Guatemala Visa by Nationality: IGM's Full Category A, B and C Country Lists

Whether you need a visa for Guatemala depends on the passport you carry, and the Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración (IGM) publishes the answer as three lists. Category A (Exento de visa) enters on a valid passport alone. Category B (Visa Consular) needs a visa from a Guatemalan embassy or consulate abroad. Category C (Visa Consultada) needs a visa that IGM must authorize in Guatemala first, filed with a registered Guatemalan garante (sponsor). Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kenya, Ethiopia and Haiti are Category C; Jamaica is Category B. Every entry on the three lists is below, exactly as IGM prints it.

Quick summary: IGM’s three list images, read on 29 September 2026, carry 89 entries in Category A, 63 printed entries in Category B and 45 in Category C. B applies at a consulate with six requirements (Acuerdo IGM-015-2025, Art. 10). C files with IGM’s Subdirección de Extranjería with seven requirements, including a Guatemalan garante registered with IGM (Arts. 11 and 28), and IGM must decide within 30 days (Art. 4). IGM’s tariff lists US$25 for a visa application filed in Guatemala, US$25 for a single-entry visa and US$100 for a multiple-entry visa. A valid US, Mexican, Canadian or Schengen visa moves B to A (Art. 10) but C only to B (Art. 29, numeral 2), so a Category C national still needs a visa.

For US passport holders specifically, see Guatemala entry for US passport holders. If you hold a US green card on a non-US passport, the residence rules are worked through in Guatemala entry for US green card holders.

What the three categories mean

Acuerdo IGM-015-2025, the Reglamento de Visas Guatemaltecas, defines the categories in Art. 9:

Art. 9 spells out the Category C mechanism: the consultations “serán conocidas y autorizadas por la Subdirección de Extranjería del Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración”, and the missions abroad then consult that authorization and issue the visa. The CA-4 manual that Guatemala shares with El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua uses the same letters: a visa consultada is “la expedida a extranjeros, previa autorización de la Dirección General de Migración correspondiente”.

A visa is not a guarantee of entry. Art. 3 of the regulation says approved visas “no implican su admisión incondicional en el territorio de la República de Guatemala”, and that the visa is issued in a passport with at least six months’ validity, a valid travel document, or electronically.

Six nationalities, looked up

Category A: Exento de visa (89 entries)

These passports enter Guatemala with a valid passport and no visa. Spelling is IGM’s; the English name is ours.

The last three entries are organisations rather than countries; the image gives no detail on which travel documents they cover. IGM’s June 2025 announcement also places “países de la Unión Europea” in Category A.

Category B: Visa Consular (63 printed entries)

These nationals need a visa from a Guatemalan embassy or consulate, unless an exemption below applies.

Note on rows 6 and 54. The image prints “Burundi, República de Bután” and “Tanzania, República Unida de Tayikistán” as single entries. Each reads as two list items run together (Burundi and Bután; Tanzania and Tayikistán), which would make 65 countries, but we show them as IGM prints them. If you hold one of those four passports, confirm with a Guatemalan consulate.

Category C: Visa Consultada (45 entries)

These nationals need a visa that IGM authorizes in Guatemala before it is issued.

If your nationality is on none of the three lists, the images do not classify it. Ask a Guatemalan embassy or consulate before you book.

What a Category B national files

Acuerdo IGM-015-2025, Art. 10, lists six requirements for the tourist visa at a Guatemalan embassy or consulate:

1. the data entered in the visa form;
2. a valid passport;
3. a travel itinerary;
4. proof of income, or bank statements for the last three months, in Spanish or English;
5. an international credit card, or a debit card together with bank statements for the last three months;
6. a letter requesting your services, only if the trip is paid consulting or advisory work.

If the consular officer wants an interview, Art. 10 allows it in person or online. The consulate sets and collects its own fee for a Category B visa; we did not verify that amount, so ask the consulate.

The exemption. Art. 10 also says: “Quedan exentos de solicitar visa consular los nacionales de países categoría “B” que cuenten con visa vigente de los Estados Unidos de América, Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Canadá o Schengen, quienes cambian a categoría “A” o exentos de visa.” A Jamaican, Indian or Filipino traveller with a valid visa from one of those four is treated as Category A.

What a Category C national files

Art. 11 says Category C nationals “deberán gestionar su solicitud ante el Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración, a través de la Subdirección de Extranjería”, with seven requirements:

1. the visa application form;
2. your original valid passport, plus a complete copy legalized by a Guatemalan notary, or a certification of the complete passport by a competent authority, or a complete copy legalized by a competent official of your country;
3. a birth certificate, if your country has no accredited diplomatic representation in Guatemala;
4. an original certificate showing no criminal or police record from your country (Art. 11 also accepts one issued by your country’s embassy or consulate in Guatemala or elsewhere, or by the country where you have lived for the last two years);
5. a Guatemalan garante with an up-to-date constancia de garante; an individual garante also shows a recent proof of income and a bank statement covering the last month before the application (a company acting as garante shows its tax returns instead);
6. proof of the reason for the trip: a hotel reservation and tour packages, or, if you are visiting a Guatemalan or a resident foreigner, an invitation letter stating the purpose, where you will stay and how you will travel inside Guatemala;
7. proof of payment of the visa application.

The garante must be registered first. Art. 28 requires a Guatemalan person or company to register with IGM’s Subdirección de Extranjería before acting as garante for a foreigner.

The time limit. Art. 4: a Category C application that meets the requirements “deberá resolverse por el Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración en un plazo que no exceda de treinta días”. That is a legal ceiling for IGM’s decision, not a promised turnaround.

The fees in IGM’s tariff (Acuerdo IGM-029-2023, as reformed by IGM-039-2025):

The tariff does not say which of these lines a Category C applicant pays, or in what order. IGM converts the dollar amounts to quetzales at a quarterly reference rate taken from the Banco de Guatemala.

If you are refused. Art. 30: “Cuando la solicitud de Visa de Turista o Viajero fue rechazada por alguna misión Diplomática o Consular y denegada o cancelada por el Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración podrán realizar una nueva solicitud hasta dentro de los 12 meses posteriores a la fecha de notificación del motivo de rechazo, denegatoria o cancelación, según corresponda.” The wording is ambiguous, so ask IGM how it applies to your case before you re-file.

Visas and residence that move you up a category

Two instruments set these rules, and they do not say the same thing. Acuerdo IGM-015-2025 is Guatemala’s own visa regulation; the CA-4 manual is the older shared manual for Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. We print both.

The key line for Category C readers is Art. 29, numeral 2: holders of a valid US, Mexican, Canadian or Schengen visa “se le dará trato de categoría “B” o Visa Consular”. You still need a visa; you get it at a consulate instead of through the IGM process. If you are Category C with residence in a Category A country, the two instruments disagree, so ask the consulate which one it applies. Art. 29 closes: “Se anotará en la visa la disposición especial de cambio de categoría que corresponda.” Spouses of Guatemalans can read the residency route in the spouse visa guide.

Art. 10 and Art. 29 speak of a visa vigente. A US green card is a residence document, not a visa, and the regulation never mentions it; the gap is explained in the green card guide.

Travelling on to El Salvador, Honduras or Nicaragua

Guatemala shares a regional stay and border rules with El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua (the CA-4). The CA-4 manual adds three rules that matter by category:

• Category C nationals do not move freely. B.5: Category C foreigners “no gozan de libre movilidad” and need their own entry authorization for each of the four states, unless a special visa provision applies, in which case they carry the Visa Centroamericana.
• A visa consultada must be used within 60 days. Section VI, numeral 5: a visa consultada has to be used to enter the region within sixty days of the date the embassy or consulate issued it.
• The regional stay is up to 90 days, granted at the border and extendable once at the migration office of the country you are in (B.6). In Guatemala that extension is the IGM prórroga.

A border run to Mexico or Belize is a separate question for each passport: see border runs by nationality and the CA-4 border run guide. Once you are in Guatemala, carry your passport or ID.

Where this list comes from, and its date

IGM publishes the three lists as images on its migration-control classification page, controlmigratorio.igm.gob.gt. The page text is only the heading Categoría de Países por clasificación de visas, followed by one image per category, each headed Categoría A / Exento de visa, Categoría B / Visa Consular or Categoría C / Visa Consultada and signed Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración.

• Read on 29 September 2026. The three image files were byte-for-byte the same as the copies we saved on 25 September 2026.
• The images carry no issue date. The only date anywhere is in the Category A file name, “actualizada-2023”, and the Dominican Republic entry on the Category B image.
• The June 2025 announcement agrees on the examples it names. IGM’s announcement of 6 June 2025 described Category A as “Las personas provenientes de los países en esta categoría pueden ingresar a Guatemala únicamente con pasaporte vigente, sin necesidad de una visa” and named the United States, Germany, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, the UK, South Korea, Canada and Brazil, all of which are on the Category A image, plus “países de la Unión Europea”. It also named India, Jamaica, Bolivia, Morocco, Serbia and the Dominican Republic in Category B, and Afghanistan, China (People’s Republic), Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria, North Korea and Palestine in Category C, each on the matching image.

An earlier version of our border runs by nationality guide said IGM published no country list. That was wrong, and the guide now points here.

Related

• Guatemala entry for US green card holders: the three-year residence rule and what a green card does and does not count as.
• Guatemala entry for US passport holders: Category A in practice for US citizens.
• Border runs by nationality: Mexico, Belize and back, by passport.
• CA-4 border runs: the 90-day regional clock.
• The IGM prórroga checklist: extending your stay inside Guatemala.
• Spouse visa Guatemala: residence for spouses of Guatemalans.
• Carrying your passport and ID in Guatemala.

Sources: IGM, Categoría de Países por clasificación de visas (three list images, read 29 September 2026); Acuerdo IGM-015-2025, Reglamento de Visas Guatemaltecas (archived copy; the igm.gob.gt original returned HTTP 404 on 29 September 2026), Arts. 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 28, 29 and 30; IGM Tarifario, Acuerdo IGM-029-2023 as reformed by IGM-039-2025, numerals 2.1, 2.3 and 2.4; Manual CA-4 Unificado (Convenio de Creación de la Visa Única Centroamericana), dispositions A.1, A.2, B.1, B.2, C.1, D and E (Section VII), B.5 and B.6 (Section IX), and Section VI, numeral 5; IGM classification announcement of 6 June 2025.