What happens after submitting the application for refugee status?

In case of application with a positive decision

1. Documents

If the National Immigration Authority recognizes you as a refugee, you will have to start your procedures to obtain your temporary residence in Guatemala.

Once temporary residence has been granted, you must go to the National Registry of Persons -RENAP- to obtain your Personal Identification Document, which will be used to carry out any type of procedure throughout the territory of Guatemala. All refugees, minors or adults, have the right to obtain an identity document, which the police officers will have to recognize as a valid document.

2. Cessation of refugee status

Refugee status can cease for a number of reasons:

  • If you return to your country of origin;
  • If you voluntarily regain your nationality;
  • If you acquire a new nationality and enjoy the protection of the country of your new nationality;
  • If you have voluntarily settled again in the country you had left;
  • If the circumstances under which you were recognized as a refugee no longer exist and you cannot continue to refuse to avail yourself of the protection of the country of your nationality;
  • If you are a person who does not have a nationality and, because the circumstances for which you were recognized as a refugee have disappeared, you are in a position to return to the country where you had your habitual residence.

In case of application with a negative decision

If your application is denied, you have the right to file an appeal against the decision before the National Migration Authority. You have ten (10) days from the day following the notification of denial to file your appeal. UNHCR, through its partners, will be able to provide you free legal assistance and advice to help you with everything you need to present your appeal.

If your appeal is also denied, it means that you do not qualify as a refugee and are at risk of deportation, including to your country of origin. Therefore, the Guatemalan government will invite you to find another way to regularize your stay in the country or leave the territory.