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CA-4 Means No More El Salvador Entry Tax

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador- I entered El Salvador from Guatemala. I had thirty USD packed neatly away in my vest pocket to pay the ten dollar entry fee that I knew would come for myself, my wife, and baby. But as I walked through the gates of El Salvador, I found this money still in my pocket. There were no entry fees, we did not receive stamps in our passports, an immigration official just took our documents, fondled them for a moment, and handed them back.

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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador- I entered El Salvador from Guatemala. I had thirty USD packed neatly away in my vest pocket to pay the ten dollar entry fee that I knew would come for myself, my wife, and baby. But as I walked through the gates of El Salvador, I found this money still in my pocket. There were no entry fees, we did not receive stamps in our passports, an immigration official just took our documents, fondled them for a moment, and handed them back.

In 2006 Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala formed an open border treaty. They called it CA-4. This agreement states that the people, and — of course — goods, from these four countries can freely cross each others borders.

Central America Map

Though this in practice does not seem to be the case. As I waited to go through exit immigration in Guatemala, I noticed that a young Guatemalan women in line ahead of me was having a very tough time getting out of her country. By the CA-4 agreement, she is suppose to be able to travel between the four countries of this region without impediment, though I am unsure if this works out in practice.

What it means for foreign travelers is that the immigration bastalion is now around the pariphery of the region, rather than each individual country. A traveler from a country that does not require a visa now can only get a maximum of 90 days to travel in all of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala where you were once able to get up to 90 days for each country separately.

There is now no lingering for travelers in Central America: if you spend six weeks in Nicaragua — an easy thing to do — you only have six more weeks for the other three countries of the CA-4 before you need to make a touch outside of the region in Mexico, Belize, or Costa Rica.

As of now, you can leave and return to the region through Guatemala and Nicaragua as many times as the discretion of the immigration officials will permit, but Honduras has capped the visa runs at three: you can only enter and leave Honduras three times before they close the doors.

But this C-4 agreement means that you no longer need to pay the $10 entry fee for El Salvador. Around ten years ago, when this entry tax was initially levied, this $10 fee was enough to make a lot of travelers take the Honduras road through Central America on principle: Why would we pay a tax to enter that country when we can go through this one for free? El Salvador and Honduras are all too often just taken to be obstacles for travel between Nicaragua and Guatemala anyway — most backpackers just pass right through either country on their way north or south.

Now the El Salvador entry tax has been extinguished, and it is my impression that the country is all the better for it. It is not like that many foreigner travelers even cross this border anyway to warrent the tax as a revenue sink — add to this the standard amount of corruption that can be expected at land border crossings, and this tax becomes a mute point: I seriously doubt if much of any of this money actually ever made its way to San Salvador. The tax is now done with, it is free to enter El Salvador by land.

No corruption Guatemala immigration posters

It was also free to exit Guatemala. As I was being stamped out of the country, I noticed large posters on the immigration booth windows telling me not go pay any sort of fee or tax. “This border crossing is free,” the posters stated. Though I have seen these signs before — read Corrupt Immigration Officials in Dominican Republic. I was prepared for dealing with a corrupt glance and a demand for backsheesh when exiting Guatemala — this seems to be a standard procedure — but there was none.

Travelers between the CA-4 countries are also not suppose to receive stamps in their passports — like in Schengen Europe, the initial stamp into the region is good for all of the countries. But I was stamped out of Guatemala as I traveled into El Salvador, and did not receive an entry stamp. I am unsure if this is standard procedure — if the single exit stamp from Guatemala counts as my entry stamp to El Salvador as well — or if this was an error on the part of the immigration official who officially marked in my passport that I am no longer in Guatemala.

I suppose I will only find out the next time I cross a border — it seems a little funny, by my passport it seems as if I am not in any country at all. Not a bad place to be, I must say.

El Salvador Travel Guide | El Salvador Photos

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Filed under: Border Crossing, Central America, El Salvador, Guatemala, Visas

About the Author:

I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. has written 3723 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.

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VBJ is currently in: New York City

2 comments… add one

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  • Nath April 14, 2010, 6:03 am

    Why would we pay a tax to enter that country when we can go through this one for free? Man, if I’d done that and missed out on El Salvador for the sake of 10 bucks I’d have been real sore if i found out later just how welcoming the people were and just how incredible El Salvador was!

    What a place. We must have only seen 10 other fellow gringos in over a month there.

    Its funny with the el salv stamps, we crossed into el salvador at the same border as you, at least i think we did (the one with the big, white marque immigration office on the left?) I can’t recall the name, and didnt get stamped in either (but didnt get charged anything either). Maybe thats just the way it was there that day. Different border officials, different size hangovers, different routines, I guess.

    When we left for honduras, via a border crossing north of Perquin, there wasnt anything at all for leaving el salv. Even the honduran-side post was next to nothing. A guy came out of his little hut, walked up and down the bus aisle glancing at a few identity cards and looked a little bemused when he saw myself and lauren sat there. we pulled out passports and, more than wanting to inspect them, he kinda looked more as if he was obliged to flick through them because we had offered them up. And that was it. into honduras without a stamp either. It meant we could stay there for ages though! lol

    if you are crossing out and heading to honduras, if you havent crossed the border above perquin you should do it. The scenery is incredible. but take enough cash, you wont be able to get any for ages until you are back in the thick of it!

    Link Reply
    • Wade | Vagabond Journey.com April 15, 2010, 12:11 am

      Good point, Nath, very good point.

      This country is the sort of place that makes you realize why you travel.

      Link Reply

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