Guatemala: Requirements and procedures to obtain Guatemalan citizenship through marriage, including whether Guatemala allows for dual citizenship with Colombia (2009 - January 2011)

Permanent residency

The Guatemalan General Directorate of Migration (Dirección General de Migración) states that [translation] "[f]oreigners who have been married to a Guatemalan for a minimum of one year can acquire permanent residency - they must submit the required legal documentation" to do so (Guatemala n.d.a). According to the Department, permanent residents are foreigners who establish their legal residence in Guatemala after completing the necessary legal procedures (Guatemala n.d.b).

To obtain permanent residency through marriage, applicants must submit the following documents with the [translation] "Permanent Residency through Marriage" application form:

• A recent card-sized photograph;
• Passport and legalized copy of the passport;
• A certificate indicating the passport's validity issued by an embassy or consulate of the country of origin, that is accredited by the Guatemalan government, or a certified birth certificate for people whose country of origin has no diplomatic relations with Guatemala;
• Original proof of lack of a criminal record from the country where you resided the five years prior to the application. If such a document does not exist in the country, then a certificate of non-issue and an affidavit of lack of a criminal record;
• A recent and original birth certificate of the Guatemalan spouse along with a marriage note;
• An original and recent marriage certificate;
• Proof that the foreigner has been married to the Guatemalan for more than a year. (Guatemala n.d.a)

All foreign documents must be translated into Spanish by a legally authorized Guatemalan translator, and all copies must be notarized (ibid.).

Process of naturalization

The Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerio de Relaciones Externas) indicates that people from countries outside the Central American Federation (i.e., El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica) and Belize, as well as people born abroad to Guatemalan parents, must apply for naturalization (Guatemala n.d.c). The Ministry describes the process for becoming a naturalized citizen as follows [translation]:

First, send an official request for citizenship to the departmental government (Gobernación Departamental), where it will be acknowledged and evaluated (ibid.). Once the citizenship request file is complete, it is sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ibid.). If complete, the file is forwarded to the National Attorney General's Office (Procuradurí­a General de la Nación); if incomplete, the file is sent back to the departmental government to acquire the missing information (ibid.).

Once the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Attorney General's Office have approved the file, it is sent to the Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic (Secretaría General de la Presidencia de la República) for a final decision (ibid.). The Secretary General's Specialized Consultative Body (Cuerpo Consultativo Especí­fico) reviews the file before submitting it to the President, who indicates whether naturalization will be granted to the petitioner through a notice that is published in the official newsletter (Diario Oficial) (ibid.). Guatemalan citizenship is officially obtained during a naturalization ceremony performed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ibid.).

The requirements for obtaining citizenship through naturalization are as follows [translation]:

• Permanent residency status and registration as a domestic foreigner;
• Possession of permanent residency status for at least five years;
• During the five years, no absences over six consecutive months or periods adding up to a year or more are allowed;
• An official request for the acquisition of citizenship submitted by the applicant without representation (ibid.).

The official request for acquisition of citizenship must [translation]

• be addressed to the departmental governor in the area in which the applicant resides;
• include the full name, age, nationality, civil status, profession or trade, and an address for receiving notifications; and
• include the legal grounds for the request, which are article 146 of the Guatemalan Constitution, and the subsection corresponding to article 33 of the Citizenship Act (ibid.).

The applicant must submit the following documents with the request [translation]:

• A current Residential Foreigner Certificate (Certificación de Extranjero Residente) from the General Directorate of Migration;
• A Domestic Foreigner Certificate (Certificación de Extranjero Domiciliado) issued by the Civil Registry (Registro Civil);
• A National Identification Card (carta de Nacionalidad) from the country of origin;
• A valid foreign passport;
• Proof of a clean criminal record from the Guatemalan Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de justicia de Guatemala);
• Proof of a clean police record from the General Directorate of the Guatemalan National Police (Dirección General de la Policí­a Nacional de Guatemala) and the regional authorities of the person's place of residence in the last five years;
• A certificate of Migratory Movement (Certificación de Movimiento Migratorio) issued by the General Directorate of Migration;
• Proof of satisfactory living income through a profession or craft;
• The names of three character witnesses; and
• Proof of payment of the Annual Payment of Immigration Matters (Cuota Anual de Extranjería) to the General Directorate of Migration, with exceptions based on international reciprocity. (ibid.)

The Citizenship Act describes naturalization by marriage as follows [translation by the Translation Bureau]:

Article 42. — In the case of naturalization by marriage, the survival of the other spouse and the continuation of the marital bond must be proven when more than one year has passed since the wedding date.

This can be accredited by means of a declaration made by the other spouse — either in person or in a notarial document — or some other acceptable form of evidence. (Guatemala 1966)

Dual citizenship

In a telephone interview on 19 January 2011, an official at the Embassy of Guatemala in Ottawa noted that Guatemala allows dual citizenship with any other country as long as it is permitted by the latter. According to Consulado y Embajadas, an information website that provides details on embassies, the reform of the Guatemalan Citizenship Act by Decree No. 86-96 includes the idea of [translation]

the concurrence (not dual nationality) of two or more nationalities in a person. However, the nationalities cannot be practiced simultaneously, but alternatively. As a concrete example, a person will be Guatemalan in the national territory and American in the United States of America. (n.d.)

The Guatemalan Citizenship Act also states the conditions under which Guatemalan women married to foreigners maintain their citizenship [translation by the Translation Bureau]:

Article 45. — A Guatemalan woman married to a foreign national maintains her citizenship unless she takes her husband's nationality. She also maintains it if she acquires his nationality solely as a result of foreign legislation. Adoption of his nationality will be assumed if the women uses a passport of her husband's country, whether with him or on her own. No proof contrary to this assumption will be accepted; however, this will not be the case if the passport were used only to travel to the husband's country. (Guatemala 1966)