Visitor Entry: a Statute That Grants Three Months, a Ministry That Grants Ninety Days, and a Fee at Every Arrival
This replaces the general rule for you
Venezuelans: outside the visa waiver since 1 May 2023
Venezuela is one of the twenty-one countries the Ministry of Foreign Affairs excludes from the unilateral visa abolition, with effect from 1 May 2023. A Venezuelan traveller therefore needs a visa under article 12 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995: a transit visa, a travel visa for a stay of up to three months, or an authorisation for short stay for anything longer. The ministry adds, for the avoidance of doubt, that the entry-fee measure applies to nationals of countries with which Suriname has a visa-exemption agreement as well.
The Vreemdelingenwet 1991 gives a visitor who needs no visa three months, and everyone else eight days unless a visa says otherwise. The Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995 then requires a valid passport carrying a transit visa, a travel visa for a stay of up to three months, or an authorisation for short stay for anything longer. The Act itself names no country: who needs a visa is a ministerial matter, and since 1 July 2022 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published a unilateral waiver for tourism and family visits up to ninety days, with a named list of twenty-one countries it does not apply to. The waiver is not free. Every traveller it covers pays an entry fee of USD 50 or EUR 50, plus a USD 8 or EUR 8 service fee to the contractor that collects it, and pays it again on every entry. Holders of a CARICOM passport are among the ten groups exempt from the fee.
At a glance
- Stay granted by the Act
- Three months for a visitor who needs no visa
- Stay granted to everyone else
- Eight days
Article 6(4)(d). A visa of any kind displaces this: the period then runs for as long as the visa was issued or extended for.
- Stay published by the Ministry
- Ninety days for tourism or a family visit
A ministry page rather than an instrument. Ninety days is shorter than the Act's three months, which the Act defines as periods of thirty days.
- Entry fee
- USD 50 or EUR 50, plus USD 8 or EUR 8 service feeas of 2026-10-06
Payable at every entry, not once.
- Countries the waiver does not cover
- Twenty-one, from 1 May 2023
the Dominican Republic, India, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Angola, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, Eritrea, Somalia, Egypt, Tunisia, Cuba and Syria.
- Exempt from the entry fee
- Ten groups, including every CARICOM passport holder
- Authorisation for short stay
- Required for an intended stay of more than three months
Applied for at a Surinamese embassy or consulate before travelling. Persons of Surinamese origin and CARICOM nationals are exempt.
- Longest ordinary residence permit
- Two years, renewable
Requirements
- A passport valid for crossing the border, and a visa unless the Ministry's waiver covers your nationality
- An entry fee voucher of USD 50 or EUR 50 plus the collector's service fee, bought online or at a named border post, unless you are in one of the exempt groups
- Means to cover the stay and the onward journey, and no danger to public order, national security or public health
- A visa is still required for an internship, a business visit or a work-related visit, whatever the waiver says about tourism
In detail
Three periods, and only one of them is in the Act
A visitor arriving in Suriname is answering three different documents at once. The Act says three months for someone who needs no visa, and defines a month as thirty days. The regulation says a travel visa covers a stay of at most three months and anything longer needs an authorisation obtained abroad before travelling. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says ninety days for tourism or a family visit. Ninety days and three months of thirty days are the same number, which is probably why nobody has noticed that the ministry is quoting a figure the Act does not use. What matters for a traveller is that the ministry's measure, not the Act, decides whether a visa is needed at all, and the ministry publishes it as a measure rather than as an instrument.
A waiver you pay for
Suriname abolished the visa and introduced a charge in its place. The entry fee is USD 50 or EUR 50 with a USD 8 or EUR 8 service fee on top, it is collected by a commercial contractor rather than by the state, and the ministry says in terms that it is due on every entry. The practical effect is that a traveller who leaves for a weekend and returns pays twice. Ten groups are exempt, and the list is worth reading rather than summarising: a valid visa already in the passport, a PSA document or card, a Surinamese residence or settlement permit, certain annotations in the passport under the nationality law, any CARICOM passport, diplomatic and service passports, a laissez-passer from an international organisation, a Vatican City passport, and airside transit at Zanderij or Zorg en Hoop.
Where the fee is paid on land
The ministry's page is the only place in the Surinamese material we read that names the land crossings. The fee may be paid in person at the Consulate-General in Cayenne or the dependance at Saint-Laurent for a traveller arriving from French Guiana, and at the Canawaima Management Company at South Drain, Nickerie for a traveller arriving from Guyana. The regulation itself names no crossing: article 3 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit leaves it to the Minister to establish border posts at designated places, and the designation is not published with it.
Country-level policy
The common-law countries covered here inherit the rule that a treaty does nothing domestically until Parliament enacts it, which is why Trinidad needed an Act giving the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas the force of law and Guyana needed one with a supremacy clause. Suriname inherits the Dutch rule instead. Article 103 of the Constitution requires the National Assembly to approve an agreement before it is ratified or enters into force; article 105 then gives provisions of such agreements that by their content can bind everyone binding force once published; and article 106 disapplies any Surinamese statutory rule whose application would be incompatible with such a provision, whether the agreement was entered into before or after the rule. The consequence runs through this whole country record. An absence of implementing legislation in Suriname is not the same fact that it is in Saint Kitts or Grenada, and it cannot be read as an absence of the right.
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.
Full free movement for any national of a participating state, rather than for a certificated skilled citizen, opened on 1 October 2025 between Belize, Barbados, Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Suriname is not a party, and this is shown from its own statute book rather than asserted. The National Assembly publishes four collections of legislation. The collection of Acts passed after 2005 contains one CARICOM instrument, the skilled citizens Act of 2006. The collection of amendments after 2005 contains two, both to that Act, the later of which is of August 2023 and changes only the penalty provision. The treaty collection contains one, the 2006 Act approving the protocol on the Caribbean Court of Justice's original jurisdiction. There is no Act, amendment or treaty approval of 2025 or 2026 touching free movement. The administrative side says the same thing: the aliens department continues to describe a CARICOM national who is not a recognised skilled citizen as receiving a six-month short stay inside which a residence application must be lodged, which is the opposite of a right to enter and remain.
Suriname borders Guyana, Brazil and French Guiana, and its aliens regulation names none of the crossings. Article 3 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995 provides that border posts are established by the Minister at places designated for the purpose, that the Minister designates the officers who staff them and the hours they are open, and that he may authorise temporary posts in special circumstances. Article 4 then makes it an obligation on every alien entering or leaving to proceed via such a post within its opening hours and present himself there. Where those posts are is a ministerial designation that we did not find published. Guyana, across the Corantijn, does the opposite and writes its ports of entry into a regulation. What Suriname does publish is a list of two places where the entry fee can be paid in cash, on a Ministry of Foreign Affairs page: the Consulate-General at Cayenne and the dependance at Saint-Laurent for an arrival from French Guiana, and the Canawaima Management Company at South Drain, Nickerie for an arrival from Guyana. Brazil is on neither list.
What applies to you
Venezuelans: outside the visa waiver since 1 May 2023
Venezuela is one of the twenty-one countries the Ministry of Foreign Affairs excludes from the unilateral visa abolition, with effect from 1 May 2023. A Venezuelan traveller therefore needs a visa under article 12 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995: a transit visa, a travel visa for a stay of up to three months, or an authorisation for short stay for anything longer. The ministry adds, for the avoidance of doubt, that the entry-fee measure applies to nationals of countries with which Suriname has a visa-exemption agreement as well.
- A valid passport bearing a transit visa, a travel visa or an authorisation for short stay, according to the length and purpose of the stay
What the law says
«1. Toegang tot Suriname hebben vreemdelingen, aan wie het - krachtens het bepaalde
in dit artikel in de artikelen 8, 9 en 10 - is toegestaan in het land te verblijven en die
voldoen aan de bij of krachtens staatsbesluit vastgestelde vereisten ten aanzien van
het bezit van een document voor grensoverschrijding.»Our translation - not official
Aliens have access to Suriname to whom it is permitted - under the provisions of this article and of articles 8, 9 and 10 - to stay in the country and who satisfy the requirements laid down by or under State decree as to possession of a document for crossing the border.
The numbering inside article 6 is the publisher's: the sub-section printed as "2." after sub-section (4) is, on its own terms, a fifth sub-section. It is left as published.
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
«c. voor niet visumplichtige vreemdelingen die voor een verblijf van niet langer
dan drie maanden naar Suriname zijn gekomen: drie maanden;»Our translation - not official
for aliens not subject to a visa requirement who have come to Suriname for a stay of no longer than three months: three months;
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
«d. voor andere vreemdelingen; acht dagen.»Our translation - not official
for other aliens: eight days.
Read with paragraph (b), which gives a visa holder the period the visa states. Eight days is the residual for someone who needs no visa and did not come for a stay of up to three months, and for someone admitted without one.
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
«1. Onverminderd de overige ter zake bij de Wet gestelde vereisten, moeten vreemdelingen
om toegang tot Suriname te hebben in het bezit zijn van een geldig paspoort dat voorzien
is van :
a. een geldig transitvisum, indien zij zich naar Suriname begeven voor een doorreis, al
dan niet met een oponthoud van ten hoogste drie dagen;
b. een geldig reisvisum, indien zij zich naar Suriname begeven voor een verblijf van ten
hoogste drie maanden;
c. een geldige machtiging tot kort verblijf, indien zij zich naar Suriname begeven voor
een verblijf van langer dan drie maanden.»Our translation - not official
Without prejudice to the other requirements laid down in the Act, aliens must, in order to have access to Suriname, hold a valid passport bearing: (a) a valid transit visa, if they are travelling to Suriname for a journey through, whether or not with a stop of at most three days; (b) a valid travel visa, if they are travelling to Suriname for a stay of at most three months; (c) a valid authorisation for short stay, if they are travelling to Suriname for a stay of longer than three months.
Sub-section (3) allows departure from this to implement a treaty or a decision of an international organisation binding on Suriname, and sub-section (5) allows the Minister to waive it in particular cases. The ministry's unilateral waiver is published as a measure rather than as an instrument, and we have not read the instrument that made it.
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
«Per 01 juli 2022 heeft de Regering van de Republiek Suriname de eenzijdige visumafschaffing voor bepaalde landen ingesteld. Dat wil zeggen dat Staatsburgers van die landen visumvrij mogen afreizen naar Suriname voor **_toeristische doeleinden en of familiebezoek tot een maximal verblijf van 90 dagen._**»Our translation - not official
As of 1 July 2022 the Government of the Republic of Suriname introduced the unilateral abolition of the visa for certain countries. That is to say that nationals of those countries may travel to Suriname visa-free for tourism purposes and or family visits up to a maximum stay of 90 days.
About this source
The ministry responsible for visas, consular affairs and the PSA status. Its page on travelling to Suriname is the only published statement of the unilateral visa waiver in force since 1 July 2022, of the twenty-one nationalities excluded from it since 1 May 2023, of the entry fee and its exempt groups, and of the two land border posts at which the fee can be paid in cash. It also issues the PSA document under the Wet PSA.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Everything on the travel page is published as a measure, not as an instrument: there is no Staatsblad reference for the waiver, for the exclusion list or for the entry fee, and we found none in the National Assembly's collections. The two dates on the page are different - the waiver from 1 July 2022, the exclusion list from 1 May 2023 - so the list is a later narrowing rather than part of the original measure, and a reader has no way to tell when either last moved. The ninety days it states is not a period the Vreemdelingenwet uses. Its list of land payment points is the only published list of Surinamese border crossings we found, and it is a list of places to pay a charge rather than the ministerial designation of doorlaatposten that article 3 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit calls for; Brazil, with which Suriname shares a land frontier, is not on it. The entry fee is collected by a commercial contractor whose own site answers 403.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«De landen waarvoor deze eenzijdige visumafschaffing per 1 mei 2023 **niet** van toepassing is, zijn:
**de Dominicaanse Republiek, India, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Angola, Ghana, Kameroen, Kenia, Nigeria, Zambia, Zuid-Afrika, Eritrea, Somalië, Egypte, Tunesië, Cuba en Syrië**.»Our translation - not official
The countries for which this unilateral abolition of the visa does not apply as of 1 May 2023 are: the Dominican Republic, India, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Angola, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, Eritrea, Somalia, Egypt, Tunisia, Cuba and Syria.
Twenty-one countries. The waiver carries one date, 1 July 2022, and the exclusion list carries another, 1 May 2023, so the list is a later narrowing rather than part of the original measure.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The ministry responsible for visas, consular affairs and the PSA status. Its page on travelling to Suriname is the only published statement of the unilateral visa waiver in force since 1 July 2022, of the twenty-one nationalities excluded from it since 1 May 2023, of the entry fee and its exempt groups, and of the two land border posts at which the fee can be paid in cash. It also issues the PSA document under the Wet PSA.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Everything on the travel page is published as a measure, not as an instrument: there is no Staatsblad reference for the waiver, for the exclusion list or for the entry fee, and we found none in the National Assembly's collections. The two dates on the page are different - the waiver from 1 July 2022, the exclusion list from 1 May 2023 - so the list is a later narrowing rather than part of the original measure, and a reader has no way to tell when either last moved. The ninety days it states is not a period the Vreemdelingenwet uses. Its list of land payment points is the only published list of Surinamese border crossings we found, and it is a list of places to pay a charge rather than the ministerial designation of doorlaatposten that article 3 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit calls for; Brazil, with which Suriname shares a land frontier, is not on it. The entry fee is collected by a commercial contractor whose own site answers 403.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Het tarief van de Entry Fee is gesteld op USD 50,- of Euro 50,-, exclusief de service fee van VFS Global van USD 8,- of Euro 8,-, en dient bij **_elke_** binnenkomst te worden betaald.»Our translation - not official
The rate of the Entry Fee is set at USD 50 or Euro 50, excluding the service fee of VFS Global of USD 8 or Euro 8, and must be paid on every entry.
About this source
The ministry responsible for visas, consular affairs and the PSA status. Its page on travelling to Suriname is the only published statement of the unilateral visa waiver in force since 1 July 2022, of the twenty-one nationalities excluded from it since 1 May 2023, of the entry fee and its exempt groups, and of the two land border posts at which the fee can be paid in cash. It also issues the PSA document under the Wet PSA.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Everything on the travel page is published as a measure, not as an instrument: there is no Staatsblad reference for the waiver, for the exclusion list or for the entry fee, and we found none in the National Assembly's collections. The two dates on the page are different - the waiver from 1 July 2022, the exclusion list from 1 May 2023 - so the list is a later narrowing rather than part of the original measure, and a reader has no way to tell when either last moved. The ninety days it states is not a period the Vreemdelingenwet uses. Its list of land payment points is the only published list of Surinamese border crossings we found, and it is a list of places to pay a charge rather than the ministerial designation of doorlaatposten that article 3 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit calls for; Brazil, with which Suriname shares a land frontier, is not on it. The entry fee is collected by a commercial contractor whose own site answers 403.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«06. Houders van paspoorten afkomstig uit een der CARICOM lidlanden»Our translation - not official
06. Holders of passports from one of the CARICOM member countries
About this source
The ministry responsible for visas, consular affairs and the PSA status. Its page on travelling to Suriname is the only published statement of the unilateral visa waiver in force since 1 July 2022, of the twenty-one nationalities excluded from it since 1 May 2023, of the entry fee and its exempt groups, and of the two land border posts at which the fee can be paid in cash. It also issues the PSA document under the Wet PSA.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Everything on the travel page is published as a measure, not as an instrument: there is no Staatsblad reference for the waiver, for the exclusion list or for the entry fee, and we found none in the National Assembly's collections. The two dates on the page are different - the waiver from 1 July 2022, the exclusion list from 1 May 2023 - so the list is a later narrowing rather than part of the original measure, and a reader has no way to tell when either last moved. The ninety days it states is not a period the Vreemdelingenwet uses. Its list of land payment points is the only published list of Surinamese border crossings we found, and it is a list of places to pay a charge rather than the ministerial designation of doorlaatposten that article 3 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit calls for; Brazil, with which Suriname shares a land frontier, is not on it. The entry fee is collected by a commercial contractor whose own site answers 403.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Personen die voor stagedoeleinden, zaken- en werk gerelateerde bezoeken naar Suriname wensen af te reizen zijn nog steeds visumplichtig.»Our translation - not official
Persons wishing to travel to Suriname for internship purposes, business and work-related visits are still subject to the visa requirement.
About this source
The ministry responsible for visas, consular affairs and the PSA status. Its page on travelling to Suriname is the only published statement of the unilateral visa waiver in force since 1 July 2022, of the twenty-one nationalities excluded from it since 1 May 2023, of the entry fee and its exempt groups, and of the two land border posts at which the fee can be paid in cash. It also issues the PSA document under the Wet PSA.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Everything on the travel page is published as a measure, not as an instrument: there is no Staatsblad reference for the waiver, for the exclusion list or for the entry fee, and we found none in the National Assembly's collections. The two dates on the page are different - the waiver from 1 July 2022, the exclusion list from 1 May 2023 - so the list is a later narrowing rather than part of the original measure, and a reader has no way to tell when either last moved. The ninety days it states is not a period the Vreemdelingenwet uses. Its list of land payment points is the only published list of Surinamese border crossings we found, and it is a list of places to pay a charge rather than the ministerial designation of doorlaatposten that article 3 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit calls for; Brazil, with which Suriname shares a land frontier, is not on it. The entry fee is collected by a commercial contractor whose own site answers 403.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«MKV procedure **geldt** voor alle vreemdelingen (m.u.v. de categorie Surinaamse Origine en Caricom staatsburgers ) die voornemens zijn langer dan drie maanden in Suriname te verblijven.»Our translation - not official
The authorisation-for-short-stay procedure applies to all aliens (except the category of Surinamese origin and CARICOM nationals) who intend to stay in Suriname for longer than three months.
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
«Conform de Vreemdelingenregelgeving van Suriname zullen vreemdelingen die het doel hebben van toerisme of zaken, binnen de gestelde periode het land moeten verlaten.»Our translation - not official
In accordance with the aliens legislation of Suriname, aliens whose purpose is tourism or business will have to leave the country within the period laid down.
The same page sets that period at ninety days and says in terms that a visitor on it may not apply for a residence permit from inside Suriname.
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
«I.w.t. 15 januari 2005 (S.B. 2005 no. 5).»Our translation - not official
In force 15 January 2005 (S.B. 2005 no. 5).
The Act was passed on 16 January 1992 and commenced thirteen years later, by a Presidential decision under article 47(2). The Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995 carries the same footnote and commenced on the same day.
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
The visa waiver and the entry fee are published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a measure. We looked for the instrument behind them in the National Assembly's four collections of legislation - texts in force to 2005, Acts after 2005, amendments after 2005 and treaties - and found nothing on either. Treat the figures as the ministry's current statement of practice rather than as a provision we have read.
A tourist or business visitor cannot convert the stay from inside the country. The aliens department says such a person may not lodge a residence application while in Suriname and must leave, obtain an authorisation for short stay in the country of origin, and return.
Suriname has bilateral visa-exemption agreements in its treaty collection with Argentina, China, India, Russia and Chile, and one covering diplomatic passports with Estonia. The ministry's page says the entry-fee measure applies to nationals of countries with which Suriname has a visa-exemption agreement as well. We have not read the agreements themselves.
This record rests on articles 1, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 47 of the Vreemdelingenwet 1991, articles 2 to 5, 12 and 37 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs page on travelling to Suriname, and the aliens department's pages on categories of aliens and on the authorisation for short stay.
- consolidatesVreemdelingenwet 1991 (S.B. 1992 no. 3)
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
- consolidatesVreemdelingenbesluit 1995 (S.B. 1995 no. 85)
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
- administersReizen naar Suriname
Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Internationale Handel en Samenwerking (Suriname)
About this source
The ministry responsible for visas, consular affairs and the PSA status. Its page on travelling to Suriname is the only published statement of the unilateral visa waiver in force since 1 July 2022, of the twenty-one nationalities excluded from it since 1 May 2023, of the entry fee and its exempt groups, and of the two land border posts at which the fee can be paid in cash. It also issues the PSA document under the Wet PSA.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Everything on the travel page is published as a measure, not as an instrument: there is no Staatsblad reference for the waiver, for the exclusion list or for the entry fee, and we found none in the National Assembly's collections. The two dates on the page are different - the waiver from 1 July 2022, the exclusion list from 1 May 2023 - so the list is a later narrowing rather than part of the original measure, and a reader has no way to tell when either last moved. The ninety days it states is not a period the Vreemdelingenwet uses. Its list of land payment points is the only published list of Surinamese border crossings we found, and it is a list of places to pay a charge rather than the ministerial designation of doorlaatposten that article 3 of the Vreemdelingenbesluit calls for; Brazil, with which Suriname shares a land frontier, is not on it. The entry fee is collected by a commercial contractor whose own site answers 403.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- administersMachtiging kortverblijf
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
- 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