DIMAS decides on residence and work permission, and its portal and checklist are the authority for a live application. Official sources currently disagree on the DPL labour-market step. How to check the live process…
DIMAS decides on the residence permit that carries permission to work. Its portal and the checklist it gives you are the authority for a live application.
Official sources currently disagree on whether the employer must visit DPL for the labour-market test first. DIMAS's portal says a temporary policy since 24 April 2025 lets applicants submit directly; DIMAS's Paid Employment page and older government guidance still describe DPL first.
We do not present one sequence as fixed. Read the DIMAS portal notice and ask DIMAS immediately before you apply.
Your employer stands behind the application to DIMAS as your guarantor. What it needs, what it costs, how long it takes and what happens after approval. Whether a DPL step comes first depends on DIMAS's current procedure, which official sources describe differently.
Since 1 January 2026, every hour counts the same: employees in Aruba aged 18 and over earn at least Afl. 11.58 an hour, however many hours they work. How to check your pay or a job offer.
DVG is the authority for the health certificate, still called the green card or carchi berde. The steps, the tests, what DVG says it costs and how the Aruba Health App delivers it.
A Dutch passport is not enough to live and work in Aruba. If you were born outside Aruba you normally need a DIMAS residence permit for your first five years. Who needs one, how your job affects it, and what to send.
Studying abroad with an Arubalening? Come back and work in Aruba within three years of graduating and 35% of your study debt can be forgiven. The conditions, and how to line up work before you land.
6 sources cited · Checked 4 October 2026
At a glance
Who decides what
Several authorities are involved in working in Aruba. This is who does what, and where their own pages disagree.
Text version
DIMAS
admission authority
DIMAS (Departamento di Integracion, Maneho y Admision di Stranhero)
DPL
labour department
Departamento di Progreso Laboral (DPL)
DVG
primary authority for the health certificate process
Directie Volksgezondheid (DVG), Department of Public Health
SVb
social insurance bank
Sociale Verzekeringsbank Aruba (SVb)
Impuesto
levies and collects AOV/AWW and AZV premiums and wage tax
Departamento di Impuesto (tax department)
Whether the employer must visit DPL for the labour-market test before applying to DIMAS
UNRESOLVED – presented as a conflict
DIMAS web portal: Important Notice – Temporary Policy Change (effective 2025-04-24; page undated): Effective 24 April 2025 the Ministers of Justice and Labour temporarily changed the process: applicants no longer need to visit DPL for the labour-market test and may submit directly at DIMAS. Temporary policy adjustment; no end date stated.
DIMAS: Paid Employment (work and residence permit) (undated): A labour-market review is required; apply for it at DPL, then apply to DIMAS.
DIMAS: Working (overview of permit types) (undated): For most work permits you first visit DPL for a labour-market check.
Government of Aruba: Work and residence permit (published 2023-11-28): Foreign nationals must first obtain a positive advice from DPL, then apply to DIMAS.
Ministry of Labour, Energy and Integration / DIMAS: Toelatingshandboek 2023 (6 March 2023), sections A.2–A.3, B.1–B.3 and 1.2.1 (2023-03-06): A positive DPL advice or a notification letter (exemption) is required (section B.1).
DPL: Advies Toelating Arbeidsmarkt (labour-market advice) (undated): Describes the labour-market test and the advice the employer takes to DIMAS; does not mention the temporary policy.
Not known: Whether the DPL-first pages are simply out of date; whether and when the temporary policy ends.
Aruba's labour department: it runs the labour-market test and advice for permit applications, and free job matching for people who do not need a permit.
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