OK. Research complete. Here's the full scoop:
For United States citizens applying for residency in Bonaire.
One of the documents required for your application for Admission by Operation of Law (IND form MBES-08)
is “a legalised certificate of good conduct, for the last five years, issued by the competent authority where
you have lived for the last five years (not older than three months).” This document is also called a VOG
(Verklaring omtrent gedrag).
Until recently, IND accepted a document produced by your local police department, and this document
required no authentication. Since January 1, 2017, you must provide a VOG involving a nationwide search,
and the document must be authenticated with an apostille. You get the document you need from the FBI,
and because it’s a federal document, the apostille must come from the U.S. Department of State
(your state government cannot authenticate a federal document).
WARNING: It takes about 18 weeks to get these documents from the federal government,
12-14 weeks for the FBI document and 5 weeks for the apostille from the State Department.
Getting the FBI Identity History Summary Check Step One: Complete the Form
It’s linked in the webpage above, or you can get it here:
https://forms.fbi.gov/identity-history-
summary-checks-review/q384893984839334.pdf
Step Two: Get Fingerprinted
There’s a standard form you must use. This is not a do-it-yourself project. Read the instructions
on the FBI website.
Step Three: Pay the Fee
The fee is $18 per person. You can pay by money order, certified check, or credit card (by filling out
a form with the payment information). You cannot pay by cash, personal check or business check.
Step Four: Go Over the Checklist
Make sure you’ve included everything.
Step Five: Send Everything in to the FBI
When you get the report back from the FBI, you send it in to the State Department.
Getting the Apostille from the State Dept
Bonaire Help Desk provides this information without cost as a public service. It is compiled from publicly available sources and is true
to the best of our knowledge, but this is not legal advice and we make no warrant or guarantee.
Bonaire Help Desk is a service of International Bible Church of Bonaire.