Have you been working on your DIY skills in lockdown? Well, now you can use them when collating your travel documents. Residents in the Netherlands can use the CoronaCheck app as a vaccination certificate to enter large scale events, dine or drink indoors and travel.
This is good news for your nasal cavities. You’ll no longer have to provide a negative test to enter events if you’ve been fully vaccinated.
As of July 1, the CoronaCheck app has been used by residents of the Netherlands to show a “corona pass” before entry to large scale events and before travelling to a different country.
Corona pass needed before entry to restaurants, cafés, cinemas and theatres
As of September 25, a “corona pass” will also be needed in the Netherlands before people can dine or drink indoors or go to the cinema, theatre or a concert.
Speaking at a press conference, the prime minister hopes that this will only be a temporary measure. The cabinet will revisit the issue on November 1.
How can I get a “corona pass”?
It’s simple, you log into the app with your DigiD and retrieve your vaccination or test data. Your certificates will be given in the app and each will have a QR code which is scanned before entry.
If you were vaccinated or tested in the Netherlands, and you have a DigiD, then you don’t have to worry. The CoronaCheck app is linked to your DigiD, and the GGD will enter your vaccination status or test result into this system for you.
Put simply, this means that in order to get your corona pass, all you should need to do is log in to your CoronaCheck app, head to “My certificates” and click “View QR”. this code will be scanned by security at the venue you wish to enter and will grant you access (if you are indeed vaccinated, have tested negative or have recently recovered from the virus.)
The certificate will contain personal information including your name, date of birth, and which vaccine you have received — but it is the QR code that will be scanned.
If you were vaccinated in another country, there are a few extra steps you may have to take before your international vaccination is registered in the Netherlands.
A vaccination passport?
Since July 1, 2021 the CoronaCheck app has been used for European travel and domestic use.
READ MORE | How do I get my jab invite? Dutch vaccination process for internationals explained
The European travel card can’t be used in the Netherlands because the Dutch consider the sharing of this information an invasion of privacy. Unlike this card, the Dutch travel ticket contains less information, which will not specify whether the user has been vaccinated, tested negative, or has antibodies from previously contracting the disease. Instead, it will only indicate whether or not they are safe to travel.
Ironing out the kinks
There have been some issues with people registering their vaccinations. Those who have received a vaccine directly from their GP may not have their data stored in the national CIMS system yet.
This has prevented a number of people from creating a vaccination certificate in the app. You can log in to this webpage on the RIVM to check whether or not your registration has been successful.
Need a paper version of your vaccination certificate? You can arrange this on the Dutch government website.
Will you be downloading the vaccination passport? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Feature Image: DutchReview/Canva
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in June 2021, and was fully updated in September 2021 for your reading pleasure.Â
Hey folks! Thanks for the update.
Unfortunately, I don’t speak Dutch (yet). Is there any chances to have the app in English?
I just installed the app and it automatically selected English as my phone (although bought in NL) is defaulted to English. Logging in with my DigId I was able to see the first jab (but not yet the second jab but I only had that this morning so do not expect it to show up for 24 hours.)
I see that you have to have a phone that is pretty new. What about those with older phones?
I had my Vac in the Netherlands, but the app says it’s not valid in NL but only internationally? Is that correct?
Your answer does not answer simple question….
I need to travel outside The Netherlands and to show proof of my vaccinations in paper form!
And it looks it doesn’t exist here in the Netherlands….in any formally approved form…
Which makes travel very uncertain and troublesome…
Because border authorities in all countries require paper showing that you had been vaccinated…
Hi Vlad,
It is possible to arrange for a paper version of the vaccination certificate! You can find the information you need on the Dutch government’s website: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/coronavirus-covid-19/coronabewijs/vaccinatiebewijs
Hope this helps you!
How can they put restrictions based on something that in some cases they cannot provide? I had my first dose in an EU country and the second one in the Netherlands and still after 2 months there is no way of registering the first dose to get a certificate. What is outrageous is that for people who had them outside the EU, it is already possible.
My sister is fully vaccinated in the Netherlands with her BSN. But not being a resident and not having the digid she cannot use the Coronacheck app. How she can prove her vaccination?
Bonjour,
Je commence à devenir dingue ! Ayant travaillé 4 mois aux Pays-Bas je me suis fait vacciné à La Haye. J’ai ensuite postulé à DigiD pour pouvoir retrouver mes informations sur l’application CoronaCheck. Celui-ci est maintenant activé, mais malgré tout ce que je tente il m’est impossible de générer un QR code ! Je ne peux enregistrer ma pièce d’identité sur l’application, je n’arrive pas à récupérer mes données médicales. Je suis vacciné depuis un mois maintenant et je ne peux pas le prouver. Les numéros que j’essaie pour trouver de l’aide sonnent sans arrêt et personne pour discuter, et je ne comprends pas les instructions du début, ne parlant pas néerlandais…