Replacing Paper, Cardboard or Vinyl License Plates in Guatemala: SAT Actualización de Distintivos Requirements

Quick summary: If your vehicle still carries temporary paper, cardboard or vinyl plates, the SAT procedure to replace them is called Actualización de Distintivos. You fill in Form SAT-8933 in Declaraguate, choose Actualización de Distintivos in section 4, and SAT’s guide says to file it at zero value. You need a DPI (or passport if you are a foreigner), Agencia Virtual and an up-to-date RTU, to be current on the circulation tax for all your vehicles, and your old plates in legible condition. Book a Cita Validada appointment, hand in the old plates for destruction at the window and receive the new ones the same day. Then download the electronic circulation card and ownership certificate from Agencia Virtual. On material: SAT’s guide talks about metal plates, but the press reported in 2025 that new plates are printed in polystyrene.

Requirements checked on 29 September 2026 on SAT’s Actualización de Distintivos page and in SAT’s guide (the guide is undated). Both are in Spanish.

What this procedure is and who needs it

You may have searched for it as cambio de placas de papel a metal (paper-to-metal plate swap), but SAT does not use that name. Its requirements page is titled Actualización de Distintivos (placas), and SAT’s guide says who can apply: «Personas individuales y jurídicas que tengan placas de vinil o de cartón» (individuals and legal entities that have vinyl or cardboard plates).

These are the temporary plates SAT handed out. The state newspaper Diario de Centro América reported on 5 January 2021 that SAT «comenzó ayer los cambios de placas temporales de papel o vinil por las de metal» (began swapping temporary paper or vinyl plates for metal ones the day before), and that SAT had distributed «no menos de 670 mil 61 matrículas temporales» (no fewer than 670,061 temporary plates).

If you need to replace lost or stolen plates, that is a different procedure: see lost or stolen license plates.

Metal or polystyrene? What we know about the material

This is the confusing part, so here it is source by source:

Bottom line: according to the press, new plates have been printed in polystyrene since 2025. We did not find that in the SAT texts we read, so we cannot tell you what material your plates will be. What is certain is that your temporary paper, cardboard or vinyl plates are replaced with license plates.

Do you have to swap metal plates you already have for polystyrene ones? Soy502 wrote (25 March 2025) that SAT says «de momento no se tiene planificado ningún cambio generalizado de placas, por lo tanto el cambio no será obligatorio para los usuarios» (no general plate change is planned for now, so the change will not be mandatory). From the context of the article, that refers to the change of material, not to temporary paper or vinyl plates.

The same article adds: «Este 2025 se estarán produciendo nuevas y entregando solo en caso de reposición por robo o deterioro» (in 2025 new ones will be produced and handed out only for replacement due to theft or damage). That is a press statement, not a SAT text, and it does not say whether it covers Actualización de Distintivos. SAT’s requirements page, checked on 29 September 2026, still lists this procedure with license plates as the result; if you are unsure plates will be handed over at your appointment, confirm with SAT before booking. The SAT pages we read also do not say whether there is a deadline to replace temporary plates.

Requirements

Per SAT’s requirements page, for individuals and legal entities:

1. Valid ID: DPI, or passport if you are a foreigner (of the owner, agent or legal representative).
2. Agencia Virtual and updated data in RTU digital (owner, agent, or legal entity and legal representative). If you do not have Agencia Virtual yet, see how to register; for the RTU, see updating your RTU.
3. Being current on the land-vehicle circulation tax (Impuesto Sobre Circulación de Vehículos Terrestres) for every vehicle registered to you, not only the one getting new plates.
4. Declaración para Modificaciones y Reposiciones, which SAT says is generated «a través de formulario electrónico SAT 8933 de Reposición de Distintivos, Modificación, Rectificación de Datos y Cambio de USO», signed by the owner, agent or legal representative.
5. If an authorized third party files in the vehicle tax registry (Registro Fiscal de Vehículos), SAT’s third-party requirements.

SAT’s guide also asks you to bring the plates in legible condition to the office where you file.

Special cases. If an agent files, SAT asks for «testimonio de escritura pública del mandato vigente debidamente inscrito en el Archivo General de Protocolo y fotocopia» (the public deed of a current mandate, registered at the Archivo General de Protocolo, plus a photocopy).

Step by step

Per SAT’s guide:

1. Open Declaraguate from the SAT portal and select Form SAT-8933 (Reposiciones, Modificaciones y Cambio de Uso). New to the platform? See Declaraguate.
2. Look up your vehicle in the vehicle tax registry: plate number and NIT. To the question of whether you will file together with an SAT-8611 electronic transfer, the guide says to answer no.
3. In section 4, Tipo de trámite, choose Actualización de Distintivos and enter how many plates you will present.
4. Freeze, validate and file the form. The guide says: «Congela, valida y presenta el formulario con valor cero» (freeze, validate and file the form at zero value).
5. Download and print the annex (Declaración para Actualización de distintivos). The owner or legal representative must sign it.
6. Book a Cita Validada (validated appointment), under Servicios Frecuentes on the SAT portal, at an office, agency or delegation in the region where you will file.
7. Arrive 5 minutes early. The guide warns: «Si te presentas después del horario, deberás programar una nueva cita» (if you arrive after your time slot, you will have to book a new appointment).
8. At the window, hand in the requirements and your old plates. Per the guide, the plates are handed in «para su destrucción» (for destruction) and the technician gives you the new plates. If you do not meet the requirements or the plates are not legible, SAT rejects the procedure.
9. Download your electronic documents. Per SAT, Agencia Virtual gives you the electronic circulation card and ownership certificate, and the sticker is generated on SAT’s website under Impresión de Calcomanía (see SAT vehicle sticker).

If one of your two plates is missing

SAT’s guide explains that if your vehicle type uses two plates and you only have one, the form shows this error: «La placa de circulación ingresada cuenta con dos láminas (placas), en caso de no tener una, deberá realizar la gestión de Reposición de placas» (the plate entered has two sheets; if you are missing one, you must file a plate replacement). At that point it is no longer an update: you must meet the plate replacement requirements, including the vehicle inspection (expertaje). See lost or stolen license plates.

Cost

We are not telling you the procedure is free: the guide says the form is filed at zero value, and the requirements page says to show up with the requirements and payments made. The sources we read mention no manufacturing charge for this procedure. If you are unsure about your case, check with SAT before your appointment.

Where to file

SAT’s requirements page (checked 29 September 2026) lists these offices, agencies and delegations:

SAT’s guide carries a shorter, different list; we use the requirements page because it is the one SAT keeps online.

What you get

• New license plates, handed over at the window on your appointment day, per the guide.
• Electronic circulation card and ownership certificate, downloaded from Agencia Virtual.
• Electronic sticker, generated on SAT’s website (Impresión de Calcomanía).

Neither of these two SAT sources states a processing time in days; per the guide, the plates are handed over at the same appointment.

Common mistakes

1. Showing up without an appointment. The guide asks you to book the Cita Validada first.
2. Bringing one plate when the vehicle uses two: the form turns it into a replacement, with an inspection.
3. Owing circulation tax on another vehicle in your name: SAT requires solvency for all of them.
4. Outdated RTU or no Agencia Virtual: it is requirement 2, and you also need it to download the card and certificate at the end.
5. Illegible plates: per the guide, SAT rejects the procedure.

Official sources

• SAT — Actualización de Distintivos (requirements, Spanish)
• SAT — Actualización de Distintivos guide (PDF, Spanish)
• Diario de Centro América — SAT begins handing out metal plates (5 Jan 2021, Spanish)

Related procedures

• Lost or stolen license plates — if you lost one or both plates (replacement)
• Vehicle circulation card — the document you download at the end
• SAT vehicle sticker 2026 — printing the sticker
• Vehicle transfer — if you are also buying or selling the vehicle
• Agencia Virtual SAT: how to register — requirement 2
• RTU registration and updating your RTU