Bonaire – Residency Permit

If you’ve thought about moving to Bonaire you’re probably curious about the paperwork involved in legally making the move. I know I was and it was hard to find a first hand account of the process. We’ve just started the process so now’s a great time to document it for anyone else doing the same.

update: we’ve completed the process and have our sedulas, read on for tips on the process

We’re U.S. passport holders. The process is very similar for U.S. passport holders as it is for Dutch.

As a U.S. passport holder, you can spend 6 months of every year in Bonaire and you can work for 3 of those months without filing any paperwork. Want to stay longer? We do too.

List of Required Documentation

These are the requirements as of this writing in April of 2019. You can find the latest requirements on the immigration website.

Documents Requiring an Apostille

Every document you submit in this process requires anApostille for use in the Netherlands. We’ll arrive with all of this paperwork in hand. It’s been annoying enough to collect while we’re here in the states so I can’t imagine trying to do it from abroad.

• Birth Certificate: must be issued within the last 12 months. I was born in Massachusetts so it was a two step process for me to, 1 – order an official copy of my birth certificate, then 2 – send it for Apostille. J was born in Virginia where both can be accomplished in one step.
• Marital Status: must be issued within the last 6 months.
  • Married: a marriage certificate
  • Divorced: a divorce certificate
  • Single: single status certificate (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w.htm)
• Proof of Good Conduct/Background Check: this is issued by the FBI and must be within 3 months. A friend here in the Keys is also in the process of moving to Bonaire and he said it came back within a week.

Other Required Documents

• Declaration of Admittance by Law application form MBES08. The cost as of this writing is $132 plus a $5 transaction fee if you have to pay cash.
• Rental contract
• Employers statement MBES29 or proof of independent means producing $2,000USD per month.

Timeline

This is a two step process…

update: the full process took us almost 4 months which is on the long side.

Step 1:

You must submit the following to the immigration office within 3 months of your arrival:

1. Declaration of Admittance by Law application form MBES08
2. Employers statement MBES29 or proof of independent means
3. Proof of Good Conduct/Background Check
4. Passport
5. Proof of address (signed lease)

Once you’ve submitted the above application and paperwork in person you’ll receive a stamp in your passport. You can then register with the health department for coverage.

Tips: Residency is only processed Monday-Thursday from 8:00-11:00. You have to take a number by 11 to be seen that day. Go first thing in the morning before they officially open. The door will be unlocked and you can grab a number. We got there at 7:30 and our number was called by 8:30. When your number is called you’ll go to a booth with an agent. They’ll review everything and if it’s all in order ask for your payment. If you have to pay cash which you will if you don’t have a Maestro network card they’ll give you a payment form to take to the bank to pay. Grab another number before you go to the bank because you’ll have to wait your turn all over again after you pay and there will be a long line. I pulled my second number at 8:40 on my way to the bank and it wasn’t called till noon.

We went straight to the health department from there and filed our form. This only took 15 minutes. Pick a doctor when you file or you’ll have to wait 2 days for your choice to process when you need to see a doc.

Step 2:

Once you receive a letter from the immigration office stating you’re allowed to live on Bonaire you need to apply for your ID/Sedula. You’ll do this in person at the Burgerzaken and will need to bring the following:

1. The letter from the immigration office approving your residence.
2. Passport
3. Birth Certificate
4. Marital Status Certificate

You have to make an appointment for this. Bring all of the documentation listed above when you stop in to make your appointment or you won’t be able to make one. Our appointment was less than a week later and took about an hour. Now we can stay for 5 years! Woo hoo!