You are moving to Guatemala with a child who has never been in the Guatemalan school system and who does not hold a Guatemalan passport. This page is about that case only: what the Ministerio de Educación actually requires, which documents you must collect before you fly, and which parts of the process belong to the private school rather than to MINEDUC.
Everything below comes from MINEDUC’s own instructivo ACR-INS-01, “Equiparación y equivalencias de estudios”, Versión 6 (May 2026), from the Acuerdo Ministerial that frames it, and from Guatemala’s service catalogue. Where MINEDUC publishes nothing, this page says so instead of guessing.
If your child is Guatemalan and coming home, the process has its own guide: returning to Guatemala — school enrollment for diaspora families.
Quick summary
- The procedure is called equiparación de estudios — recognition of studies completed abroad so the student can enter the Sistema Educativo Nacional. It is not equivalencia (comparing two study plans inside the Guatemalan system) and not homologación (the university-degree word).
- A foreign-national child is explicitly eligible. The instructivo says equiparaciones are granted to “estudiantes que ingresan legalmente al país, a personas retornadas y a estudiantes familiares del Cuerpo Diplomático Nacional o Extranjero”.
- It costs Q 0, and the instructivo says so for the international cycle as well as the national one.
- It is filed online, on form
ACR-FOR-01through MINEDUC’s BPM platform — and it is resolved by the DIDEDUC of the department of the school code you write on the form. Pick the school first. - Apostille: assume yes if your country is a party to the Convenio de La Haya and you have the school record. Version 6 of the instructivo excepts the record and its translation for personas retornadas, extranjeras, refugiadas o solicitantes de asilo who do not have that documentation and justify that they cannot obtain it — an exception for missing records, not a waiver for records you hold. SICA member countries need no apostille on academic documents.
- Sworn translation: one document, not the whole file.
- A child with no documents must still be enrolled, provisionally, while the file is processed.
- Grade placement is MINEDUC’s call, not the school’s — the grade immediately above the last one approved abroad.
- Three different school-year calendars exist in Guatemalan law. Which one you are joining depends on the school you choose. Start there: the official start and end dates, and how many class days MINEDUC requires, are on our MINEDUC school calendar page.
Do the rules differ for a foreign national?
Most of this trámite is identical for every child. Under version 5 of the instructivo the apostille row was not; version 6 closed that gap.
Updated 16 October 2026: MINEDUC replaced instructivo version 5 with version 6 (May 2026). Version 5 offered a discretionary apostille waiver (puede exonerarse) to retornados and defined a retornado as Guatemalan, which is why this page used to say a foreign child had no exception route. Version 6 names foreigners in the exception, so this section was rewritten.
| Point | Returning child (persona retornada) | Foreign-national child |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible for equiparación | Yes — personas retornadas are named in the instructivo | Yes — “estudiantes que ingresan legalmente al país” |
| Apostille on a school record you have | Required if the issuing country is a Hague party (not for SICA countries) | Same |
| No record, and you can justify why you cannot obtain it | Nota 3 excepts the record and its sworn translation | Same — Nota 3 names extranjeras |
| Definition in the glossary | “Persona que regresa a su país de origen después de residir en el extranjero, de forma voluntaria o no voluntaria.” | Not needed: Nota 3 names foreigners directly |
| Sworn translation | One document, if not in Spanish | Same |
| Cost | Q 0 | Q 0 |
| Enrolment while the file is open | The school admits and enrols provisionally | Same |
| Grade placement | By the DIDEDUC | Same |
Nota 3 of version 6, verbatim:
“Se exceptúa la presentación de los documentos descritos en los numerales 3 y 4 para personas retornadas, extranjeras, refugiadas o solicitantes de asilo que no cuentan con esta documentación y justifican la imposibilidad de obtenerla (artículos 17, 18, 19 y 20 del Acuerdo Ministerial Número 1753-2019).”
Numerals 3 and 4 are the document proving the last approved or in-course grade (the one that carries the apostille) and its sworn translation. Read the note precisely: it excepts those two documents for a family that does not have them and justifies that it cannot obtain them. It is not a waiver for a family holding a school record from a Hague country — that record is presented apostilled. When a file does lack academic records, the instructivo says “se continúa el trámite hasta la emisión de la resolución”, and placement follows the no-records rules further down this page.
Two institutions, two jobs
The single most common confusion is thinking the private school handles the paperwork. It does not. The school admits your child; MINEDUC decides the grade.
| Step | Who does it | Deadline in the instructivo |
|---|---|---|
| Admission — test, interview, its own document list, its own fee | The school (colegio privado) | Set by the school |
| Receive the digital expediente on BPM | DIDEDUC — Coordinador de Acreditamiento y Certificación, for the department of the school code you named | — |
| Verify the expediente is legible, complete and coherent | DIDEDUC | “en un plazo máximo de tres días hábiles” |
| Assign level, cycle and grade | DIDEDUC | “en un plazo máximo de dos días hábiles” |
| Generate the resolución de autorización, with a QR validation code | DIDEDUC | “en un plazo máximo de dos días hábiles” |
| Sign the resolución electronically | Director Departamental de Educación | “en un plazo máximo de dos días hábiles” |
| Notify you by email that the resolución can be downloaded | BPM platform, automatically | On completion |
| Placement test in Ciencias Naturales y Matemáticas, at nivel medio when there are no academic records | Sat at the school where the child will continue; the school director records the result in SIRE | — |
| Enrol the student in SIRE, at any authorised school of the family’s choice nationwide, per the resolución | DIDEDUC | “en un plazo máximo de tres días hábiles” |
Updated 16 October 2026: version 6 of the instructivo cut the grade-assignment step from 5 to 2 business days and the resolución and signature steps from 3 to 2 each, and gives the SIRE enrolment step to the DIDEDUC rather than the school director.
Because the file is routed by school code, choosing the school is genuinely the first step, not the last one. The instructivo puts it plainly: for equiparación, “la asignación se realiza de acuerdo con el código del centro educativo consignado por el solicitante en el formulario”.
The documents to bring from home
This is MINEDUC’s list, from Actividad 1 of the instructivo, for an applicant with documentation. Collect these in your home country — several of them are difficult or impossible to obtain once you have left.
| Document | Who issues it | Where it is legalised or translated |
|---|---|---|
Solicitud ACR-FOR-01, “Solicitud de equiparación de estudios” | MINEDUC — the form lives inside the BPM platform | Filled online; signed by the parent, mother or guardian, or by the student if of age |
| DPI or passport of the applicant (parent, mother or guardian) | The instructivo names the document, not the issuer | No legalisation step is named in the instructivo |
| Legal document backing a guardian, if a tutor applies | The authority that granted guardianship | The instructivo asks for the supporting legal document; it does not specify a legalisation route |
| Birth certificate or passport of the student, if a minor | The instructivo names the document, not the issuer | The apostille rule (numerals 3 and 4) names the academic records, not this document; for non-Hague countries Nota 6 removes its notarial legalisation |
| Document proving the last approved or in-course grade (preprimaria, primaria, media) | The school the child attended abroad | “debidamente apostillado, cuando el país de procedencia es parte del Convenio de La Haya” (see Nota 3 above if you do not have it) |
| Título, diploma or the legal document that substitutes it, for a completed nivel medio | The school or authority that awarded it abroad | Apostille on the same condition |
| Sworn translation (traducción jurada) of the document backing the last approved or in-course grade | A translator — the instructivo does not say who qualifies | Required “únicamente cuando el idioma no es español” |
Note what is not on MINEDUC’s list: vaccination records, medical certificates, passport photos, proof of address. Individual schools ask for those; MINEDUC’s equiparación file does not include them.
Apostille, a waived legalisation, or a bilateral convenio
Four different routes exist, and which one applies depends on your country — not on your budget or your hurry.
1. Your country is a party to the Convenio de La Haya. Then the constancia of the last approved grade, or the título, is presented apostilled. The instructivo points readers at the Hague Conference’s own status table to check: status table for the Apostille Convention. In Guatemala the competent apostille authority is the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, designated by Decreto 1-2016 — but a document issued abroad is apostilled in the country that issued it (the instructivo defines the apostille; it does not say who affixes it), which is why this is a before-you-fly task.
2. Your country is not a party. Then the instructivo removes a burden rather than adding one. Nota 6, verbatim:
“No se requiere legalización notarial de certificados ni actas de nacimiento para países no adheridos al Convenio de La Haya (artículo 15 del Acuerdo Ministerial Número 1753-2019).”
No notarial legalisation of the birth certificate or of the study records, for non-Hague countries. The instructivo says nothing about consular legalisation (“pase de ley”) for those cases either way — if your school or the DIDEDUC asks for one, it is their requirement, not one written in the instructivo.
3. Guatemala has a bilateral convenio with your country. Version 6 of the instructivo notes that bilateral convenios on equiparación exist and are handled by the Dirección de Cooperación Nacional e Internacional (DICONIME). MINEDUC does not list those countries in this instructivo, so treat it as a question for the DIDEDUC rather than a plan.
4. Your country is a SICA member. Nota 7 of version 6 says that for migrant students from SICA member countries, the region’s Protocolo común (numeral 15) means “no se requiere apostilla ni otro requisito de legalización de documentos académicos”. The instructivo lists the CECC/SICA countries as Costa Rica, Belice, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panamá, República Dominicana and Guatemala.
Updated 16 October 2026: routes 2 to 4 now cite version 6 of the instructivo (May 2026); the SICA route is new in version 6.
The school’s list is a school policy, not the law
Private schools set their own admission requirements on top of MINEDUC’s, and the gap between two schools can be enormous. Two real, published examples from September 2026:
- Colegio Americano de Guatemala publishes an international-student list of an original birth certificate, a passport copy, medical certificates (pediatrician, ophthalmic test, otoacoustic test) and previous academic records — with no apostille and no equivalencia requirement published at all.
- Colegio Interamericano publishes a full consular chain: academic certificate from the current school, legalised at the local ministry or department of education, then authenticated at the Guatemalan consulate, then taken in Guatemala to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores and then to the Ministerio de Educación.
Both are legitimate; neither is “the requirement”. Ask each shortlisted school for its own written list, and do not assume the heaviest one is the legal minimum.
What grade will my child enter?
For a student with records, the rule is one sentence: equiparación places the student “en el grado inmediato superior al último aprobado o al que cursa antes de su ingreso al país”, and the DIDEDUC assigns it within 2 business days.
For a student who finished secondary school abroad and holds the diploma, version 6 says every favourable request “corresponde a la finalización del nivel de educación media, ciclo de educación diversificada, lo cual se consigna en la resolución”, and its glossary says that recognition “permite continuar estudios en el nivel superior en el país”. (Updated 16 October 2026: version 5 said such a diploma was equiparable only to a Bachillerato en Ciencias y Letras; version 6 does not name a carrera.)
For students entering diversificado, the instructivo allows choosing the carrera “según los servicios autorizados al centro educativo” — so the school’s authorisations, level by level, limit what your child can actually study there.
MINEDUC also publishes a country-referenced placement table, the “Tabla de equiparación de estudios al Sistema Educativo Nacional”, framed by Acuerdo Ministerial No. 1753-2019. The Guatemala-United States pairing is the one most families ask about. The version DIGEACE links as of 16 October 2026, Circular 59.25, Versión 2, puts 10.º, 11.º and 12.º High School opposite 4.º, 5.º and 6.º Ciclo Diversificado. The earlier 2024 table put 11.º and 12.º High School opposite 4.º and 5.º, with 6.º Ciclo Diversificado having no US equivalent, and instructivo version 6’s worked example (11.º equiparado to 4.º Diversificado) follows that 2024 table. The DIDEDUC that assigns the grade decides, so confirm the placement with your DIDEDUC. The full table, row by row, is reproduced on our diaspora school-enrollment guide. Cases the table does not foresee are resolved by DIGEACE.
If your child arrives without documents
They still start school. The instructivo, citing article 12 of Acuerdo Ministerial 1753-2019, says that when the file has no identity document “el centro educativo admite al estudiante e inscribe provisionalmente conforme al procedimiento, mientras se completa la documentación”, and that a file without academic records still runs to a resolución.
- Missing identity paperwork: a maximum of 3 months to complete it. BPM issues a constancia saying the school may enrol the student in the libro de inscripciones meanwhile.
- Missing academic records, preprimaria and primaria: the grade is determined from the child’s age and the information the parent or guardian gives on the solicitud, under article 17 of the same acuerdo.
- Missing academic records, nivel medio (básico and diversificado): MINEDUC authorises a placement test in Ciencias Naturales and Matemáticas only, under articles 18 and 19, sat at the school where the child will continue. It follows what DIGECUR establishes, and — the line that matters most for a foreign child — “Las pruebas se realizarán en el idioma español o inglés según las necesidades del estudiante.” The school director records the result in SIRE. Students entering primero básico are exempt from the test.
- Special educational needs: the school adjusts the evaluation following the guidelines of DIGEESP.
What it costs
Q 0. The instructivo, verbatim:
“Los trámites establecidos en el presente instructivo son gratuitos en todas las instancias y entidades bajo la rectoría del Ministerio de Educación de Guatemala donde se realizan. No se permite la incorporación de requisitos o condiciones adicionales.”
The next sentence extends that rule to schools on the international calendar: “El instructivo aplica tanto para el ciclo nacional como para el internacional.”
Guatemala’s service catalogue lists the same service at Q 0 (Catálogo de Trámites, servicio 1372), and DIGEACE describes the process on its own equiparaciones de estudios page.
What you may still pay for is not MINEDUC’s: the apostille (charged by the issuing country’s authority), the sworn translation, and the school’s own fees. Budget the last one from a written quote — of roughly 35 Guatemalan schools examined at first-party sources (their own sites or an official fact sheet) in September 2026, only five published a real tuition figure.
Which school year are you joining?
MINEDUC does not run one national calendar. It authorises three, each by its own Acuerdo Ministerial:
| Calendar category | Instrument |
|---|---|
| Public sector | Acuerdo Ministerial 4817-2025 |
| Private, por cooperativa and municipal | Acuerdo Ministerial 4818-2025 |
| Private schools authorised to work with a plan internacional | Acuerdo Ministerial 3149-2026, for the 2026-2027 cycle |
“Centros Educativos Privados autorizados para trabajar con plan internacional” is a real MINEDUC authorisation category, not a marketing label — it gets its own acuerdo each year. AM 3149-2026 was published in the Diario de Centro América on 15 July 2026 and took force on 16 July 2026.
Where to read it. Since September 2026 the MINEDUC calendar page at edu.mineduc.gob.gt also lists and links AM 3149-2026; we read it on 22 September 2026, and its dates are on our MINEDUC school calendar page, next to the public and private/cooperativa/municipal dates.
The calendar split does not run the way you would guess
Each of these schools publishes its own calendar. Country of origin does not predict it:
| Schools publishing a northern year | Schools publishing the Guatemalan year |
|---|---|
| Colegio Americano de Guatemala — tuition “from August to May” | Colegio Alemán de Guatemala — “iniciando en enero y finalizando la primera semana de noviembre” |
| Colegio Maya — “two semesters extending from August to December… and January to June” | Instituto Austriaco Guatemalteco — transport “de enero a mayo y de julio a octubre” |
| Colegio Interamericano — “running from August to June”, four quarters | Colegio Americano del Sur — first day 15 January 2026, graduation 21 October 2026 |
| Lycée Jules Verne — calendar titled “(rythme nord)”, rentrée 1 September 2026 | Colegio Boston Bilingüe — 2026 intake recruited August-November 2025 |
| Antigua International School — “SCHOOL CALENDAR 2026-2027”, New Family Day 8 August 2026 | The four APDE Diploma schools — El Roble, Campoalegre, Entrevalles and Solalto — sit the November IB exam session (an inference from the IB register, not a published calendar) |
| Robert Muller LIFE School, Panajachel — first day 31 August 2026, last day 11 June 2027 | |
| Inter-American School, Quetzaltenango — “mid-August through May” | |
| AMI International School, Cobán — ten payments “August to May” | |
| Christian Academy — “beginning in August and ending in May” | |
| Antigua Montessori School — sits the May IB exam session (an inference from the IB register, not a published calendar) |
The sixth IB school, Colegio Internacional SEK Guatemala, is registered for the IB Primary Years Programme only, and its pages do not give its school-year months. (Corrected 2 October 2026: this table used to place SEK among the November-session schools; an exam-session field on a primary-only IB record says nothing about the school year.)
The German school runs January to November and the Austrian one January to October, while the French lycée explicitly chose the northern rhythm and the US-curriculum schools run August to June. A school’s country of origin tells you nothing; only its own published calendar does.
Timing the application
Version 6 of the instructivo publishes no dated filing window. For the equivalencias process (changing study plan inside the Guatemalan system), not equiparación, it says that for both the national and the international school cycle “el expediente se presenta conforme a lo establecido en el calendario escolar vigente”. (Updated 16 October 2026: version 5 had a June-to-September window for equivalencias in the international cycle; version 6 dropped it.)
For equiparación the instructivo sets no filing window at all — only the per-step deadlines in the table above, which add up to a matter of business days rather than months. The practical sequence for a relocating family is therefore: choose the school, get its código, collect and apostille the home-country documents before you fly, then file on BPM.
If you are aiming at a January 2027 start at a private school, the 2026 private-school calendar (Acuerdo Ministerial 4818-2025) carries two dates for the next cycle: SIRE opens the “inscripción ordinaria 2027 para estudiantes de reingreso” on 2 November 2026, and the Direcciones Departamentales start receiving equivalencias files for the 2027 cycle on 23 November 2026. Neither date is written for equiparación, and the acuerdo sets 15 October 2026 as the last day of classes in the current cycle. Full dates: MINEDUC school calendar.
What changed in instructivo version 6
MINEDUC replaced version 5 of this instructivo with version 6 (PDF dated May 2026). Copies of the older versions still circulate, and several of their sentences are now wrong. Cite the version.
- The apostille exception was rewritten. Version 3 said the apostille requirement did not apply to retornados (no aplica); version 5 said it puede exonerarse for retornados and the cases in article 20 of AM 1753-2019. Version 6 replaces both with Nota 3: the school record and its sworn translation are excepted for personas retornadas, extranjeras, refugiadas o solicitantes de asilo who do not have that documentation and justify that they cannot obtain it, citing articles 17, 18, 19 and 20 of AM 1753-2019.
- The returnee definition is no longer about nationality. Version 5 defined a retornado as la persona guatemalteca que regresa al país. Version 6’s glossary entry Persona retornada reads: “Persona que regresa a su país de origen después de residir en el extranjero, de forma voluntaria o no voluntaria.” The argument this page used to make — that the definition shut a foreign-national child out of the exception — no longer holds.
- SICA countries: no apostille or other legalisation of academic documents (Nota 7).
- Faster DIDEDUC steps: grade assignment 2 business days (was 5), resolución 2 (was 3), signature 2 (was 3), and the DIDEDUC now enrols the student in SIRE.
- Completed secondary studies: version 5 made them equiparable only to a Bachillerato en Ciencias y Letras; version 6 records the completion of the ciclo de educación diversificada and names no carrera.
Unchanged in substance: the trámite is free, the sworn translation covers one document, the placement tests are in Spanish or English, and a child without documents is admitted while the file is completed.
Source: Instructivo ACR-INS-01, “Equiparación y equivalencias de estudios”, Versión 6 (PDF, DIGEACE) — DIGEACE also describes the process on its equiparaciones de estudios page. Requests are filed at bpm.mineduc.gob.gt.
What MINEDUC does not publish
Saying this plainly is more useful than filling the gap with a guess. As of September 2026 (re-checked against instructivo version 6 on 16 October 2026), none of the following is published in the instructivo or on MINEDUC’s own pages:
- What justification MINEDUC accepts under Nota 3 — the instructivo says the family must justify that it cannot obtain the documents, not how.
- Which countries have a bilateral convenio with Guatemala on equiparación, the convenios DICONIME handles.
- Who may perform the traducción jurada, or what it should cost.
- Any filing window for equiparación. Version 6 only ties equivalencias to the school calendar in force.
- Tuition, at most schools. That is a school-by-school reality rather than a MINEDUC one, but it shapes the same decision.
Related guides
- Returning to Guatemala: school enrollment for diaspora families — the returnee case, the apostille exception, and MINEDUC’s full grade table
- MINEDUC equivalencia de estudios — the recognition trámite page
- MINEDUC equivalency for US studies — for records from the United States
- MINEDUC study certification — certifying studies already done in Guatemala
- Public school enrollment — the free, public-sector route
- International schools in Guatemala City · Bilingual schools in Antigua
- Education hub — how the Guatemalan school system is organised
MINEDUC rules on this page were verified in September 2026 against DIGEACE’s process pages and the Catálogo de Trámites, and re-checked on 16 October 2026 against instructivo ACR-INS-01 Versión 6 (May 2026). School admission requirements are set by each school and change without notice — ask for each school’s own written list before you travel.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my child need an apostille if we are not Guatemalan?
Plan on it if your country is a party to the Convenio de La Haya and you have the school record. Instructivo ACR-INS-01 Versión 6 (May 2026) asks for the document proving the last approved or in-course grade “debidamente apostillado, cuando el país de procedencia es parte del Convenio de La Haya”. Its Nota 3 names foreigners explicitly: that record and its sworn translation are excepted for “personas retornadas, extranjeras, refugiadas o solicitantes de asilo que no cuentan con esta documentación y justifican la imposibilidad de obtenerla”. That is an exception for a family that does not have the record and justifies why it cannot get it, not a waiver of the apostille on a record you hold. Students coming from SICA member countries need no apostille on academic documents (Nota 7).
Who decides which grade my child enters, the school or MINEDUC?
MINEDUC. The Dirección Departamental de Educación (DIDEDUC) assigns level, cycle and grade in a maximum of 2 business days, selecting the grade immediately above the last one approved abroad, or the one the student was studying before entering the country. The same DIDEDUC then enrols the student in SIRE, at any authorised school the family chooses, within 3 business days. The school never assigns the grade itself; its part in that flow is narrower: when there are no academic records at nivel medio, the placement test is sat at the school and the school director records the result in SIRE.
How much does the equiparación cost?
Q 0. The instructivo states that all of its procedures are free at every instance and entity under the Ministry of Education, that no conditions may be added, and that this applies to both the national and the international cycle. Guatemala’s service catalogue lists the service at Q 0. Costs that are not MINEDUC’s can still apply: an apostille where one is required, a sworn translation, and whatever the private school charges.
Do we have to translate every school report before we fly?
No. The instructivo asks for a “Traducción jurada del documento que respalda el último grado aprobado o en curso, únicamente cuando el idioma no es español” — the sworn translation of one document, the one backing the last approved or currently enrolled grade, and only if it is not in Spanish. It does not name who must perform that translation.
Can a school refuse to enrol my child until the file is resolved?
No. The instructivo, citing article 12 of Acuerdo Ministerial 1753-2019, says that when the file has no identity document the school admits the student and enrols them provisionally while the documentation is completed, and that a file lacking academic records still continues until the resolución is issued. If identity paperwork is what is missing, the applicant has a maximum of 3 months to present it, and the BPM platform issues a constancia saying the student can be enrolled in the libro de inscripciones of the school in the meantime.
Which school year will we be joining, and when should we apply?
That depends on the school, not on the law alone. MINEDUC authorises three separate school calendars: public (Acuerdo Ministerial 4817-2025), private, cooperativa and municipal (Acuerdo Ministerial 4818-2025) and a distinct category for private schools authorised to work with a plan internacional (Acuerdo Ministerial 3149-2026 for the 2026-2027 cycle). Several international schools in Guatemala publish an August-to-June year and several publish a January-to-October or November one. Choose the school first, because the DIDEDUC that resolves your file is the one for the department of the school code you name on the form.
