NextSpring

Country-wide policy

Every residence applicant lodges a deposit worth a return ticket

Nicaragua asks residence applicants to deposit, in cash, the real value of a return ticket to their country of origin or last residence, to cover the cost of a deportation that may never happen. The deposit is lodged once the residence is approved, is held in a Treasury account the migration directorate administers, earns the depositor no interest and is not revalued for inflation, though the directorate updates the amounts annually against air fares. It comes back on a claim made within sixty days of leaving the country for good or of acquiring Nicaraguan nationality. Several things forfeit it, including ninety days of irregular stay. Three groups are exempt: close relatives of Nicaraguans, minors, and nationals of countries with a ratified instrument and reciprocity.

Verified with official sourceStable2026-10-05

Topics it changes

What it requires

  • Lodging, once the residence is approved, a cash deposit equal to the real value of a return ticket
  • Claiming it back within sixty days of final departure or of acquiring Nicaraguan nationality
  • Producing the deposit slip, a certificate of migration movements or the Gaceta publication of the nationality, and identification
  • Not falling into ninety days of irregular stay, which forfeits it

At a glance

Amount
The real value of a return ticket to the country of origin or last residence
When it is lodged
After the residence is approved
Interest to the depositor
None, and no compensation for loss of value
Window to claim it back
60 days from final departure or from acquiring nationality
Time the directorate has to resolve a claim
Thirty days
Forfeited after
Ninety days of irregular stay
Exempt
Close relatives of Nicaraguans, minors, and nationals covered by a ratified instrument with reciprocity

What the law says

Text layer - verbatim verifiedLey N°. 761, Ley General de Migración y Extranjería, art. 128, texto consolidado · Artículo 128 · consolidated to 2023-02-28
«El Depósito en Garantía deberá ser equivalente en efectivo al valor real de un boleto de regreso al país de origen o de residencia anterior con el propósito de cubrir gastos de una eventual deportación, expulsión o reembarque del territorio nacional.»

Our translation - not official

The guarantee deposit shall be equivalent in cash to the real value of a return ticket to the country of origin or of previous residence, for the purpose of covering the costs of a possible deportation, expulsion or re-shipment from the national territory.

The amount is therefore different for every applicant and moves with air fares. Article 107 of the regulation has the directorate updating the reference fares in the first fifteen days of January each year.

Read it at the source
About this source

The legislature's legal-information service. Under the Digesto Jurídico laws it publishes a consolidated text subject by subject, each approved on a date and gazetted afterwards, together with the integral texts of the Constitution and of the regional customs instruments as Nicaragua gazetted them.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text's cut-off date is a hard edge and the page carries no warning that anything has happened since: the migration law's text was closed on 28 February 2023 and still defines a residence category by reference to a statute repealed in August 2024. It must never be cited as evidence that a statute is in force - it serves a repealed law in full with the repeal as a single line at the foot, which is why that route is still sold everywhere. It must not be cited for any amount set in a table, because those are published as images. And where one instrument has two addresses, as the Constitution does, the superseded consolidation stays live with different article numbers.

We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedLey N°. 761, Ley General de Migración y Extranjería, art. 128, texto consolidado · Artículo 128, párrafo segundo · consolidated to 2023-02-28
«Se exceptúan de esta disposición las personas nacionales de aquellos países con los que Nicaragua ha ratificado instrumentos internacionales y donde exista el principio de reciprocidad; así mismo no se exigirá Depósito de Garantía a las personas extranjeras que posean vínculos en primer grado de afinidad y segundo de consanguinidad con nicaragüenses.»

Our translation - not official

Exempt from this provision are nationals of countries with which Nicaragua has ratified international instruments and where the principle of reciprocity exists; likewise no guarantee deposit shall be required of foreigners having links of the first degree of affinity and the second of consanguinity with Nicaraguans.

Article 135 adds minors and anyone exempt under a ratified international instrument.

Read it at the source
About this source

The legislature's legal-information service. Under the Digesto Jurídico laws it publishes a consolidated text subject by subject, each approved on a date and gazetted afterwards, together with the integral texts of the Constitution and of the regional customs instruments as Nicaragua gazetted them.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text's cut-off date is a hard edge and the page carries no warning that anything has happened since: the migration law's text was closed on 28 February 2023 and still defines a residence category by reference to a statute repealed in August 2024. It must never be cited as evidence that a statute is in force - it serves a repealed law in full with the repeal as a single line at the foot, which is why that route is still sold everywhere. It must not be cited for any amount set in a table, because those are published as images. And where one instrument has two addresses, as the Constitution does, the superseded consolidation stays live with different article numbers.

We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedLey N°. 761, Ley General de Migración y Extranjería, art. 132, texto consolidado · Artículo 132 · consolidated to 2023-02-28
«La solicitud de la devolución del Depósito en Garantía, se realizará dentro de los sesenta días, a partir de la fecha de la salida definitiva del país»

Our translation - not official

The application to recover the guarantee deposit shall be made within sixty days of the date of final departure from the country

The sentence continues: or of the date on which the person acquired Nicaraguan nationality. The directorate then has thirty days to resolve the claim, once the departure has been verified.

Read it at the source
About this source

The legislature's legal-information service. Under the Digesto Jurídico laws it publishes a consolidated text subject by subject, each approved on a date and gazetted afterwards, together with the integral texts of the Constitution and of the regional customs instruments as Nicaragua gazetted them.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text's cut-off date is a hard edge and the page carries no warning that anything has happened since: the migration law's text was closed on 28 February 2023 and still defines a residence category by reference to a statute repealed in August 2024. It must never be cited as evidence that a statute is in force - it serves a repealed law in full with the repeal as a single line at the foot, which is why that route is still sold everywhere. It must not be cited for any amount set in a table, because those are published as images. And where one instrument has two addresses, as the Constitution does, the superseded consolidation stays live with different article numbers.

We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedReglamento a la Ley N°. 761, Decreto Ejecutivo N°. 31-2012, art. 63 · Artículo 63, numeral 8
«Requisitos comunes para obtener la Residencia:»

Our translation - not official

Common requirements for obtaining residence:

The eighth and last of them is the deposit, payable once the authorising resolution has been approved.

Read it at the source
About this source

The legislature's legal-information service. Under the Digesto Jurídico laws it publishes a consolidated text subject by subject, each approved on a date and gazetted afterwards, together with the integral texts of the Constitution and of the regional customs instruments as Nicaragua gazetted them.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text's cut-off date is a hard edge and the page carries no warning that anything has happened since: the migration law's text was closed on 28 February 2023 and still defines a residence category by reference to a statute repealed in August 2024. It must never be cited as evidence that a statute is in force - it serves a repealed law in full with the repeal as a single line at the foot, which is why that route is still sold everywhere. It must not be cited for any amount set in a table, because those are published as images. And where one instrument has two addresses, as the Constitution does, the superseded consolidation stays live with different article numbers.

We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source

Practical notes

No figure is published for the deposit because it is not a fixed sum: it is the price of a ticket, differs by nationality and route, and is reset annually by the directorate against current fares.

The exemption for nationals of countries with a ratified instrument and reciprocity is written in terms that we cannot match to a list. No instrument we read names which countries qualify.

The regulation lists six ways the deposit is forfeited, including failing to use an entry visa within six months of its grant, and an employer failing to tell the directorate within thirty days that a contract has ended.