GT
Guatemala · Residencia Permanente para Rentistas o Pensionados · Passive income · apply in person
Immediate permanent residence for a foreign national with stable, lawful income from abroad of at least US$1,250 a month, plus US$300 a month for each dependent. A rentista shows income from foreign deposits, company investments, real estate, religious or academic support, or securities. A pensionado shows a periodic pension for retirement, widowhood, orphanhood, disability or social security from a foreign government, international organization or foreign company. The holder may not do paid work in Guatemala.
Acuerdo IGM-016-2025, approved as AMN-05-2025 and published in the Diario de Centro América on 8 July 2025, is the current residence regulation. Articles 31 to 33 set one permanent-residence category for rentistas and pensionados. The income test is monthly and is already in US dollars, so the annual figures are twelve times US$1,250 and no exchange rate was applied. Income in another currency needs a conversion document. The government charge is US$25 to file (tariff numeral 3.1) plus US$400 for this residence status (numeral 3.8). A dependent files a separate application in the same category, so the same two charges are stored as the dependent fee. Permanent residents also pay a US$40 annual extranjería fee (numeral 4.1.3). That annual fee is not part of the application fee. The status is indefinite. It is not renewed as a term permit. The holder must update registration data every year, pay the annual fee, and every five years show that the income continues. An unauthorized absence of more than one year can cancel the residence. An authorized absence of a year or more costs US$25. There is no published day-count stay rule and no published processing time. Filing is in person at the Subdirección de Extranjería after entry to Guatemala. No Guatemalan guarantor is required. Foreign documents must be apostilled or legalized, translated into Spanish if needed, and no more than six months old unless the document states its own validity. The criminal-record certificate may come from the country of origin, an embassy or consulate, or the country of residence during the two years before entry. Ordinary naturalization asks for five years of residence and domicile, a practical Spanish exam and a civic-instruction exam. At the grant ceremony the applicant is asked to renounce every previous nationality. Nationals by birth of the former Central American federation can keep their original nationality under a separate constitutional route. Foreign-source income is outside Guatemalan income tax. Guatemalan-source capital income is taxed at the ordinary 10 percent rate. This residence does not create an exemption from that tax. The Migration Code says that any rentista or pensionado benefits written in the specific regulation also apply to Guatemalans of origin who naturalized abroad and return as pensioners. The 2025 regulation does not list customs or tax exemptions. Language: Must understand, speak and write Spanish, plus a civic-instruction exam. No CEFR level is stated.
Last verified Oct 9, 2026 Last changed Oct 10, 2026 Source
processing time cleared. The previous 30 to 180 days are not in the regulation. Official URL moved off the retired IGM page, which returned 404 (https://extranjeria.igm.gob.gt/index.php/component/content/article/residencias-permanentes?catid=8).
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