How to Apply for a VOG in the Netherlands: Routes, Costs and Timing (2026)

Applying for a certificate of good conduct (Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag, VOG) starts with a step most people do not expect: somebody else takes it. Justis states plainly that an applicant cannot start the application, and that the employer, organisation or institution that needs the certificate always moves first.

That is how Justis has arranged the process rather than something the Wjsg imposes. The Act speaks only to who files: artikel 33 Wjsg has the application made by the person whose conduct is in question, so the organisation prepares it and the individual submits it.

This page walks the routes in order: the digital one, the paper one through the municipality (gemeente), and the situations in which a person really can start alone. It also covers what it costs, how long it takes and what none of it can be made to do faster. The operational detail comes from Justis, which is the only body that publishes it.

Information last verified on 21 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Netherlands law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

The application is prepared by the organisation and filed by the applicant

Justis is unambiguous about the first step. A VOG can only be applied for where an employer, organisation or institution has asked for it, and that party always sets the application up.

Underneath that sits the statutory division. Artikel 32 lid 3 Wjsg puts the duty of stating the risk to society at issue on the party for whose benefit the certificate is requested, and in practice that statement is made by choosing a screening profile (screeningsprofiel). Artikel 33 Wjsg then has the individual file the application itself.

So the organisation defines the question and the applicant asks it. Neither of them answers it, which is the part of the arrangement that reassures anxious applicants the least and matters the most.

Artikel 34 lid 1 Wjsg adds a filter at the front. Justis does not take an application into assessment at all where an investigation into the applicant's conduct is clearly not necessary to limit a risk to society given the stated purpose.

The digital route, step by step

The electronic route is the one artikel 31 Wjsg permits: an application filed directly and electronically with the Minister, rather than through the mayor. It is also the cheaper of the two.

The organisation prepares the application online, and Justis emails the applicant an application code. Justis states that the code is valid for 30 days, and that where it lapses the organisation has to prepare the application again so that a fresh code can be sent.

The applicant then logs in with the code and checks the details that have been entered. Justis states that completing the application needs the national digital identity login (DigiD), the Dutch bank payment method (iDEAL) and a valid email address, that the handling fee of EUR 33.85 is paid at that point, and that the amount is exempt from VAT with no invoice sent.

Artikel 48 of the Besluit justitiële en strafvorderlijke gegevens is the reason payment sits inside the process rather than after it: Justis does not take an application into assessment until the fee has been received.

The paper route through the gemeente

Artikel 30 lid 1 Wjsg puts the paper application with the mayor (burgemeester) of the gemeente where the applicant is registered as a resident in the population register (Basisregistratie Personen, BRP). In any other case it goes to the Minister.

Justis states that the applicant needs a form the requesting organisation has completed, and sometimes has to fill in their own details in part 1. The form is handed in at the gemeente with a valid identity document, and the fee is EUR 41.35.

Two checks happen at the counter and both are statutory. Under artikel 30 lid 2 Wjsg the mayor examines whether the supplied information is complete and establishes the applicant's identity, and under lid 4 the application is forwarded to the Minister at once.

Justis states that the gemeente hands over a copy of the application data. Checking that copy is worth the minute it takes, since an error transcribed at the counter travels with the file.

What it costs, and the one route that is free

The amounts are not Justis policy. They are fixed in the Regeling vergoeding verklaring omtrent het gedrag en gedragsverklaring aanbesteden, which has stood in this form since 1 July 2022 and has not been re-indexed since.

The volunteer rate is a genuine EUR 0.00 in the regulation, not a rebate claimed afterwards. It depends on the organisation rather than the individual, and the approving minister is not the Minister of Justice: the fee regulation makes the zero rate conditional on the applicant volunteering at an organisation approved and registered by the Minister of Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport.

Artikel 2 of the Regeling Gratis VOG voor vrijwilligers sets the conditions for that approval, which lasts up to five years. The organisation's volunteers must work with vulnerable people, they must not already be required to hold a certificate under other rules, and the organisation must run an active and sound prevention and integrity policy.

The same regulation defines a volunteer narrowly, as a natural person who works unpaid and without obligation, not by way of profession, in an organised setting for the benefit of others or of society. Vulnerable people include minors, people receiving care and people with an intellectual disability.

The exceptions: when a person can start alone

Justis names three situations in which the organisation does not have to move first, and between them they cover most of the people who arrive at this page frustrated.

A self employed person (zzp'er) who works or will work in healthcare, financial services or legal services can apply to Justis directly, without an organisation preparing anything.

Someone who needs a certificate for a visa, for immigration or for working abroad can start a written application themselves at the gemeente where they are registered. Where a foreign organisation cannot sign the form, Justis states that it accepts the applicant completing it and attaching a document, such as a copy of an email or a relevant web page, showing that the organisation requires the certificate. That document takes the place of the signature.

A person who is not registered in the Basisregistratie Personen and has no Dutch postal address, or has no fixed residence, is a non resident and applies to Justis direct.

A volunteer at an approved organisation is not a fourth exception to the rule. The organisation still sets the application up in the ordinary way and the volunteer completes it digitally with DigiD; what changes is the fee, which is EUR 0.00 instead of EUR 33.85.

How long it takes, and what the wait tells you

Justis publishes two figures and they are not in conflict. Most applicants receive either the certificate or a message that more information is needed within one to four weeks, and everyone gets word within one to eight weeks. Justis suggests contacting it after six weeks of silence.

Artikel 37 Wjsg explains why the range has those two shoulders. Lid 1 gives the Minister four weeks from receipt to decide on an application by a natural person, and lid 2 extends that to eight weeks where the Minister intends to decide against the application.

That makes the calendar mildly informative, though not conclusive. Passing four weeks is consistent with a fuller assessment running, which is also what a notice of intended refusal (voornemen tot afwijzen) is issued inside. Justis is careful to say that processing time says nothing about the outcome, and volume or a data problem can push a straightforward file past four weeks too.

For a legal entity the figures double under artikel 38 Wjsg: eight weeks normally, twelve where refusal is intended.

No urgent procedure, and no useful intermediary

Justis states that an urgent procedure for a VOG application is not possible, and that all applications are handled at the same tempo. There is no priority lane to buy.

It also publishes a specific warning about the businesses that offer to take the administration of an application off an applicant's hands. Those companies are not part of Justis and are not partners of Justis. Using one means paying an extra amount on top of the ordinary fee, and Justis states that such applications are handled in exactly the same way and at exactly the same speed as any other.

Justis's own advice is to have the organisation that needs the certificate prepare the application, and where that is not possible, to make a written application at the gemeente. Both of those cost the statutory fee and nothing more.

Receiving the certificate, and how long it lasts

Justis sends the certificate to the applicant personally. It does not go directly to the employer or the organisation, which means handing it over is the applicant's decision and their step.

Justis names two delivery options. By post to the address registered in the BRP, or digitally in the Berichtenbox of MijnOverheid, with the digital option available only where the application itself was digital. Justis also states that an address change after filing has to be reported to it separately, because it does not follow automatically.

The certificate has no built in expiry date. Justis explains why: the assessment is a snapshot of one moment. When a new one is needed is a matter for the employer, or for the ministry responsible for the rules governing that sector.

If the answer is not the certificate

Where Justis finds relevant records it does not simply refuse. Artikel 4:7 Awb requires an administrative body to let an applicant put a point of view (zienswijze) before rejecting an application that rests on facts and interests concerning that applicant which differ from what the applicant supplied, and the notice of intended refusal states the period for responding.

If a refusal follows, artikel 29 Wjsg makes it a beschikking, so artikel 7:1 Awb routes an objection (bezwaar) to Justis first and artikel 6:7 Awb sets six weeks for lodging it. An appeal (beroep) to the administrative court follows under artikel 8:1 Awb, again within six weeks.

The substance of that assessment, which is the two part test in artikel 35 Wjsg and the Beleidsregels VOG-NP-RP 2025, is set out on certificate of good conduct. How far back the records are read is on VOG lookback periods, and what is recorded in the first place is on Dutch criminal records and the JDS.

The wider map of the system, including who decides what, is in background checks in the Netherlands.