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Good practice Imported

One Happy Workation — Aruba's No-New-Visa Remote-Work Travel Designation

Aruba · Oranjestad · See the Aruba profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 83% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Aruba's Tourism Authority let remote workers extend stays to 90 days via a travel-card designation instead of a new visa. It drew 3,161 visitors in its first six months (Sep 2020–Mar 2021), per Caribbean Journal, though no economic-impact figure has been published.

3,161
Programme users (Sep 2020 - Mar 2021)
85%
Visitors from North America
One Happy Workation — Aruba's No-New-Visa Remote-Work Travel Designation

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Aruba Tourism Authority (A.T.A.)
Period
2020–present (verified uptake data: Sep 2020–Mar 2021)
Keywords
tourism, remote work, digital economy, talent attraction

Context

In September 2020, Aruba's Prime Minister launched 'One Happy Workation,' letting remote workers extend stays on the island to up to 90 days simply by selecting a 'workation' purpose-of-visit on the standard embarkation card -- no new visa or residency category was created.

Results

Caribbean Journal reported 3,161 visitors used the programme between its September 2020 launch and early March 2021: 85% came from North America, 62% were first-time visitors, and 43% were millennials aged 20-39.

Conclusions

The programme grants no formal immigration status, so participants risk triggering Aruban tax residency beyond 183 days and may not work for a local employer without a separate permit. Uptake (3,161 visitors over six months) is modest next to Aruba's more than one million annual stay-over visitors, and the scheme skews toward short/medium-stay North American leisure travellers rather than long-term skilled-talent retention.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Near-zero marginal administrative cost; funded within existing tourism-marketing budget.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year)
Staffing & skills
Aruba Tourism Authority

Conditions for success

  • zero new visa infrastructure -- implemented via an existing embarkation-card field

Common failure modes

  • no formal immigration status risks tax-residency triggers beyond 183 days

Where it fits

Governance type
national tourism authority
Scale
national
Income level
high-income

Commonly funded by

Own resources / municipal budget

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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