What changes financially when you move to Bonaire?
Tick where your income comes from. You then see which rules Bonaire and the Netherlands apply to your situation: which country may tax you, which schemes exist and how you get insured. With the source, so you can check it yourself.
This applies to everyone who moves. Tick above what applies to you, and the rest will appear.
Health insurance
How do you get insured, and what do you pay for it?
Insured without a policy, premium or excess
If you lawfully live or work on Bonaire, you are insured by operation of law: automatically, through Zorg en Jeugd Caribisch Nederland. You have no policy, pay no nominal premium (the fixed premium to an insurer) and have no excess.
Cover is broad. What the island cannot do is handled by a medical referral to Curaçao, Colombia or the Netherlands, including tickets and accommodation. In the European pension countries your care runs through the CAK and an S1 form. That construction does not exist here: pensioners are simply insured as residents, like everyone else. The flip side: from the age of eighteen the dental package is virtually empty.
Source: ZJCN — emigrating to the Caribbean Netherlands: insured by operation of law after registration — checked on 2026-09-11
Read the whole storyBetween arrival and registration you are uninsured
You can only register with the health insurance office once your residence is settled. Between your arrival and that moment you are uninsured.
The health insurance office itself advises bridging those weeks with temporary insurance. Arrange it before departure, not after. Also be aware that on registration the office demands proof of the end date of your Dutch policy. So request that from your insurer.
Where this comes from: The transition gap and the proof of termination from the knowledge article on healthcare on Bonaire; the health insurance office describes the bridging as its own advice.
Read the whole storyWhat the Netherlands doesn't let go of
Which Dutch obligation travels with you?
Your AOW accrual stops on departure, repair is possible within one year
This is about the accrual, not the payment. What you've built up until you leave stays yours. But as soon as you're no longer insured in the Netherlands, you build up nothing more. Every year until your AOW age then costs 2% of your later AOW. If you already receive AOW, this no longer applies.
For most emigrants the insurance ends at the moment of departure. If you keep working in the Netherlands or are posted abroad by your employer, you can stay insured. Voluntary continued insurance with the SVB closes the gap, for ten years at most. That is only possible if your application is in within one year of your compulsory insurance ending. And you must have been insured for at least a year directly before that. The premium depends on your income and is revised every year, so no amount is given here. Put that date in your diary before you go.
- reduction per uninsured year
- 2% of your AOW
- application for voluntary insurance
- no later than 1 year after your insurance ends
- duration of voluntary insurance
- 10 years at most
Source: Algemene Ouderdomswet (General Old Age Pensions Act) — article 13(1) (2% reduction per uninsured calendar year), article 35(1) (voluntary insurance, ten years at most) and article 36(1) (application no later than one year after the compulsory insurance ends) — checked on 2026-09-19
Read the whole storyYour Dutch basic health insurance stops, and you need the proof
Your basic health insurance stops when you deregister from the Netherlands. On Bonaire the health insurance office even asks for proof of the end date when you register.
So request that proof from your insurer when you cancel. What replaces it is unusually simple here: you are insured by operation of law, without a premium bill. But that only applies once your registration is complete. You bridge the gap before that yourself.
Where this comes from: The registration requirement from the knowledge article on healthcare on Bonaire.
Read the whole storyThis is not tax advice
These are the rules that apply to your situation, not the outcome of them. Bonaire is constitutionally part of the Netherlands, but for tax purposes it is a foreign country. That produces a surprisingly favourable picture, with two sharp edges. What the rules together mean for your pension and assets is for a tax adviser who knows the BES system: the tax system of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. Take this list to that conversation. Then you know which questions to ask.
Still deciding between countries? Put the rules of two or three countries side by side
Then actually doing it
Knowing which rules apply is the first half. The second is applying them in time: in the right order, without missing a deadline, and with your documents at hand.
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.