Curaçao
@HOME in Curaçao Remote Worker / Digital Nomad Permit: health insurance requirements
Yes: health insurance is required
Curacao runs a real remote-work permit branded @HOME in Curacao, and the immigration service lists remote workers and digital nomads as a purpose of stay in their own right rather than a tourism label. It runs to a maximum of six months and the first application costs XCG 535, roughly US$299. Holders are not liable for Curacao income tax.
The requirements at a glance
| Repatriation required | Not required |
|---|---|
| Minimum policy duration | The permit period, to a maximum of six months |
| Local-licensed insurer required | No: compliant international IPMI is accepted |
| Accepted proof | The programme site states that valid international travel and medical insurance, including COVID-19 cover, is a prerequisite for approval. The immigration service, which grants the permit, lists only proof of payment, a passport valid at least six months and proof of means of subsistence. Treat insurance as a stated programme condition rather than a verified legal one, and note separately that FCDO guidance says extending beyond the visa-free period requires proof of travel insurance. |
Work must be for an employer or clients outside Curaçao (no local employment). Valid passport, livable income and sufficient funds (no official minimum figure published), and a residential address on the island. Permit grants 6 months, extendable by a further 6. Holders are not liable for Curaçao income tax.
Who qualifies for the Curaçao nomad visa
The income bar is what decides most applications, and it is the number people look for first. Here is the current one, with the conditions that come attached to it.
- Income required
- No minimum income
- Length of permit
- 6 monthsrenewable
- Who can apply
- Employed remotely, Freelancer, Business owner
No income test, but you must prove location-independent work for a foreign employer or clients. Extendable once to 12 months.
What the income bar really means
Two things get people rejected on income even when they earn enough. The first is proving it: consulates want a documented, repeating history, usually bank statements and contracts covering several months, not a screenshot of a good quarter. Irregular freelance income clears the bar on average and fails on paper. The second is dependants, who almost always raise the threshold, and by a percentage of the base figure rather than a flat amount.
Treat the number above as the floor for the paperwork, not as a comfortable income for living there. It is set by the country’s own cost of living or minimum wage, which means it moves, and in several countries it is re-set every year.
Curacao's insurance condition appears only on the programme's own site, which still prices fees in the guilder retired in 2025, while the immigration service that actually issues the permit lists no insurance document at all.
Our take
The insurance rule is real but loosely specified: the @HOME program requires valid international travel and medical insurance, explicitly including COVID-19 coverage, as a prerequisite for approval, yet sets no minimum sum and does not force you to buy locally. That freedom is the trap. A thin policy can satisfy the paperwork while leaving you badly exposed if you actually need help.
On Curaçao the figure that should drive your cover is the air ambulance, not the doctor's fee. The island's own US Consulate says local care is limited and that critically ill patients are normally transferred to Colombia at their own cost, with a US transfer running roughly US$15,000 to US$25,000. Buy a policy with strong medical evacuation and repatriation, and if you dive, confirm diving is covered.
What happens if you get it wrong
Treating the COVID-19 clause as the whole insurance test. The program names it specifically, but a policy that ticks that box yet carries weak or capped medical evacuation cover is the one that fails you when a serious case has to leave the island.
Assuming the headline income figures you see online are official. There is no published minimum, only a livable-income and sufficient-funds standard, so applicants who plan around an invented threshold can mismatch what the program actually asks for; verify directly before applying.
Interactive
Verified pricesWhat would it cost in Curaçao without insurance?
A fever you assume is flu until the platelet count comes back. Common across the places nomads spend winters.
| The first doctor visit, before anyone worries | $60–$120 |
| Back again, this time to emergency | $150–$400 |
| Four nights on fluids and monitoring | $3,444 |
| You pay, out of pocket | $3,654–$3,964 |
Priced as one lump instead of itemised, a serious admission in Curaçao runs $300 to $800.
That is the bill you carry alone. Insurance exists for exactly this.
See what cover costsTypical private-care estimates for illustration, not a quote. Actual bills vary by hospital, city and severity.
FAQ
Yes. A valid international travel and medical insurance, including COVID-19 coverage, is a stated prerequisite for approval of the @HOME in Curaçao application.
No. The program publishes no minimum sum and does not require a local insurer, so the choice of policy is yours. Given the off-island evacuation reality, prioritise strong medical evacuation cover.
There is no officially published figure. You must show a livable income and sufficient funds, so any specific monthly amount you see quoted online is unofficial and should be verified with the program.
The immigration service states a maximum of six months and does not publish an extension. The programme site describes a further six months, so confirm before planning on it. The first application costs XCG 535, roughly US$299, in the Caribbean guilder that replaced the ANG in 2025.
No. Remote-work permit holders are not liable for Curaçao income tax, and you cannot work for or be employed by a local company.
What policy actually satisfies this visa
Curaçao does not publish a minimum figure, which sounds permissive and is not. It means you are judged against somebody's unwritten idea of adequate, and the safe reading of adequate is enough to cover a serious hospital admission in Curaçao, not the cheapest policy that technically exists.
A compliant international policy is accepted, so you are not forced into a local insurer. That matters more than it sounds: it means one policy can follow you when you leave, instead of expiring at the border.
Repatriation is not named as a condition, though it is the benefit you would most want to have if the worst happened, and it costs very little to add.
The dates are the other thing that gets applications rejected: the permit period, to a maximum of six months
Ask your insurer for a certificate of cover that states your full name as it appears on your passport, the exact policy period, the territory covered, and the benefit amounts. That is a normal request and any decent insurer issues it without fuss. The insurance being real and the paperwork still failing is a more common way to lose an application than being uninsured.
The visa tells you the minimum. It does not tell you what to actually carry. Those are different questions, and the paperwork minimum is nearly always the smaller of the two answers.
Get a policy that satisfies this visa
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