Caribbean students may receive bsn numbers from DUO

Caribbean students may receive bsn numbers from DUO

The Cabinet wants to remove obstacles for students from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. They will receive a  national identity number (bsn number) if they are going to study here and they might also receive a scholarship.

This became apparent during a debate in the Lower House this week. Students from the islands encounter all kinds of problems when they try to enrol in higher education or open a bank account.

There will be a change in the law to introduce the citizen service number on the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (the BES countries), but that may take years and is also not a solution for the independent countries of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. Is there no faster solution, PvdA and D66 asked in a motion. And that indeed seems to be possible.

Faster
Education Minister Dijkgraaf, together with State Secretary Van Huffelen of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, is looking into whether DUO, as a ‘designated administrative body’, can give out bsn numbers to all Caribbean students. In May he will know more, he said. (HOP/BB)

^{(Photo: Marjolein van der Veldt)}