Travelling on your Curaçao residence permit: Aruba, Bonaire, the Netherlands and what the permit does not give you
Holding a Curaçao residence permit changes your travel options quite a bit within the Dutch Caribbean and hardly at all outside it. Europe is what confuses people most: Curaçao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but not of the Schengen area.
Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius
If your nationality needs a visa for the Dutch Caribbean, a Curaçao residence permit that lets you stay for at least 6 months exempts you from that visa when visiting the other islands. But you travel as a visitor, and each island runs its own entry check.
- Aruba requires you to fill in the online embarkation and disembarkation card (ED card) before travelling, at edcardaruba.aw. Visitors arriving by air pay a US$20 sustainability fee there, with exceptions (for example, children under 8), by card only.
- Bonaire charges an entry tax: residents of Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius pay the reduced rate of US$10 (the standard rate is US$75). You pay at tourismtax.bonairegov.com, which opens 7 days before arrival, or by card at the airport; cash is not accepted.
Visiting is not living. Your permit is for living in Curaçao. Aruba, Sint Maarten and Bonaire each have their own admission law: to live or work there you need a permit from that country.
The Netherlands and the rest of Europe
A Curaçao permit does not let you enter the Schengen area. For the Netherlands, or any Schengen country, your passport's rules apply:
- If your passport does not need a Schengen visa (as with Venezuela or Colombia), you can travel as a tourist for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
- If it does (as with the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica or Cuba), you must apply for a Schengen visa before travelling, even if you live in Curaçao with a permit.
Check the current list before buying your ticket, because it changes. And two new things at Europe's borders: since October 2025 the Entry/Exit System (EES) records your fingerprints and photo at your first crossing; and the EU has announced that the ETIAS travel authorisation, for visa-exempt travellers, starts in the last quarter of 2026. Before travelling, check at travel-europe.europa.eu whether it is already required.
The same goes for the United States and any other country: a Curaçao permit gives you no advantage, and you need the visa or authorisation that matches your passport.
How long you can be away
Under the admission policy, if you live outside Curaçao for more than 6 consecutive months in a year you are presumed to have moved, and the permit ends, unless the absence is for studies or medical treatment and you return within the year. Even if you do not reach that point, think of indefinite residence: the 10 years have to be uninterrupted residence.
If your permit has expired and is being renewed
Apply first for the proof of return: it costs XCG 225, you apply in person with a photo and your ticket, and you should allow up to a week. Without it, with an expired sticker, you risk not being let back in as a resident. For the same reason, if your renewal is coming up, plan your trip well ahead (how to renew without gaps).
What to carry to come back
- Your passport with the valid permit sticker: it is what identifies you as a resident on your return.
- Curaçao's Digital Immigration Card (DI card) is mandatory for visitors, and the official page does not clarify the case of returning residents. If your airline asks for it, fill it in: the official one is at dicardcuracao.com and it is free. Some websites charge for it; they are not the official one.
And if you fly back into Hato with someone who does not live here, what will be checked for that person is in what they check when you enter Curaçao.
Sources: NetherlandsWorldwide (visa for the Dutch Caribbean and its exemptions), the Kingdom's visa policy for the Caribbean, Aruba.com (ED card and sustainability fee), Bonaire.com and the Government of Bonaire (entry tax), the HIG 2006 admission policy (section 3.9) and the official page for the proof of return. Reviewed on September 21, 2026.