Camille Baptiste
Yes, most visitors flying to Aruba now pay a $20 Sustainability Fee, and it is collected before you land, inside the online Embarkation and Disembarkation (ED) Card at edcardaruba.aw. The ED Card itself is free, every air traveller has to complete it, including infants and children, and if the fee applies to you, your card is not approved until the $20 is paid by credit card. This guide explains who pays, who is exempt, when the filing window opens and how to avoid the unofficial websites that charge extra for the same form.
Quick Facts
- Form: Aruba Online Embarkation and Disembarkation (ED) Card, required for air arrivals
- Official site only: edcardaruba.aw, run for Aruba immigration
- Sustainability Fee: $20 per visitor arriving by air, in place since 1 July 2024
- Who pays: Non-resident air visitors aged 8 and over, unless an exemption applies
- Who is exempt: Aruba residents, children under 8, qualifying repeat visitors and Aruban students abroad, per the Aruba Tourism Authority
- When to file: Within the 7 days before travel, per the official ED Card guidance
- How to pay: Credit card inside the ED Card form; approval follows payment
- Fee contact: Aruba Wastewater Sustainable Solutions (AWSS), info@awss.aw, for payment and reimbursement questions
What is the Aruba ED Card, and is it separate from the fee?
The ED Card is Aruba’s online immigration form, the digital replacement for the paper embarkation and disembarkation card travellers once filled in by hand. The Aruba Tourism Authority’s ED Card page describes it as a web-based form you complete from home before you travel, and it is required for passengers arriving by air. Every traveller needs an approved card, whatever their age or nationality, and the card is a pre-registration step rather than a visa. It does not guarantee entry, which remains an immigration decision on arrival, but airlines check for an approved card before boarding, so leaving it undone risks being turned away at the gate.
The Sustainability Fee is a separate charge that rides inside the same form. According to the Tourism Authority, Aruba implemented the $20 fee for visitors arriving by air from 1 July 2024, collected through the ED Card platform while you complete the card to enter Aruba. The money supports projects aimed at enhancing and improving sustainability efforts on the island, and the fee is administered by Aruba Wastewater Sustainable Solutions, known as AWSS, the utility behind the island’s wastewater upgrades. One practical consequence matters most: since the payment was integrated into the ED Card system, you complete the payment before you can receive your ED Card approval, as the Tourism Authority’s Sustainability Fee page explains. There is no pay-on-arrival option to fall back on.
Who has to pay the $20, and who is exempt?
The default rule is simple. If you are a non-resident flying into Aruba and you are aged 8 or over, expect to pay $20 as part of your ED Card submission. The fee is charged per visitor, so a couple travelling together pays $40 between them, and each traveller still files their own card. Payment is by credit card only inside the online form, and the Tourism Authority directs all questions about payment and reimbursement of the fee to AWSS at info@awss.aw, while questions about the ED Card itself go to the Immigration Department.
The exemptions listed by the Tourism Authority are specific, and they are worth checking before you assume the fee applies. The following persons are not required to pay: residents of Aruba; children under 8; repeat visitors who have already paid the fee to visit Aruba within the same calendar year; and Aruban students who can prove they are studying at a foreign educational institution and have been residents within the past 8 years. Note the shape of the repeat-visitor rule as the Tourism Authority words it: it turns on having already paid within the same calendar year, not on how recently you visited. A traveller who paid on a January trip and returns in November of the same year should not be charged again, while a first visit in a new calendar year starts the fee fresh. Children under 8 are exempt from the fee only; they still need their own completed ED Card, like every other passenger.
Exemptions are applied through the details you enter, so accuracy matters. Enter passport details exactly as they appear in the document, because a mismatch can stop an exemption or an approval from attaching to the right traveller. If you believe an exemption applies and the form still asks you to pay, stop and contact AWSS or the Immigration Department before paying twice, rather than paying and hoping for a refund later.
When should you complete the ED Card?
File inside the window, not before it. The official guidance is to complete the ED Card within the 7 days before your travel date, so put a reminder in the final week rather than trying to file when you book your flights months ahead. Filing in the window also means your flight and accommodation details are final, which reduces the corrections travellers otherwise have to make. Complete one card per traveller, pay the fee where it applies, and keep the approval confirmation somewhere you can reach it offline, because you may be asked to show it at check-in and again on arrival.
A family filing together should work through the cards one at a time and check each approval as it arrives, rather than assuming a single submission covers everyone. It does not. Infants and children have their own cards, even though under-8s pay no fee, and each adult’s $20 is charged individually. If your plans change after approval, return to the official site and follow its guidance for your updated details instead of filing through any third-party service.
How do you avoid paying too much for the ED Card?
Type the official address yourself: edcardaruba.aw. The only charge the official process should present is the $20 Sustainability Fee, or nothing if you are exempt. Unofficial websites imitate the ED Card, rank in search results and add their own service charges on top of the same government form, and the traveller ends up paying twice for one filing. The warning signs are a different domain, a total higher than $20 per paying traveller, or a site that asks for payment before showing you the official form. If the amount is not $20 or $0, close the tab and start again at the official address.
The same discipline helps with the rest of a Caribbean itinerary, because several islands now run their arrival paperwork online. Our guide to Caribbean island hopping with one bag covers how to sequence multi-island trips, and our explainer on India’s e-Arrival form for foreign visitors shows how the same official-site rule protects travellers on the other side of the world. The pattern is universal: one government portal, one stated charge, and anything else is a middleman.
What happens after you submit?
Once the form and any fee payment are complete, your ED Card moves to approval, and you should keep the confirmation with your passport and boarding documents. Airlines verify the approved card before departure, and immigration can check it on arrival in Oranjestad. Arriving with the approval ready makes the border process a formality; arriving without one means resolving it under time pressure, if the airline lets you board at all. Treat the ED Card like a second ticket: no approval, no smooth journey.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Aruba ED Card the same as the $20 Sustainability Fee?
No. The ED Card is the free, mandatory online immigration form. The $20 Sustainability Fee is a separate charge for air visitors, collected through the ED Card platform since 1 July 2024, and your card approval depends on paying it if it applies to you.
Who is exempt from the Aruba Sustainability Fee?
Per the Aruba Tourism Authority: residents, children under 8, repeat visitors who have already paid the fee to visit Aruba within the same calendar year, and Aruban students who can prove they study at a foreign educational institution and were residents within the past 8 years.
When can I complete the Aruba ED Card?
Within the 7 days before travel, per the official ED Card guidance. Filing earlier is not the shortcut it seems; work inside the window with your final flight and accommodation details.
Can I pay the $20 fee in cash on arrival?
No. The payment is integrated into the online ED Card system and is made by credit card before you receive your ED Card approval, according to the Tourism Authority’s Sustainability Fee page.
Which website is the real ED Card site?
Only edcardaruba.aw. Other sites may charge service fees for the same form and are not the government portal. On the official form, the only money requested is the $20 fee, or nothing if you are exempt.
Do children need an ED Card?
Yes. Every passenger travelling to Aruba, including infants and children, must complete the card and have it approved. Children under 8 are exempt from the $20 fee, but not from the form.
Fees and exemptions checked against the Aruba Tourism Authority and AWSS guidance on 12 November 2026. Recheck edcardaruba.aw before filing, as entry rules can change.
