Registration and numbers in Suriname: from the Aliens Service to the CBB, and only then the ID card

How do you register when you go to live in Suriname? In three steps the government itself lists: you report to the Aliens Service of the Ministry of Justice and Police for a temporary or permanent residence, you take the minister's decision to the Central Bureau for Civil Affairs, aliens department, and then to the Bureau for Civil Affairs of your place of residence. The finding at the source is what the ID card requires: a foreigner only gets it with a settlement permit for an indefinite period, and the passport must then carry three stamps, from the Aliens Police, from the CBB's aliens registration and from the Bureau for Civil Affairs. The pitfall is the order: anyone who starts at the bank or the SZF is sent back to the registration.

Which counters, in which order?

Step	Counter	What you bring or get
1. Apply for residence	Aliens Service, Mr. J. Lachmonstraat, Paramaribo	petition to the minister, revenue stamp SRD 1.50, passport copies, proof of means of subsistence, deposit slip US$ 150
2. Register the decision	CBB, aliens department	the minister's decision and your passport
3. Register as a resident	Bureau for Civil Affairs of your place of residence	declare settlement from abroad; the international proof of deregistration from the Netherlands
4. Extracts	Population Register or digital ID	SRD 1 per statement at the counter; online free from age 18
5. ID card	Bureau for Civil Affairs	only with residence for an indefinite period; extract, statement of registration, decision, passport with three stamps
6. Tax number (FIN)	Tax Administration, online portal	copy of identity document; needed for income tax and AOV

What does the Population Register do?

The Population Register registers everyone lawfully settled in Suriname, regardless of nationality, and the source document is a birth certificate. As a resident with a foreign nationality you bring your decision on admission or settlement and your passport on every visit. You declare your settlement from abroad there, later a move within Suriname, and one day your departure. What you get from it: extracts, including the separate extracts for the SZF, the AOV fund and the driving licence, a proof of registration for foreigners, a certificate of unmarried status and an attestation de vita. Each statement costs SRD 1 at the counter.

You request the international proof of deregistration in the Netherlands from your municipality, on the day you deregister and only if that day is also your emigration date; NederlandWereldwijd warns that you will not get it later. Bring it, together with fresh birth and marriage certificates.

No registration, no chain. The bank asks for a CBB extract, the SZF for an extract and your residence document, the Driving Licence Department for an extract and an ID card for the conversion after three years, and customs for your residence title and your registration for the household goods exemption. Everything hangs on step 3. Put it in your first weeks and not after.

When do you get an ID card?

The identity card is a proof of registration in the Population Register, and a foreigner qualifies for it with a settlement permit for an indefinite period, issued by decision of the minister. Anyone with a residence permit for a fixed period therefore has no ID card yet and identifies with their passport and their decision; the SZF says so literally too. For the application you bring an extract from the Population Register, a statement of registration, the decision and your passport with the three stamps. In case of theft a new card costs SRD 10 and a police statement.

Anyone of Surinamese origin can apply directly for residence for an indefinite period and therefore gets the card sooner; anyone who came via the MKV first gets a permit of at most two years and applies for the extension no later than three months before expiry. How those routes work is in the residence routes to Suriname.

Which numbers come after that?

Two. At the Tax Administration you register through the online portal and get a Fiscal Identification Number, the FIN; since January 2025 the income tax return of natural persons runs on it, and anyone who was already liable to tax before 2025 registers physically at the counter with a copy of their identity document. And at e-Government you create an account for the digital ID, with which from age 18 you request extracts and nationality statements free of charge, with a QR code that banks and institutions can check. The driving licence, the SZF and the bank each have their own article; the whole journey is in the step-by-step plan for Suriname.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Suriname or go straight to step 5.2 in the open plan.