Visas5/10Harder visas than about 65% of cities
Bonaire (a special municipality of the Netherlands, part of the 'BES islands') has no dedicated 'digital nomad visa' product. The relevant path for a long-staying remote worker is the general Dutch Caribbean residence permit (and, if working locally or for a Bonaire entity, a separate work permit) administered by Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland (RCN).
- Visa-free stay
- Up to 90 days within any 180-day period
- Digital nomad visa
- No
Updated July 2026
Good to know
Good to Know
- Bonaire's official currency is already the US Dollar (not the Euro), so there's no local/USD conversion gap to worry about for pricing.
- The 90-day visa-free allowance is calculated on a rolling 180-day window, not per calendar visit — repeated back-to-back stays can run afoul of this even if each individual trip looks short.
- Border officers can and sometimes do ask for evidence of onward travel and sufficient funds (around $1,000/week is the benchmark cited by the official immigration guidance) — it's worth having a return ticket and some proof of funds ready even though it's rarely checked closely.
- This visa-free period is for tourism only — working remotely for a foreign employer/clients while on this status is a legal gray area that Bonaire immigration has not clearly regulated for digital nomads specifically, so don't assume it's the same as a formal digital nomad visa.
- Bonaire has no dedicated digital nomad visa — long-stay remote workers use the general Dutch Caribbean residence permit route via RCN, which is more paperwork-heavy than a purpose-built nomad visa in places like Portugal or Croatia.
- Even though tourist entry can be up to 180 days for Americans and Dutch-family citizens, that allowance shrinks to 90 days the moment 'work' (including remote work for a foreign employer) is the purpose of your stay, so plan around that distinction rather than the longer tourist number.
- Bonaire's official currency is the US Dollar, which removes exchange-rate friction for US-based nomads managing income and expenses locally.
- If you expect to stay past about six months, budget time to register with RCN and think through Bonaire's own (non-Dutch, non-EU) tax rules — it runs a separate BES-islands tax system, not standard Netherlands tax law.
Visa Free Entry
- Process
- No advance visa application needed for qualifying nationalities. Entry is by passport stamp on arrival; the 180-day period is calculated on a rolling basis, not a calendar reset.
- Duration
- Up to 90 days within any 180-day period
- Extensions
- Extending a stay or converting to a longer-term residence status requires applying through the Immigration Office on Bonaire; the standard visa-free allowance itself cannot simply be extended past 90/180 days without a residence permit.
- Baseline Rule
- Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands (Caribbean Netherlands / BES islands), but it has its own entry regime separate from the Schengen area — it is NOT part of Schengen. Most nomads (citizens of the US, Canada, EU/Schengen countries, UK, and many other nationalities) can enter visa-free as tourists.
- Who Qualifies
- Citizens of most countries worldwide, including the US, Canada, UK, and EU/Schengen member states, do not need a visa for tourist entry.
Important Caveats
- Border officials (the Koninklijke Marechaussee / KMar) can shorten the granted stay period below 90 days at their discretion depending on your stated purpose and financial means.
- Some nationalities require a visa even for short tourist stays — check the specific requirement for your passport before booking.
- Dutch citizens and Dutch citizens from Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten have a more generous allowance (up to 180 days within 365 days), which does not apply to most other nomads.
- This visa-free entry is strictly for tourism; it does not grant any right to work, freelance for local clients, or study — those require a separate permit/declaration.
Visitor Entry Tax
- Amount Adults
- $75
- Amount Children 12 And Under
- $10
- Description
- A mandatory Visitor Entry Tax (separate from any visa) applies to all non-resident arrivals by air or boat, aged 13 and up.
- Payment Note
- Payable online up to 7 days before arrival or on arrival at the airport, only via the official government portal.
Conditions Required
- Passport valid for the full duration of the stay (many airlines and Bonaire immigration in practice expect 6+ months validity, even though the Dutch government does not have a formal 6-month rule for EU/EEA travelers)
- A clear tourist (or family-visit) purpose — this visa-free period is not intended for work or study
- A return or onward ticket
- A confirmed accommodation address for the stay
- Proof of sufficient funds — the official baseline used by border officials is a minimum of $1,000 USD per week of the stay if you already hold a return/onward ticket; a local guarantor can substitute for this if funds are insufficient
Digital Nomad Visa And Tax
- Visa Ease Tier
- moderate
- Closest Equivalent
- General temporary residence permit issued by Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland (RCN), the Dutch Caribbean government service, plus a separate work permit if the person will work locally or for a Bonaire-registered employer. Some commercial relocation/HR sites market a 'Digital Nomad Visa' for Bonaire, but this could not be corroborated on RCN's own official immigration pages, so it is not treated as confirmed here.
- Visa Ease Tier Rationale
- Ease is pulled up by a genuinely long visa-free tourist allowance for US and Dutch-family-of-islands citizens (up to 180 days/year) and a clear, if bureaucratic, RCN-run residence-permit renewal ladder toward indefinite residence after 5 years, but pulled down by the complete absence of a dedicated digital-nomad visa product, ambiguous legality of remote work during a tourist stay (90-day cap applies the moment 'work' is involved), and a relatively fast 6-month tax-residency/registration trigger.
- Dedicated Digital Nomad Visa Exists
- No
Tax Notes
- General System
- Bonaire (as one of the BES islands) has run its own separate tax system since a 2011 reform; it is distinct from both the tax law of the European Netherlands and the former Netherlands Antilles. There is no corporate profit tax on Bonaire — companies are instead subject to real estate tax and revenue tax.
- Double Taxation
- Bonaire is covered by the Kingdom's internal Tax Regulations (Belastingregeling voor het Koninkrijk / BKR), which exists to prevent double taxation between the European Netherlands and the BES islands, and Bonaire is also party to a US–Kingdom tax information exchange arrangement; a specific US–BES double-tax decree is also cited as protecting many forms of US-sourced retirement income from double taxation.
- Personal Income Tax
- Sources describe a progressive personal income tax with a 0% bracket up to roughly $22,000, then rising marginal rates (cited as 10%, 20%, and 30% at higher bands) — treat these exact bracket figures as indicative rather than fully verified against the official Belastingdienst Caribisch Nederland tables.
- Tax Residency Trigger
- In practice, short remote-work stays (under about six months) working online for a foreign employer/clients are generally treated as tax-neutral on Bonaire, but once a stay exceeds six months a person is expected to apply for residency and register locally, after which locally-performed work income becomes taxable on Bonaire.
- Residence Permit Trigger For Stay Length
- Separately from the tax question, anyone (of any nationality) wanting to stay on Bonaire longer than 180 days must apply for a residence permit through RCN in Kralendijk.
Renewal Path
- Source Basis
- Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland official guidance
- Description
- A temporary residence permit is typically issued for about one year at a time and must be renewed annually for up to five years. After five years of continuous legal stay in the Caribbean Netherlands, a person may, subject to conditions, apply for a residence permit of indefinite duration.
Application Path
- Source Basis
- Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland (official immigration authority) and Sunbelt Bonaire real-estate/immigration guidance referencing RCN procedures
Steps
- Enter Bonaire visa-free under the applicable tourist allowance (90 or 180 days depending on nationality and purpose).
- Contact RCN's immigration department in Kralendijk to apply for a temporary residence permit if planning to stay long-term.
- Nationals of countries requiring an entry visa (MVV) must apply for that authorization before travel; approval of the MVV is followed by an in-country residence permit application for the specific purpose (work, business, family, retirement, etc.).
- If the applicant will work (including for a foreign/remote employer while physically on Bonaire) or run a business, a separate work permit application is also required through RCN.
Documents Required
- Valid passport (with sufficient remaining validity, especially for non-EU/EU travelers)
- Proof of means of subsistence / income and, for tourist entry, a return ticket
- Application submitted to RCN's immigration department (in person, once on-island, for most permit types)
- For those wanting to work: a separate work-permit application, which for employer-sponsored roles can involve a local labor-market test
Income Requirements
- Unverified Claim Excluded
- A commercial visa-info site cites a $2,000/month threshold for a Bonaire 'Digital Nomad Visa,' but this is not corroborated by RCN or other government sources, so no numeric income figure is presented here as fact.
- Official Minimum Income Figure
- No official published minimum-income dollar figure was found on RCN's own pages. Border/immigration officers assess 'means of existence' (proof of sufficient funds/income and a return ticket) case by case, and can shorten the stay period if unsatisfied.
Baseline Visa Free Stay
- Source Basis
- infobonaire.com (linked from official Bonaire tourism/immigration guidance) and RCN-referencing sources
- Description
- European Dutch citizens, Dutch citizens from Curaçao/St. Maarten/Aruba, and US citizens may enter Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba freely for tourism purposes for up to 180 days per 365 days, but if they want to work or intern (even remotely) a maximum unpermitted stay of only 90 days per 365 days applies. Foreigners of other nationalities can generally enter for up to 90 days per 180 days.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.