DIRECT ACCESS — FOREIGN VEHICLE IN GUATEMALA
Tourist Vehicle Permit — SAT Customs
SAT's published requirements:
  • Passport (original and copy) with the Guatemalan migration stamp showing the stay you were granted
  • Vehicle title (original and copy) in your name, or equivalent proof of the right to use it; if you are not the owner, the owner's authorization issued abroad (original or certified copy)
  • Valid driver's licence of the driver or owner
  • Where: the customs office (Aduana) where you entered the country
Fees: Declaraguate Q160 + Q100 per sticker + Q60 one-off · Stay: up to your migratory stay (RECAUCA art. 442) · Verified: 23 September 2026

Written by the Guatemala Life team, based in Guatemala City.

If you are thinking about bringing your car to Guatemala as a tourist — a road trip from the US, a season with your RV, or a diaspora visit — the permit you need is a temporary import for tourist vehicles, and it comes from customs (SAT) at the office where you enter, not from migration. It costs Q320 for one car with one sticker at SAT’s published amounts, and the car may stay as long as your own migratory stay: up to 90 days for a tourist, extendable once. If you settle here, the route is to nationalize the vehicle (formally import it).

In short: Guatemala’s tourist-vehicle permit is issued by SAT customs where you cross in: Declaraguate Q160 + Q100 per sticker + Q60 (Q320 for one car, one sticker). The car’s stay is tied to the stay migration grants you (RECAUCA art. 442; tourists up to 90 days, extendable once, Código de Migración art. 74), and a new permit cannot be issued until three months after the car leaves. Settling here means nationalizing the car. Driving down through Mexico? See driving your own car through Mexico.

Correction (23 September 2026): earlier versions of this page said the vehicle permit is a 30-day DGME (migration) permit, renewable, and that foreign-plated vehicles pay Q10 per day under Decreto 70-94. SAT’s own requirements page for this permit puts it at the customs office where you entered, lists Q160 + Q100 + Q60 in fees and no daily charge, and RECAUCA Article 442 ties the car’s stay to the migratory stay granted to the tourist. The page also said local liability insurance is mandatory; the statutory obligation depends on a regulation that is not in force. See our corrections policy.

Two Different Scenarios: Tourist vs Resident

ScenarioApplicable regimeWindowGuatemalan circulation sticker
Tourist / temporary visitorSAT temporary import for tourist vehicles (RECAUCA arts. 440-448)Up to the stay migration grants you (tourists: up to 90 days, extendable once)No — you carry the SAT permit and its tourist sticker instead
ResidentNationalization (formal import: IVA + IPRIMA on SAT’s taxable base)No limit once nationalizedYes — normal annual SAT circulation sticker with Guatemalan plates

For Tourists: The SAT Temporary Import Permit

Where and how

SAT’s requirements page for Importación Temporal para Vehículos de Turismo (dated 10 October 2023, read 23 September 2026) tells you to present yourself at the customs office where you entered the country. The customs offices SAT lists on that page include Tecún Umán, El Carmen, La Mesilla, Melchor de Mencos, El Ceibo, El Florido, Agua Caliente, La Ermita, Pedro de Alvarado, San Cristóbal, Valle Nuevo, Santo Tomás de Castilla, Puerto Barrios and Puerto Quetzal.

Required documents (SAT)

  • Passport, original and copy, with your personal data and the Guatemalan migration stamp showing the stay you were granted
  • Vehicle title, original and copy, from the country or state of origin, or an equivalent document proving your right to use it, in your name
  • If you are not the owner: the owner’s authorization issued abroad, original or certified copy
  • Valid driver’s licence of the driver or the owner

Fees (SAT)

ChargeAmount
Declaraguate formQ160
Tourist or international-transit stickerQ100 per sticker
One-off charge, regardless of number of stickersQ60
One car, one stickerQ320 (sum of SAT’s published amounts)

SAT’s page lists no daily fee and no insurance requirement.

How long the car can stay

  • RECAUCA Article 442: customs authorises the vehicle’s stay for the tourist’s exclusive use up to the period granted by the migration authority, unless customs sets a different term.
  • Código de Migración Article 74: a tourist’s stay is no more than 90 days, extendable once.
  • After the car leaves: Article 442 bars a new temporary-import authorisation until three months have passed since the vehicle left.
  • Breakdown: Article 443 requires you to ask customs for a repair permit before your authorised period expires.
  • Carry the permit visibly: Article 440 makes visible display of the authorisation a condition for the vehicle to circulate.

If You Settle Here — Nationalization

If your stay is running out and you want to keep the car here, or you are settling permanently, the route is to nationalize the vehicle. This is a formal customs process with multiple payments:

General steps

  1. Determination of the taxable base — for a used vehicle this is the original invoice from the seller abroad (Decreto 10-2012 art. 113), provided SAT can verify it and you present the foreign title plus proof the payment went through a bank. Otherwise SAT’s annual taxable value table applies. CIF is the base only for new vehicles
  2. DAI (import duty) — 0% on cars and motorcycles; origin is irrelevant because the rate is already zero
  3. Payment of IVA — 12% of that base, at the customs office of entry (art. 116)
  4. Payment of IPRIMA (Specific Tax on First Registration) — the art. 114 rate for the vehicle type (20% for a vehicle carrying up to 5 people including the driver), applied to the same base as IVA. IVA and IPRIMA do not cascade: neither is charged on top of the other
  5. Filing of DUCA / DAI (Central American Single Declaration / Customs Declaration) with a customs broker
  6. Registration request for a used vehicle in SAT Agencia Virtual; the system generates form SAT-8630 for the plates (Q75 two plates / Q30 one) and SAT-4160 for the circulation tax (SAT-8620 is the new-vehicle importers’ form)
  7. Guatemalan plate assignment
  8. Payment of the first SAT sticker (ISCV prorated for the rest of the year)

Typical nationalization tax: for a used mid-range US car the tax itself is about 32% of the taxable base — 0% duty, 12% IVA and 20% IPRIMA, the last two on the same base. A motorcycle is about 22% (IPRIMA 10%). On top of the tax come broker fees, port handling and registration, which are market prices rather than statutory rates. Consult a customs broker before deciding whether to nationalize or sell abroad and buy a Guatemalan one.

For the full import process detail, see our specialized guides:

For Residents with a Foreign Vehicle

The tourist-vehicle permit is built for tourists: RECAUCA Article 440 authorises it for tourists from third countries, and Article 442 ties its length to a tourist’s migratory stay. If you live here on residency, plan to nationalize the car (section above) or to sell it before you move. We have not found a published SAT deadline for a new resident to nationalize a car that entered on a tourist permit; ask a customs broker before your permit’s term runs out.

Vehicle Insurance for Foreign Plates

  • Your US policy: read its territory clause before you drive south.
  • The law: Article 29 of the Ley de Tránsito imposes third-party liability cover on paper, but it depends on an implementing regulation that is not in force, so a policy is not part of the roadside document set today. Details: car insurance in Guatemala.
  • The customs rule: RECAUCA Article 446 allows member states to require accident and third-party insurance for tourist vehicles; SAT’s requirements page for this permit does not list it.
  • The sensible choice: buy local cover anyway. An uninsured accident is paid out of pocket.

Driving from the US or Mexico by Road

Mexico requires its own temporary-import permit, a refundable deposit and liability insurance on federal roads. All of that, plus the route risk advisories, is in driving your own car from the USA through Mexico. On the Guatemalan side, your stops are migration (your own entry stamp, which sets the stay the car’s permit can match) and then SAT customs (the vehicle permit, its sticker and the Q320 in fees).

Do Foreign Plates Need the Guatemalan Circulation Sticker?

No. The annual SAT circulation sticker is for vehicles registered in the Vehicle Fiscal Registry with Guatemalan plates. A tourist vehicle carries the SAT temporary-import authorisation and its tourist or international-transit sticker (Q100) instead. RECAUCA Article 440 makes carrying the authorisation visibly a condition for the vehicle to circulate. Keep with it your passport with the migration stamp, the title and your licence.

Common Mistakes (Don’t Make These)

MistakeRealityConsequence
Migration issues the car permitThe permit is SAT’s: you get it at the customs office where you entered. Migration only stamps your passport, and that stamp sets how long the car may stay.Leaving the border without the SAT permit means the car has no authorisation to circulate.
I’ll just sell my foreign car to a GuatemalanRECAUCA Article 447 e) requires notice to customs before any sale; nationalize first.The buyer cannot register the car.
I’ll take it out and bring it straight backRECAUCA Article 442 bars a new temporary-import authorisation until three months after the car leaves.No new permit at the border.
I’ll just keep it past my stayArticle 448 treats a vehicle neither re-exported nor nationalized as abandoned.You can lose the car.

How We Verified This Information

Last verification: 23 September 2026. The permit, its documents, its fees and the customs offices are read from SAT’s Importación Temporal para Vehículos de Turismo requirements page (dated 10 October 2023). The stay, re-entry, repair, sale and abandonment rules are RECAUCA IV Articles 440-448 (SAT’s own PDF), and the tourist stay is Código de Migración Article 74. The nationalization taxes come from the sources cited in our car-import guides. What we could not find published: a SAT deadline for a new resident to nationalize a tourist-permit car, and the fines for overstaying the permit.

Corrections and Updates

Did you cross the border recently with your foreign vehicle? Write to us with what SAT charged and how long it took — we compare every reader report against SAT’s published requirements before changing this page.