Central America · CA-4 · 90 days

CA-4 calculator

Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua share one 90-day clock — see how many days you have left and when you must leave.

Free·No sign-up·Runs in your browser
  1. Set your entry date
  2. Read your status
  3. Plan your exit

Your entry

🇬🇹 Guatemala · 🇸🇻 El Salvador · 🇭🇳 Honduras · 🇳🇮 Nicaragua

Pick the date you first entered any of the four CA-4 countries on this trip. Crossing borders inside the region does not restart the clock.

One-time extension

An extension must be applied for before your 90 days expire. Its length differs by country and source — the UK Foreign Office mentions up to 30 days, while travellers report up to 90 days granted by the Guatemalan migration institute (IGM). Verify locally before relying on it.

Import from Google Timeline

Optional

Auto-fill your entry date from your real location history. Processed in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Status

Set your entry date to see your status
Days used, days remaining and your exit-by date will appear here.
Days used
of 90 · since entry
Days remaining
on this stay
Exit by
last legal day
Allowance
standard CA-4 limit
0 / 90days used
Everything is calculated in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or saved.

One 90-day clock for four countries

Under the Central America-4 Border Control Agreement — usually shortened to CA-4, known in Spanish as the Convenio Centroamericano de Libre Movilidad, and often searched as the "CA4 visa" — Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua act as a single territory for visitors: visa-free travellers get 90 days for the whole region, not 90 per country. This free calculator counts your days from the date you entered the region and shows the date you must leave by. Everything runs privately in your browser.

How the CA-4 90-day rule works

The clock starts the day you first enter any of the four member countries and keeps running as you move between them — internal border crossings do not grant new days. Once the 90 days (plus any extension) are used, you must leave the whole region, for example to Costa Rica, Belize or Mexico.

“The CA-4 is a migration-facilitation mechanism that enables intraregional movement between the signatory countries — Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua — with expedited migration procedures.”

— SICA, Central American Free Mobility Agreement (CA-4)

Unlike the Schengen 90/180 rule, the CA-4 limit is not a rolling window — it is a per-entry allowance. After leaving the region entirely, a fresh entry normally grants a new 90 days, at the discretion of the border officer. No official minimum time outside the region is published anywhere.

How to use this calculator

1

Set your entry date

Pick the day you first entered Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras or Nicaragua — or import your Google Timeline and it is pre-filled automatically.

2

Read your status

See days used, days remaining and your status — within the limit, approaching it, or over.

3

Plan your exit

Note your exit-by date, and toggle the extension to see how much extra time it would buy.

Frequently asked questions

CA-4 stands for the Central America-4 Border Control Agreement, signed in 2006 — in Spanish, the Convenio Centroamericano de Libre Movilidad. It lets travellers move between Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua with minimal internal border checks, and makes the four countries a single territory for the 90-day visitor limit. You will also see it called the "CA4 visa", although for visa-free nationals it is not actually a visa.

Exactly four: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Costa Rica, Belize and Panama are NOT members — days spent there do not count toward the 90, and crossing into them means leaving the region.

No. The four countries share one clock: the 90-day period starts when you enter any of them and does not restart at internal borders. You still pass immigration checks when crossing, but no new days are granted.

Yes — a one-time extension, applied for before your 90 days expire. Sources disagree on its length: the UK Foreign Office mentions up to 30 days, while travellers consistently report up to 90 additional days granted by the Guatemalan migration institute (IGM) in Guatemala City for a small fee. Whether an extension issued by one member is honoured by the others is also disputed — verify with local migration authorities.

Leave the CA-4 region entirely — most travellers exit to Costa Rica, Belize or Mexico, or fly out. On re-entry a new 90-day period is normally granted, at the discretion of the border officer. There is no officially published minimum time you must stay outside; the widely repeated "72 hours" is traveller folklore, not law.

You pay a fine per day of overstay when leaving (in Guatemala it is charged in cash at the airport), and you risk complications at future entries. In Nicaragua, the US State Department warns you may not be allowed to depart until the fine is paid. Even one extra day is not worth it.

The CA-4 states share a visa policy with categories; visa-free ("categoría A") nationals — roughly 86 jurisdictions for Guatemala, including the US, Canada, the EU, the UK, Japan and Australia — get the 90-day regional allowance. Exceptions exist: UK citizens currently need a visa for Honduras despite the CA-4. Always check each country’s rules for your passport.

Enforcement is inconsistent: travellers report fresh 90-day stamps at some internal borders, while El Salvador is known to enforce the shared regional count strictly. The rule itself is one shared clock, so this calculator counts conservatively from your first entry into the region — regardless of what a stamp says.

No. Everything runs locally in your browser. Your dates are never uploaded, never saved to a server, and disappear when you close the tab.

No — it is a free planning tool. The maths follows the rule as published by government travel advisories, but always confirm your status with the migration authorities of the country you are in (e.g. the Instituto Guatemalteco de Migración) before making plans.

Official sources

MapRecap is an independent tool and is not affiliated with these organisations.