After making a career in the colonial government of Curaçao, he was, together with Cornelis Berch, given temporary civilian control over the island after it had been returned to the Dutch due to the Peace of Amiens.

While in the Netherlands, he was appointed governor of the Dutch Gold Coast by King Louis Napoleon of Holland.

When he arrived on the Gold Coast in early 1810, the siege of Elmina that had started under his predecessor Jan Frederik König had not yet been lifted.

[2][4] De Veer would remain in charge over the Gold Coast until Herman Willem Daendels replaced him in 1816.

During his governorship on the Dutch Gold Coast, Abraham de Veer fathered a son with the local Euro-African Fanny, named Johannes.