Forms WM3 and WM32 for your Dutch firearms licence

By Rick

7 Oct 2026

Last checked on 6 October 2026 against the current forms on politie.nl and the Weapons and Ammunition Regulation.

Applying for a Dutch firearms licence means dealing with two forms, the WM3 and the WM32. The WM3 is about the firearm and your legitimate reason to own it. The WM32 is about you. For a first application you hand them in together, and that is exactly where things tend to go wrong, usually through a missing signature or a forgotten attachment.

Below you will find what each form asks, who fills in and signs what, and how the two fit together.

Both forms are only available in Dutch. The section names below are our translations, so you can find your way around the original.

The short version

WM3: application for a licence and for adding each firearm, one form per firearm
WM32: information form about you, with three referees, at your first application and at every renewal
Section 6 of the WM3 is completed and signed in ink by a member of your club board
You can often email a scan ahead, but the original WM3 with wet signatures is handed in when the firearm is inspected
Always download the current version from the police, outdated versions get rejected

Form WM3: licence application and adding firearms

Its full Dutch title translates as "Application for a licence to possess a (fire)arm of category III, Model WM 3". You use it when:

You apply for your first licence
You add any further firearm, with a separate form for each one
You buy a firearm from another licence holder
You are a hunter applying for the hunting permit or adding a hunting firearm, in which case section 6 is left blank

A regular annual renewal without a new firearm normally needs no WM3, only a new WM32. Some police units and clubs handle this differently, so check with your local licensing team.

Section by section

Section	What goes in	Who
1. Applicant	Name, full first names, date and place of birth, address, phone, citizen service number (BSN) and email	You
2. Firearm	Type, make, model, calibre, serial number and the reason for the request. Plus two tick boxes: is it a recognised sport shooting discipline, and does the firearm fall under EU category A6 or A7	You
3. Shooting club	Name of your recognised club, and the attachments: two passport photos for a first application and your shooting log	You
4. Additional	Whether you also want the matching ammunition, whether larger magazines are involved, and whether you already hold a licence (with its number)	You
5. Transferor	Who the firearm comes from: a licensed dealer with registration number, another licence holder with licence number, a hunting permit holder, or other. You sign below this, adding the type and number of your ID	You
6. Club declaration	Club details (Chamber of Commerce, articles, KNSA certification), the signing board member, member since, number of sessions in the twelve months before the application, your competence, the discipline(s) the firearm suits and, for semi-automatics, a magazine capacity of ten or twenty rounds	Board member

The final part is completed by the police. Leave it blank.

WM3 tips

Copy make, model, calibre and serial number exactly from the option slip or purchase agreement, one wrong digit means an error on your licence later
Make sure the discipline the board fills in is actually shot at your club, otherwise the application stalls
Filling it in on screen is fine, but print it and have it signed with a pen

Form WM32: the information form about you

The WM32 is officially the "Model WM 32 Information Form" under Article 48 of the Weapons and Ammunition Regulation. Since 23 September 2022 it has replaced the e-screener, the online test that was suspended in July 2022. Article 48a states that the assessment of your suitability consists of the chief of police reviewing this form.

You complete it for your first application and again at every renewal.

What it covers

Personal details, including nationality and country of birth
Block A, first application only: questions on major stressful circumstances, psychiatric admissions in the past eight years and traumatic experiences
Block B, follow-up applications: the same subjects, since your previous application
Block C, always: medication that could affect your actions, alcohol or drug use, physical limitations, household members involved in crime and any other remarks

Answers are yes or no, often with room to explain. A "yes" is not an automatic refusal. If in doubt, the chief of police may hold a further interview, contact your referees or ask for a doctor's statement. An incorrectly completed form, on the other hand, is a real problem, so answer truthfully.

Three referees

You name three referees, all at least eighteen, who each sign the form:

Referee 1: a housemate, first-degree relative, friend, neighbour or colleague you know well
Referee 2: someone linked to your legitimate reason, for sport shooters a (board) member of your club
Referee 3: someone from category 1 or 2

For each referee the form asks for name, address, phone, email, relationship to you and a signature consenting to the processing of their details. Referees' ID numbers have not been required since late 2022.

Ask your referees beforehand whether they are willing to sign. The police may contact them.

How the WM3 and WM32 fit together

The WM32 answers whether you are fit to own firearms. The WM3 answers which firearm it is and why you need it. A first application therefore needs both, after that it depends on what you are doing:

Situation	WM3	WM32
First licence application	Yes, per firearm	Yes
Adding a firearm during the licence year	Yes	No, unless it coincides with your renewal
Annual renewal	Usually not	Yes
Buying from another licence holder	Yes, as the buyer, with the seller's details in section 5	Only if it is your first application
Hunting permit	Yes, per firearm, without section 6	Yes

Signed in ink, original at the inspection

This is where most applications get delayed.

Every signature is a wet signature in ink: yours, your referees' on the WM32 and above all the board's declaration in section 6 of the WM3. Digital signatures or a pasted image of a signature are not accepted.

How it works in practice

You or your club can often email a scan of the signed WM3 to the licensing team so the application gets started. When you present the firearm for inspection, you hand in the original WM3 with the wet signatures. Without that original the firearm is not finally registered on your licence. Keep copies of everything you submit.

Buying a firearm from another licence holder

When you buy from another sport shooter or hunter, the transfer also runs through the WM3. Roughly:

You, the buyer, complete a WM3 with the seller's details and licence number in section 5
The licensing team adds the firearm to your licence and issues an acquisition permit
You hand that permit to the seller, who checks your ID and transfers the firearm
The seller returns the acquisition permit to the licensing team, and the firearm is removed from their licence
You present the firearm to the police within the set period and hand in your original WM3

Other forms in the WM series

The WM forms are models listed in annex III of the Weapons and Ammunition Regulation. Besides the WM3 and WM32 you may come across:

Model	Purpose
WM2	Acquisition permit, used to collect the firearm
WM4	The licence to possess itself
WM5	Licence application for club firearms, completed by the board
WM7 and WM9	Licence application for a firearms or ammunition collection
WM11	Licence application for occasional transport
WM15	Registration application for firearms dealers

Buying abroad? Then you need a customs consent on top of your WM3. Our article on import consent via the CDIU explains how.

Download the forms

We deliberately link to the official police files. That way you always use the version the licensing team accepts, even after an update.

Download WM3 (pdf, Dutch)Download WM32 (pdf, Dutch)All forms on politie.nl

If a download link stops working, go to the police forms page. File names there can change when a new version is published.

Frequently asked questions

Can I fill in the WM3 on my computer?

Yes, it is a fillable PDF. Print it afterwards though, the signatures have to be in ink.

Does the club board sign the WM32 as well?

Not as a board, but for sport shooters referee 2 is almost always a (board) member of the club, who signs in that capacity.

Do I need a new WM32 at renewal even if nothing has changed?

Yes. Every renewal comes with a newly completed WM32. You fill in blocks B and C, block A is for first applications only.

What if my circumstances change during the licence year?

You report it on your next WM32. If it is something significant, contact the licensing team yourself sooner. That goes down far better than it coming to light later.