From a forgotten PIN to a digital key for government websites
To use online government services you need a way to log in: your electronic ID or residence card with its PIN, the itsme app or a digital key. If you forgot your PIN, never received your activation codes or have no card reader or itsme, a municipal desk can often help. Some offices work without an appointment, others ask you to book.
How it works
Set up, activate or recover the digital ID you use to log in to government services.
Most government services online require a digital ID, such as DigiD in the Netherlands, itsme in Belgium, Cl@ve in Spain, the trusted profile in Poland, the online ID card function in Germany or electronic ID in Iceland. Setting one up often needs a one-time identity check in person, and offices, libraries and help desks can help you activate it, reset a PIN or recover access. Bring your passport or ID card and your phone. Never share your passwords or login codes, even with someone offering to help.
Also searched as
At a glance
Walk-in in some towns, by appointment in others
Your municipality is usually the place to reset a PIN, report missing codes or get a digital key activated. Rules differ for Belgians and foreign residents, and some towns send you to a federal service first.
Guides
Related services
For people who cannot cover rent, food or other essentials: what the local social welfare centre can arrange and how to ask for an appointment.
A paper or digital certificate showing where you are registered, with versions for address history or household. Find the municipal office that issues it.
The eID for teenagers and adults and the Kids-ID for children. See how applying works and find the municipal office that handles your card.
For anyone who has moved house in Belgium. See who reports, what happens after the address check and which office handles it in your new town.
Learn whether you need an extract or a full copy, who can request it and how to reach the civil registry office in your municipality.
See who can apply, what is different for children and how to prepare, then find the municipal office that handles passports.
Other countries
Moving on, or comparing before you decide? See how this works elsewhere.
Most offices in Madrid, Córdoba, and Barcelona
Most offices in Rotterdam, Groningen, and Nieuwegein
Most offices in Warsaw, Kraków, and Bydgoszcz
Most offices in Bielefeld, Aachen, and Hanover
Most offices in Reykjavík, Akureyri, and Egilsstaðir
Where to next
Municipal desks in Belgian cities that reset PINs, deal with missing eID codes and activate digital keys, with each one’s visiting rules.
Jump straight to another part of the manual.