Guyana · Visa required
Emigrating to Guyana
With a Dutch passport you don't need a visa for Guyana. On arrival you get a stay of at most three months, which you can have extended online. So getting in is easy, staying isn't: Guyana has no route for retirees, with a fixed income amount. Whoever stays has a purpose: work through an employer, business, study, or a Guyanese partner. With the Netherlands there's no tax treaty, no social security treaty and no healthcare treaty. So the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW and your pension, whoever goes alone gets the AOW for married people, and a policy of your own replaces the CAK.
€ 399 one-off · 36 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- In without a visa; staying with a landing permit for work, business or study, or as a dependant of a Guyanese citizen
- The clock
- At most three months on arrival, extend before the date in your passport; within three days the registration as an alien
- Note
- No tax treaty, no social security treaty and no healthcare treaty: the Netherlands keeps taxing, a single person gets the married rate of the AOW, and a policy instead of the CAK
Last updated: 16 October 2026
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Five phases, from the grounds to stay to your first return
This journey turns on one question and three treaties that don't exist. The question is on what grounds you stay. Getting in goes without a visa, with at most three months on arrival. But Guyana knows no stay on a pension or on fixed income. You stay with a purpose: work through an employer, business, study, or a Guyanese partner. The treaties are quickly told: a tax treaty, a social security treaty and a healthcare treaty with the Netherlands don't exist. What that costs is in the plan, step by step.
- Orientation
In without a visa, a purpose to stay, and three treaties that don't exist
In this phase you learn how living in Guyana works, and what it does to your income and your healthcare. With a Dutch passport you enter without a visa. The immigration officer gives you at most three months on arrival, and the law allows extensions up to at most three years after entry. There's no route for retirees. There's no tax treaty: the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW and pension, and Guyana taxes you as a resident after more than 183 days in the year. Guyana is no treaty country for the AOW: whoever goes alone gets the AOW for married people. And without a healthcare treaty there's no CAK.Read more
- Your visa
Choosing a route, the extension on time, and the landing permit through your employer
In this phase you choose on what grounds you stay, and prepare your application. As a visitor you extend online, for 5,125 GYD a time, about 22 euros, with at most two extensions of three months. You may not work with it. Whoever is going to work has the employer arrange the landing permit before arrival; by then the vacancy has first been in the newspaper for three months. For business there's a landing permit of its own, with a sponsor in Guyana. A Guyanese partner makes you a dependant of a citizen. Your papers get an apostille, and whatever isn't in English, a translation.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
No tax treaty, the married rate, and no CAK
In this phase you work through the familiar list for closing down in the Netherlands, and with this country it weighs heavily. Without a tax treaty the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW, your government pension, your occupational pension and your annuity, and you get no tax credit. Guyanese law names "pensions" in one sentence with benefits for government staff; how far that exemption reaches is unclear. The GRA writes "pension may not be taxable". Have it confirmed in writing before you leave. Whoever goes alone gets the AOW for married people. There's no CAK: your policy has to be accepted before you deregister. And whoever leaves before the AOW age can insure themselves voluntarily within one year.Read more
- The move
Settler status for your household goods, and a car that as a rule won't be registered
In this phase you move the household goods, the car and the pet. With settler status you import your household and personal effects without import duty. You apply for that status at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and within three months of entry you show that you'll stay at least three years. For the car the answer is short: Guyana drives on the left, and a car with the steering wheel on the left isn't registered, unless the Minister directs otherwise. So you sell it here and buy another one there. Your dog or cat needs an import permit from the GLDA, and you give notice of arrival 24 hours ahead.Read more
- Arrival in Guyana
Three days for the registration, then healthcare, TIN, bank and licence
In this phase you arrange your stay, your numbers, your healthcare and your bank after landing. An alien aged sixteen or over registers within three days of entry. You put the end date from your passport in your diary, and apply for the extension before that date. You get a TIN at the GRA, for 1,000 GYD and free from age 65. Your Dutch driving licence is valid for 60 days; whoever lives in Guyana then gets a Guyanese licence. And after more than 183 days you're a resident for tax, with a return before 30 April.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Guyana journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 5.1 of your plan
The first days: the date in your passport, and registering as an alien
- Lead time
- the first week
- Costs
- none
In this step you arrange your first days. First look at the stamp in your passport. It states what you were admitted for, and until what date. Put that date in your diary, and three weeks before it the day you apply for the extension. See step 2.2.
Registering as an alien. A Dutch national is an alien in Guyana: the constitution calls that whoever isn't a citizen of a Commonwealth country or of Ireland. The Aliens (Immigration and Registration) Act says:
- An alien aged 16 or over registers within three days of entry with a registration officer. The Commissioner of Police heads that registration.
- You give your nationality, your occupation, your address in Guyana and your last address outside it, and you show your passport.
- If you move within Guyana, you report it within three days.
How that registration runs today isn't on the ministries' sites. On arrival ask the immigration officer where to report, and write down what he says.
What this step rests on
- Aliens (Immigration and Registration) Act, Cap. 14:03, section 5(2) — an alien aged 16 or over registers within three days of entry
- Aliens (Immigration and Registration) Act, Cap. 14:03, section 7(2) — a change of residence you report within three days
- Constitution of Guyana, article 232 — an alien: whoever isn't a citizen of a Commonwealth country or of Ireland
- Immigration Act, Cap. 14:02, section 12 — the stay and the extension
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Guyana.
This is step 5.1 of 36. The other 35 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 36 steps for GuyanaEvery step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Guyana: 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 Guyana change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, and now and then we send one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
What will your move to Guyana cost? Work it out →Also want to know whether your departure date is feasible? Take the departure scan: seven questions, and you see your whole plan in miniature →
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Guyana? 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 Guyana 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
In December 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 Guyana
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Healthcare in Guyana: no CAK, no S1, so your own insuranceGuyana is not on the CAK's list of treaty countries. Anyone who moves there therefore keeps no Dutch cover through an S1 form and arranges their own health insurance. If you work as an employee, the NIS reimburses medical expenses when you are ill. The ministry's schemes, such as the GYD 10,000 health voucher, are for Guyanese citizens.
- Residence routes to Guyana: visit, work, business or studyWith a Dutch passport you need no visa for Guyana. At the border you get a stay of at most three months, which the Chief Immigration Officer can extend to at most three years after arrival. Anyone who wants to work comes in on a landing permit that the employer applies for in advance. We found no separate route for retirees.
- Working in Guyana: the work permit through the employer, NIS and taxAnyone who takes a job in Guyana comes in on a landing permit that the employer applies for in advance with the Ministry of Home Affairs. The vacancy must first have been advertised in the newspapers for three consecutive months. 5.6 percent of your wages goes to the NIS; above the personal allowance of 140,000 Guyanese dollars a month you pay 25 percent tax, and 35 percent on chargeable income above 3,360,000 a year.
- AOW, pension and tax in Guyana: no tax treaty, no social security treatyThe Netherlands and Guyana have no tax treaty and no social security treaty. The Netherlands therefore keeps taxing your AOW, your occupational pension and your annuity. A single person receives the AOW for married people: 50 instead of 70 percent of the net minimum wage. Guyana taxes a resident on income from Guyana and elsewhere, at 25 and 35 percent; have its treatment of a Dutch pension confirmed in advance.
- Car and driving licence in Guyana: 60 days of driving, the settler scheme and the inspectionWith your Dutch driving licence you may drive in Guyana for 60 days after arrival; after that you need a permit from the GRA or a Guyanese licence. A car with the steering wheel on the left as a rule won't be registered there; since 2020 there has been no age limit on imports. Anyone recognised as a settler pays no import duty and no VAT, only a reduced excise tax of 5 to 30 percent. A used car has needed an inspection certificate since 2025.
- Pets to Guyana: the GLDA import permit and the way backA dog or cat may only enter Guyana with an import permit from the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), valid for three months for a single entry, and a health certificate from the official veterinarian. A dog must be at least four months old and microchipped. Guyana is not on the EU list: anyone who wants to return to the Netherlands needs a rabies blood test.
All 13 articles about Guyana
- Household goods to Guyana: the settler exemption, the box rates and what is prohibited
- Banking and payments in Guyana: the Guyanese dollar, exchange and deposit insurance
- The first weeks in Guyana: the clocks that start running on arrival
- Buying a house in Guyana: the transport, the advertisement and the taxes
- Renting in Guyana: the contract, rent protection and withholding tax
- Registration and numbers in Guyana: TIN, NIS and registering as an alien
- School in Guyana: compulsory schooling, the immunisation certificate and papers from the Netherlands
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Guyana: 36 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.