Descent: a Statutory Diaspora Status That Reaches Grandchildren and Carries the Right to Work
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Brazil on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Brazil to Suriname · Residency through ancestry
No other country in the records here has a standalone Act for its diaspora; what the others have, where they have anything, is a returning-resident customs scheme. The Wet PSA of 2014 creates the status of Persoon van Surinaamse Afkomst for anyone who is not a Surinamese national and was born in Suriname, or has at least one parent born in Suriname, or at least one grandparent born in Suriname. The status is activated by asking for it at an embassy, consulate or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; what comes back is a PSA document valid for five years. A holder who is not resident may travel to Suriname from anywhere in the world on the document without a tourist card or any other admission document, stay six months, extend by six at the aliens department, register as a resident at any point inside those windows, and - this is the striking part - work during the stay without the work permit an alien needs. Registering as a resident produces a PSA card, which the Act calls the valid proof of residence, and with it indefinite stay until the holder deregisters on leaving. Family members who have no claim of their own get a document of their own for as long as the family relationship lasts. Alongside it the aliens department operates a separate administrative category of alien of Surinamese origin under a 2016 ministerial instruction.
At a glance
- How far descent reaches
- Grandparent
- PSA document validity
- Five years
- Stay without registering
- Six months, extendable by six
- Work permit
- Not required during the stay
- Residence
- Indefinite once registered, until deregistration on leaving
- Voting
- Still requires Surinamese nationality
- Family members with no claim
- Covered by a family document for as long as the family relationship lasts
- Separate administrative category
- Alien of Surinamese origin
Defined by the ministerial instruction Richtlijnen Toelating en Verblijf vreemdelingen Surinaamse Origine, S.B. 2016 no. 17, which we have not read: it is cited by the aliens department and is not in the National Assembly's collection.
Requirements
- Birth in Suriname, or a parent or grandparent born in Suriname, and a nationality other than Surinamese
- An express request to activate the status, with documents proving membership of one of the three categories, at an embassy, consulate or designated office, or at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs inside Suriname
- To register as a resident: documents showing you can support and house yourself, and where applicable proof of deregistration from your previous place of residence
In detail
Two descent regimes, and they do not have the same reach
Someone with a Surinamese grandparent and no Surinamese parent is inside the Wet PSA and outside both the nationality law and the aliens department's category of alien of Surinamese origin. Article 16a of the nationality law reaches a person born abroad to a parent born in Suriname; the 2016 instruction the department applies does the same. Only the Wet PSA goes a generation further, and what it gives is not nationality: entry without an admission document, six months extendable by six, registration as a resident, and work without a permit. It is better than any residence permit a grandchild could otherwise obtain and it is not a path to a passport.
The status is never imposed
Article 4(2) says that nobody can at any time have the PSA status forced on them, and article 4(3) that it takes effect only once the person has expressly said they wish to bear it and has received the document. That is an unusual thing to legislate and it is deliberate: a diaspora status that attached automatically would create obligations - article 8 requires a non-resident holder to supply curriculum-vitae information to the state and to keep contact details current - for people who never asked for it.
Country-level policy
Suriname's laws are published by the National Assembly in four collections, and the boundary between them is a date. The first is Geldende teksten tot en met 2005, texts in force to 2005: the amendments were worked into the parent Acts in a project in 2005 to produce consolidated texts. The second and third are the Acts passed after 2005 and the amendments made after 2005, published as facsimiles of the Staatsblad, one instrument at a time. The index page states in terms that the new Acts and amendments have not since been incorporated into the consolidated text. That is a cut-off stated by the publisher rather than inferred from an edition's name, and it is unusually honest: most revised editions in this comparison say nothing about their own staleness. The practical consequence is that reading a consolidated Surinamese Act is only half the work. The other half is the list of post-2005 amendments, where the Income Tax Act alone has ten entries.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Brazil
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Een PSA gerechtigde is iedere persoon die niet de Surinaamse nationaliteit bezit en die:
1. In Suriname geboren is, met uitzondering van hen wier ouders, die zelf niet van Surinaamse afkomst zijn/waren, in buitenlandse dienst of voor studie of enige andere zaak tijdelijk in Suriname vertoeven/vertoefden bij de geboorte van die persoon;
2. niet in Suriname geboren is, maar ten minste één ouder heeft die op basis van lid 1 van dit artikel van Surinaamse afkomst is;
3. niet in Suriname geboren is, maar ten minste één grootouder heeft die op basis van lid 1 van dit artikel van Surinaamse afkomst is.»Our translation - not official
A person entitled to PSA is every person who does not hold Surinamese nationality and who: 1. was born in Suriname, with the exception of those whose parents, not themselves being of Surinamese descent, were in Suriname temporarily in foreign service or for study or any other matter at the birth of that person; 2. was not born in Suriname but has at least one parent who is of Surinamese descent on the basis of paragraph 1 of this article; 3. was not born in Suriname but has at least one grandparent who is of Surinamese descent on the basis of paragraph 1 of this article.
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. Door of vanwege de Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken wordt aan personen die op basis van deze wet de PSA status mogen voeren en die daartoe de wens te kennen hebben gegeven een PSA document afgegeven dat vijf jaar geldig is. Regels voor verlenging van dit document worden bij Staatsbesluit vastgesteld.»Our translation - not official
By or on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs a PSA document valid for five years is issued to persons who may bear the PSA status on the basis of this Act and who have expressed the wish to do so. Rules for extension of this document are laid down by State decree.
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.
«a. Zij mogen te allen tijdde naar Suriname vertrekken, van waar dan ook ter wereld, op vertoon van hun geldig PSA document, zonder aanvraag van een toeristenkaart of enig ander document voor toelating in Suriname. Andere reisdocumenten zoals paspoorten blijven vereist.»Our translation - not official
They may travel to Suriname at any time, from anywhere in the world, on production of their valid PSA document, without applying for a tourist card or any other document for admission to Suriname. Other travel documents such as passports remain required.
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.
«c. Zij mogen totzes maanden na aankomst in Suriname vertoeven en kunnen bij de vreemdelingdienst hun tijdelijk verblijf met maximaalzes maanden verlengen zonder zich als ingezetene in te schrijven, onder overlegging van de garantie dat ze in hun levensonderhoud en huisvesting kunnen voorzien.»Our translation - not official
They may stay up to six months after arrival in Suriname and may extend their temporary stay at the aliens department by at most six months without registering as a resident, on production of the guarantee that they can provide for their subsistence and housing.
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.
«f. Zij mogen gedurende hun verblijf in Suriname werken zonder de werkvergunning die voor vreemdelingen vereist is, onder de voorwaarden die zijn vastgelegd in deze en andere hierop betrekking hebbende wet- en regelgeving.»Our translation - not official
They may work during their stay in Suriname without the work permit required of aliens, under the conditions laid down in this and other relevant legislation and regulations.
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.
«b. Zij hebben door hun status en de inschrijving als ingezetene het recht tot verblijf van onbepaalde tijd in Suriname tot ze zich bij verhuizing uit Suriname weer uitschrijven. Bij terugkomst in Suriname gelden de artikelen die betrekking hebben op PSA die geen ingezetene zijn, voor deze personen.»Our translation - not official
By their status and registration as a resident they have the right to stay in Suriname for an indefinite period until they deregister again on moving away from Suriname. On return to Suriname the articles relating to PSA who are not residents apply to these persons.
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.
«1. De President kan op verzoek de Surinaamse nationaliteit verlenen aan een persoon,
die:
a. een vreemde nationaliteit bezit of staatloos is, doch die in Suriname is geboren;
b. te eniger tijd de Surinaamse nationaliteit heeft bezeten en die thans een vreemde
nationaliteit bezit of staatloos is;
c. buiten Suriname is geboren uit ouders van wie één of beide in Suriname is (zijn)
geboren en met welke ouder(s) die persoon in familierechtelijke betrekking staat of
heeft gestaan, en die thans een vreemde nationaliteit bezit of staatloos is.»Our translation - not official
The President may on request grant Surinamese nationality to a person who: (a) holds a foreign nationality or is stateless, but was born in Suriname; (b) at some time held Surinamese nationality and now holds a foreign nationality or is stateless; (c) was born outside Suriname of parents of whom one or both was born in Suriname and with which parent or parents that person stands or has stood in a family-law relationship, and who now holds a foreign nationality or is stateless.
The nationality route by descent reaches a parent, not a grandparent. The PSA status reaches a grandparent but is not nationality.
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
«2. Voor de verlening van de Surinaamse nationaliteit, als bedoeld in het vorige lid, is
vereist, dat de verzoeker:
a. meerderjarig is in de zin van deze wet;
b. op de dag van indiening van het verzoek woonplaats of hoofd verblijf in Suriname
heeft.»Our translation - not official
For the grant of Surinamese nationality as referred to in the previous sub-section it is required that the applicant: (a) is of full age within the meaning of this Act; (b) has his domicile or main residence in Suriname on the day the request is lodged.
Residence in Suriname at the date of the request is a condition. The route cannot be used from abroad.
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
«Volgens de beschikking Richtlijnen Toelating en Verblijf vreemdelingen Surinaamse Origine S.B. 2016 no 17 is tot deze categorie gerekend:
- personen die in Suriname zijn geboren en thans een andere nationaliteit dan de Surinaamse hebben of
- personen die vallen onder de artikelen 2, 3 en 4 van de wet op de nationaliteit en het ingezetenschap (G.B 1975 no. 171 zoals laatstelijk gewijzigd bij S.B. 2002 no. 22) en thans een andere dan de Surinaamse nationaliteit bezitten of
- personen die buiten Suriname zijn geboren uit ouders van wie een of beide in Suriname is (zijn) geboren»Our translation - not official
According to the instruction Guidelines on Admission and Residence of aliens of Surinamese Origin, S.B. 2016 no 17, the following are counted in this category: persons born in Suriname who now hold a nationality other than Surinamese, or persons falling under articles 2, 3 and 4 of the nationality law who now hold a nationality other than Surinamese, or persons born outside Suriname of parents of whom one or both was born in Suriname
The department's category runs to a parent; the Wet PSA runs to a grandparent. They are different lists administered by different ministries.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The sub-directorate that decides residence, extension, settlement and naturalisation applications under the Vreemdelingenwet 1991, the Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995 and the Wet op de Nationaliteit en het Ingezetenschap. Its site publishes the categorisation of aliens it works to (Surinaamse origine, CARICOM staatsburgers, overige vreemdelingen), the application types it accepts, the authorisation-for-short-stay procedure, document lists, announcements and a register of granted residence permits.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It states practice, not law, and the two diverge in both directions. It gives CARICOM nationals a six-month short stay where the Vreemdelingenwet gives a visa-free visitor three months, and it gives a recognised skilled citizen an indefinite stay the Wet Bekwame Burgers does not confer at all. It describes the marriage option right as open to any alien married to a Surinamese national for two years, where article 12 of the nationality law covers only a wife and states no duration. It attributes the Presidential naturalisation power to article 16 of that law when the power is in article 16a. Its page on categories of aliens announces that the Caribbean Community has fifteen member countries and then lists fourteen, omitting Haiti. It cites instruments it does not publish - the beschikking S.B. 2016 no. 17 on aliens of Surinamese origin and the resolution S.B. 2004 no. 120 on charges - so a figure or a condition found only here has no readable source behind it. Its own announcements page is stale: the latest dated notice is 15 November 2021. It serves a self-signed certificate on https, so a plain client rejects it; it reads over http and through the extraction service.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The Wet PSA requires a State decree for the administrative procedure, the rules on extending the document and several other matters. We did not find that decree in the National Assembly's collection, so how the status is applied for in practice is not something we have read.
The ministerial instruction on aliens of Surinamese origin, S.B. 2016 no. 17, is cited by the aliens department and is not published in the National Assembly's collection, which carries Acts, amendments and treaties rather than ministerial instructions. What is recorded here about that category is the department's own description of it.
This record rests on the whole of the Wet PSA, articles 2 to 7, 16, 16a, 16b and 20 of the nationality law, and the aliens department's pages on categories of aliens and application types.
- consolidatesWet PSA (S.B. 2014 no. 8)
De Nationale Assemblee van de Republiek Suriname
About 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
- consolidatesWet op de Nationaliteit en het Ingezetenschap (S.B. 1975 no. 4)
De Nationale Assemblee van de Republiek Suriname · consolidated to 2005
About 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
- administersCategorisatie van vreemdelingen
Onderdirectoraat Vreemdelingenzaken, Ministerie van Justitie en Politie (Suriname)
About this source
The sub-directorate that decides residence, extension, settlement and naturalisation applications under the Vreemdelingenwet 1991, the Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995 and the Wet op de Nationaliteit en het Ingezetenschap. Its site publishes the categorisation of aliens it works to (Surinaamse origine, CARICOM staatsburgers, overige vreemdelingen), the application types it accepts, the authorisation-for-short-stay procedure, document lists, announcements and a register of granted residence permits.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It states practice, not law, and the two diverge in both directions. It gives CARICOM nationals a six-month short stay where the Vreemdelingenwet gives a visa-free visitor three months, and it gives a recognised skilled citizen an indefinite stay the Wet Bekwame Burgers does not confer at all. It describes the marriage option right as open to any alien married to a Surinamese national for two years, where article 12 of the nationality law covers only a wife and states no duration. It attributes the Presidential naturalisation power to article 16 of that law when the power is in article 16a. Its page on categories of aliens announces that the Caribbean Community has fifteen member countries and then lists fourteen, omitting Haiti. It cites instruments it does not publish - the beschikking S.B. 2016 no. 17 on aliens of Surinamese origin and the resolution S.B. 2004 no. 120 on charges - so a figure or a condition found only here has no readable source behind it. Its own announcements page is stale: the latest dated notice is 15 November 2021. It serves a self-signed certificate on https, so a plain client rejects it; it reads over http and through the extraction service.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- administersType aanvragen en hun toelichting
Onderdirectoraat Vreemdelingenzaken, Ministerie van Justitie en Politie (Suriname)
About this source
The sub-directorate that decides residence, extension, settlement and naturalisation applications under the Vreemdelingenwet 1991, the Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995 and the Wet op de Nationaliteit en het Ingezetenschap. Its site publishes the categorisation of aliens it works to (Surinaamse origine, CARICOM staatsburgers, overige vreemdelingen), the application types it accepts, the authorisation-for-short-stay procedure, document lists, announcements and a register of granted residence permits.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It states practice, not law, and the two diverge in both directions. It gives CARICOM nationals a six-month short stay where the Vreemdelingenwet gives a visa-free visitor three months, and it gives a recognised skilled citizen an indefinite stay the Wet Bekwame Burgers does not confer at all. It describes the marriage option right as open to any alien married to a Surinamese national for two years, where article 12 of the nationality law covers only a wife and states no duration. It attributes the Presidential naturalisation power to article 16 of that law when the power is in article 16a. Its page on categories of aliens announces that the Caribbean Community has fifteen member countries and then lists fourteen, omitting Haiti. It cites instruments it does not publish - the beschikking S.B. 2016 no. 17 on aliens of Surinamese origin and the resolution S.B. 2004 no. 120 on charges - so a figure or a condition found only here has no readable source behind it. Its own announcements page is stale: the latest dated notice is 15 November 2021. It serves a self-signed certificate on https, so a plain client rejects it; it reads over http and through the extraction service.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source