We decided to cross from Guatemala into El Salvador at the Valle Nuevo/ Chinamas border at it was the closest entry to the Ruta de Flores, and also much quicker than following the Pan Am to the border.
There are three border crossings between Guatemala and El Salvador as shown on the map below.
Guatemala Exit
Immigration The immigration window is on your left at the end of the building. They will stamp your passport. 14.019969, -89.909174
Cancellation of Temporary Import Permit (TIP) The customs office is the office before immigration. They will need your passport, registration certificate and the original Temporary Import Permit. The customs officer will make their own copies and give you an extra copy for the border guard. They will also inspect your vehicle & the VIN.
Cross the bridge, on the way you will be stopped by a guard, he will want to check your paperwork.
Guatemalan Border
Immigration
Customs
Entering El Salvador
Stop at the little hut on the right side of the bridge, this is customs, here 14.017306, -89.905713
Temporary Import Permit (TIP)The office will need the following: Vehicle Registration, Passport, Driving Licence & Cancelled Guatemalan import permit together with copies of the same (copy shop here 14.017094, -89.905565 ). He will complete all the paper work for you and check your vehicles VIN. Once complete, he will walk you over to another customs office where they will register the information in the computer. Here 14.017835, -89.905711
RHD vehicles are not permitted in El Salvador, a permit is required. Ensure you have this well in advance! You can obtain this from the Land Rover Club
Immigration is on the left hand side of the road as you leave, they will only glance at your passports. 14.017374, -89.905418
Keep hold of all the documentation you have been given as you need to show this when exiting. They will also take a copy of the TIP.
Customs
Copy Shop
Notes
Carnet is not required to enter El Salvador with a foreign vehicle
Here’s our happily uneventful experience at the Valle Nuevo-Las Chinamas border crossing. Note that this is not the Pan-American highway crossing.
Leaving Guatemala – Friday, May 1, 2015 @ 11:00am.
Border at Valle Nuevo, 2.5 hours southeast of Antigua.
Objective: Cancel temporary vehicle import permit, and receive Guatemala exit stamps in our passports.
You will come upon a big blue and white building that houses both Aduana (customs) and Migracion (immigration). Many cars may be lined up and stopped. Knowing that you’ll have to enter the building to get all your paperwork done, veer away from the sheeple and find a parking spot along either side. We parked on the left near a fruit stand, crossing over the incoming traffic lane.
At this point, we were approached by extremely unofficial looking guys who probably just wandered out of the local bar. They offered to help us, asked about our paperwork, wanted to change our Guatemalan quetzals into dollars. Many many many times ‘no gracias’ and we head straight for Migracion on the right hand side of the building.
Migracion
If you’re lucky and there’s no line, you’ll be ushered right into an air-conditioned office which is manned by an armed guard.
Hand over passports to officials at the counter. Passports are stamped, no money is exchanged and you’re given a little paper ticket to give to El Salvador immigration. *Important* this little paper ticket is what authorizes your entry on the El Salvador side. Do not lose this 2 in. x 2 in. scrap of paper!
Aduana
In the same building, but through another door, you’ll find the Aduana office to cancel your vehicle import paperwork (the seemingly grumpy Migracion lady can tell you where to go). The officer will confirm that you really want to cancel your vehicle permit, since it’s good for 90 days. We won’t be back before the permit expires and don’t want to find out what happens if you just let it lapse. Yes, we want to cancel it.
Aduana official checks our passports and the vehicle import paperwork in the office.
He then comes out to the car to check the VIN, license plates, etc.
Back to office, he types up cancellation paperwork and returns only one photocopy to us. The photocopy is needed to give to Guatemalan police who will let you drive under the building’s awning, which leads to the bridge to El Salvador.
The Aduana official will keep the original copy of your canceled vehicle permit. We had to convince him that a copy of the cancellation paperwork was needed on the El Salvador side. He agreed to loan us the original so that we could make our own photocopy across the street for 1 quetzal and return the original to him. *Disclaimer* a copy of the canceled Guatemalan permit may not be absolutely required on the El Salvador side, but it was certainly a good starting point for vehicle import on the Salvadoran side and avoided more questions.
Entering El Salvador – Friday, May 1, 2015 @ 12:30pm. Border at Las Chinamas
Objective: Receive temporary vehicle import permit (no passport entry stamps are given in El Salvador).
Only one vehicle can cross the bridge at a time, and this is the only bridge used for both incoming and outgoing border traffic. Thankfully, this is not a busy border crossing.
Upon reaching the Salvadoran side, turn right towards the food stalls to park. It looks more official on the left hand side and you will want to go there, but don’t! We initially parked there and were told to move.
Aduana
There are many officials and border guards hanging around the small shack near the bridge. We started the vehicle import process by handing over our photocopy of the canceled Guatemalan permit. Since it had all of the car’s info on it, it was a help in filling out the Salvadoran form.
Aduana official wanted one copy of everything: passports, drivers licenses, car title, registration. We were ready.
One form to fill out with many details for the car. The official helped when he saw that we were struggling with some of the words.
The official takes the form back to the shack for a few minutes, then escorts us over to the larger building on other side of street (where we had originally parked).
We are taken to an air-conditioned room to wait for someone to type up the details of our filled out form. Finally receive vehicle import permit. No money has been exchanged on the El Salvador side of the border.
At this point, we are told to proceed to Migracion on the opposite side of the large building. We wait in line for what we presume to be entry stamps into our passports. Once we reach the counter, the official tells us that stamps are only for exiting the country. Our little paper ticket we received from Guatemala immigration is all we need to drive through to the final check stop.
Reunited with Bruno, we proceed to the border area exit. The official asks for our passports with the little paper ticket we received in Guatemala, and we’re on our way.
Less than 1 minute later another guy with a clipboard wants to check the vehicle import permit only. On our way again.
2 km down the road, we hit a regional police check stop. He wants to see the vehicle import permit, as well as a visual inside the car. He asks what kind of ‘special equipment’ we have (Bruno must look really souped up). We tell him just camping, and open a few doors. No problema, have a nice day.
Of the few car “searches” we’ve had so far, nobody asks about the funny looking grey fridge being powered in the back seat. Or the gallon ziplock bag of white (protein) powder that tastes like cookies. Strange. On our way! Hello El Salvador!
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