Leaving from Belgium?To the Belgian plan →See the plan for Belgians moving to Bonaire →This plan is for people leaving the Netherlands.
Bonaire · Within the Kingdom
Emigrating to Bonaire
Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands, nine hours' flight away, but moving here is a real emigration. The admission law applies to Dutch citizens there too. Your health insurance and AOW accrual stop, you pay in dollars and there's no unemployment benefit. The order: an IND declaration, registration within five days, then the sédula (your identity card on the island). After that the system is surprisingly mild.
€ 299 one-off · 35 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Within the Kingdom: admission by operation of law, with real conditions
- The chain
- IND declaration → registration within 5 days → sédula → health insurance
- Note
- No unemployment benefit, and social assistance (onderstand) asks five years' residence
Last updated: 14 October 2026
Will your departure date work? Check it in the free step-by-step plan →
Five phases, from orientation to being settled
You need no visa, there's no language barrier and you don't even leave the country. Still, this journey has hard deadlines. The IND aims for two months for its declaration. After the approval you have five days to register. And the exemption permit, which lets you bring your belongings without import tax, has to be arranged before the container leaves. Whoever knows the order is settled in months.
- Orientation
The Netherlands, but not the Netherlands you know
In this phase you find out what changes and how thin the safety net is. Bonaire has been a special municipality since 2010, with an admission law of its own that expressly applies to Dutch citizens too. In it, housing and sufficient means are legal requirements. Your health insurance, your AOW accrual and all benefits stop. There's no unemployment benefit. Social assistance, the island's onderstand, asks five years' residence. Outside the public sector, pension is something you negotiate with your employer. So the buffer in the bank is your insurance here.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
Everything that looks like "just the Netherlands" does stop here
In this phase you close things down in the Netherlands, and more stops than you expect. For the SVB and the benefits office you're a foreigner from the day you move. Your Zvw policy, the Dutch basic health insurance, ends. Keep the proof, because the island asks for it. All benefits stop. And the protective assessment, the tax assessment on your accrued pension when you leave, falls under the stricter non-EU regime. Two windfalls stand against that. Your accrued AOW comes along at the full rate, single rate included. And Bonaire taxes it as country of residence, at the milder BES rate of the Caribbean Netherlands.Read more
- The move
Customs want their papers up front
In this phase you arrange the papers for customs, and you do that before shipping. For the container you apply for an exemption permit. The conditions: six months' ownership, and import within six months of settling. The car has a stricter rule that almost everyone misses: twelve months' ownership. Otherwise you pay 25% on the value plus freight. And a refund of BPM, the Dutch tax paid when buying a car, doesn't exist outside the EU. The dog may come along without a titre test, a blood test for rabies antibodies. A vaccination clock of three weeks does apply.Read more
- Registration on Bonaire
Five days that carry the whole journey
In this phase you become a resident of Bonaire, in a fixed order. First the home, because it's an admission requirement. Then the declaration of admission by operation of law at the IND: the proof that as a Dutch citizen you meet the admission requirements. It costs USD 171, and the IND aims for two months. Then comes the sharpest deadline of the route. Within five days of the approval the whole family registers in person at Civil Affairs, with the proof of deregistration from the Netherlands. Since November 2025 you automatically get a BSN there. After that follow the sédula, the health insurance that then runs by itself, and the bank account in dollars.Read more
- Arrival
Almost nothing happens by itself, and then everything becomes normal
In this phase you set up your life on the island, and you apply for almost everything yourself. The child benefit ($ 239 per child) only comes once you apply for it. Tax runs via a portal of its own. The car has to be cleared through customs within the permit period. Electricity costs fifty dollar cents per kilowatt-hour, and that teaches you to treat the air conditioning differently. The driving licence is the windfall: it simply stays valid and you don't need to exchange it. And healthcare travels with you. What the island can't do, the insurance arranges in Curaçao, Colombia or the Netherlands, and flies you there.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Bonaire journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 4.3 of your plan
Within five days: register at Burgerzaken
- Lead time
- the clock is five days after the IND approval
- Costs
- free
With this registration you officially become a resident of Bonaire, and you get a BSN. It's the sharpest clock of the whole plan: you have five days for it after the IND approval.
Here's how to go about it:
- Make an appointment and appear within five days of the approval at Burgerzaken, the island's civil registry office, on the Kaya Neerlandia.
- Come with the whole family, in person.
- Bring along: the passports, the IND declaration and the proof of deregistration from the Dutch BRP (from phase 2).
Note: the counter is closed on Fridays.
Registration in the basic administration is free. Since November 2025 you automatically get a BSN with it. The islands are connected to the Dutch number system. The old ID number does continue to exist alongside the BSN for the time being.
What this step rests on
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Bonaire.
This is step 4.3 of 37. The other 36 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 37 steps for BonaireWhat you get for € 299
All 37 steps to Bonaire, for your situation
In order, with the office and the official source at every step. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear.
Your deadlines in one place
For each step you see the latest date to start, and you get a heads-up before something is due or expires. Your documents sit in the vault, with their dates.
A plan that stays right
Twice a month we check the sources. If something changes, it's in your plan and you get a message.
The step-by-step plan for Bonaire
€ 299
one-off · 37 steps
- Pay once, no subscription
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Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Bonaire: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Bonaire change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Bonaire? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Bonaire starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
On 2 January we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Bonaire
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Working on Bonaire: freely, but without a safety netDutch citizens may work freely on Bonaire, and the minimum wage has been raised sharply. But unemployment insurance doesn't exist there yet, social assistance requires five years of residence, and pension outside the public sector is a negotiating point. The honest story about working on an island without a backstop, with what is arranged in case of illness, dismissal and your own business.
- AOW, AOV and the BES taxes: what stops and what travels with youWhoever moves to Bonaire stops accruing AOW — for the SVB the Caribbean Kingdom counts as abroad. But the AOW already accrued travels with you at the full rate, Bonaire taxes it as country of residence at the milder BES rate of 29.4% above a tax-free allowance of USD 21,956, and box 3 doesn't exist there. The pension sum of the friendliest tax move within the Kingdom.
- Your car to Bonaire: the twelve-month ruleThe household removal exemption on Bonaire also applies to the car — but with a stricter requirement: twelve months of ownership and use. Below that you pay 25% on value plus freight, and the Dutch bpm refund doesn't exist outside the EU. The whole sum, from the RDW export of € 12 to the motor vehicle tax of $ 190 for petrol and $ 838 for diesel.
- Your dog or cat to Bonaire: 21 days after the jab, 15 weeks old and no titre testA dog or cat may enter Bonaire with a health declaration from an accredited vet and a rabies vaccination given at least 21 days before departure; the animal is then at least fifteen weeks old. A titre test is not required. What does take time: getting the requirements from the NVWA and the legalisation in Utrecht, which you request at least fourteen working days in advance.
- Your household goods to Bonaire: the exemption you apply for before shippingHousehold removal goods may enter the Caribbean Netherlands tax-free, but only with a permit from Customs that you apply for in advance, with a signed list. The rules: six months in your possession, import within six months of settling, no selling for twelve months. Without the permit you pay 8% on the value including freight, and on the Dutch side an export declaration with an inventory list is required.
- Bank and payments on Bonaire: the dollar, the CRIB number and the guarantee up to $ 25,000On Bonaire the dollar has been legal tender since 1 January 2011, and a transfer from the Netherlands is not a SEPA payment but an international one with extra costs. What you need: a registration, your sédula and the CRIB number the Tax Administration creates automatically. What you get: a deposit guarantee up to $ 25,000 per person per bank since 2025.
All 13 articles about Bonaire
- Renting on Bonaire: dollars, the Rent Commission and the $ 979 threshold
- Your first weeks on Bonaire: the declaration, five days, the sédula and only then the rest
- Moving to Bonaire: emigration within your own country
- Buying a house on Bonaire: 5% at purchase — and after that living there yourself makes the difference
- Your driving licence on Bonaire: recognised as equal, valid five years, and the RDW route that does exist
- Children and school on Bonaire: Dutch education, one secondary school and $ 239 child benefit
- Healthcare on Bonaire: one hospital, and the flights are in the package
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Bonaire: 37 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.