Bonaire · within the Kingdom
Emigrating to Bonaire
A special municipality of the Netherlands, nine hours' flight away — and the most expensive mistake in thinking is "it's just the Netherlands anyway". The admission law applies to Dutch citizens there too, your health insurance and AOW accrual do stop, the currency is the dollar and there's no unemployment benefit. This page shows how the chain really runs: declaration, five-day clock, sédula, and the system that's surprisingly mild after that.
€ 299 one-off · 32 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Within the Kingdom — by operation of law, with real conditions
- The chain
- IND declaration → registration within 5 days → sédula → health insurance
- Note
- No unemployment benefit, and social assistance asks five years' residence
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from orientation to being settled
No visa, no language barrier, not even a foreign country — and still a journey with real clocks: an IND declaration of two months, a registration period of five days, and an exemption permit that has to be arranged before the container. Whoever knows the chain is settled in months.
- 1
Orientation
The Netherlands, but not the Netherlands you know
Bonaire has been a special municipality since 2010 — with an admission law of its own that expressly applies to Dutch citizens too: housing and sufficient means are legal requirements. In this phase you learn what does stop (healthcare, AOW accrual, all benefits) and look the safety net straight in the eye: there's no unemployment benefit, social assistance asks five years' residence, and pension outside the public sector is a negotiating point. The buffer in the bank is your insurance here.
- 2
Closing the Netherlands
Everything that looks like "just the Netherlands" does stop here
For the SVB and the benefits office you're a foreigner from the day you move: the Zvw policy ends (with proof, because the island asks for it), all benefits stop, and the protective assessment falls under the stricter non-EU regime. Two windfalls stand against that: your accrued AOW comes along at the full rate — single rate included — and Bonaire taxes it as country of residence, at the milder BES rate.
- 3
The move
Customs want their papers up front
The container asks for an exemption permit before shipping — six months' ownership, import within six months of settling. The car has the stricter rule almost everyone misses: twelve months' ownership, otherwise 25% on value plus freight, and the BPM refund doesn't exist outside the EU. The dog may come along without a titre test, but with a vaccination clock of three weeks.
- 4
Registration on Bonaire
Five days that carry the whole journey
The chain is fixed: home (an admission requirement), the declaration of admission by operation of law at the IND (USD 171, aiming for two months), and then the sharpest deadline of the route — within five days of the approval the whole family registers in person at Civil Affairs, with the proof of deregistration from the Netherlands. After that follow the sédula, since the end of 2025 automatically a BSN, the health insurance that then runs by itself, and the bank account in dollars.
- 5
Arrival
Almost nothing happens by itself — and then everything becomes normal
The child benefit ($ 239 per child) you have to apply for, tax runs via a portal of its own, the car wants clearing within the permit period, and electricity at fifty dollar cents per kilowatt-hour teaches you to treat the air conditioning differently. The driving licence is the windfall: simply valid, no exchange duty. And healthcare has wings — what the island can't do, the insurance flies along with you to Curaçao, Colombia or the Netherlands.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Bonaire journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 4.3 of your plan
Within five days: register at Burgerzaken
- Lead time
- the clock is five days after the IND approval
- Costs
- free
The sharpest clock of the route: within five days of the IND approval you make an appointment and appear — with the whole family, in person — at Burgerzaken on the Kaya Neerlandia. Bring: passports, the IND declaration and the proof of deregistration from the Dutch BRP (phase 2). Registration in the basic administration is free, and since November 2025 you automatically get a BSN with it — the islands are connected to the Dutch number system, though the old ID number continues to exist alongside the BSN for the time being. Note: the counter is closed on Fridays.
What this step rests on
This is step 4.3 of 32. The other 31 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
What it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 3.000 – € 7.700
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden€ 2.500 – € 6.500
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 150 – € 250
- De verhuizing
- € 350 – € 900
- De eerste maanden
- € 2.500 – € 6.500
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- Verklaring toelating van rechtswege€ 150 – € 200
- Akten en sédula's(estimate)€ 25 – € 55
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 350 – € 900
Vliegen, enkele reis Amsterdam-Kralendijk. Drie maatschappijen vliegen rechtstreeks — KLM, TUI en sinds eind 2024 ook Corendon — en die concurrentie drukt de prijs buiten het hoogseizoen. Geen alternatief over de weg; dit is de overzeese bestemming.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden(estimate)€ 2.500 – € 6.500
De woningmarkt is de grootste post: het aanbod is schaars, een woning met twee à drie slaapkamers kost al gauw 2.000 dollar per maand, en de gebruikelijke borg is één à twee maanden. Reken daarbovenop de aansluitkosten en voorschotten van WEB — stroom kost er ruim 50 dollarcent per kilowattuur, en de airco is de stille grootverbruiker — plus boodschappen die als importeiland fors boven het Nederlandse peil liggen. De eerste weken zonder lokale bankrekening pin je op de Nederlandse pas, met buitenlandkosten per transactie.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 7 to 8% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 17.500 to € 20.000.
Bij een bestaande woning betaal je 5% overdrachtsbelasting; bij nieuwbouw geldt in plaats daarvan 8% ABB. Notariskosten liggen tussen de 1 en 1,5% en de kadastrale inschrijving rond de 0,5%. Eén punt dat echt scheelt: over roerende goederen is geen overdrachtsbelasting verschuldigd, dus het loont om die bij de onderhandeling apart te benoemen.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 23 August 2026.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Bonaire, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Bonaire: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that only a short update when something in Bonaire really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on Bonaire
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Arrival
- 2 min
Buying a house on Bonaire: 5% at purchase — and after that living there yourself makes the difference
Bonaire is the Caribbean Netherlands, and you notice it at purchase: a Dutch notary, a transfer tax of 5% via the deed, and a tax office that is simply called belastingdienst-cn.nl. After that one question counts: do you live there yourself? The owner-occupied home is exempt from the property tax that second homes and rented-out property do pay every year.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Healthcare on Bonaire: one hospital, and the plane tickets are in the package
On Bonaire you are insured by operation of law as a resident — without a premium, without an excess. What the island can't do, the insurance arranges with medical referrals abroad to Curaçao, Colombia or the Netherlands, including tickets and accommodation. The flip side: a dental package that is virtually empty from the age of eighteen, and a transition gap you have to insure yourself.
Updated 7 September 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 9 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and why "just staying registered" isn't an option.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.