Country-wide policy
Money figures in the consolidated Acts are in a currency withdrawn in 2004
Suriname replaced the Surinamese guilder with the Surinamese dollar in 2004, and the consolidation of its statute book was done in 2005 without restating the amounts. Every money figure in a text from that collection is therefore printed in a currency that no longer exists: the naturalisation charge of Sf. 200,000, the work permit fee of Sf. 75,000, the income tax bands in millions of guilders, the fine of five hundred thousand guilders in the work permit Act. What the conversion did is stated in one place in the statute book, the explanatory memorandum to the Act of 1 December 2022 that replaced the work permit fee: the general rate was converted from Sf. 75,000 to SRD 75, a division by a thousand, and had since been thoroughly overtaken. Acts passed after 2005 are in Surinamese dollars from the start, which is why the skilled citizens Act of 2006 charges SRD 75 and the health insurance Act of 2014 prices cover in SRD. Nothing here converts a guilder figure on its own authority.
Topics it changes
- Residency through work
- Residency under a regional treaty
- Becoming a citizen
- When you become a tax resident
- Access to healthcare
At a glance
- Currency change
- 2004
- Consolidation
- 2005, without restating the amounts
The amendments were worked into the parent Acts in a project that year and nothing has been worked in since.
- Conversion stated in the statute book
- Sf. 75,000 became SRD 75
From the explanatory memorandum to the Act of 1 December 2022, the only place in the statute book that states what the redenomination did to a charge.
- Work permit fee now
- USD 100, or the equivalent in Surinamese dollars
- Naturalisation charge
- Still printed as Sf. 200,000 and not restated anywhere we read
No instrument we read gives it in Surinamese dollars, so no converted figure is published here.
What the law says
«Het algemene tarief van de werkvergunningen werd alzo omgezet van Sf. 75.000 naar SRD 75 en inmiddels is dit zwaar achterhaald door de macro-economische ontwikkelingen.»Our translation - not official
The general rate for work permits was thus converted from Sf. 75,000 to SRD 75 and has meanwhile been thoroughly overtaken by macro-economic developments.
This instrument is published only as an image. The wording above was read off that picture and checked by eye, so it did not pass the machine verbatim check the other quotations passed. Treat it as accurate but re-read the scan before relying on it.
«2. Bij de aanvraag en verlening van een werkvergunning dienen de kosten ad USD 100,- (Honderd Amerikaanse Dollar) of de tegenwaarde in Surinaamse Dollar, terstond voldaan te worden door dewerkever van welk bedrag er geen restitutie mogelijk is.»Our translation - not official
On application for and grant of a work permit the costs of USD 100 (One Hundred United States Dollars) or the equivalent in Surinamese Dollars must be paid immediately by the employer, of which amount no refund is possible.
The replacement is in United States dollars rather than Surinamese ones, and the same Act adds a power to set the charge by State decree in future, so this figure is itself designed to be moved without another Act.
«2. Voor elke naturalisatie is aan de Staatskas verschuldigd een bedrag van ten minste
Sf. 200.000,- (TWEEHONDERDDUIZEND GULDEN)»Our translation - not official
For every naturalisation an amount of at least Sf. 200,000 (TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND GUILDERS) is due to the Treasury
A figure in a currency that has not existed since 2004, in a consolidation frozen in 2005, with no later instrument restating it that we found.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The National Assembly's legislation portal, and the only public collection of Surinamese law we found. Four collections, divided by one date. `Geldende teksten t/m 2005` holds consolidated texts: amendments were worked into the parent Acts in a project in 2005. `Wetten na 2005`, `Wijzigingen na 2005` and `Overeenkomsten/verdragen` hold the Acts, amending Acts and treaty-approval Acts published since, each as a facsimile of the page of the Staatsblad van de Republiek Suriname in which it was promulgated. Together about five hundred instruments. It also publishes `Naturalisatie wetten`, because in Suriname naturalisation is granted by an Act of Parliament.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidation stops in 2005 and the portal says so on its own index page: "De nieuwe wetten en wetswijzigingen zijn daarna niet opgenomen in de geldende tekst." So a text from the first collection shows the law as the 2005 project left it and nothing more - the Income Tax Act's consolidated text carries amendments only to S.B. 2003 no. 30, prints its rate table in a currency withdrawn in 2004, and has ten later amending entries in the portal's own list. Every money figure in that collection is in Surinamese guilders. Instruments in the other three collections are as enacted and carry no cut-off, but they are scans with no text layer, so they are readings of a picture. The collection carries Acts, amendments, treaties, naturalisation Acts and budgets, and does NOT carry staatsbesluiten, ministeriële beschikkingen or resoluties - which is where much of Surinamese immigration practice lives, so the absence of a measure here is never evidence that it was not made. It also does not always carry the parent Act: the Rijwet 1971 and the Wet Tarief van Invoerrechten 1996 appear only through instruments amending them, and the 1989 Act amending the Rijwet has a page with no document attached.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
A reader will see guilder figures quoted as current on other sites, and the amounts will be off by a factor of a thousand in either direction depending on which way the mistake was made. The only safe reading is the one the statute prints, with the currency named.
The rule this follows is the project's own: a derived number carries its inputs. We have a source for the division by a thousand and no source for what any individual charge is today, so no converted figure is published.