Your first weeks on Saba: the e-mail to the IND, the Census Office, the ID card and only then the rest

The first weeks on Saba are not a list but a chain, and on an island of two thousand people every link is one counter with short opening hours. The IND declaration opens the Census Office, the Census Office opens the ID card and the BSN, the ID card opens the health insurance and the bank, and the registration opens the CRIB number your employer asks for. What it costs: USD 171 for the declaration, $ 14 per adult and $ 3 per child for the ID card, and nothing else. What it demands: the proof of deregistration from the Netherlands and a birth certificate, on paper, and the discipline to request the IND appointment by e-mail while still in the Netherlands. The trap is the island's clock: the IND is open four mornings, the Census Office closes at eleven on Friday, and the ZJCN counter is by appointment only on Friday.

What is the first link?

The declaration by operation of law, compulsory for whoever lives on the island for more than 180 days per 365 or stays more than 90 days and works. You request the appointment by e-mail via INDSaba@rijksdienstcn.com, with the names and dates of birth of the whole family; within three weeks you receive a date. You arrive a quarter of an hour before that time at Cap. Matthew Levenstone Street in The Bottom, Monday to Thursday between eight and twelve, with your passport, the completed form, proof of housing and proof of income not below the minimum wage. Only complete applications are processed; after payment of USD 171 you receive proof that the application is pending, and the IND aims for two months with a legal maximum of six. How admission works is in admission and registration on Saba.

What do you take to the Census Office?

After approval registration is compulsory, and the Public Entity asks of whoever was not born on the islands: a valid passport, a birth certificate, the proof of deregistration from your previous place of residence, proof of your address on Saba and the IND residence document. Everyone, including a minor, must appear in person. The office at Power Street 1 is open Monday to Thursday from 08.30 to 11.30 and from 13.15 to 16.00, on Friday until 11.00. On registration you automatically receive a BSN, and after that you apply with your passport for the ID card, $ 14 per adult and $ 3 per child, from age twelve.

Link	Deadline, amount or opening hours
Appointment at the IND	by e-mail; reply within 3 weeks
Declaration by operation of law	USD 171; aim 2 months, at most 6
IND counter Saba	Mon to Thu 08.00–12.00, Friday closed
Registration Census Office	whole family in person; Mon to Thu 08.30–11.30 and 13.15–16.00, Fri until 11.00
ID card	$ 14 adult, $ 3 child; from age 12
BSN	automatic on registration
Health insurance ZJCN	provisional on the IND decision, definitive with the ID card; Mon to Thu 08.00–12.00 and 13.00–16.30, Friday by appointment
CRIB number	automatic for 15- to 65-year-olds; collect Mon to Fri 09.00–13.00 with identification
Child benefit	by e-mail; at most 8 weeks' processing, 12 months retroactive
Electricity connection SEC	address, identification, owner's signature, deposit

What can only happen after registration?

Two counters. Zorg en Jeugd Caribisch Nederland only registers you after you are in the population register: provisionally on the IND decision, definitively once your ID card is there, with the proof of the end date of your Dutch health insurance; whoever has a local employment contract can already be covered for three months on an employer's statement. The start date is the date of the IND decision, which is why ZJCN itself advises bridging the weeks before with your own insurance; the office is on Clement Sorton Street in The Bottom. How the system works after that is in healthcare on Saba. The second counter is the bank, and it wants to see your ID card and your CRIB number; the Tax Administration creates that number automatically and you collect it in person on Matthew Levenstone Street. Read bank and payments on Saba for the dollar, the euro transfer and the island's one bank.

Bring the proof of deregistration and the birth certificate, on paper. You only get the proof straight away from your Dutch municipality if your deregistration date is your departure date; afterwards it runs through an RNI municipality. Without those two documents the Census Office does not register you, and without registration every following counter stays closed.

What else belongs in the first month?

The child benefit of $ 238 per child: apply by e-mail to the RCN unit SZW, with the SVB's termination letter attached, at most twelve months retroactive and legally eight weeks' processing, so better in week one than in month eleven. The school in St. John's, where compulsory education applies from age four; see school on Saba. And the utilities: Saba Electric Company only connects after a deposit and a contract the owner of the house co-signs, so you have that conversation with your landlord before you move in. Whoever wants the whole order with the clocks finds it in the step-by-step plan on /saba.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Saba or go straight to step 4.3 in the open plan.