Information for refugees from Ukraine

What must I do when I arrive in the city of Groningen as a refugee?

Arrange a reception location address:

• There are various reception centres in Groningen. To receive a place in a municipal reception centre, you must register with the municipality. We will then check whether there is a place available. It does not have to be in the city of Groningen. 
  
  Register with the municipality of Groningen (during office hours!):
  • Municipal office: Kreupelstraat 1
    Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.00pm (Thursdays to 7.00pm)
  • WhatsApp: 06 12 82 39 73
  • From abroad: +31 6 12 82 39 73 (only for WhatsApp messages, not for calling or sending SMS texts)
  • Contact form
  • Telephone 14 050
    Prepaid Lyca and Lebara subscribers: (050) 367 70 00.
    From abroad: +31 50 367 70 00
     
• Seeking accommodation with a host family. Various people offer accommodation in their own homes. To find out more, you can visit websites such as RefugeeHomeNL and RefugeeHelp.nl.

As a Ukrainian refugee, can I go to the doctor?

Ukrainian refugees who need essential medical care can go to doctors and hospitals. Only healthcare from the basic package will be fully reimbursed. For more information, visit zorgverzekeringslijn.nl (also in English, Ukrainian and Russian).

There is an information desk or consultation hour at all reception centres. Refugees from Ukraine can go to these with their medical questions.

As a Ukrainian refugee, can I go to the dentist?

As a Ukrainian refugee, you can make an appointment to see a dentist. The Medical Care Scheme for Displaced Persons from Ukraine (RMO) indicates which treatments will be reimbursed.

More treatments are covered for children up to the age of 18 years than for adults.

The Mobile Dentist

The mobile dentist clinic is available to you every Wednesday at one of the following municipal reception centres:

• De Held (not yet open)
• Nescio, Emmalaan 33 in Haren

Call +3150 367 7444 to make an appointment.

As a refugee from Ukraine, do I need health insurance?

No, as a refugee from Ukraine, you do not need to arrange health insurance. As of 1 July 2022, you do not need to, even if you are working. You come under the RMO (Regeling Medische zorg Ontheemden uit Oekraïne, Medical Care Scheme for Displaced Persons from Ukraine). For more information, please visit the Zorgverzekeringslijn website.

Pets

If you are a refugee from Ukraine and have brought your pet with you, we advise you to visit the vet as soon as possible. For example, dogs must be vaccinated against rabies.
More information is available at the Aid for Ukraine Animals website. 

Refugees from Ukraine must register with the municipality of Groningen. This will make you eligible for a living allowance and employment.

Are you a host family?

Are you a host family for refugees from Ukraine? And do you live in Groningen? If so, please make an appointment as a host family to register refugees at your address.

Please make a separate appointment for each individual. This also applies to children.

Make an appointment >

Bring with you

• All of your Ukrainian passports, ID cards and/or documents.
• All of the people who need to be registered, including children.

Children without documents will also be registered if one of the parents can identify themselves.

Are you living at a municipality of Groningen reception centre?

Refugees at municipal reception centres will receive information and guidance about this at the reception centre.

Are you not living in the municipality of Groningen?

If so, you must register with the municipality in which you are living. You cannot register with us.

Temporary Protection Directive Ukraine

Refugees from Ukraine can receive temporary protection in the Netherlands by means of the European Union’s Temporary Protection Directive. Refugees from Ukraine are entitled to accommodation, health care and education for minor children. The directive also enables them to work in the Netherlands. To do so, refugees must be registered with the municipality. For more information, please visit the IND website.

New living allowance rates as of October 1, 2023

*AMV= unaccompanied minor stranger

Registering with the municipality

In order to receive a living allowance, refugees must register with the municipality.

Applying for a living allowance

If you are not living at a reception centre, then you must apply for a living allowance yourself. The Municipality of Groningen will contact you after you have applied.

Living allowance application form >

If you are living at a reception centre, then the centre will apply for the living allowance on your behalf.

Report a change or stop living allowance

When you start working, you are no longer entitled to a living allowance. Before you start working, you must notify the municipality. You can use this form for this. We stop the living allowance the month after you start working in the Netherlands.

If you want to report a change in your personal situation, you can also fill in this form.

Report change or stop living allowance >

More information

For more information, please visit the national government website and the Refugeehelp.nl website (in English, Dutch, Ukrainian and Russian).

Bank account

The municipality is issuing temporary bank cards that refugees from Ukraine can use to make payments. However, refugees should open their own Dutch bank account as soon as possible. The municipality will then deposit the living allowance into this bank account.

Opening a Dutch bank account

The betaalvereniging.nl website describes what refugees from Ukraine have to do in order to open a Dutch bank account. This website has a list of Dutch banks. Refugees can open a bank account online with most banks here. The websites of most banks are also available in English and Ukrainian.  

Asylum seekers from Ukraine can initially cover the costs of living with their living allowance or income from work. However, they may have certain extraordinary expenses that the asylum seekers cannot pay with their available funds. These may include expenses for:

• travel;
• sudden, unexpected personal medical expenses. Unless the costs are covered by the Ukraine Medical Care scheme or your own health insurance policy;
• legal aid out-of-pocket deductible expenses;

This is a specific expense that you must pay on your own, and that cannot be paid in another manner. The following terms and conditions apply in order to be eligible for this expense compensation:

Conditions for requesting extraordinary expense compensation

• You came to the City of Groningen as an asylum seeker from Ukraine.
• You are registered in the Personal Records Database (BRP) of the City of Groningen.  
• You have a Dutch bank account.  
• You must send the request in Dutch or English.
• You have necessary, unavoidable expenses.
• You cannot pay the costs yourself with your own living allowance or income from work, and the costs cannot be paid for in another manner.
• You must request compensation for the costs in advance (with the exception of emergency situations).

Registration in the Personal Records Database (BRP)

You must be registered in the Personal Records Database (BRP) of the City of Groningen. When you register, you will be given a Citizen Service Number (BSN). This number is required to open a bank account, and to request compensation for extraordinary expenses.

Dutch bank account

You need a Dutch bank account in order to request and receive this compensation for extraordinary expenses. Read more information about opening a Dutch bank account.  

Submitting a request

If you meet the terms and conditions, and you believe that you are eligible for compensation, please send an e-mail with your personal details to: leefgeld.vluchtelingen@groningen.nl . The City of Groningen will contact you as quickly as possible. 

Refugees from Ukraine are allowed to work in paid employment. The municipality supports contact between refugees from Ukraine living in the municipality of Groningen, employers and employment agencies. Job vacancies are posted at the municipal reception centres.  There are also weekly consultation hours that Ukrainian refugees living in the municipality of Groningen can attend for support and questions regarding work. You are welcome to attend and do not need to make an appointment:

• Emmalaan 33, Haren: Monday 10:00 - 12:00 hours
• Eemskanaal 58, Groningen: Thursday 13:00 -  15:00 hours
• Stationsplein 7 (Frascati building) Groningen, Groningen: Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00 hours

For any questions about work, refugees from Ukraine can send an e-mail to oekrainers.en.werk@groningen.nl

Information for self-employed persons

Extra rules apply to refugees from Ukraine wishing to work as entrepreneurs in the Netherlands. These entrepreneurs require a work permit. For further information, please visit https://www.uwv.nl/werkgevers/werkvergunning.     

Refugees who have found work must cancel their living allowance.

This notification is mandatory. They can do so by sending an e-mail to leefgeld.vluchtelingen@groningen.nl. The living allowance will be stopped in the month following the notification, regardless of the level of income. Refugees whose work comes to an end can apply for the living allowance again.

Information for employers

Ukrainian refugees who are employed do not need a work permit. Until 4 March 2024, they are covered under the Temporary Protection Directive Ukraine. So that they can work, the following matters need to be arranged for these refugees: a citizen service number (BSN), a valid identification document and a bank account. If in doubt, please contact the municipality.

If you employ a Ukrainian refugee, you must notify the UWV by visiting the website: https://www.uwv.nl/werkgevers/formulieren/melden-tewerkstelling-van-een-tijdelijk-beschermde-werknemer-uit-oekraine.aspx

If you have job vacancies for Ukrainian refugees, we would like to hear about them! Please send an e-mail to oekrainers.en.werk@groningen.nl. We will then contact you.

Children aged 4 to 18 years who have come to the Netherlands from Ukraine are entitled to receive education. They can register to be enrolled in a school in Groningen.

Please note: Fill in a separate form for each child.

Education application form >

The municipality and school boards will work together to find a suitable school. For children aged up to 12 years, we will try to find a local school. Children aged 12 years and older can attend the Internationale Schakelklas (ISK, International Transition Class).

You can find general information on education for Ukrainian students on the National Government website.

If you have any questions about education for Ukrainian children, please send an e-mail to onderwijsoekraine@groningen.nl.

Vocational education (MBO/HBO) and university education

Secondary vocational  education                                                                                                                          

For information about or to register for a course at MBO level:

• Noorderpoort College
  • e-mail: educatiegroningen@noorderpoort.nl
  • website: noorderpoort.nl
• Alfa College
  • e-mail: educatie@alfa-college.nl
  • website: alfa-college.nl

Higher professional education (HBO) and university education

Students from Ukraine can continue their studies in the Netherlands as much as possible. The University Asylum Fund (UAF) has advised to link up as much as possible with existing Dutch training programmes. Please visit www.studyinholland.nl

For students who want to continue their studies at Hanze University of Applied Sciences, please visit the International Office

For students who want to continue their studies at the University of Groningen:

• website: www.rug.nl
• e-mail: study@rug.nl

Tuition fees and student finance

Information about tuition fees and student finance can be found at the National Government website.

Information can also be found on the following sites:

• for university students: www.uaf.nl
• for HBO students: Financiële voorzieningen | Hanze
• for MBO students: www.duo.nl
  MBO students can appeal to the hardship clause in the MBO.

The University of Groningen offers a free basic Dutch course online. On the Dutch Survival Kit page, there is a document listing standard sentences for making initial contact in Dutch. 

• RefugeeHelp.nl is the online starting point for Ukrainian refugees in the Netherlands, and for everyone who wants to help them. It provides information in Dutch, English, Ukrainian and Russian.
• The Red Cross has a WhatsApp information line for people who have fled from Ukraine. A voice or text message can be sent to +31 6 48 15 80 53 in Ukrainian, Russian or English.
• The IWCN website provides information in English about topics such as emergency accommodation and other ways to help. This is focused on the northern Netherlands.
• For more information about pets from Ukraine, please visit hulpvoordierenuitoekraine.nl or the NVWA.nl/oekraine website.

Visit our contact page.