Pick your town to see how its foreigners’ desk handles cards
Some towns ask you to book online, others want a phone call first, and a few receive visitors only on certain afternoons. Open your city to find out whether its office orders cards, hands them over or both, and what to bring along.
Leuven
Professor Van Overstraetenplein 1, 3000 Leuven
Book one appointment to apply and a second one to collect once your PIN has arrived by post.
Bring national passport or ID, any invitation and payment. First-card applicants bring the relevant registration annex; renewals require the existing card or temporary replacement, and loss/theft cases the relevant report. At collection bring the PIN and the documents your application receipt asks for.
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.
Reset an eID PIN, replace activation codes or set up a digital key for online services. Useful for residents, residence card holders and some non-residents.
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.
Other countries
Moving on, or comparing before you decide? See how this works elsewhere.
Most offices in Cologne, Duisburg, and Frankfurt am Main
Most offices in A Coruña, Alicante, and Almería
Most offices in Białystok, Bielsko-Biała, and Bydgoszcz
Most offices in Amsterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht
Where to next
How the card is ordered at your municipality, what happens with your fingerprints and photo, and how the handover works once your stay in Belgium is approved.
Jump straight to another part of the manual.