Bringing Your Things: a Household Allowance That Is Not for Immigrants
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Honduras on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Honduras to El Salvador · Bringing your belongings
The Ley de Equipajes gives every traveller used personal effects free of duty plus a thousand dollars of new goods, rising by five hundred in December and January, and a flat thirty per cent option on anything above that. What it does not give a foreigner is a household shipment. Its household allowance - fifteen thousand dollars CIF, and never a vehicle - is defined for the retornante, and the regulation defines a retornante as a Salvadoran who lived abroad three years or more and is coming home for good. For a foreigner settling in El Salvador the only duty-free household route in the statute book is elsewhere: article 146 of the migration law, which gives the resident pensioner and the resident rentista twenty thousand dollars CIF of household effects once, and a vehicle up to twenty-five thousand dollars CIF once every five years. Anyone arriving on a work permit, a marriage, an investment or a student place is outside both.
At a glance
- New goods allowance
- USD 1,000
- December and January
- USD 500 more
- Alcohol and tobacco inside the allowance
- 2 litres, 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars
Article 5 of the baggage law writes all three in words - "dos litros de bebidas alcohólicas; doscientos cigarrillos y cincuenta cigarros" - and they sit inside the thousand-dollar allowance rather than on top of it.
- Flat rate above the allowance
- 30 per cent
- Household allowance for a returning Salvadoran
- USD 15,000 CIF
- Qualifying period for that
- 3 years abroad
- Vehicle in a household shipment
- Never
- Household allowance for a foreign immigrant
- None under the baggage law
The Ley de Equipajes reserves the household allowance to the retornante, which the regulation defines as a Salvadoran. The only duty-free household route for a foreigner is article 146 of the migration law, and it is open to the resident pensioner and the resident rentista alone.
- Household allowance for a pensioner or rentista
- USD 20,000 CIF, once
Migration law article 146 numeral 2, quoted in full on the retiree record. The law writes the figure in words rather than digits.
- Vehicle for a pensioner or rentista
- USD 25,000 CIF, once every five years
Migration law article 146 numeral 3. Transferable free of duty after five years with Ministry of Finance authorisation.
- Unaccompanied baggage window
- 30 days before, 90 days after
- Temporary importation for a non-resident's equipment
- 60 days
Requirements
- Used personal and sporting effects pass free of duty, in quantities showing they are for personal use
- New goods up to USD 1,000 in customs value pass free of duty, and up to USD 1,500 in December and January
- Two litres of spirits, two hundred cigarettes and fifty cigars are inside that allowance
- Above the allowance, either a flat 30 per cent single tax or the ordinary tariff classification, at the traveller's choice
- A written baggage declaration on arrival, with a 'Declare' and 'Do Not Declare' double-channel system at the international airport
- Unaccompanied baggage must arrive within thirty days before or ninety days after the traveller, extendable by ninety
- For a duty-free household shipment, either be a Salvadoran who has lived abroad three years or more and is returning for good, or hold resident pensioner or rentista status
- A non-resident traveller's working equipment comes in under temporary importation, for a stay of not more than sixty days
Country-level policy
El Salvador adopted the United States dollar as legal tender by a decree of November 2000, and the statutes written since then state money in dollars with no national unit behind it: a thousand dollars of duty-free goods, fifteen thousand dollars CIF of household effects, a seven-hundred-dollar naturalisation fee, a six-thousand-six-hundred-dollar exempt band. Nothing on this country's pages needs converting, and a figure that looks converted has been mishandled. Two residues are worth knowing about. The Social Security Law of 1953 still fixes the State's annual contribution in colones, a currency that no longer circulates, because nobody has amended that sentence. And since 2021 bitcoin has also been legal tender - amended in January 2025 so that acceptance is voluntary and only private persons may accept it, with the obligation to accept, the state conversion mechanism and payment of taxes in bitcoin all repealed.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Honduras
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«El viajero podrá introducir también con exención del pago de derechos de impuestos, bienes nuevos cuyo valor total en Aduana no sea superior al equivalente a UN MIL DOLARES DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA ($ 1,000.00).»Our translation - not official
The traveller may also bring in, free of duty and taxes, new goods whose total customs value does not exceed the equivalent of ONE THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS ($1,000.00).
The article carries twenty-six reform markers, which is a measure of how often this figure has been moved. The current text is the one quoted.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Durante los meses de diciembre a enero del siguiente año correlativo, el monto establecido en el inciso anterior se incrementará en QUINIENTOS DÓLARES DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA. ($500.00).»Our translation - not official
During the months of December to January of the following year, the amount set in the previous paragraph shall be increased by FIVE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS ($500.00).
A seasonal allowance written into the statute, aimed at the diaspora coming home for Christmas.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Dentro de la exención prevista en el Art. 4 de esta ley, los viajeros podrán introducir, además, hasta dos litros de bebidas alcohólicas; doscientos cigarrillos y cincuenta cigarros.»Our translation - not official
Within the exemption provided for in article 4 of this law, travellers may additionally bring in up to two litres of alcoholic drinks, two hundred cigarettes and fifty cigars.
'Dentro de la exención' - inside the thousand dollars rather than on top of it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«El salvadoreño que haya residido en el extranjero tres años o más, y que regrese definitivamente al país, podrá introducir libre de derechos y otros impuestos, su menaje de casa, cuyo valor tal C.I.F. en aduana no exceda al equivalente de $15.000.00 dólares de los Estados Unidos de América.»Our translation - not official
The Salvadoran who has resided abroad three years or more and returns definitively to the country may bring in, free of duty and other taxes, their household effects, whose C.I.F. customs value does not exceed the equivalent of $15,000.00 United States dollars.
'El salvadoreño'. The allowance is a nationality benefit, not a migration one, and the publisher's typo 'cuyo valor tal C.I.F.' is left as published.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Se excluye expresamente de esta exención todo otro tipo de bien, no pudiendo, bajo ninguna circunstancia, incluir ninguna clase de vehículo motorizado dentro de la exención para el menaje de casa.»Our translation - not official
Expressly excluded from this exemption is every other kind of good, and under no circumstances may any class of motor vehicle be included within the household effects exemption.
Flatly stated, with no discretion - which is why the pensioner's separate vehicle exemption in the migration law matters so much.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Retornante: El salvadoreño que haya residido en el extranjero tres años o más y que regresa definitivamente al país.»Our translation - not official
Returnee: the Salvadoran who has resided abroad three years or more and returns definitively to the country.
The definition that closes the door. Article 16 of the same regulation makes the proof a certificate from the migration directorate about the three years, and treats trips to El Salvador of up to thirty days a calendar year as not breaking them.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«el viajero podrá optar, al presentar la declaración, por la aplicación de un impuesto único del 30%, que comprende el derecho arancelario a la importación, el Impuesto a la Transferencia de Bienes Muebles y a la Prestación de Servicios y los gravámenes específicos.»Our translation - not official
the traveller may choose, when presenting the declaration, to have a single tax of 30% applied, which covers the import tariff, the Value Added Tax and the specific levies.
An election, not an imposition: the same article keeps the ordinary tariff route open where that works out cheaper.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«El equipaje no acompañado deberá arribar al país incluido en el manifiesto de carga general dentro de treinta días anteriores a la fecha de arribo del viajero o noventa días posteriores a la misma.»Our translation - not official
Unaccompanied baggage must arrive in the country on the general cargo manifest within thirty days before the traveller's arrival or ninety days after it.
The customs administrator may extend the second period by up to ninety further days on reasoned grounds.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Que la estadía en el país no sea mayor de sesenta días contados a partir de la fecha de aprobación de la declaración de mercancías o póliza de importación;»Our translation - not official
That the stay in the country is not more than sixty days counted from the date of approval of the goods declaration or import policy;
The route for a non-resident's own working equipment: temporary importation with no security required, provided the stay stays inside sixty days.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The claim that there is no household allowance for a foreign immigrant rests on the whole of the Ley de Equipajes, whose articles run 1 to 35 in the stored reading with no gaps, and on its regulation, articles 1 to 19. The household chapter in both is written around the retornante and the diplomatic corps, and the only other household exemption in the statute book we found is article 146 of the migration law.
The baggage law's own figures are in dollars and have been since the country dollarised; article 4 carries twenty-six reform markers and the latest of them is what sets the thousand dollars, so this is a figure to re-read rather than to assume.
- consolidatesLey de Equipajes de Viajeros Procedentes del Exterior, consolidated text with reform legend
Centro de Documentacion Judicial, Corte Suprema de Justicia (El Salvador)
About this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesReglamento de la Ley de Equipajes de Viajeros Procedentes del Exterior
Centro de Documentacion Judicial, Corte Suprema de Justicia (El Salvador)
About this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesLey Especial de Migración y de Extranjería, art. 146
Centro de Documentacion Judicial, Corte Suprema de Justicia (El Salvador)
About this source
The judiciary's legislative repository, and the only place that publishes Salvadoran statutes as consolidated texts with a numbered reform legend naming every amending decree by number, date, Diario Oficial issue and volume. Article-level markers tie each amended paragraph to the decree that changed it, which is what makes an amended article citable here at all.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Its /R/ branch holds **amending acts, not amended laws**, and they read convincingly like the law they reform - a search for the financial inclusion law returns a decree that merely reforms it. Check the opening for Refórmase before quoting anything from that branch. File paths are opaque content hashes with no title and are filed under the decade and month of the **original** act, so a 2026 reform lives under a 2019 path and a document has to be identified from its own text. It also carries no statement of currency: the reform legend is the only evidence of how recently a text was rebuilt.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source