Household goods and car to Suriname: the free exemption and the eight-year rule

The move to Suriname has a generous rule and two sharp edges. The generous rule: your used household goods enter completely tax-free. The sharp edges: that exemption hangs on papers that must be in order at the right moment — and for the car it doesn't apply at all. This article sets out the rules and the sum.

The household-goods exemption: free, provided the papers are right

For used household goods (furniture, household effects, personal belongings — no motor vehicles or vessels) a full exemption from import duties applies. For that, customs wants to see three things: your residence title from the Ministry of Justice and Police, your registration as a resident with the Centraal Bureau voor Burgerzaken (the civil registry), and your passport stamps showing your arrival.

Without those documents the rate is harsh: count on 35 to 40 per cent of the value including freight. And because the permit chain can run more slowly than the container sails, there is a deposit arrangement: you provide security with customs and get the amount back as soon as your papers are in order. Discuss that route in advance with your remover — remigrants who find out on the spot stand for weeks between the port and the counter.

Practical: while packing, make an inventory list with values stated (for the insurance and the clearance), and align the sailing date with your permit process instead of the other way round.

The car: first the eight-year rule, only then the sum

Two rules decide whether the car can come. One: passenger cars older than eight years are not allowed into Suriname — the import ban is enforced, with an exception for remigrants whose car demonstrably has belonged to the household for more than two years (and for collector items older than 25 years). Two: the household-goods exemption does not apply to vehicles — the duty is 25 per cent at a value under US$ 25,000 and 40 per cent above that, calculated on the value including freight.

The sum therefore almost always tips towards buying there: the market in Paramaribo is used to imports, people drive on the right with the steering wheel on the left just as in the Netherlands, and the duty plus freight on a car brought along often buys a comparable one locally. Bringing it along pays off mainly for the remigrant with a trusted, written-off car that has been in the family for years — precisely the exception the rule was written for.

Whoever imports after all: check the announced tightening of the import rules with customs before shipping, because the rules are moving.

Driving: the driving authorisation certificate

Another rule that works differently from almost everywhere: the Dutch driving licence cannot be exchanged in Suriname. As a tourist you drive on it only briefly; as a resident you apply at the Driving Licences department for a rijtoestemmingsbewijs (driving authorisation certificate), which you renew periodically — and only after three years of continuous driving authorisation can you obtain a Surinamese driving licence through a driving test.

Put that application in your first weeks: the certificate hangs on your registration as a resident, and without a valid document you also lose your insurance cover in a collision. Whoever knows the chain — registration, driving authorisation, only then the car purchase — drives legally and insured from the first month.