ilcannone

I travelled from Honduras to Nicaragua and onwards to Costa Rica in the last week and learnt from both Hondurans and Nicaraguans that Nicaragua now requires a compulsory pre-registration online to enter the country which should be done at least 7 days before travelling. I found out a mere 2 days before going (by land) from Tegucigalpa to Managua and made 2 trips to the Nicaraguan consulate (which thankfully got it all sorted within the 2 days) which took up not *too* much time, but they say it's been in force for 2 years already yet there has been almost no mention of it anywhere.

I can't seem to find the online form I used in the consulate (then later at home after it didn't work at first), but here's something similar to it - https://www.migob.gob.ni/migracion/t...es-al-turismo/

It transpires that people coming from El Salvador and Honduras are scrutinised a lot unlike those to/from Costa Rica as a way to stop gangs coming into Nicaragua. Needless to say, the land border crossing was torturously long - about 3 hours to clear both Honduran and Nicaraguan immigration (compared to less than 1 exiting from Nicarauga into Costa Rica)

At the moment, Nicaragua seems calm and peaceful, and still beautiful, of course.

klakhav

Is there a requirement to 'pre-register' - if you are flying in?

Redwood839

Technically speaking, yes.

I fly my 182 every other month and I don't really fill this in outside of the normal customs/general documentation for the plane.

ilcannone

From what I understand, yes, but as said in my original post, it doesn't seem to be brought up at immigration or anything. The good thing is that it's completely free.

ricktoronto

I've flown to Managua six times in the last two years via Miami, San Salvador, Panama and San Jose and I've never seen or submitted this form to anyone. Non Nicos I've chatted with never mentioned it. It's barely comprehensible in either English or Spanish.

ricktoronto

This is all quite interesting in that the US embassy website in Nicaragua points out this for non-tourist travel which I think is aimed at NGOs and maybe reporters (I can't imagine business people nor investors will be impressed). The link to the Nicaraguan immigration site (below) linked to from the US web site says (English translated) "for purposes other than tourism" and that link works, but there is no mention of tourism/non-tourism at the web page of migob.com.ni . In fact there are two links (e.g a link that says not required for tourism and a link that is silent on tourism) that go to the same page, where tourism (or not) is not mentioned at all.

I wrote to their immigration department as to if this is required for tourists. Since it has not been an issue for 2 years it probably is not mandatory but they have posted what they call the "Summer of Love Plan 2019" which just reiterates all this (minus saying a thing about tourists, again) on March 8 of this year, on their web site. I think they hope for boatloads of tourists this year despite about a 50% decline in tourists due to tourist perception of extreme risks, which really is not the case and has not been for almost a year.

Even before the issues that concern people after last April, the lines at immigration rarely took more than 15 or 20 minutes and that was only when a flight on AA plus one from Copa or Spirit all arrived at the same time.

-----------------Reference Material -----------------------------

From the State Department website regarding entry requirements:

For visitors other than tourists, the Nicaraguan government recommends that you pre-register your trip by following the instructions available on the Nicaraguan immigration website (in Spanish only). See our website for additional information. (Ed: their link was posted in August 2017)

From the US embassy, Nicaragua, web site which I must say is easier to follow than any version of the Nicaraguan web site (dated August 2017 also):

MESSAGE FOR U.S. CITIZENS: PRE-NOTIFICATION OF NON-TOURIST TRAVEL TO NICARAGUA.The Nicaraguan government has introduced a pre-notification process for all non-tourist travel to Nicaragua. Nicaraguan officials have stated that the pre-notification process is highly recommended. They explained that travelers with pre-notification will pass through migration controls quicker than those without it. According to Nicaraguan officials, the pre-notification process allows them to properly allocate border control resources to align with the expected number of travelers at a given time, day, and location.

Pre-notification should occur at least seven days in advance of planned travel to Nicaragua, following the instructions provided in Spanish at https://www.migob.gob.ni/migracion/tramites/solicitud-de-ingreso-ordenado-y-seguro-de-visitantes-invitados-por-motivos-diferentes-al-turismo/. Nicaraguan officials stated that the form available on that webpage is a suggested format only, and that pre-notifications must at least include information from the middle two paragraphs of the four-paragraph form (ed: the 1st paragraph of the form is a request from a sponsor, the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs provide information such as who, when and how long and what the purpose is of the visit, and the 4th is contact information for your sponsor . Also it appears the sponsor if there is one, has to submit the form, not the traveler) . Travelers do not have to wait for a reply before proceeding with their travel plans.

higo

It mostly aimed for CA-4 Citizens (El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala) and NGO/religious/press/work/non-tourism travel.

I'd recommend anyone filling it though, specially if entering via a land border or travelling for non-tourism reasons.

It used to be a form you had to print, sign and send by e-mail. But since last year you can do it completely online from:

solicitudes.migob.gob.ni

ricktoronto

It's pretty cobbled together even the new web form vs. that email thing before. But honestly for air arrivals they know the times and how many people the plane could hold so it's hard to follow why they are doing this outside large groups where the requirement has been around for a few years

I doubt it's going to prevent entry if not done for an air arrival tourist who is not digging wells or building schools.

They are promoting some summer of love tourism campaign but if I were running such a campaign I'd probably not try to confuse or encourage people not to go. They've got image problems up the wazoo already.