Has anyone considered buying a $280k property in Curacao for residency there for the purpose of applying for Dutch citizenship after 5 years? The downside is you have to spend 4 months there each year for 5 years. But I’m wondering if the upside, in addition to the price point being lower, might be that it’s more streamlined and reliable than the Portuguese GV program.
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Very interested in this. What sort of property does that money get you?
The good aspects of Curacao/Dutch Carribean
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It’s not just 250k worth of Real Estate, you can also get 250k$ worth of Stocks/Bonds/ETFs of companies traded in the Dutch Carribean Stock Exchange and primarily based in Curacao. There are some decent looking Bond options there for sure given that Curacao is an overseas Netherlands territory and fairly stable.
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If you are american, you actually don’t even need to invest, Dutch Caribbean territories like Sint Maarten and Curacao have a treaty call the Dutch American Friendship treaty that allows americans to move into Sint Maarten or Curaco and make a “Declaration by Law” that allows them to work and live upto 1 yr (easily annually renewable). It’s not publicly advertised by the authorities but it’s fully legal as the courts asserted it as legal when an american resident filed a lawsuit.
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To renew your residency, the official rules say that you need to be in Curacao only for 1 day/yr and keep your investment but it’s not clear how strictly the 1 day/yr rule is enforced.
Here are some not so favorable parts of this residency:
3. I Don’t know where you got the 4 month/yr idea, it’s more like 6+ months/yr like most western countries (183 day rule). I could be wrong here as I have never interacted with anyone on the ground about these rules but Curacao follows Netherlands laws for immigration as you become a dutch citizen post naturalization and the Netherlands laws clearly state the 183 day rule. When you submit your naturalization application @ Curacao, it is first approved by the Governor and then sent to Netherlands for final approval so i don’t see how you can escape the Dutch laws here.
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To naturalize you will have to give a test both in Dutch language as well as Papiamento which is Curacao’s local language. In contrast, if you were to naturalize at Sint Maarten (another Dutch Caribbean territory) you give a test in Dutch and English, so if you from an anglophone country, especially if you are American, you can combine the #.2 bullet from above and naturalize much easier in Sint Maarten than Curacao.
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Curacao GV only allows you to reside/work in Curacao and Sint Maarten I think and not Netherlands/EU so your reach is still pretty small (I am not 100% sure about this)
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Finally, this is the worst, Dutch laws force you to relinquish your previous citizenship if you naturalize. They have some detailed guidelines on tracking and chasing an applicant to provide ample evidence that they are in the process of relinquishing their citizenship and I think Dutch citizenship can also be cancelled if you break on that promise. The dutch rules do have guidelines that allow applicants to provide explanation on why they can be given an exception such as financial liability etc, but that will vary from case to case and depend on how skillful your lawyer is.
If you only want a permanent golden visa of a small western territory as a back-up for cheap, I think Curacao is really great (assuming they are lax on their 1 day/yr residency renewal requirement).
If you want a path to eventual citizenship, Curacao can get tricky like most other western countries with long residency requirements and being forced to abandon your previous citizenship.
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Great info. Thanks.
The source for the 4 months was from this website: https://www.imidaily.com/the-curacao-investor-permit-program/
I can’t find a lot of information online about this program, and not a lot of feedback either. It does seem like a good option though, I wonder why folks haven’t explored it that much yet.
I am also a bit confused on the requirements: you have to spend at least 1 day every year in order to maintain your temporary residence permit, and 4 months every year in order to qualify for Dutch citizenship at the end of 5 years - did I get that right?
It’s actually a great program (Dutch American friendship act). I was going to go this route, but ended up not being able to move from New York yet, hence going the GV route with Portugal.
You can’t apply for it before you go, you do it when you land. You have to get a special version of your birth certificate (blanking on what it’s called, but I have mine filed away in a folder), something like a minimum of €2-3k euros in your account every month (it must NOT dip below that), and the ability to show you could work freelance etc (reach out to a few Dutch companies and have them email you back that you’re a person they MIGHT consider for hire/that you are a hirable candidate), and proceed to jump from one Dutch office to the next in a completely nonsensical order.
You also have to get an apartment lease/rental contract asap to proceed.
All this stuff is on the inter webs if you do a deep dive-I was going to do this in 2019 hence the fuzzy memory.
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Thanks @kari, that is excellent information. The bank balance and freelance requirements probably don’t apply if you aren’t using the Dutch American Friendship act, and instead just invest in real estate, right? But anyway all things considered, the language requirement (Papiamentu and Dutch) and no real PR (only temporary residence while you hold the real estate) are major downsides, now that I think of it.