What does emigrating to Bonaire cost?
Four questions, and you have an honest range for your situation — with for every item whether it's a checked rate or an estimate. The paperwork stays under four hundred euros here; the money is in the crossing and the first months on an import island where the rents are in dollars.
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.
From range to your own budget
The calculator above works with four questions; the journey itself knows more. In Vertrekklaar the same model calculates on your real situation — who's coming, which household contents, car along or not — and watches the clocks: two months for the IND declaration, five days for the registration, and the twelve-month rule for the car. A one-off € 299, no subscription.
The 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.
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.