What you need to enter Nicaragua with a Costa Rican passport

Authorization system

Advance migration form

It is not a visa or an electronic travel authorization, but it has to be done before arrival: to enter by land or sea you must complete the migration form and send it seven days in advance to solicitudes@mint.gob.ni, or fill it in online. Arriving by air, the airline provides the link to complete it, within the deadlines the airline sets.

Fee

USD 10.00

There is no visa fee for a Spanish passport, but customs authorities charge a ten US dollar entry fee on arrival. Citizens of the CA-4 countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras) are exempt from it. Separately, Spanish citizens resident in Nicaragua must obtain an exit visa when leaving the country, at the Migration offices or at the border post, costing another ten dollars.

Required documents

• Passport valid for more than six months from the date of entry, or a migration document recognized by Nicaragua.
• Migration form: sent seven days in advance to solicitudes@mint.gob.ni when entering by land or sea; provided by the airline when entering by air.
• Payment of the 10 US dollar entry fee on arrival.

Vaccinations

• Yellow fever: the international vaccination certificate is required from travellers arriving from an endemic country. Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressly lists Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, plus African countries with risk of transmission. Arriving directly from Spain it is not required.
• Not entry requirements, but polio, DTP and MMR vaccinations are recommended up to date, and BCG in the case of minors.

Health insurance

Not mandatory for this destination.

Transit rules

Stay of up to 90 days without a visa. Anyone wanting to stay longer must report to the Migration offices once 30 days have passed since entry. The allowance is shared with the rest of the CA-4 bloc (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras): the 90-day entry stamp covers all four countries and the count does not reset when crossing from one to another. Note that the CA-4 is only an internal mobility regime, not a Schengen-style area: each country keeps its own entry visa policy, and Nicaragua tightened its own in February 2026 with Disposición 002-2026 — which kept the Spanish passport among the exempt nationalities, but not every nationality that used to enter without paperwork.

Customs limits

Cash

There are no restrictions on bringing in currency, but amounts over 10,000 US dollars must be declared. The national currency is the córdoba (C$).

Alcohol

Up to three litres of alcoholic drinks.

Tobacco

Up to 20 packs of cigarettes and 250 grams of tobacco.

Overstay penalties

Staying beyond the authorized period is penalized with a fine of roughly three US dollars for each day spent in an irregular situation, settled on departure. To avoid it, the extension is requested at the Migration offices from 30 days after entry, not at the end of the 90.

Common reasons for denial

• A passport with less than six months' validity from the date of entry.
• Not having sent the migration form with the required notice when entering by land or sea.
• Not paying the ten-dollar entry fee on arrival.
• Being a national of a country in Category C of Disposición 002-2026 and turning up without the consulted visa previously authorized by the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners.
• Carrying items banned on entry, such as drones — aerial, naval or land — night-vision binoculars, or animal products such as cured meats.