Entering Nicaragua as a Visitor
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 · Visiting as a tourist
Nicaragua does not give every visitor ninety days. The regulation sorts nationalities into three visa categories and grants a different stay to each: category A, which needs no visa, gets ninety days extendable to a hundred and eighty; categories B and C, which need a consular visa or a consulted one, get thirty days extendable to ninety. The days are regional, not Nicaraguan - they are granted at whichever outer border of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras or Nicaragua you first cross, and the migration directorates of all four may extend them. A visitor must be able to show funds equal to three times the industrial-sector minimum wage if asked, and the tourist card, a vehicle crossing and an air departure each carry a dollar charge set by the tourism law rather than the migration law.
At a glance
- Stay on arrival, visa-exempt nationalities
- 90 days
- Maximum stay, visa-exempt nationalities
- 180 days
Ninety days on arrival plus extensions up to that total, granted by the migration directorate of any of the four countries.
- Stay on arrival, nationalities needing a visa
- 30 days
- Maximum stay, nationalities needing a visa
- 90 days
- Transit
- 5 days
- Passport validity
- More than 6 months
- Days counted across
- Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras together
- Funds a visitor may be asked to show
- Three times the industrial-sector minimum wage
The regulation sets the test as a multiple of a wage we have not read, so no córdoba or dollar figure is published here.
- Tourist card
- USD 10
- Vehicle crossing a land border
- USD 5
- Air departure levy
- USD 3 out of the USD 32 airport charge
- Time to regularise an irregular stay
- Up to 30 days
- Overstaying
- A fine, an exit-visa charge, and 5 days to leave the region
- Entry visa, once granted
- Must be used within 6 months
Requirements
- Entering through an authorised post and submitting to migration control
- A passport valid for more than six months, or a travel document Nicaragua recognises
- A visa where your nationality falls in the consular or the consulted category
- Showing funds equal to three times the industrial-sector minimum wage, if the officer asks
- Paying the tourist-card charge, and the vehicle or departure charges where they apply
In detail
Ninety days is the ceiling, not the rule
Almost everything written about Central America says a visitor gets ninety days under CA-4. The regional manual does say the stay in the region shall be up to ninety days. But "up to" is a ceiling, and each member fills it differently. Nicaragua's regulation sets out three lines: a visa-exempt nationality gets ninety days, extendable until the total reaches a hundred and eighty; a nationality needing a consular visa gets thirty, extendable to ninety; a nationality needing a consulted visa gets the same thirty and ninety. So in Nicaragua the headline figure applies only to the nationalities that needed no visa in the first place, and someone who had to queue at a consulate gets a third of it.
The clock belongs to four countries
The stay is granted at the outer border of whichever of the four countries you first enter, and the migration directorates of all four may extend it. Crossing from Honduras into Nicaragua is an internal movement, not a new entry, and it does not restart anything. The practical consequence is the one travellers get wrong: a day trip to Costa Rica is leaving the region and ends the permission, while a week in Honduras does not refresh it. The regulation's language about overstaying makes the same point from the other side - the penalty is a fine, an exit-visa charge and five days to leave the Region, not five days to leave Nicaragua.
Two publishers of the same rule disagree about how many categories there are
Article 14 of the migration law establishes three visa categories, A, B and C, and article 48 of the regulation grants a different stay to each. The migration directorate's entry-visa page says in terms that the country has two categories, and sets out only the exempt one and the consulted one. Its own extension page, on the same site, still lists all three with their periods. We have read nothing that repeals category B, and the law's article 108 depends on it existing: that is the provision saying a category B national may move among the CA-4 states on the same visa. Where the two pages conflict the instrument governs, but a traveller whose nationality sits in category B should expect the counter to work from whichever page the officer has read.
Nobody publishes which category your nationality is in
Neither the law, nor the regulation, nor either of the directorate's pages carries the table of nationalities. The law says the categories are governed by the bilateral agreements, the agreements harmonised within CA-4 and Nicaragua's visa-waiver agreements, which is a pointer rather than a list. The single regional table we have read is the annex to the CA-4 manual, and it is shared with the other three countries and carries each country's own reservations. We do not reproduce it here, because a list of a hundred and ninety nationalities taken from an undated annex is exactly the kind of thing that is wrong in one row and believed in all of them.
The charges are in the tourism law
The migration law prices its own services in dollars and publishes the schedule as a picture, so nothing can be quoted from it. The money a visitor actually sees comes from somewhere else: article 11 of the 2024 tourism law charges ten dollars for the tourist card, five for a vehicle crossing a land border, ten for a minibus, fifteen for a bus, and three dollars out of the thirty-two-dollar airport charge on departure by air. The law exempts free-movement-treaty nationals from the departure levy alone; the regulation made in October 2024 exempts them from the tourist card and the vehicle charge as well. That is the regulation giving away more than the law did, and it is worth knowing which of the two the till is running on.
Country-level policy
Nicaraguan statutes set their fees in tables, and the National Assembly's legal-information service publishes those tables as images rather than as text. In the migration law the schedules for articles 121, 122, 122 bis and 123 are each a line of prose followed by a picture; the traffic law does the same for its licence fees, its eye-test charges and its workshop penalties. The amounts are in the instrument and are not in anything a reader or a machine can quote from it. The practical consequence is that the only published money figures for migration and driving come from the migration directorate's own price lists, in córdobas, which are a statement of what the counter charges rather than of what the law sets.
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
«La estancia en el país de un Extranjero No Residente, es otorgada al momento de ingresar por la Frontera Periférica de los países comprendidos en los Acuerdos Internacionales, suscrito por el Estado de Nicaragua de conformidad a las Categorías señaladas en los Convenios de Homologación de Visas suscritos por el mismo, la cual puede ser prorrogada por las Direcciones de Migración de los países suscriptores.»Our translation - not official
The stay of a non-resident foreigner in the country is granted on entering through the outer border of the countries covered by the international agreements signed by the State of Nicaragua, in accordance with the categories set out in the visa-harmonisation agreements it has signed, and may be extended by the migration directorates of the signatory countries.
The stay is granted at the region's outer border and may be extended by any of the four countries, not only by Nicaragua.
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
«Categoría “A”, 90 días prorrogables hasta completar 180 días»Our translation - not official
Category "A", 90 days extendable up to a total of 180 days
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
«Categoría “B”, 30 días prorrogables hasta completar 90 días»Our translation - not official
Category "B", 30 days extendable up to a total of 90 days
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
«Categoría “C”, 30 días prorrogables hasta completar 90 días.»Our translation - not official
Category "C", 30 days extendable up to a total of 90 days.
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
«Los nacionales de los países comprendidos en la categoría “A” que porten cualquier tipo de pasaporte no requerirán visa de ingreso al territorio nacional.»Our translation - not official
Nationals of countries in category "A" carrying any kind of passport do not require an entry visa for the national territory.
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
«Presentar pasaporte con vigencia mayor a los seis meses o documento migratorio reconocido por Nicaragua;»Our translation - not official
Present a passport valid for more than six months, or a migration document recognised by 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
«La estadía máxima autorizada para las personas extranjeras en tránsito en el territorio nacional será de cinco días.»Our translation - not official
The maximum authorised stay for foreigners in transit in the national territory shall be five days.
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
«deberá demostrar ante la autoridad migratoria, cuando esta lo considere necesario, que dispone de los medios económicos suficientes para subsistir decorosamente durante su permanencia en el país y para abandonarlo al finalizar el tiempo de permanencia autorizada»Our translation - not official
shall demonstrate to the migration authority, where it considers this necessary, that they have sufficient economic means to subsist decently during their stay in the country and to leave it at the end of the authorised period
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
«Todo extranjero al ingresar al territorio nacional deberá demostrar cuando se le requiera la solvencia económica equivalente a tres veces el salario mínimo del sector industrial aprobado por la Comisión Nacional del Salario Mínimo.»Our translation - not official
Every foreigner on entering the national territory must show, where required, economic means equal to three times the industrial-sector minimum wage approved by the National Minimum Wage Commission.
The test is a multiple of a wage set elsewhere; we have not read the wage itself, so no money figure is published from this.
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
«Por cada tarjeta de turista que ampare el ingreso al país de turistas, la cantidad de diez dólares (US$10.00) de los Estados Unidos de América.»Our translation - not official
For each tourist card covering a tourist's entry to the country, ten United States dollars (US$10.00).
The charge is in the 2024 tourism law, not in the migration law. Nothing in the migration law or its regulation mentions it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The legislature's legal-information service. Under the Digesto Jurídico laws it publishes a consolidated text subject by subject, each approved on a date and gazetted afterwards, together with the integral texts of the Constitution and of the regional customs instruments as Nicaragua gazetted them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A consolidated text's cut-off date is a hard edge and the page carries no warning that anything has happened since: the migration law's text was closed on 28 February 2023 and still defines a residence category by reference to a statute repealed in August 2024. It must never be cited as evidence that a statute is in force - it serves a repealed law in full with the repeal as a single line at the foot, which is why that route is still sold everywhere. It must not be cited for any amount set in a table, because those are published as images. And where one instrument has two addresses, as the Constitution does, the superseded consolidation stays live with different article numbers.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«Vehículo, cinco dólares (US$ 5.00) de los Estados Unidos de América.»Our translation - not official
Vehicle, five United States dollars (US$ 5.00).
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
«El monto de tres dólares (US$ 3.00) de los Estados Unidos de América por cada pasajero que salga del país por vía aérea, de los treinta y dos dólares (US$ 32.00) de los Estados Unidos de América por derechos aeroportuarios. Se exceptúa únicamente a las tripulaciones de las naves aéreas, los ciudadanos de los países con los que se tiene tratados o acuerdos de libre movilidad migratoria y los portadores de pasaportes diplomáticos, sean nacionales o extranjeros.»Our translation - not official
Three United States dollars (US$ 3.00) for each passenger leaving the country by air, out of the thirty-two United States dollars (US$ 32.00) of airport charges. The only exceptions are air crews, citizens of countries with which there are free-movement treaties or agreements, and holders of diplomatic passports, whether nationals or foreigners.
The law grants the free-movement exemption for this levy alone. The regulation extends it to the tourist card and the vehicle charge as well.
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 recaudaciones que refiere los numerales 2, 3 y 4 del Artículo 11 de la Ley, no son aplicables a las tripulaciones de naves aéreas y marítimas, los ciudadanos de los países con que se tienen tratados o acuerdos de libre movilidadmigratoria y los portadores de pasaportes oficiales, de servicio y diplomáticos sean nacionales o extranjeros.»Our translation - not official
The charges referred to in numerals 2, 3 and 4 of article 11 of the Law do not apply to air and sea crews, to citizens of countries with which there are free-movement treaties or agreements, or to holders of official, service and diplomatic passports, whether nationals or foreigners.
The run-together "movilidadmigratoria" is in the published text and is reproduced as printed. The regulation exempts three charges where the law exempts one.
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 Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería al determinar la permanencia irregular en el país de una persona extranjera, podrá conceder a esta un plazo perentorio de hasta treinta días, para que regularice su permanencia o abandone el país.»Our translation - not official
On finding that a foreigner's stay in the country is irregular, the Directorate General of Migration and Alien Affairs may grant a peremptory period of up to thirty days for the person to regularise their stay or leave the country.
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
«Los Extranjeros No Residentes que soliciten prorroga una vez agotado el tiempo de estadía o que se excedan de la misma según su Categoría, cancelarán multa por los días de irregularidad más el arancel en concepto de Visa de salida, otorgándosele un plazo de 5 días para que abandone la Región.»Our translation - not official
Non-resident foreigners who apply for an extension once their stay has run out, or who exceed it according to their category, shall pay a fine for the days of irregularity plus the exit-visa charge, and shall be given 5 days to leave the Region.
The instrument says leave the Region, not leave Nicaragua. The overstay is treated as regional throughout.
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 nuestro país hay dos categorías de visa, según el país de origen y naturaleza del documento de viaje.»Our translation - not official
In our country there are two visa categories, according to the country of origin and the nature of the travel document.
The law and the regulation set out three. The agency's visa page lists only A and C; its own extension page still sets out periods for A, B and C.
Read it at the sourceAbout 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
«Después de notificada la Visa de Ingreso a las Representaciones Consulares el interesado tendrá 6 meses para hacer uso de ella de lo contrario quedará sin efecto.»Our translation - not official
Once the entry visa has been notified to the consular representations, the applicant has 6 months to use it, failing which it ceases to have effect.
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
«El plazo de permanencia de los extranjero en la región será hasta de noventa (90) días, otorgado en las delegaciones migratorias periféricas y podrá ser prorrogado por una sola vez en la Dirección General de Migración donde se encuentre.»Our translation - not official
The period of stay for foreigners in the region shall be up to ninety (90) days, granted at the outer-border migration posts, and may be extended once only at the Directorate General of Migration where the person is.
The regional manual sets a ceiling of ninety days. Nicaragua grants the full ninety only to the visa-exempt category and thirty to the other two, and allows the extension to reach a hundred and eighty where Honduras caps it at thirty extra days. The publisher's wording, "de los extranjero", is reproduced as printed.
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 statement that the periods differ by visa category rests on article 48 of the regulation and on the directorate's own extension page, which reproduces the same three lines. It is not a claim that no circular has since changed them; the regulation dates from 2012 and the directorate publishes no circulars we have found.
We do not publish the list of which nationalities fall in categories A, B and C. Neither the law, the regulation, nor the migration directorate's pages carry it, and the only table we have read is the annex shared by the four CA-4 countries, which carries no date of last revision.
The directorate's entry-visa page saying the country has two visa categories was read on 5 October 2026. The law's three categories are unrepealed, and article 108 of the law expressly provides for category B, so the page is taken as incomplete rather than as evidence of a change.
The funds test is written as three times the industrial-sector minimum wage. We have not read the minimum-wage resolution, so no córdoba or dollar amount is stated here.
- 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
- consolidatesLey N°. 1210, Ley General de Turismo
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
- consolidatesReglamento de la Ley N°. 1210, Ley General de Turismo, Decreto Presidencial N°. 15-2024
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
- administersPrórroga de estancia para extranjeros no residentes - 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
- administersVisa de ingreso al país - 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
- reportsManual Regional de Procedimientos Migratorios de la Visa Única Centroamericana CA-4
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