New Immigration Fees Published

The situation

A new decree has increased government fees and created new types of fees for immigration processes.

A closer look

The following are the most significant changes:

• Fee increase. The new fees apply to the below processes:

• New fees. The government has also published the following new types of fees that will apply to immigration applications:
  • Government filing fee. Foreign nationals will now need to pay a USD 25 fee when submitting an application for any initial or renewal residence visa application. This fee did not exist before.
  • Incomplete documentation penalty. Foreign nationals will be penalized USD 5 if their documentation is not complete at the time of filing. In the past, the authorities allowed foreign nationals to file an application even if there was missing documentation.

Impact

Employers should reassess budget plans in line with the higher fees and new filing fee, especially for Permanent Residence applications, which increased by 40 percent.

Looking ahead

Guatemala has been undergoing immigration changes since 2016, when a new decree was published to create a new immigration authority and update the immigration system. The fee increase is one of the tools that is projected to fund the creation of the new immigration authority.

The publication of one and three-to-five year Temporary Residence fees indicates that there may be new temporary residence categories that will be developed, as only one type of Temporary Residence permit currently exists. Similarly, the publication of a multiple-exit permit indicates that this permit may be developed in the future, whereas only a single exit permit currently exists. However, since the government has not published application guidelines or other information about these processes, applicants can only apply for the currently available processes at this time.

In the past, Guatemala’s government has published information on policies that were never implemented or that took a long time to implement. Therefore, this is only a projection and does not indicate that the government will in fact create new Temporary Residence categories or a multiple-exit permit any time soon or at all.

Fragomen expects to see further changes to Guatemala’s immigration system in the near future and will report on relevant developments.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].