Immigration law in Guyana

The main authorities are the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration Support Services, the Chief Immigration Officer and individual Immigration Officers. Immigration Support Services handles applications for visas, extensions, amendments, cancellations and transfers through its online platform. Applications receive a reference number for status checks. The platform accepts PDF, JPEG and JPG or PNG uploads, while an officer may still request original documents or English translations. The relevant Ministry contact is in Georgetown. Entry generally requires a passport or other accepted proof of identity and national status, together with the visa required under Schedule I or the applicable visa order. Air and sea arrivals use an official port. A person arriving at a land border should report without delay to an Immigration Officer. Travellers answer questions truthfully, make the required declaration and may need a medical examination. Departure also uses an official port and includes the required declaration. Missing an entry stamp or permit can create a risk of removal. The ordinary immigration framework covers visitors, business activities, employment and study. A landing permit is a permission connected with a particular stay, purpose and conditions. Employment, student and business applications commonly require a passport, passport stamps and photograph, police clearance and a medical report. The authority can attach conditions concerning the place of residence, occupation or security. A foreign-language document requires an English translation where requested. Employment applications use the online employment visa process. The file normally includes an employment contract or letter and information from the sponsoring employer. A landing-permit request can also require business registration, tax and National Insurance Scheme compliance, professional credentials and a signed contract. Official guidance describes processing at about one month. A 2025 Ministry of Foreign Affairs advisory states that the employer should obtain approval before arrival and that the business should be registered and compliant with the National Insurance Scheme and the Guyana Revenue Authority; it also refers to a visa and work permit on arrival and a stated validity of three years. Administrative instructions can differ between published sources, so the current requirements from Immigration Support Services and the sponsoring employer control the application. A student application normally requires an acceptance letter from a registered or accredited institution, evidence of financial support and a sponsor's passport and multiple-entry letter. A landing-permit request can require documents from the institution or sponsoring business, including registration and tax or National Insurance Scheme compliance. Applicants aged 18 or over may need police clearance and a medical report. The 2025 Ministry of Foreign Affairs advisory refers to school pre-notification, transmission of the acceptance letter to the Ministry of Home Affairs and a three-year visa statement. A business application can require business registration, proof of business tax liability, National Insurance Scheme compliance, a sponsor permit letter, police clearance and a medical report, as well as the purpose, dates, duration and port of the requested landing permission. A visitor visa can require the passport biodata page and photograph, a character certificate, sponsor identification, an invitation or visa-on-arrival letter and the applicant's birth certificate. Depending on the case, marriage or children's certificates, medical evidence and a bank statement may also be requested. Consular guidance describes a tourist visa as valid for one month and single entry. The passport should normally remain valid for at least six months beyond the intended departure and contain at least two blank pages. A visitor extension can require financial evidence, the complete passport with stamps and the sponsor's passport. The published fee information lists GYD 5,125 for an extension and GYD 28,700 where the extension exceeds three months; the public material indicates a maximum of two extensions and a period of up to three months for an extension. Temporary permission under section 12 of the Immigration Act, Cap. 14:02, can last up to three months for nationals outside Schedule I Part B and up to six months for nationals in Schedule I Part B. The Chief Immigration Officer can extend permission for up to three years from entry, subject to the applicable conditions. Expiry without an extension can make the person a prohibited immigrant. A temporary permission does not automatically create domicile or a permanent right of residence. The current Act and official Immigration Support Services material reviewed for Guyana did not establish a separate formal permanent-residence permit. Long-term stay therefore functions mainly through repeated temporary permissions or naturalisation, where the legal conditions are met. The Caribbean Single Market and Economy gives qualifying CARICOM nationals a separate framework for free entry of skilled nationals and movement of factors. Approved wage-earner categories include university graduates, musicians, artistes, sports persons, media workers, registered nurses, trained teachers, Caribbean Vocational Qualification artisans and Associate Degree holders. The person needs the required certificate, accreditation or registration and remains subject to the CARICOM rules. Spouses and dependants can be covered for the qualifying period. Ministry guidance excludes The Bahamas, Montserrat and Haiti from the relevant listed treatment. A qualifying CSME case can allow entry and residence for a definite or indefinite period without the ordinary immigration-officer permit used by other categories, but it does not remove the need to satisfy the applicable CARICOM requirements. A visa or landing permission tied to employment, study or business does not by itself authorize a different activity. Sponsorship, employer compliance and the stated occupation or place can control the permission. The reviewed material did not establish permission to work on visitor status. Overstay, false answers, unlawful entry or departure and absence of the required permission can expose a person to prohibited-immigrant proceedings and removal. Fingerprints may also be required. Guyana has no national asylum or refugee procedure identified in the reviewed current materials and is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, its 1967 Protocol, or the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) regional office conducts registration and refugee status determination under its mandate. The evidenced durable solutions are voluntary repatriation and resettlement in a third country. No national asylum appeal or remedy was established in the reviewed sources. The response for Venezuelans operates through a Multi-agency Coordinating Committee, while documentation, language and transport can limit practical access. Citizenship can arise through birth in Guyana, subject to exceptions for diplomatic immunity and enemy aliens, or through descent from a Guyanese mother or father for a person born abroad. Marriage can support an application followed by an oath, but public-policy and security qualifications apply. The Citizenship Act also provides registration pathways for Commonwealth or Irish citizens ordinarily resident or in government service for five years ending with the application, subject to ministerial discretion, and for certain minors, abandoned infants and stateless persons. Naturalisation requires twelve months of residence immediately before the application and at least five years in aggregate during the preceding seven years, together with good character and an intention to reside in Guyana. The application uses duplicate sworn forms and can require passport, birth, marriage and family documents, recommendations, tax-liability and National Insurance Scheme statements and photographs. Naturalisation additionally requires newspaper notice in two issues. No citizenship-by-investment pathway was evidenced. Registration or naturalisation takes effect through registration or the relevant certificate and oath. The Minister can refuse on national-security or public-policy grounds. Section 7(2) of the Citizenship Act states that discretionary registration, naturalisation and citizenship certification decisions are not subject to appeal or court review. Citizenship can be deprived for fraud, false representation, concealment, disloyalty, wartime enemy conduct or, after naturalisation, a conviction carrying at least twelve months of imprisonment. The Constitution also permits deprivation after voluntary acquisition of, or exercise of rights of, foreign citizenship. Renunciation requires protection against statelessness through another nationality. The Immigration Act lists prohibited-immigrant grounds including communicable disease, risk of charge on public funds, insufficient means, prostitution-related grounds, minister-declared undesirability and certain dependants. Some statutory wording is archaic and should be read with current official guidance. An Immigration Officer gives notice and grounds for the decision. The person can appeal to the nearest magistrate within seven days, and a magistrate's decision can be taken to a High Court judge in Chambers within seven days or within an extended period allowed by the court. A removal order is not issued or enforced before the appeal is determined. The Chief Immigration Officer can annul or remit a decision. An appeal against refusal, revocation or conditions of a permit goes to the Chief Immigration Officer, and the Act describes that decision as final. Detention in a prison or designated place is limited to the period necessary for inquiry or removal, and a magistrate can order removal.