DIRECT ACCESS TO THE OFFICIAL PORTAL
Electronic Labor Clearance — MINTRAB Guatemala
Go to solvencias.mintrabajo.gob.gt
Before you click, have ready:
  • Updated RTU — current, legible, and complete (entity or individual)
  • Commercial license (patente de comercio) — for the corporation and any mercantile companies it owns
  • DPI or passport of the legal representative or owner
  • Legal representative appointment — current, issued by the Mercantile Registry (if a corporation)
  • Notarial Sworn Statement dated no more than 1 month before submission
Cost: Q30 · Time: 8 business days · MINTRAB phone: 2422-2500 · Verified: August 2026

TL;DR: The Electronic Labor Clearance (Solvencia Laboral Electronica) is MINTRAB’s official certification that your company has no final sanctions pending with the Labor Inspectorate. It costs Q30, issues in 8 business days, and is valid for 30 business days. The entire process is online at solvencias.mintrabajo.gob.gt — you only need a recent Notarial Sworn Statement and an updated RTU.

What Is the MINTRAB Labor Clearance

The Solvencia de Faltas de Trabajo y Prevision Social (Clearance of Labor and Social Welfare Infractions) is an official document issued by the General Labor Inspectorate (IGT — Inspeccion General de Trabajo) of Guatemala’s Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. It certifies that the requesting individual or legal entity has no final sanctions registered — neither in administrative nor judicial proceedings — for breaches of the Labor Code or social welfare legislation.

The IGT maintains a registry of employers sanctioned in labor proceedings that have become final. A company appears as cleared (solvente) only when: (1) no final sanctions exist, (2) all imposed fines have been paid, or (3) one year has passed since the sanction without a repeat infraction.

Who requires it:

  • Banks — for business loans, credit lines, and equipment financing
  • MINECO — for investment registrations, MIPYME (small business) status, and other business filings
  • State procurement (Guatecompras) — qualifying requirement under the State Procurement Law
  • Corporate clients — multinationals and large enterprises require it before signing major contracts
  • Other ministries — certain license renewals and operating permits require it

Requirements

  • Corporation’s commercial license (patente de comercio de la sociedad), valid
  • Commercial licenses for mercantile entities owned by the corporation (if applicable)
  • Updated RTU — legible, complete, and current (no more than 6 months old)
  • Legal representative appointment — current, issued and authorized by the Mercantile Registry
  • DPI or passport of the legal representative (scanned PDF)
  • Notarial Sworn Statement — dated no more than 1 month before submission, declaring under oath that no final court proceedings are pending in labor courts

For Individuals

  • Updated RTU
  • DPI or passport of the owner (passport if foreign)
  • Notarial Sworn Statement — same 1-month maximum age
  • Commercial license if operating as an individual mercantile entity

Important about the Notarial Statement: The notary act must contain the literal phrase: “no tiene pendientes procesos judiciales que hayan causado estado en materia laboral en los juzgados de trabajo en la Republica de Guatemala” (has no pending final court proceedings in labor matters in the courts of Guatemala). Any notary in Guatemala drafts it in 30 minutes for Q150-300 (USD 20-40).

Step-by-Step

  1. Get the Notarial Sworn Statement. Visit a Guatemalan notary (notario), explain you need a sworn statement (declaracion jurada) for a MINTRAB labor clearance, and provide your data. Cost: Q150-300. Time: 30 minutes. The clock starts the moment the notary signs — you have 1 month to submit the application.

  2. Gather digital documents. Scan as PDFs (legible, not phone photos): commercial licenses, RTU, legal representative appointment, DPI or passport, and the notary act. Each PDF should be under 5 MB.

  3. Go to solvencias.mintrabajo.gob.gt. Create a user account with your Guatemalan tax ID (NIT) and email. You’ll receive an email verification code.

  4. Fill out the electronic form. Select “Solicitud de Solvencia,” indicate whether you are an individual or legal entity, enter tax data, and upload the required PDFs.

  5. Pay the Q30. The system generates a SAT-2000 payment slip (boleta de pago multiple). Pay online by card or at any bank in the National Banking System (Banrural, BAM, BI, G&T, BAC). Once paid, return to the system and upload the payment receipt.

  6. Wait 8 business days. The Labor Inspectorate cross-references your data against the Infractions Registry. If clean, you receive an email with the electronically signed PDF clearance.

  7. Download and store. The clearance includes an electronic seal with QR code for verification. Print it or deliver it digitally — both forms are legally valid.

Cost and Timing

ItemDetail
Official MINTRAB feeQ30 (~USD 4)
Notary act feeQ150-300 (USD 20-40, reference)
Issuance time8 business days
Validity period30 business days
Modality100% online

Common Errors

My notary act is more than a month old — will it be rejected?

Yes. Ministerial Agreement 55-2021 is strict: the notary act date cannot exceed one month before submission. If yours is older than 30 days, you must return to the notary for a new one. The practical move is to gather all other documents first and leave the notary act for last.

The system says my RTU is not updated

SAT and MINTRAB cross-check data online. If your RTU hasn’t been updated in over 6 months or has expired economic activities, the MINTRAB system rejects it. Fix: update the RTU through SAT’s Agencia Virtual (free, 24-48 hours), then retry the clearance.

I have an old fine I already paid — why am I still flagged?

When you pay an IGT fine, the system should auto-clear, but sometimes it lingers. Visit the Labor Inspectorate in person (7a. Av. 3-33, Zona 9) with the original payment receipt and request removal from the registry. Processing takes 24-72 hours.

I’m a foreign legal representative — am I allowed to file?

Yes. You submit your valid passport instead of a DPI, plus the legal representative appointment from the Mercantile Registry. The system accepts both documents as identification. If you’ve never obtained a Guatemalan NIT as a foreigner, you must do so first — without a NIT you cannot create a user account on the clearance portal.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

If your company needs the clearance for a procurement bid or transaction and doesn’t have it, you can’t participate — that’s the most expensive indirect “penalty.” But the Labor Code (Decreto 1441) also imposes direct sanctions for the underlying infractions that generate the registry entries.

Article 272, as reformed by Decreto 7-2017, expresses all of its fines in monthly minimum wages for non-agricultural activities — never in quetzales per day or per worker. The exact point within each range is set by the Departmental Delegate of the Labor Inspectorate, graduated under Article 271:

Infraction (Art. 272 literal)Employer fineIn 2026 quetzales (non-agricultural minimum wage, CE1 Q4,002.28)
a) Violations of the rules on payment of wages and labor benefits — includes paying below minimum wage8 to 18 monthly minimum wagesQ32,018.24 – Q72,041.04
b) Violation of a prohibitive provision2 to 10 monthly minimum wagesQ8,004.56 – Q40,022.80
c) Preceptive provisions on working hours or rest6 to 12 monthly minimum wagesQ24,013.68 – Q48,027.36
d) Occupational health and safety8 to 16 monthly minimum wagesQ32,018.24 – Q64,036.48
g) Any other preceptive provision of the Code not listed above — the catch-all where the salary book and internal work rules fall2 to 9 monthly minimum wagesQ8,004.56 – Q36,020.52

This is the statutory scale, not real cases. The 2026 non-agricultural minimum wage is Q4,002.28 in Economic Circumscription 1 and Q3,816.90 in CE2 (Acuerdo Gubernativo 256-2025). Failure to register as an employer with IGSS is sanctioned under the IGSS Organic Law, not under this article.

Two rules change the final number: recidivism adds 50% — it does not double the fine — and no longer applies once a year has passed since the prior fine was paid (Art. 271); and correcting the fault before paying exonerates 50% of the fine, with 5 days to pay from notification (Art. 272 as reformed). Full detail: salary book fines explained.

Fines are imposed by the Departmental Delegate of the Labor Inspectorate; the revocatoria appeal of Art. 275 (48 hours) applies, followed by labor-court administrative review (20 business days, Art. 415 as reformed). As long as fines remain final (causada estado), they block the issuance of your labor clearance.

Practical: If you’re bidding on a State contract or applying for a major loan, request the clearance 15 days in advance. If an old infraction surfaces, you have time to clean it up. The 30-business-day validity gives you a comfortable window to use it.