FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
U.S. Relations With Sint Maarten
Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
Fact Sheet
St. Maarten has semi-autonomy within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It conducts foreign affairs, including with the United States, through the Netherlands, whose embassies and consulates issue visas for travel to the island.
Tourism is the mainstay of St. Maarten’s economy. Approximately 425,000 stay-over tourists visited St. Maarten in 2011 with nearly 60% of those from North America. An additional 1,656,159 tourists visited the island that year as cruise ship passengers. In 2011, St. Maarten was ranked the 154th largest supplier of imports to the United States and the 104th largest purchaser of exports from the United States by value.
The U.S. Consulate General in Curacao is responsible for the day-to-day management of relations with the Dutch Caribbean, which includes Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten. Due to the strategic location of the Dutch Caribbean for the United States, the consulate deals with issues such as securing U.S. borders, countering terrorism, and fighting international crime, especially narcotics trafficking and human trafficking. The consulate provides a variety of services to U.S. citizens; it also can issue non-immigrant visas for certain travelers to the U.S. who wish to visit, work, or study for a temporary period.
The consulate was opened in 1793. It was one of the earliest U.S. consulates, reflecting the importance of Caribbean trade to the new United States. The Consul General resides in the historic Roosevelt House, which was the local government's gift of property to the United States in 1950 as an expression of gratitude for U.S. protection during World War II.
