for a declaration of arrival or of presence. For visas and the 90-day rule, see our guide to the Belgium digital nomad visa.

Keeping your domicile elsewhere while you stay in Antwerp

Keeping your domicile elsewhere is the normal case for a temporary stay. Do you live in Belgium and stay away for a while? The Flemish page on temporary absence explains how you remain registered at home.

The page lists situations such as holidays, study, business trips and work assignments, for less than one year. A temporary absence may not last longer than one year and can be extended once. You must have a main residence you can return to. Absences longer than three months can be reported to avoid being removed from the register.

Is your situation different, such as a renovation or a separation? The page does not cover every case, so ask the civil affairs service (burgerzaken) of your own municipality. Our guides on temporary housing during a renovation and where to live after a separation cover those situations.

Temporary accommodation without address registration

Temporary accommodation without address registration fits when your domicile stays where it is. Hoost has four furnished apartments in one building in Antwerp South, near Middelheim Park. You book from 2 nights to 6 months, and a longer stay continues with a new booking.

Each apartment has a kitchen, bed linen and towels, a dedicated workspace with Ethernet, and heating. A shared washing machine and dryer are in the building. Electricity, heating and water are included in the stay. Hoost can invoice a company, and there is no deposit.

Trams 2 and 6 stop near the building, which is outside the low-emission zone. Send your dates and ask about a furnished apartment for the weeks before your lease starts.

When Hoost is not the right choice

Hoost is a place to stay, not a place to register. It is not the right choice when:

• You must register in Antwerp right away, for a permit, a residence card or a school.
• You plan to make the apartment your main home for longer than one booking of 6 months.
• You need parking on site. There is none; P+R Olympiade is about 0.2 km away.
• You need daily housekeeping. Cleaning is arranged per booking.

Back to the full overview: our guide on moving to Antwerp for weeks or months.