No pension gap for students from islands

The Daily Herald writes that students of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, who study in the Netherlands, will continue to build a retirement plan in the future. The Dutch cabinet on Friday agreed with a proposal by State Secretary of Social Affairs and Employment Jetta Klijnsma to this effect.

Currently, students from the three islands, who are going to the Netherlands to study, no longer fall under the general old-age pension AOV BES during their studies. In this period students do not build up AOV BES rights. Only if they also work beside their studies in the Netherlands they continue to build old-age pension.

State Secretary Klijnsma aims to prevent students from getting a gap in their pension build-up for the time they spend in the Netherlands. Therefore, it was decided that as of July 1, students will continue to build up AOV BES rights while studying in the Netherlands.

The system also applies the other way, meaning that people from the Netherlands who travel to Bonaire, Statia and Saba for studies, will no longer build up the general old-age pension BES. However, they will remain insured under the Dutch AOW pension during their studies in the Caribbean Netherlands.