Your driving licence on Curaçao: register for free, exchange for XCG 175, and renew through the RDW

Yes, you may drive on Curaçao with your Dutch licence, and unlike on Aruba you do not have to exchange it. The proper route is to register it at Publieke Zaken (Kranshi): an online form, free, and if the papers are in order it is done on the spot. Exchanging it for a Curaçao licence is also possible, without an exam, for XCG 175, with a doctor's statement at most two months old and a certificate of authenticity from the Netherlands. The find at the RDW: that certificate costs € 5.10, arrives within ten working days and may go to a foreign address, but only by post; it does not go by e-mail. The pitfall is not a deadline, because there is none, but the day your Dutch licence expires. Renewing is then only possible at the RDW through a Dutch correspondence address, or you exchange after all on the island, and that must happen before the licence has been expired for more than six months.

May I drive with my Dutch licence?

On living outside the EU and EFTA the RDW says: ask the authority in the country where you live whether you may keep driving with your Dutch licence. On Curaçao that answer is the digital desk: a licence from a country party to the Geneva Convention is registered at the driving licence department. The Netherlands is such a country. You fill in the online form, present your foreign licence and a valid identity document (sédula or passport), and if the documents meet the conditions your licence is registered immediately. You collect the document at Kranshi on the Roodeweg, or have it sent by post or e-mail. Costs: none.

So this is a clock that does not tick: there is no legal deadline for registering or exchanging, a rarity on an island full of deadlines. The practical reason to do it anyway: whoever asks for a Curaçao document gets one.

When do I exchange, and what do I bring?

Exchanging is possible as long as your Dutch licence is valid or has been expired for less than six months, and it must have been issued before you settled on Curaçao. You submit the request online; the file consists of:

• your declaration of admission by operation of law (or a residence permit for an indefinite period);
• your valid Dutch licence;
• a valid Curaçao identity document: sédula or passport;
• a doctor's statement, no older than two months;
• a certificate of authenticity from the country that issued the licence.

That last one is the paper you arrange in the Netherlands. The RDW issues an original, certified document in English stating whether and how you are in the driving licence register, with your categories and validity. You can apply online; the RDW assesses within ten working days and sends the certificate by post the next working day. If you already live on Curaçao and are no longer registered in the Netherlands, you fill in a foreign correspondence address. For whoever is sure of exchanging one day, it is smarter to request the certificate before departure: then it is ready the moment you need it.

Route	Cost	Timing	What you need
Register at Kranshi	free	immediate, no appointment	Dutch licence, sédula or passport
Exchange for a Curaçao licence	XCG 175	no legal deadline; licence valid or expired less than 6 months	declaration by operation of law, doctor's statement (max. 2 months old), RDW certificate of authenticity
RDW certificate of authenticity	€ 5.10	assessed within 10 working days, sent by post	online application, also to a foreign address
Renew Dutch licence at the RDW	€ 36.40	form within 10 working days, licence within 5 working days after approval	not registered in the Netherlands, EU/EFTA nationality, Dutch correspondence address, photo and passport copy

What if my Dutch licence expires?

Then you have two routes. The first is renewing at the RDW, and that is possible precisely because Curaçao lies outside the EU and EFTA; whoever lives in an EU country may not. Conditions: you are not registered at an address in the Netherlands, you have an EU/EFTA nationality and you give a Dutch correspondence address, because the RDW sends no post abroad. You request a form (within ten working days at that address), return the original with a colour passport photo at most six months old, a copy of your passport and your Dutch licence, and pay € 36.40. After approval the new licence arrives within five working days at the correspondence address. For category C or D a CBR medical examination is added.

The second route is exchanging on the island, and that is where the only real clock sits: the desk only exchanges a licence that is valid or expired for less than six months.

What is the pitfall?

Whoever lets the Dutch licence expire and waits more than six months can no longer exchange on Curaçao and has no Dutch address left to renew at the RDW without help from family. Put the expiry date in your diary on the day you land, and decide six months beforehand which of the two routes you take.

If the car did not come along, the week after your sédula is the week of buying; your licence is registered by then, and the rest of the paperwork belongs to the seller and the Tax Administration.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Curaçao or go straight to step 5.1 in the open plan.