Expat insurance and health insurance in Curaçao

Since 1 February 2013, the basisverzekering ziektekosten (BVZ) covers all residents of Curaçao, according to the SVB, which carries it out for the right to care and which replaced the former public schemes. The rule is residence: anyone who is ingezetene is insured. The law notably excludes people who are not authorised to stay on the island, that is without a residence permit. The care package includes the general practitioner, first-line psychological follow-up, specialists on a referral letter (valid for six months), third-class hospitalisation, maternity, prescribed medicines (with a co-payment of 1 florin per prescription line), paramedical care and, under conditions, dental and optical care. Each insured person is attached to a single general practitioner, who can be changed once a year in September.

Funding rests on income-related premiums. The SVB table gives 13.6% for the BVZ (9.3% employer and 4.3% employee), 6.5% for retirees and 13.6% for the self-employed, with an income ceiling of Cg 150,000. To these premiums are added AOV old-age insurance (15%), AWW widows and orphans insurance (1%) and AVBZ insurance for long-term care and exceptional medical expenses (2%).

The Curaçao Medical Center (CMC), opened in 2019 in the Otrobanda district of Willemstad, replaced the Sint Elisabeth hospital as the island's central hospital, according to the national decree of 19 June 2019 designating hospital facilities. Its emergency department operates 24 hours a day; 910 is the number to dial in case of life-threatening danger and 912 that of the ambulance service, presented as free on the CMC website.

France Diplomatie reminds readers that the European Health Insurance Card covers neither Curaçao, nor Aruba, nor Bonaire, nor Saba, nor Sint Eustatius, nor Sint Maarten, and recommends, depending on the conditions and length of stay, vaccines against hepatitis A and typhoid fever (hepatitis B for frequent or prolonged stays). Dengue and chikungunya are reported in the Dutch overseas territories, with no curative treatment for dengue; in case of symptoms, anti-inflammatory drugs should be avoided and a doctor seen without delay.

• Entry: a passport is compulsory to enter Curaçao, which is outside the Schengen area (France Diplomatie). Every international visitor completes the digital immigration card (DI Card) online, no earlier than seven days before departure, and presents the confirmation at flight check-in and at immigration.
• Tourist stay: up to 90 days a year for European Union citizens; beyond that, a short-stay application is needed (Toelatingsorganisatie).
• Stay of more than 90 days: residence permit issued by the Toelatingsorganisatie (work, annuitant or retiree, investor, study, family, short stay, including digital nomad). Since 1 April 2026, a permit can be requested for three years at most, the fees being due for each year requested.
• Local affiliation: a resident in a regular situation falls under the BVZ; the employer withholds the employee share of the premiums and pays its own share (SVB).
• Travel or international insurance: France Diplomatie considers it essential to hold insurance covering medical costs, surgery, hospitalisation and medical repatriation; the French embassy cannot cover these costs.
• Student: no EHIC. For a stay of more than six months, CLEISS states that French rights can only be exported in a limited way to a country without an agreement; a student insurance or joining the CFE is advised.
• Seconded employee : without a social security agreement, continuation on the French scheme rests solely on French legislation, for three years renewable once (six years at most); it does not exempt from contributions in the country of activity (CLEISS). Care is reimbursed within the limit of French benefits, on paid invoices and form S 3125c.
• Retiree: no S1 form (reserved for the European Union); the BVZ applies to the resident retiree at the rate of 6.5%, and the offer of the Caisse des Français de l'Étranger (CFE) for retirees is reserved for holders of a French basic scheme pension.

No fine linked to the absence of health insurance is mentioned in the sources consulted. A traveller who does not fall under the BVZ in practice pays costs up front; the assistance policy then covers evacuation and direct payment.

Curaçao appears neither in the CLEISS list of country pages nor in its list of bilateral agreements; the CLEISS Netherlands page refers to the European regulations, whose scope covers the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. This reading is consistent with France Diplomatie's statement that the European Health Insurance Card does not cover Curaçao. No France-Curaçao social security agreement is therefore in force, to be confirmed with CLEISS for a specific project.

• No aggregation of insurance periods: the French pension is not calculated in coordination with the local scheme, each country examining rights separately (CLEISS).
• Tourist: no cover on site; an optional flat-rate reimbursement of unforeseen care can be requested from the French fund on return (CLEISS).
• Expatriate: they necessarily fall under the local scheme and are no longer insured in France; voluntary membership of the CFE does not exempt from compulsory local contributions.
• Tax: the impots.gouv.fr list of treaties has no entry for Curaçao; France and Curaçao signed on 10 September 2010 a tax information exchange agreement, in force since 1 August 2012 (BOFiP).

For a long stay, joining the CFE or international health insurance complements the BVZ: it provides for third-class hospitalisation and funds care abroad only if the treatment is impossible on the island, on the advice of a local specialist and with the agreement of the medical referrals board.

1. Before departure: notify French agencies of your departure (CPAM, CAF, France Travail, pension funds) in case of a long-term move.
2. Take out insurance covering medical costs, hospitalisation and medical repatriation, essential according to France Diplomatie, including for a short stay.
3. Check the validity of your passport, compulsory to enter Curaçao.
4. Complete the digital immigration card online, no earlier than seven days before departure, and keep the confirmation.
5. Stay of more than 90 days: choose the suitable permit (work, annuitant, investor, study, family, short stay) with the Toelatingsorganisatie; the employer first files the work permit application.
6. After settling: join the BVZ through the employer or the SVB and choose a general practitioner.
7. Seconded employee: ask the employer to handle the Urssaf procedure and keep paid invoices for form S 3125c.
8. Retiree: find out from the French pension fund, CLEISS and the CFE; request the French pension about six months before the legal age.
9. Registration with the roll of French nationals living abroad at the French embassy in the Netherlands (The Hague), which has a consular agency in Curaçao, open by appointment.