Obtaining Residency In Honduras

On September 3, 1991 the Honduran National Congress passed a law permitting retired and income resident immigration into Honduras. This law, set up to encourage such immigration, allows specific privileges allowing personal effects, household items and a vehicle to enter the country without taxation.

These residency laws are administered through the Honduran Institute of Tourism, all other residencies and visas are governed by other government ministries such as the Direccion General de Poblacion y Politica de Migratoria and the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores.

This article will outline the procedures for obtaining residency and the benefits of this law. If you would like an English translation of the original law, please request the article “Honduran Residency Law”. However, this original law only set up the mechanism for immigration, the specifics were added later through regulations determined by the Honduran Institute of Tourism. It is these specifics that this article addresses.

Definition:

There are two categories of residents:

1. Retired resident (residente pensionado)

2. Income resident (residente rentistas)

• Retired resident is exactly that, a person living on a retirement income.

• Income resident lives on an income from another country or investments in Honduras.

Honduran nationals may also apply for the benefits of this law if they retired from an

international institution, foreign government or international organization in the private sector. They must have resided outside the country for no fewer than ten years.

Submitting paperwork:

It is recommended your paperwork and requests be submitted to the Miami Consulate of Honduras, 300 Sevilla Ave. Suite 201, Coral Gables, Florida 33134, Telephone (305) 447-8927.

It would, of course, seem logical to send the paperwork to the Honduras Embassy, 3007 Tilden Street, NW, Washington, DC 20008, telephone (202) 966-7702. But past applicants have indicated their charges are higher, the service is slow and paperwork gets lost.

However if you live in another part of the country it would be best to check with your nearest Honduran Consulate and see if they can handle it. Use only the major consulates (Consulates General) such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and so forth.

Specific paperwork or red tape required:

• A cover letter requesting residency as a retired resident or income resident. This letter needs to explain your circumstances and desire for residency.

• Secure the application “Solicitud de Ingreso como Inmigrante a la Republica de Honduras” from either the Institute of Tourism in Honduras or Honduran Consulate. When completed the application must be accompanied by a 10 lempira stamp, two $25 US stamps and a consular seal.

•Three passport sized photos (2”X 2”)of yourself and each of your dependents. These need to be submitted with the application.

• Also secure the form from the Institute of Tourism that states you are not a member of the Communist Party and will respect Honduran laws. This form must be stamped by the Consul. Lacking the form you can just write this information on paper and make one copy.

• Submit your birth certificate and two copies along with a Spanish translation. This also must have a consular form authenticating the certificate. The birth certificates must also be submitted for spouses and all dependents accompanying you.

• A form provided and stamped by the Consul verifying your papers conforms with Honduran immigration law.

• A copy of your marriage certificate if you are married and your spouse is also applying for residency. If the certificate is in a language other than English, it must be translated into Spanish. The Consul will need to authenticate the certificate, add a $25 stamp and the consular seal.

• A letter and one copy from your medical doctor declaring that you are in generally good health. Specifically they wish to know that you do not have any contagious or infectious diseases like AIDS or tuberculosis. This letter must also be translated, have a $25 stamp attached and the consular seal as well as being notarized by the Consulate.

• A letter and one copy from your local police department verifying you have lived there for at least six months and have no criminal record. This letter must be no more than six months old at the time of approval. When submitted the letter must be in a sealed envelope This letter must also be translated, have a $25 stamp attached and the consular seal.

• Work contract or a letter and one copy from the Social Security Administration, your retirement plan or both verifying you will receive at least $600 every month for life. This must also be translated into Spanish, have a 10 lempira stamp and a $25 fee. This document must also be notarized at the Consulate.

• A valid passport.

The originals and copies must be submitted as indicated.

When the paperwork is completed:

Following this paperwork the Consular's Office will require a short interview. Specifically they will ask you to complete three other forms asking personal details and the name and address of your Honduran lawyer. Often this additional paper work can be done by mail. You will sign a promise to convert $600 into lempiras every month of your stay in Honduras and stay a minimum of four months out of every year. A copy of your Honduran bank statement proving the money exchange must be sent to the Honduran Institute of Tourism. They are required to file and keep track of the forms.

The Consulate will usually require an appointment for the interview. If all the paperwork is in order, a six (6) months visa is issued and stamped in your passport. The whole process is generally completed in 2 or 3 hours.

Paperwork in Honduras:

Once all the paperwork is done your Honduran lawyer submits the package to the Institute of Tourism. The Institute will evaluate and approve or deny the application in 15 to 20 days. However, be forewarned, if you are missing so much as a signature, stamp or seal the entire package will be returned.

Final approval:

When you get approval of your residency you will receive an ID card valid for two years. It will be issued by the Direccion General de Poblacion y Politica de Migratoria. With this card you are free to come an go as you please. Remembering however you must live in Honduras for a cumulative total of four months per year, don't cause any trouble. Renewal of your residency is automatic, but you must submit application each time to the Institute of Tourism and documentation from the Direccion General de Poblacion y Politica Migratoria.

Income residents (residente rentista):

The procedures as indicated above also apply to income residents (residente rentista). The difference is that your monthly income must be $1000 and you must promise to exchange this amount every month you are in Honduras with a minimum stay of four months. The government is not concerned with how you arrive at this $1000, it may come from rental property in your country of origin, a business you own or have an interest, stocks, bonds or whatever. It is necessary that your foreign bank verify the income is regular and meets the basic minimum.

Investment alternative:

An alternative is to invest $50,000 in Honduras. This investment could be in industry, agriculture, farming, crafts, tourism or another business approved by the Institute of Tourism. Should you invest this amount you will be exempt from spending four months of every year in the country in order to maintain your residency.

No age limit:

There is no age limit for retired or income residents, nor is there restriction on the number of dependents. Your income from outside of Honduras is not taxed.

Employment:

You will not be allowed to work for someone else in Honduras. But you can start your own business, do consulting, work for the government or autonomous educational institution, or for an educational or health organization. However income from these sources will be taxed.

Fees:

The Institute of Tourism does not set the fees the consulate offices can charge for authenticating your documents or those $25 stamps. Because of this you may see a difference between what you and someone else has paid. San Francisco Consulate charges between $400 and $500 and the Los Angeles charges $500 for processing the paperwork.

Lawyer must submit paperwork:

It is required that your paperwork be personally submitted by a Honduran lawyer to the Tegucigalpa office of the Institute of Tourism. You, unfortunately cannot do it yourself. Seems like they have built in a source of income in this application process. Present fees to the lawyers run from $300 to $400 upwards to $1000, this is in addition to all the authenticating and stamps you have paid for in processing the paper work. Even though you may plan to live outside of Tegucigalpa I would recommend you have a lawyer in Tegucigalpa process your paperwork. This might be better than depending on a lawyer from another part of the country to make a trip there solely on your behalf.

Allow yourself sufficient time:

This is a lot of red tape, all I can suggest is to exercise patience, begin your application process at least six months before you leave your country. Get all your paperwork authenticated, stamped and rubber stamped by the consulate before you leave. Then take it to your Honduran lawyer for final processing when you arrive in Honduras. If you would like a list of Honduran lawyers, just let me know. Lawyers also advertise regularly in “Honduras This Week”.

Final approval is made in Honduras:

It is usually not possible to get final approval of your resident status before you come to Honduras. This final process must be done by your lawyer in Tegucigala. However it will save you a lot of agony if you complete the requirements as I outlined above before you leave.

Requirements after obtaining residency:

By now your head is probably swimming like mine over all this red tape. In some respects I am not too sure how much of the requirements after obtaining residency are actually required. Questions remain as “do I need to contact the Institute of Tourism and secure approval each time I leave the country?” “Do I really need to send documentation on my money exchange to the Institute of Tourism?” All this is new and actual regulations in some cases are still being worked out. What I have mentioned here is information as stated in the original law and subsequent regulations, however, like a lot of things in Honduras there is a difference between what is on the books and what is done in practice.

Rosemary Crawford • http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/2528 • says that there is a limit of $20,000 of household goods that may be brought in under the exemption. I would not be surprised that this is true. I have not yet been able to verify this. This was not in the original law, but as I mentioned, the Institute of Tourism is the agency that makes the actual regulations.

I suggest that those of you with web access look up Rosemary's site and read the information she has posted on her experiences. Most notably she states that the Consulate did not give her any application form or forms whatever. They did, however, give her a list of requirements as I have indicated above. The Crawford's then prepared each item themselves and submitted the total package with their passports to the Consulate. Reading her experiences would be helpful.

Your experiences could help others:

It would be a big help to me and others to hear of your experiences and pass that information on to others. Please let me hear from you, especially as you encounter regulations that may differ from what is stated in this article.

Every attempt has been made to make this information as accurate as possible. Regulations change, officials may interpret things differently, this information is meant as a guide and not necessarily the last word on the subject.

Getting the benefits:

Now that you are free to come and go in and from Honduras, your belongings and vehicle are not. Here are the procedures for obtaining your benefits of residency.

Paperwork required for permission to allow your household

goods and vehicle to enter Honduras without taxation:

• A photocopy of your residency certificate.

• A list of all household goods typed on forms provided by the Institute of Tourism. Prepare eight (8) copies of this.

• A description of your vehicle and a photocopy of your ownership certificate. Make eight (8) copies of this also.

All of the above documentation must be signed by the resident and your lawyer. The shipping point or point of entry must be listed. A 10 lempira stamp must be attached.

This tax free privilege is a once time offer, make the best of it as it won't come again. Your vehicle, however, will be allowed replacement every five years or sooner if it was stolen or destroyed in fire, collision or accident.

Good luck!

Prepared and distributed freely on the internet by:

Brad Martin author of the guidebook “Honduras Travel Guide”

Honduras1@aol.com

http://www.marrder.com.htg/

http://www.marrder.com/hw/travel/

Snail mail: Brad Martin, Honduras Travel Guide, P.O. Box 531, Mountain View, California 94042, (415) 965-2441.

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