Website Koninkrijk.nu reports that residents of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba who have lost their jobs due to the corona crisis, have insufficient financial resources to support themselves and have not resided continuously in the Caribbean Netherlands for 5 years, must return to their country of origin.
This is evident from the letter that the Social Affairs and Employment Unit of the Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland sends to islanders who, due to the loss of their work, make use of the emergency scheme for ‘former employees’ of the Ministry of SZW. The temporary arrangement is intended to (largely) compensate for loss of income due to Codvid-19 during the first 3 months after the dismissal.
The subsidy for the first group to make use of the scheme from October will expire on 1 January. The RCN unit informs them by letter that they must ‘actively’ look for other work. If that does not work (and that is most likely given the crisis), people ‘may’ qualify for social assistance. But that only applies to those over 18 and who have been a ‘lawful and continuous’ resident of the Caribbean Netherlands for the past S years.
For those who do not meet the latter criterion and ‘do not have enough money to get by’, the letter said, ‘the law stipulates that your right of residence ends’. In other words: one must leave the island of residence. Only in ‘exceptional’ situations can one still claim social assistance, for example, if the airspace of the country of origin is closed.
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SABA NEWS.
