You can apply for a tourist visa extension to obtain permanent residence in Suriname. As part of the process, the immigration officer will be asked to provide the following:
- Tourist / guest visa.
- A passport that is valid for at least another six months.
- The authorities will need to conduct a thorough inspection. (Police records, finance, etc.)
- You will need to submit a birth certificate.
- A guarantor who vouches for you for the duration of your stay. They must be citizens and residents of the country of Suriname.
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After one month of being on a tourist visa, you can start the process of renewing it.
Initially, you can extend it from six months to one year.
- An application for a visa extension must be submitted to the consulate.
- Checking cases, bank accounts, and documents may take several weeks.
- After that, the user will receive a non-permanent resident status.
- Resident status is valid for two years and must be renewed thereafter.
- It is best to start each renewal process four months before the visa expires.
- An applicant can apply for permanent residence only after having lived in Suriname for five years with resident status.
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Once an applicant is granted permanent residence in Suriname, they will have to comply with several rules over the years:
- To apply for permanent residence, you will need to provide proof of private health insurance.
- Permanent status will also need to be renewed annually for 1 150.
- In addition, you will not be able to leave the country for more than 12 months. This will cancel your residence permit.
- If you cancel, you will have to start the whole process all over again.
It can be obtained for a child provided that the parents or one of them are citizens of Suriname, if they were born in Suriname, or if they have lived in the country for a certain time or by presidential decree on naturalization. Three ways to get it by naturalization:
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General information
Applicants must pay naturalization fees and provide proof that if naturalization has resulted in dual citizenship, it is not prohibited by another affiliation. The Department of aliens considers applications for naturalization. After obtaining an entrance visa for an authorized long-term stay, applicants must register in the civil status register. Naturalization is provided by a legislative act. Persons eligible for universal naturalization include:
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- People who have previously lost their Surinamese citizenship;
- Foreigners who have lived in Suriname legally for 5 years; or
- People who were born to stateless or unknown parents.
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State interests
Those who apply for naturalization in this category are exempt from the application fee and residence requirements. They have ties to Suriname that benefit the nation and are required to demonstrate that naturalization is usually granted by law; however, in some cases, applicants in this category may be approved by Presidential Decree. To qualify for naturalization by presidential decree, applicants must demonstrate that they are of legal age; reside in Suriname; have refused or are willing to renounce any other citizenship; and that they do not pose a threat to "public order, morals and health or the security of the state". Persons eligible to participate in the presidential decree include:
- A Surinamese mother who wishes to obtain citizenship for minor children born from a previous marriage, with a deceased father, or for whom the father is unknown, who has lived in Suriname for at least one year;
- Foreigners or stateless people who were born in Suriname;
- Foreigners or stateless persons who were previously citizens of Suriname;
- Foreigners or stateless people who were born abroad to at least one of the parents who were citizens of Suriname by birthright; or
- People residing in Suriname and classified as "people of Surinamese origin", meaning they don’t have Surinamese citizenship, but at least one of their parents or grandparents was born in Suriname.
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Re-citizenship
Some people who don’t have or have lost their Surinamese citizenship can obtain it again by applying to the authorities in accordance with the procedures described in the law. People eligible for this process include:
- People who were born to Suriname residents at the time of their birth, who have lived for at least three years before the age of eighteen, may choose Suriname citizenship by declaration within one year after the age of eighteen.
- People who have lost their Surinamese citizenship as a result of the actions of their legal parents or guardians when they were minors may be repatriated upon application within one year after reaching the age of eighteen.
- People who renounce their Suriname citizenship after reaching the age of eighteen but wish to repatriate before their twenty-second birthday may choose Suriname citizenship by declaration.
- Foreign spouses of Surinamese citizens who: (1) were married to a citizen of the country at the time of marriage and at the time of declaration, and who were married and established residence for at least two years prior to the Declaration; (2) who were married and lived in Suriname for at least five years prior to the declaration; or (3) who had offspring from a Surinamese citizen prior to the declaration.
- Spouses who have lost their citizenship after marrying a foreigner can restore their citizenship of Suriname by applying after the marriage is dissolved.
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Loss of citizenship
1. For people in respect of whom this is stipulated by the agreement between Suriname and the Netherlands on the assignment of citizenship in the cases and under the conditions provided for in this Agreement.
2. By naturalization in another country or, if it concerns a minor, by participating in another citizenship by naturalization in another country. The same applies to a legal, legalized, recognized, natural or adopted minor child if the mother is naturalized in another country after the death of the child's father.
3. By way of cancellation, which is announced by the president at the request of an adult who, in addition to the status of a citizen of Suriname, also has another citizenship and has a place of residence or main place of residence outside of Suriname.
4. By acquiring another nationality at the will of the acquirer; a Surinamese woman shall not lose her Surinamese nationality on the basis of this provision unless she exercises the right to renounce another nationality which she has rightfully obtained as a result of marriage.
5. Performing foreign military or government service without the permission of the President.
6. A Surinamese woman who is married to a non-Surinamese national and thus gains the same nationality as her husband loses her Surinamese nationality by expressing her wish to this authority as specified in Article 19.