Half of this question has a good published answer and half of it has none, so let us separate them at the start. Which office in Paramaribo handles what is set out in detail by the offices themselves, with addresses and telephone numbers. When they are open is a different matter: on the Hoofdafdeling Vreemdelingenzaken's website and on the government portal gov.sr, read on 24 October 2026, no office relevant to a newcomer publishes an opening time. We therefore give none, not even an approximation.
We looked at the immigration department's home page, its frequently asked questions, its page of application types and its document lists, and at the government portal. None of them publishes no opening hours — the pages carry remits, procedures, deadlines, addresses and telephone numbers, and no hours at all. A guide that tells you an office in Paramaribo is open from a particular hour to a particular hour is telling you something no office has published.
That is less of a problem than it sounds, because what is published is a set of direct telephone numbers. Use them. Call the extension for the department that handles your matter, ask for the counter hours and whether an appointment is needed, and write down the answer and the date you got it.
Residence permits: Justice and Police, not Foreign Affairs
Residence, extension of residence, settlement and naturalization are handled by the Onderdirectoraat Vreemdelingenzaken, part of the Ministerie van Justitie en Politie. Its published remit, in its own list, covers: handling applications for residence, extension of residence and settlement; applications on the status of minor children; naturalization applications — by law under article 8 of the WNI, by resolution under article 16, the option for 18-year-olds under article 5, and foreigners married to a Surinamese national under article 12; refusing applications, withdrawing permits and declaring foreigners undesirable; and preparing the removal of foreigners who may not stay. The framework it applies is the Vreemdelingenwet 1991, the Vreemdelingenbesluit 1995 and the Wet op de Nationaliteit en het Ingezetenschap.
Visas are a different ministry. On what to do if you want to come to Suriname, the department's own answer is that you need a visa depending on your nationality and purpose, and it refers you to Foreign Affairs. The published contact there is the Secretariaat Onderdirecteur Consulaire Zaken of the Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, at Lim A Po Straat and Watermolenstraat, telephone 00-597-473575 or 00-597-426517. And an authorization for short stay is applied for at a Surinamese embassy or consulate in the country of origin, not in Paramaribo.
Inside the immigration department: five units and their extensions
The department publishes its own internal division, which is what you need in order to ask for the right person:
- Secretariaat — all communication for the Onderdirecteur. Extensions 3601 and 3602.
- Stafbureau — designing, developing and executing the department's policy.
- Toelating en Vestiging — taking in all applications for residence, extension of residence and naturalization. Extensions 3605 to 3609. This is the unit for a file in progress.
- Naturalisatie — naturalization applications. Extensions 3613 and 3614.
- Uitzetting — refusals, withdrawal of permits and removals.
Two more published numbers are worth having: the Unit Afgifte on extensions 3610, 3611 and 3613, which is the unit you meet at the end — it asks to verify the original documents and the passport photographs of everyone on the application and then tells you the day and time to collect — and the Onderzoeksdienst on extension 3616. The central number is +597 427 197. The department's stakeholder list publishes Henck Arronstraat 1 with that central number for the ministry's Afdeling Bedrijfsvergunningen; it does not publish a separate street address for Vreemdelingenzaken itself, which is another reason to call before you travel.
The offices around it, with the addresses they publish
These are taken from the immigration department's own list of the bodies that matter to foreigners, read on 24 October 2026.
- Vreemdelingendienst (Korps Politie Suriname) — Mr. J. Lachmonstraat 167, in the building of the Ministerie van Openbare Werken, telephone 00-597-532109. You report here within 8 days of arriving on an authorization for short stay, and again once your permit is issued, taking the original decision, your passport and a passport photograph; on a renewal, only the decision and the passport, and in person.
- Immigratiedienst — Ministerie van Defensie, Tourtonnelaan 1, telephone 00-597-474349 or 00-597-472221. This is the service that grants the short stay at the border; CARICOM nationals are granted six months on entry.
- Dienst Werkvergunningen — Ministerie van Arbeid, E. Brumasstraat 52-54, telephone 00-597-476637. Foreigners who take part in the labor process must hold a valid work permit; the Surinamese-origin category and CARICOM skilled nationals are exempt.
- Centraal Bureau voor Burgerzaken — Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken, Mr. J. Lachmonstraat 170, telephone 00-597-499239. Two counters matter here: the afdeling Vreemdelingenregistratie, with document requirements the department sets out per nationality, and your own CBB district office.
- Belastingkantoor (Ministerie van Financiën) — Sommelsdijkstraat, telephone 477222 or 471015.
One cross-office dependency is worth planning around. The registration certificate the CBB issues must be valid on the day you file for settlement or for a declaration of residency for a child, and its validity runs from the date of issue, which must be no more than six months old. Collect it late, not early.
Where you pay, and where you do not
The fees for residence, extension, settlement, a duplicate and the declaration for minor children are not paid at the counter. They are deposited at a commercial bank, and the department publishes the accounts: De Surinaamsche Bank on SRD 184-4784 or 901-0904, the Volks Crediet Bank on SRD 1225-60090, the Landbouwbank on SRD 560-1340 and the Hakrinbank on SRD 920-2536. On the deposit slip the beneficiary is the Ministerie van Financiën, and what matters is your own name and the type of application. The fees for the naturalization declarations go to the Belastingkantoor instead.
The published amounts are USD 150 for residence or an extension, USD 200 for settlement or indefinite residence, USD 250 for a duplicate, USD 10 for the declaration for minor children, and SRD 200 for the naturalization declarations. The department states the fees may be deposited in SRD tegen de officiële koers van de Centrale Bank van Suriname. Because the dollar amounts are the fixed ones, there is no fixed SRD figure and we print none. A refused application is not refunded: Indien uw aanvraag wordt afgewezen zult u niet in aanmerking komen voor restitutie van de kosten/ leges.
What the Loketdienst is actually for
This is the one that costs people a morning. The Loketdienst in Paramaribo is published as serving three things: information about the online system and the website; checking the status of pending applications submitted before 1 October 2016; and collecting decisions on applications submitted before that date. Anything filed since then runs through the online submission and through email.
One exception is published: the waiting time for a verklaring van naturalisatie, the document showing that a naturalization application has been filed, is 7 working days, and it can for now be collected at the Loketdienst, to be emailed once the online system is fully implemented. The first one is free; from the second it costs USD 10 or the equivalent at the Central Bank's official rate.
The published clocks, which are more useful than hours
If you cannot plan around opening times, plan around the deadlines the department does publish:
- You are emailed the status of a digital application within 21 working days.
- If the file is incomplete you have 7 working days to supply what is missing, and until you do, the application counts as not submitted.
- The maximum processing time is 60 working days, and you are told within 60 working days that the permit is ready for collection.
- A permit must be renewed at the latest three months before it expires.
- After arriving on an authorization for short stay: report within 8 days, then file within 14 days.
- On the resolution route for naturalization, report to the police in your own ressort within 20 working days of filing; on the marriage route, within 10 working days.
- You may not laminate your permit. The department says so in capitals, and a laminated document is a wasted trip.
What we could not substantiate
No opening hours, for any of these offices. No published appointment system, and no statement of which offices expect or require an appointment. No waiting time at a counter. No published street address for the immigration department's own Loketdienst beyond the ministry's central number and Henck Arronstraat 1. And nothing published about which offices work in English, so we make no claim about it.
We also leave out, deliberately, three things a reader might expect from an article like this: which neighborhood to base yourself in, how the pace of the administration feels, and what officials appreciate. There is no published source for any of them, and for the first there are real neighborhoods and real residents behind the question. What is publishable is this: call the extension for the unit that handles your matter, ask for the counter hours and the appointment position, and get the answer dated.
Where to check
The remits, the five units, the extensions and the stakeholder addresses are on the Hoofdafdeling Vreemdelingenzaken's home page. The deadlines, the fee table, the bank accounts and the Loketdienst's scope are in its frequently asked questions. The application types, the settlement conditions and the naturalization declaration are under types of application, and the per-application requirements under document lists. All read on 24 October 2026. Confirm the hours by telephone before you go.
AI-Generated Content: This article was created with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important information with official sources.
