CA-4 and Central American Residence in Nicaragua
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Spain 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 Spain to Nicaragua · Residency under a regional treaty
Nicaragua is the fourth member of CA-4, and its own law is unusually clear that the arrangement is two things rather than one. Article 14 of the migration law names the treaty of 2005 by its full title - the Convention Creating the Single Central American Visa for the free movement of foreigners - and uses it only to sort third-country nationals into three visa categories. Movement of the four countries' own nationals is handled in a different article, in the generic language of international free-movement instruments, without naming any. Neither gives anyone a right to stay. What does is article 30 of the same law: a foreigner of Central American origin may go directly to permanent residence, subject to reciprocity. That phrase is wider than CA-4 and the law does not define it, which is the hinge the whole topic turns on.
At a glance
- What the Single Central American Visa governs
- Third-country nationals, not the four countries' own nationals
- What it confers
- Movement. Expressly not residence
- Direct permanent residence for Central Americans
- Available, subject to reciprocity
- Who counts as Central American
- Not defined in the law
- Document accepted instead of a passport
- National identity card
- Naturalisation for Central Americans of origin
- Two years, without renouncing the original nationality
- Returnable deposit
- Not required where an instrument and reciprocity apply
- Ordinary route to permanent residence for everyone else
- Three years of temporary residence
Requirements
- For direct permanent residence: being of Central American origin, and reciprocity being applied
- The common residence requirements, with a national identity card accepted instead of a passport
- A police certificate from the country of origin or of residence over the last three years, or an Interpol Nicaragua certificate
- A health certificate, a birth certificate, two photographs and the application form
- No returnable deposit, where an international instrument and reciprocity apply
In detail
Nicaraguan law keeps the two instruments apart
Read from the Nicaraguan side, the confusion that surrounds CA-4 everywhere else does not arise, because the statute puts the two halves in different articles and describes them differently. Article 14 names the treaty of 2005 in full, calls it the convention creating the Single Central American Visa for the free movement of foreigners, says it was approved by an assembly decree and an executive decree, and then uses it for one purpose only: sorting third-country nationalities into categories A, B and C. Article 108's second paragraph adds the one operative consequence - a category B national may move among the four states on the same visa. The movement of the four countries' own nationals appears in the first paragraph of the same article and in article 82, both in generic terms, both without naming a single instrument. A law that had a ratified treaty to point at would have pointed at it.
Movement is not residence, and the law says so twice
Nothing in article 14, article 108 or article 82 gives anyone a right to stay. The treaty itself says as much in its article VII. What gives a right to stay is article 30 numeral 8, which is Nicaraguan domestic law: a foreigner of Central American origin may go straight to permanent residence, where reciprocity is applied. Measured against the numeral immediately before it, which requires three years as a temporary resident, the concession is worth three years and a whole stage of the process. It is not a treaty right and it is not conditional on CA-4 membership; it is conditional on being Central American and on the other country doing the same for Nicaraguans.
Central American means more than four countries, and nobody says how many
The phrase origen centroamericano appears in article 30 of the migration law, in article 54 on naturalisation, in article 112 of the regulation on who need not renounce their nationality, and in article 23 of the Constitution. It is defined in none of them. CA-4 has four members; the historic Central American republics number five, with Costa Rica; the isthmus as a geographic matter adds Panama and Belize. A Costa Rican is plainly covered by the constitutional provision and is plainly not a CA-4 national, so the two sets are not the same, and anyone reasoning from CA-4 membership to a nationality concession is reasoning from the wrong set. We have found nothing in Nicaraguan law that settles where the line falls for Panama or Belize.
The identity card, and the agency's extra words
Article 63 of the regulation lists the documents common to every residence application, and the second of them allows a national of a CA-4 country to produce a valid identity card instead of a passport. The sentence has no qualifier. Both of the migration directorate's residence pages reproduce it with three words added: en casos excepcionales, in exceptional cases. The regulation makes the identity card an alternative; the agency makes it a concession. A CA-4 national planning an application should carry a passport.
Country-level policy
Leaving Nicaragua is a procedure for a foreign resident in a way it is not for a Nicaraguan. Article 111 of the migration law says that residents leaving by the outer borders require an exit visa, on top of a valid passport and a valid residence card; the regulation makes it a form and a fee, obtainable in advance or at the border post on production of the travel document and the card. A non-resident whose stay has expired needs one too, with a fine attached. Giving up residence altogether produces a definitive exit visa. None of this is widely written down outside the instruments, and it is a recurring cost and an extra counter for anyone who travels regularly.
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.
Since the Digesto Jurídico laws of 2017 onwards, Nicaragua republishes its statutes as consolidated texts, subject by subject, each approved on a date and published in La Gaceta later. The consolidation date is a hard edge: everything enacted after it is simply not in the text, and the page gives no sign of what has happened since. The migration law's consolidated text was closed on 28 February 2023 and published on 18 January 2024, which is why it still defines the pensioner category by reference to a law repealed in August 2024. The same service carries superseded consolidations alongside current ones - the Constitution has a March 2024 consolidation and a February 2025 integral text at different addresses, with different article numbers for nationality.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Spain
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
«De conformidad con el Convenio de Creación de la Visa Única Centroamericana para la libre movilidad de extranjeros entre las Repúblicas de El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua»Our translation - not official
In accordance with the Convention Creating the Single Central American Visa for the free movement of foreigners between the Republics of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua
Nicaragua's own statute gives the treaty its full title, and the title says extranjeros - foreigners, meaning nationals of countries other than the four. Everything article 14 then does is sort third-country nationalities into visa categories A, B and C.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«Las categorías de visa “A”, “B” y “C”, se regirán por los convenios bilaterales y los convenios homologados en el CA-4 y los Acuerdos de Libre Visado firmado por la República de Nicaragua con otros Estados»Our translation - not official
Visa categories "A", "B" and "C" shall be governed by the bilateral conventions, the conventions harmonised within CA-4 and the visa-waiver agreements signed by the Republic of Nicaragua with other States
Plural: conventions harmonised within CA-4. The law treats visa harmonisation as a set of instruments, and treats free movement of nationals in a different article again.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«Las personas extranjeras de las nacionalidades comprendidas en la categoría “B” del Artículo 14 de la presente Ley, podrán movilizarse dentro de los estados miembros del CA-4 con la misma visa.»Our translation - not official
Foreigners of the nationalities covered by category "B" of article 14 of this Law may move within the CA-4 member states on the same visa.
The only sentence in Nicaraguan law that says what CA-4 does for a third-country national, and it says movement on one visa. It depends on category B existing - the category the migration directorate's own visa page no longer lists.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«Las personas nacionales de países, con los que Nicaragua ha suscrito instrumentos internacionales de libre movilidad y circulación migratoria, quedan exentos del cumplimiento del requisito 2 del Artículo anterior.»Our translation - not official
Nationals of countries with which Nicaragua has signed international free-movement and migration-circulation instruments are exempt from requirement 2 of the preceding article.
Requirement 2 is the passport valid for more than six months. The free movement of the four countries' own nationals is handled here, in generic language, and no instrument is named - which is consistent with its resting on presidential agreements rather than on a ratified treaty.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«Cuando sean mayores de dieciocho años y su destino sea a países con los que Nicaragua haya ratificado instrumentos internacionales de libre movilidad y circulación migratoria, las personas nicaragüenses podrán presentar como documento migratorio, su cédula de identidad ciudadana.»Our translation - not official
Where they are over eighteen and their destination is a country with which Nicaragua has ratified international free-movement and migration-circulation instruments, Nicaraguans may present their citizen identity card as their travel document.
The same right the other three members give, written from the Nicaraguan side. Note the word ratificado: the law conditions it on a ratified instrument, while the arrangement that actually delivers it is a set of presidential agreements that were never put through ratification.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«Podrán optar de forma directa a la residencia permanente, los extranjeros de origen centroamericano y aquellos con los que Nicaragua ha suscrito convenios de doble nacionalidad, siempre y cuando se aplique el principio de reciprocidad.»Our translation - not official
Foreigners of Central American origin, and those from countries with which Nicaragua has signed dual-nationality conventions, may apply directly for permanent residence, provided the principle of reciprocity is applied.
This is the only place in Nicaraguan migration law where a regional link produces a right to stay, and it is domestic law rather than treaty. The term origen centroamericano is not defined anywhere in the law or its regulation.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«Los residentes temporales con más de tres años de permanencia legal en el país, podrán solicitar la residencia permanente; y»Our translation - not official
Temporary residents with more than three years of lawful stay in the country may apply for permanent residence; and
The route everyone else takes, set out immediately before the Central American one, which is what makes the concession measurable.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«En el caso de los nacionales de los países del CA 4 podrán presentar fotocopia de Cédula de Identidad vigente o Pasaporte;»Our translation - not official
In the case of nationals of the CA-4 countries, they may present a photocopy of a valid identity card or a passport;
An unconditional alternative in the regulation. The migration directorate's own pages add the words en casos excepcionales, which the regulation does not contain.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«La Visa Única Centroamericana no conlleva implícita la residencia temporal o permanente en el territorio de las Partes.»Our translation - not official
The Single Central American Visa does not carry with it implied temporary or permanent residence in the territory of the Parties.
The treaty says in its own words what Nicaraguan law implies: the arrangement moves people, it does not settle them.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Depositary of the Central American single visa instruments and publisher of the CA-4 institutional pages and the ministerial resolutions behind regional free movement.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current visa classification. The treaty's own annex is the 2005 list, the regional manual's annex is later but undated, and each state's reservations appear in a column that tells you what **that** state does rather than what any other does. Nor for national procedure: the treaty delegates every requirement to each party's own legislation. Its archive is served through a query-string endpoint rather than stable paths, so a citation needs the document identified by name as well as by link.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«nace por Acuerdo Presidencial firmado entre los presidentes de El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua, con el objetivo de permitir el tránsito intrarregional de los nacionales de los países signatarios entre dichos países, sin necesidad de utilizar pasaporte y con instrumentos migratorios de trámite expedito.»Our translation - not official
arises from a Presidential Agreement signed between the presidents of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, with the aim of permitting intraregional transit by nationals of the signatory countries between those countries, without needing to use a passport and with expedited migration documents.
The other half of the arrangement, and the half Nicaraguan law never names: transit of the members' own nationals, resting on a presidential agreement.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Depositary of the Central American single visa instruments and publisher of the CA-4 institutional pages and the ministerial resolutions behind regional free movement.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current visa classification. The treaty's own annex is the 2005 list, the regional manual's annex is later but undated, and each state's reservations appear in a column that tells you what **that** state does rather than what any other does. Nor for national procedure: the treaty delegates every requirement to each party's own legislation. Its archive is served through a query-string endpoint rather than stable paths, so a citation needs the document identified by name as well as by link.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
«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.
A second concession that runs on reciprocity rather than on membership of a named group.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
The reading that CA-4 is two instruments rests here on four provisions of the Nicaraguan migration law - articles 14, 82, 108 and 30 numeral 8 - and on the treaty's own article VII. Nicaraguan law names the 2005 treaty and never names an instrument for the movement of the members' own nationals, which is consistent with that half resting on unratified presidential agreements.
Article 82 of the law conditions a Nicaraguan's right to travel on an identity card on the destination country being one with which Nicaragua has ratified a free-movement instrument. The CA-4 free-movement arrangement was not ratified as a treaty. We record the tension rather than resolve it; in practice the four countries accept each other's identity cards.
We do not state which countries count as de origen centroamericano. The term is used in the migration law, its regulation and the Constitution and defined in none of them. Costa Rica is certainly included by the constitutional provision and is not a CA-4 member; Panama and Belize are unresolved.
The restriction en casos excepcionales on the use of an identity card is the migration directorate's wording, on both its residence pages, read on 5 October 2026. It does not appear in article 63 of the regulation.
- consolidatesTexto Consolidado, Ley N°. 761, Ley General de Migración y Extranjería
Asamblea Nacional de la República de Nicaragua - Normas Jurídicas de Nicaragua · consolidated to 2023-02-28
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
- consolidatesReglamento a la Ley N°. 761, Ley General de Migración y Extranjería, Decreto Ejecutivo N°. 31-2012
Asamblea Nacional de la República de Nicaragua - Normas Jurídicas de Nicaragua
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
- consolidatesConvenio de Creación de la Visa Única Centroamericana
Secretaría General del Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana
About this source
Depositary of the Central American single visa instruments and publisher of the CA-4 institutional pages and the ministerial resolutions behind regional free movement.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current visa classification. The treaty's own annex is the 2005 list, the regional manual's annex is later but undated, and each state's reservations appear in a column that tells you what **that** state does rather than what any other does. Nor for national procedure: the treaty delegates every requirement to each party's own legislation. Its archive is served through a query-string endpoint rather than stable paths, so a citation needs the document identified by name as well as by link.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
- consolidatesConvenio Centroamericano de Libre Movilidad (CA-4) - OCAM, Secretaría General del SICA
Secretaría General del Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana
About this source
Depositary of the Central American single visa instruments and publisher of the CA-4 institutional pages and the ministerial resolutions behind regional free movement.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for the current visa classification. The treaty's own annex is the 2005 list, the regional manual's annex is later but undated, and each state's reservations appear in a column that tells you what **that** state does rather than what any other does. Nor for national procedure: the treaty delegates every requirement to each party's own legislation. Its archive is served through a query-string endpoint rather than stable paths, so a citation needs the document identified by name as well as by link.
We re-read it every 180 days. More about this source
- administersSolicitud de Residencia Permanente - Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería
Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería, Ministerio del Interior de Nicaragua
About this source
The agency that applies Nicaragua's migration law, publishing its requirement pages and its price list in córdobas - which matters more here than elsewhere, because the law's own fee schedules are published as images.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It must not be cited for what the law says, and on this country the gap is unusually wide. Its visa page states there are two visa categories where the law establishes three, and its own extension page on the same site still sets out all three. It adds the words in exceptional cases to a concession the regulation grants unconditionally. It asks for documents that appear in no instrument. Its reduced-fee line breaks off mid-sentence citing numerals that do not exist. Cite it for what the counter charges and asks, never for the rule, and never as evidence that a category has been abolished.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source