What You Need to Know When You’re Moving to Paramaribo

Relocating to Paramaribo

About the City

Paramaribo is the capital and largest city in Suriname. It is located on the banks of the Suriname River and is home to around 230,000 people in 2014. The official language is Dutch, although English is widely spoken, and the city is famed for its diverse ethnic makeup and cosmopolitan lifestyle.

There is a growing tourist industry, and the city has a number of popular hotels and restaurants aimed at the increasing amounts of overseas visitors. The city has a wealth of colonial architecture — with its iconic white clapboard mansions, Paramaribo’s historic inner city has been preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site — and it has an impressively exotic location, lodged between the depths of the Surinamese jungle on one side and the wide open North Atlantic ocean on the other.

The climate in Paramaribo is tropical, with the average temperature (which remains relatively consistent across the year) sitting at around 31°C. There is always a chance of rain, although the driest periods fall between September and November.

Suriname is a political democracy, following the election of a four-party coalition government in 1991 which brought a decade of military leadership to an end.

Visas for Suriname

There are a number of rules regarding obtaining visas for relocating to Paramaribo. For shorter term stays, nationals from certain countries can enter for up to 90 days without a visa.

Nationals from countries who do not have a visa-waiver agreement must apply for a visa in advance through their local embassy. For longer term and business visas, the availability and costs vary depending on your country of origin.

A US passport holder can obtain a 5 year business visa, while non-US passport holders can apply for a visa lasting up to 24 months. Fees are waived for diplomatic and official passport holders seeking a business visa. Further information on the requirements and the process for applying can be found on the website of the Suriname embassy in Washington, D.C.

Finding Accommodation

Paramaribo is very affordable, and being a small city, is easy to get around (in fact, it is possible to travel around the city on foot or by bicycle), so residents can choose from properties in a number of areas.

With regards the costs of properties, apartment rentals range in price from around 450 USD per month for a single bedroom in the downtown area, to up to 950 USD for larger homes in the suburbs. The cost of rents can vary depending on proximity to the city center.