Working in Sint Maarten (the Dutch Part of Saint-Martin) as a French National

France Diplomatie (the French foreign ministry) specifies that the Dutch Caribbean islands, including Sint Maarten, are not part of the Schengen area and that a passport is compulsory there. To work, the immigration service (IBPS) list of documents describes a two-step route: a work permit, whose application is processed by the labour department, then a residence permit. For an employee, the list asks for a copy of the work permit (proof of an application filed with the labour department is accepted to start the procedure), the employment contract, the employer's letter, payslips for the last two months, bank statements of the salary account over three months, as well as the passport and a criminal record less than six months old.

Birth and marriage certificates must be legalised or apostilled, less than three years old, and translated into Dutch or English. Where the employer is a sole proprietorship or houses its staff, it provides a certificate from the tax inspectorate and a copy of its passport. The IBPS recalls that other documents may be requested during the procedure and that processing fees are non-refundable. The detailed conditions of the work permit (job market, duration, fees) come under the labour department: the Sint Maarten government website could not be read live, so these points are not detailed here.

Change of category is provided for: the list describes the move from family formation, studies or work to other statuses, as well as the extension of the employee permit. A permit that expired more than three months ago is treated as a first application. For practical settling in, see the page on living in Sint Maarten.

The legal minimum pay and its annual indexation are set by the government of Sint Maarten. The official pages that publish them (government website and Department of Statistics) could not be read live: no minimum wage or average salary amount is therefore given here. The “Economic benchmarks” block on this page gives updated inflation and exchange rate figures; for the minimum wage, refer to the ministerial announcement in force, available on the Sint Maarten government website.

An income level benchmark appears in the SZV documents: the salary cap for ZV health insurance is 10,000 florins a month and 120,000 florins a year, and the AOV and AWW salary limit is expressed in Caribbean guilders (Cg) and indexed every year. These caps set the base on which premiums are calculated, and the ZV applies only to salaries that do not exceed them. They are not average salaries.

The SZV describes the procedure for an employee insured under the ZV in case of illness: inform the employer, consult the family doctor from the first day (the doctor then signs the yellow card), then, if the incapacity continues on the third day from the start of treatment, report to the SZV's medical adviser, at counter 2 of the Labour and Health department, without an appointment, Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Without the doctor's signature on the yellow card, the visit does not take place. For government employees, the department sets its own procedure.

Accident insurance (OV) is paid by employers, with a premium of 0.5% to 5% depending on the company's risk class. The SZV recalls that the employer is required by law to register its company and its employees with it, failing which it cannot open an online account. The other elements of the contract (probationary period, notice length, paid leave, severance pay) come under Sint Maarten labour law, which the pages read do not detail: reading the contract and, if necessary, consulting the labour department are essential before signing. See the notion of a local contract.

According to the SZV, premiums are expressed as a percentage of salary. ZV health insurance is 12.5% (8.3% paid by the employer and 4.2% by the employee); AOV old-age pension is 13% (7% employer, 6% employee); AWW widows' and orphans' insurance is 1% (0.5% on each side); OV accident insurance, from 0.5% to 5%, is paid entirely by the employer. The employer also pays a contribution known as cessantia of 40 florins per employee per year. Adding up the first three insurances, the employee deduction comes to 10.7% and the employer share to 15.8%, excluding accidents. The rates in force should be confirmed with the SZV.

On top of this is the AVBZ, insurance for exceptional medical expenses, to which everyone who works contributes monthly with their employer and the government; its rate is not indicated on the page read. An employee abroad is not exempt from these local contributions when attached to the local scheme: membership of the CFE (Caisse des Français de l'Étranger) does not exempt from the compulsory contributions of the country of work (CLEISS).

The seconded employee sent by a French company remains affiliated to the French scheme. Without an agreement, CLEISS indicates a period of three years renewable once, whereas the Assurance Maladie recalls a general limit of 24 months except in exceptional cases: the Urssaf (the French social security contributions collector), which the employer informs before departure and which issues the document certifying that French legislation applies, confirms the applicable duration. Care is reimbursed at French rates on paid invoices (ameli account or form S3125). See the glossary entry on the seconded employee and seconded or expatriate.

The expatriate employee (local contract) comes under the scheme of the country of work and is no longer insured in France. According to CLEISS, without an agreement, pension rights are examined separately by each country, the French pension does not take local periods into account, and local contributions do not automatically give rise to a right payable in France. The CFE makes it possible to remain insured for French risks.

The self-employed person or company director applies for a director's permit. The IBPS list requires registrations with the labour department, the SZV and the chamber of commerce, the business licence and the director's licence, a certificate from the tax inspectorate, bank statements, proof of address of the company, the monthly turnover tax returns for the last three months and, for a first application, a bank letter for a minimum of 36,000 florins (US$20,000). CLEISS specifies that a self-employed worker may join the CFE for sickness and maternity cover only.

The Sint Maarten income tax and wage tax scale could not be read on an accessible official page: no local rate is given here. The Senate describes the Dutch part as more liberal and with more attractive taxation than the French part. It is for Sint Maarten's tax inspectorate to specify the calculation for an individual case.

On the French side, the impots.gouv.fr list of conventions has no entry for Sint Maarten. The Franco-Dutch convention of 16 March 1973 defines the Netherlands as the part of the Kingdom located in Europe (article 3) and can be extended to the Netherlands Antilles only by an exchange of diplomatic notes (article 30). The BOFiP lists only, for the Dutch part of the island, a tax information exchange agreement signed in The Hague on 10 September 2010 and in force since 1 August 2012. Without a convention, each country applies its domestic law: impots.gouv.fr recalls that tax residence in France depends on the home (or main place of stay), the main professional activity or the centre of economic interests, any one of these criteria being sufficient, and that domestic laws can make a person a resident of both countries. A non-resident is taxable in France only on French-source income. The situation should be handled with the tax authority before departure.

The categories in the IBPS list (employee, director, trainee, pensioner or annuitant, student, family, cohabitation, investor) include no permit dedicated to remote work for a foreign employer. The sources read therefore describe no specific status; before working remotely from the island, you should ask the IBPS which category applies and check with your employer and the Urssaf which social legislation applies. For health cover during a stay without local affiliation, see digital nomad insurance.

According to the Senate, tourism is the island's leading resource (more than half a million visitors) and the economy depends on external flows. Hurricane Irma of 6 September 2017 damaged most buildings and caused 8,000 to 10,000 people to leave; reconstruction was slowed by the complexity of the regulations on this shared territory. Regular cross-border employment flows exist with the French part.

The SZV documents express their amounts in Caribbean guilders (Cg), the common currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten; the former Netherlands Antillean florin is still the unit in several earlier documents. The details of the currency (date of introduction, parity with the US dollar) are published by the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, whose website could not be read live. For figures on the outlook, refer to the “Economic benchmarks” block and to the publications of the Department of Statistics.