Investing Your Way to Honduran Residence
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Guatemala 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 Guatemala to Honduras · Residency through investment
USD 50,000 into any lawful branch of the Honduran economy, or into state or national financial-institution securities, buys investor residence. The figure has stood unchanged since 2003. What makes the route distinctive is that the money is not required up front: the applicant lodges a USD 5,000 deposit with the central bank as a guarantee that the investment will be made, files a feasibility study and a timetable, and gets the guarantee back within a year once the investment is proved. At every renewal the economy ministry must certify that the holder is still an investor at the level the law requires.
At a glance
- Investment threshold
- USD 50,000
- Guarantee deposit
- USD 5,000
Lodged with the Banco Central de Honduras at the ministry's disposal.
- Guarantee returned
- Within 1 year of proving the investment
- Residence fee
- USD 300
- Where the money may go
- Any lawful branch of the economy, or state and national financial-institution securities
- Renewal
- An economy ministry certificate that you are still an investor at the legal level
- Discretionary half-threshold route
- USD 25,000CALC (calculated by us, not published)as of 2025-07-29
Our arithmetic: the 2025 ministerial instrument asks for at least 50% of the investor figure of USD 50,000.
Figures marked CALC are our arithmetic, not a figure in any instrument. Where the law states a threshold as a multiple of something else, the amount shown is that multiple applied - and it moves when the underlying figure does.
Requirements
- An investment of at least USD 50,000, or the equivalent in lempiras
- A feasibility study, a proposed timetable and the amount of the investment
- A certificate of deposit of not less than USD 5,000 from the Banco Central de Honduras, at the ministry's disposal, guaranteeing that the investment will be made
- Proof of application for or entry in the investor register of the economy ministry
- The thirteen general requirements every residence application carries
In detail
A promise first, the money after
Most investor residences in the region ask to see the investment before they grant anything. Honduras asks for a plan and a bond. The application carries a feasibility study, a timetable and the amount; the guarantee is a central-bank certificate of deposit of at least USD 5,000 placed at the ministry's disposal to secure that the investment actually happens; and the regulation gives the holder a year from proving the investment to get the bond back. It is a lower cash barrier at the start than the headline figure suggests, and a tighter leash afterwards: the economy ministry has to certify, at every card renewal, that the person is still an investor at the level the law sets.
No sector list, one constitutional fence
The regulation lets the capital go into any branch of lawful economic activity, and separately into state securities or paper issued by national financial institutions. There is no approved-sector list, no minimum number of jobs and no regional incentive. The single restriction runs the other way: the ministry will not authorise residence where the foreigner proposes an investment that the Constitution or national law reserves. A rentista or pensioner who invests above these amounts, incidentally, keeps their own category and its benefits - the law says so expressly, so a retiree does not have to choose.
Country-level policy
Every procedure in the Honduran migration law and its regulation is addressed to the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería, under the Secretaría de Gobernación y Justicia. Neither name is current: migration control is now exercised through the Instituto Nacional de Migración under the Secretaría de Gobernación, Justicia y Descentralización, as a 2025 ministerial instrument recites. That would be a cosmetic problem if the new institute published requirement sheets. It does not. Its site was relaunched on 30 September 2026 and its alien affairs page lists the kinds of procedure it handles without stating a single requirement for any of them. The 2003 law and its 2004 regulation are therefore the only public statement of what Honduras asks.
The currency of Honduras is the lempira, and almost nothing in its migration law is stated in lempiras. The income thresholds are in United States dollars, the investment threshold is in dollars, the guarantee deposit is in dollars, and the whole fee schedule of the regulation - residences, naturalisations, permits, passports, extensions, the land entry fee - is in dollars with a single lempira line at the end for certificates. The law allows payment in the equivalent in national currency, so the dollar is the unit of account rather than the means of payment. The practical effect is that these figures do not quietly erode with the exchange rate, which is why thresholds set in 2003 are still the thresholds today.
Whatever route you take, the same file is assembled. Thirteen general requirements apply to every residence application and eleven to every special permanence permit, and the heaviest of them are the criminal-record certificate from your country of origin and of last residence, a Honduran criminal investigation certificate, and a medical certificate no more than six months old. Everything from abroad must be legalised and anything in another language officially translated. After the decision you have thirty days to register in the National Registry of Foreigners, and the ministry will not release the certified decision until you have. The card runs for up to five years, nobody may hold two statuses at once, and the status dies after twelve consecutive months out of the country - six, if what you hold is a permit rather than a residence.
Article 21 of the migration law ends with a numeral that lets the ministry authorise residence in duly justified cases, without saying what a justification is. On 29 July 2025 the ministry published what it now asks for, and the reasoning it gives is candid: the open numeral had attracted an excessive pattern of distortion, and leaving it without requirements put the properly specified categories at a disadvantage. Four routes are now written down. Someone who falls short of the rentista, pensioner or investor figures may apply with at least half of them. Someone who has used up five years of permits, or broken their continuity, may apply. Someone who works in Honduras may apply after two years of continuous lawful residence with a work authorisation and the employer's labour-quota certificate. And anyone else may apply after a hundred and twenty days on humanitarian, public-interest or special family grounds, including being the child of Honduran parents born abroad. None of it is a right: the instrument says the ministry may accept, refuse or shelve the application without liability and without creating any acquired right.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Guatemala
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
«La inversión será por un mínimo de CINCUENTA MIL DÓLARES DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA ($50,000.00) o su equivalente en moneda nacional»Our translation - not official
The investment shall be of a minimum of FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS ($50,000.00) or its equivalent in national currency
About this source
An academic observatory at the national public university, which hosts facsimiles of La Gaceta and of regional migration instruments - including the CA-4 unified manual, which is held at no other address we have reached.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It hosts, it does not publish. What is held here are facsimiles of La Gaceta and of a regional instrument that carries Guatemalan migration-institute letterhead, so the documents are primary and the body offering them is not their publisher: it must never be cited as the publisher of what it holds, nor as evidence that any text is current, complete or still in force. It is typed government-primary because the taxonomy classifies the document rather than the host, and these documents are official text; the fact that a public university's observatory is the only address we reached for the CA-4 manual is a reason to look for a government one, not a reason to doubt the text.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«Podrán adquirir la calidad de residente inversionista, los extranjeros que inviertan su capital en cualquier ramo de la actividad económica lícita en Honduras.»Our translation - not official
Foreigners who invest their capital in any branch of lawful economic activity in Honduras may acquire the status of investor resident.
There is no sector list and no job-creation condition. The limit is the other way round: the ministry will not authorise residence where the investment is one the Constitution or the laws restrict to Hondurans.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state audit body's reference shelf, which carries the Constitution, the migration regulation, the tax code and the traffic law as PDFs. It is where several Honduran instruments are reachable at all.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for currency. It is an audit body's shelf, not a gazette and not a consolidator: no document on it carries a consolidation date or an amendment history, so it cannot establish that a text is the text in force, and it is not the issuing authority for anything it holds. Its directory index returns 403, so what it holds cannot be enumerated.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«El interesado deberá presentar con su solicitud, un certificado de depósito no inferior a cinco mil Dólares de los Estados Unidos de América (US $ 5,000.00)»Our translation - not official
The applicant must present with their application a certificate of deposit of not less than five thousand United States Dollars (US $ 5,000.00)
Issued by the Banco Central de Honduras and placed at the ministry's disposal, to guarantee that the investment will be made.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state audit body's reference shelf, which carries the Constitution, the migration regulation, the tax code and the traffic law as PDFs. It is where several Honduran instruments are reachable at all.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for currency. It is an audit body's shelf, not a gazette and not a consolidator: no document on it carries a consolidation date or an amendment history, so it cannot establish that a text is the text in force, and it is not the issuing authority for anything it holds. Its directory index returns 403, so what it holds cannot be enumerated.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«Una vez acreditada que la inversión se ha realizado, en el plazo de un año se devolverá la garantía al inversionista.»Our translation - not official
Once the investment is proved to have been made, the guarantee shall be returned to the investor within one year.
About this source
The state audit body's reference shelf, which carries the Constitution, the migration regulation, the tax code and the traffic law as PDFs. It is where several Honduran instruments are reachable at all.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for currency. It is an audit body's shelf, not a gazette and not a consolidator: no document on it carries a consolidation date or an amendment history, so it cannot establish that a text is the text in force, and it is not the issuing authority for anything it holds. Its directory index returns 403, so what it holds cannot be enumerated.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«Inversionistas: Constancia de la Secretaría de Estado en los Despachos de Industria y Comercio de que el extranjero sigue siendo inversionista de acuerdo a las cantidades establecidas en la Ley.»Our translation - not official
Investors: A certificate from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce that the foreigner remains an investor in accordance with the amounts established in the Law.
The renewal test is continuing investment, not the original transfer.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state audit body's reference shelf, which carries the Constitution, the migration regulation, the tax code and the traffic law as PDFs. It is where several Honduran instruments are reachable at all.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for currency. It is an audit body's shelf, not a gazette and not a consolidator: no document on it carries a consolidation date or an amendment history, so it cannot establish that a text is the text in force, and it is not the issuing authority for anything it holds. Its directory index returns 403, so what it holds cannot be enumerated.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«1. Residencias para rentistas, pensionados e inversionistas $ 300.00»Our translation - not official
1. Residences for rentistas, pensioners and investors USD 300.00
About this source
The state audit body's reference shelf, which carries the Constitution, the migration regulation, the tax code and the traffic law as PDFs. It is where several Honduran instruments are reachable at all.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for currency. It is an audit body's shelf, not a gazette and not a consolidator: no document on it carries a consolidation date or an amendment history, so it cannot establish that a text is the text in force, and it is not the issuing authority for anything it holds. Its directory index returns 403, so what it holds cannot be enumerated.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«Cuando la justificante sea no llegar a los montos requeridos para ser rentista, pensionado o inversor, deberán comprobar que cuentan con al menos el 50% de lo exigido a cada una de estas calidades migratorias»Our translation - not official
Where the justification is not reaching the amounts required to be a rentista, pensioner or investor, they must prove that they have at least 50% of what is required for each of these migration statuses
The instrument reproduces article 33 numeral 2 in a footnote, so the USD 50,000 and the 50% sit in the same document.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
An academic observatory at the national public university, which hosts facsimiles of La Gaceta and of regional migration instruments - including the CA-4 unified manual, which is held at no other address we have reached.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It hosts, it does not publish. What is held here are facsimiles of La Gaceta and of a regional instrument that carries Guatemalan migration-institute letterhead, so the documents are primary and the body offering them is not their publisher: it must never be cited as the publisher of what it holds, nor as evidence that any text is current, complete or still in force. It is typed government-primary because the taxonomy classifies the document rather than the host, and these documents are official text; the fact that a public university's observatory is the only address we reached for the CA-4 manual is a reason to look for a government one, not a reason to doubt the text.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The USD 25,000 figure is our arithmetic from the percentage the 2025 instrument states, and the residence it leads to is discretionary.
We did not read the investment legislation the regulation defers to for guarantees, registration and procedure, nor the economy ministry's investor register. What is stated here is the migration side of the route.
The USD 50,000 and USD 5,000 figures have stood since 2003 and 2004 respectively and are not indexed by anything we read.
- reportsLey de Migración y Extranjería, Decreto No. 208-2003, La Gaceta
Observatorio de las Migraciones Internacionales en Honduras (OMIH), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras
About this source
An academic observatory at the national public university, which hosts facsimiles of La Gaceta and of regional migration instruments - including the CA-4 unified manual, which is held at no other address we have reached.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It hosts, it does not publish. What is held here are facsimiles of La Gaceta and of a regional instrument that carries Guatemalan migration-institute letterhead, so the documents are primary and the body offering them is not their publisher: it must never be cited as the publisher of what it holds, nor as evidence that any text is current, complete or still in force. It is typed government-primary because the taxonomy classifies the document rather than the host, and these documents are official text; the fact that a public university's observatory is the only address we reached for the CA-4 manual is a reason to look for a government one, not a reason to doubt the text.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
- reportsReglamento de la Ley de Migración y Extranjería
Tribunal Superior de Cuentas de Honduras - biblioteca de leyes
About this source
The state audit body's reference shelf, which carries the Constitution, the migration regulation, the tax code and the traffic law as PDFs. It is where several Honduran instruments are reachable at all.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for currency. It is an audit body's shelf, not a gazette and not a consolidator: no document on it carries a consolidation date or an amendment history, so it cannot establish that a text is the text in force, and it is not the issuing authority for anything it holds. Its directory index returns 403, so what it holds cannot be enumerated.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
- reportsAcuerdo Ministerial No. 374-2025, La Gaceta No. 36,924 de 23 de agosto de 2025
Observatorio de las Migraciones Internacionales en Honduras (OMIH), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras
About this source
An academic observatory at the national public university, which hosts facsimiles of La Gaceta and of regional migration instruments - including the CA-4 unified manual, which is held at no other address we have reached.
Standing: Reports, establishes nothing
Cannot be cited for: It hosts, it does not publish. What is held here are facsimiles of La Gaceta and of a regional instrument that carries Guatemalan migration-institute letterhead, so the documents are primary and the body offering them is not their publisher: it must never be cited as the publisher of what it holds, nor as evidence that any text is current, complete or still in force. It is typed government-primary because the taxonomy classifies the document rather than the host, and these documents are official text; the fact that a public university's observatory is the only address we reached for the CA-4 manual is a reason to look for a government one, not a reason to doubt the text.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source