r/Nicaragua • u/zazabizarre • Jan 12 '24
Turismo/Tourism Denied entry to Nicaragua
Hi everyone,
I filled out the immigration form to enter Nicaragua online (I am currently in Honduras) and I’ve just had an email saying I’ve been denied entry. I’m really shocked and confused. I used to work for the UN years ago and did some human rights work in India, could this be why? Would it be possible to just turn up to the border and try my luck?
Edit: just to clarify I am a UK citizen
UPDATE: I decided not to chance it at the border. The risk of getting turned back and being stranded between the Nicaraguan and Honduran border was too high. I hope to visit your beautiful country one day but for now, they don’t want me there unfortunately.
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u/Citnos Jan 12 '24 edited Jan 12 '24
Human rights and this country doesn't match pal, I'm sorry you were not able to enter, I think people don't understand how a dictatorship this country is under, until that kind of thing happens.
Now imagine that they normally kick Nicaraguans out of their own country and then they remove the citizenship making them stateless, unconstitucional
As others said, If you are close by give it a try, DO NOT mention anything about your previous work with UN and just act as a regular tourist eager to know the country, you may get in
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
Yeah, unfortunately if you google me a lot of my previous work history comes up. Do you think they would google me at the border?
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u/Massive-Vanilla-2774 Jan 12 '24
Sorry to break your bubble but if you have really worked in the humans right field then you haven't been paying attention.
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I worked in human rights in a specific country which is on a totally different continent to Nicaragua. Hope that helps.
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u/Juyeonahga Nicaragua Jan 12 '24
I don’t think op is aware like other tourist but if Nicaraguans like us can’t go back what makes em think they can. 👈🏼😭
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u/geffles Jan 13 '24
I am half Nicaraguan and half British and have never been denied entry or had any trouble entering the country.
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u/Juyeonahga Nicaragua Jan 13 '24
Man i dont know how to tell you this, but maybe of your other nationality. If you don’t say anything ifykyk. You got no problems.
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u/MexicanPete Jan 12 '24
It doesn't give any reason why? I've never heard of this happening before unless you're active in government affairs. Are you a tourist or Nicaraguan citizen?
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
No reason given. Just emailed saying denied entry. I am a tourist but I’ve been working in the human rights space for a while. Never been involved in anything to do with Nicaragua though! I am from the UK
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u/dnb_4eva Jan 12 '24
Did you put your occupation on there? You could try to enter and just put some BS occupation. If they ask you say you never got the email denying entry.
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I don’t have a job at the moment (quit to travel) and I said that on the form. I’m just concerned about going all the way to the border and then getting turned back
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Jan 12 '24
[deleted]
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I had no idea it would be a problem. I thought it was normal for travellers to be on a career break.
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u/EyesOfAzula Jan 12 '24
Yep, there’ve been other posts. From what I’ve seen, tourists with UN, military, or journalist backgrounds are denied entry into Nicaragua.
wishing you safe travels, even if they don’t include Nicaragua
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u/SocialistPhysicist Jan 12 '24
The exact same thing happened to myself and my partner today. We both work for charities so a friend of ours who got interrogated previously said that might be it. We're going to skip and not try as it's too risky, which is a real shame but getting interrogated or something doesn't sound great either!
Best of luck with whatever you choose and curious to hear what happens.
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
Sorry that happened to you. Are you guys going to fly to Costa Rica instead? I reckon that’s what I’ll have to do. Some people are recommending showing up at the border but I’m not sure. Don’t want to get detained, interrogated and then just turned back.
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u/SocialistPhysicist Jan 12 '24
More or less yeah - we're actually going to do the second half of our trip in reverse and fly to Colombia, then travel north to Costa Rica.
I think we're in a similar place to you (based on your other comments in the thread) in that I have a unique name and if you Google me, you can see a bunch of stuff about activism I've done in the UK so probably not worth the long trip to get turned around. Probably fine if you're not someone like this to risk it.
Also, interestingly, we even got a message from the company we booked our boat from El Salvador to Nicaragua with, saying our immigration was denied so somehow the Nicaraguan government found out who we were travelling with and told them we were denied entry. So they cancelled the boat trip for us, which kind of took things out of our hand. Learning a lot about Nicaragua it seems!
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u/djdurty82 Sep 18 '24
Going north from Colombia? by plane I hope and not through the Darien Gap?! :)
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u/geffles Jan 13 '24
The thing is that the USA and its allies regularly use charities to mask coupe d’tat attempts, this means that they literally have to deny westerners in this way. You think it sounds unfair but you are from a hostile country trying to enter under a guise regularly used by these countries to inflict regime change.
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u/tinythanatos Jan 12 '24
Friends of mine had the same problem, they were stopped by immigration around 6h but they asked to talk with a supervisor and they were able to get through. Nicaragua is currently crazy and those guys don't even let you know why you're denied the entry.
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
Being interrogated for 6 hours doesn’t sound fun
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u/tinythanatos Jan 12 '24
I know, they were supposed to be here at 4pm that day, they finally got to the place at 9pm :(
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u/dasbuttchugger Jan 16 '24
Nicaragua is a dictatorship. Given your background, they probably decided it was best to not allow you in. Remember that this dictatorship has very strong backing from the Cuban intelligence services and they are very good at background checks. Sorry pal, I wouldn't visit until Ortega is out of power.
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u/Ok-Cycle-736 Jan 12 '24
If you are coming through land borders (las manos, el guasaule, trojes) u will not have any problem.
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
Really? I’m with some Italians who said they got rejected online and were then turned away.. is this based on any experience?
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u/Ok-Cycle-736 Jan 12 '24
Yes. I got friends that got rejected online, and came through las manos in a "excursion" from Honduras. They didn't even ask to fill the forms
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I’m in Honduras at the moment. Trying to decide whether to chance it at the border.
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u/Ok-Cycle-736 Jan 12 '24
If u really want to come (Honduras has great places too, like Roatan, Bahia Cochinos, Amapala, Omoa, etc) u can look for travel agencies from Nicaragua like Aguila del Sur, TicaBus or NicaBus. They do all the route to Guatemala, when they come back usually with empty spaces sell the tickets and pick up people from Honduras.
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
Ah I have already been to Guatemala. I’m trying to head south overland. I’m in Honduras at the moment and loving it but either need to go to Nicaragua afterwards or fly to Costa Rica if I can’t get into Nicaragua. Thank you though!
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u/Ok-Cycle-736 Jan 12 '24
U can look for Aguila del Sur on Facebook. They can pick u up in Honduras on the way back from Guatemala to Nicaragua. And they know very well how to help you, they do these trips almost twice a week.
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u/tinythanatos Jan 12 '24
BTW, I had another friend that was unable to get in, she's from El Salvador. The thing is that her travel plans said she was gonna go back to El Salvador one day, and she by mistake put in her "entry form" that she was gonna leave another day (maybe 2 days of difference). And that's why they didn't let her get in and was sent back to Honduras. So if you have plans, be very careful with all the paperwork. Also, if are gonna come with your own car, have all the documentation handy.
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u/offthabooks Jan 12 '24
This has been happening for awhile now. Ignore anyone who says this kind of thing is an isolated incident. You were flagged because of your NGO involvement, doesn't matter if you haven't worked in activism directly related to human rights issues in Nicaragua.
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u/LuxDeviluke Jan 13 '24
The terrorist party that governs us does not like people that have to do with human rights and freedom, if they are capable of killing babies, expelling their citizens and even stripping them of their citizenship and locking up their whole family they are capable of anything, I have heard of many foreign and local people who have gone through the same thing, in short, Nicaragua is a very nice country but it has become a nest of rats and terrorists and it is better not to visit if possible or be more cautious if you do, especially if you are a foreigner. it should also be said that if you are in honduras it is not difficult to enter the country illegally by land border, it makes no sense to do it but it is not difficult at most you will have to pay a few bucks to some farmers to give you permission to cross through their land but it is not worth the risk unless you have something super urgent to do.
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u/Sweet_Jellyfish4154 Jan 12 '24
There's a lot of people (even Nicaraguan) trying go get back and the government is not allowing so they had to look somewhere else to go :(
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u/amazingeoness Jan 12 '24
if you have a denied entry communication, don't try it. there are many similar histories. If you try your luck, don't get high expectations.
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u/mrdavis2019 Jan 13 '24
I was thinking about visiting Nicaragua,but after the rabbit hole of just checking if vapes are allowed, I decided to give what looks like a beautiful country a hard pass at this point.
Tourism blogs always show the best Nicaragua has to offer,, which is reasonable enough as they are only passing through hotspots. Expat vloggers while showing the beauty of Nicaragua,seem to be less than truthful about what the situation with the government is, like the one that reminds me of a certain Cuban.
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u/Spectt69 May 14 '24
I'm an American and flew into Managua in January without any issues. I can't remember if I filled something out online or not. I do remember filling out a paper that the flight attendant handed out before landing. I was only there for 3 nights / 4 days though. I am planning to return though. My fiance is from there.
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Jan 12 '24
[deleted]
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
It’s a beautiful country and I’ve never taken part in any kind of anti Nicaraguan work, I’ve never even mentioned Nicaragua publicly. I’m not an activist I just have always worked in the charity sector.
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Jan 12 '24
[deleted]
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
Just felt like you were being a tad hostile in your response. I have done my reading, just didn’t expect to get denied entry for work I’ve done that bares no relation to Nicaraguas Anyway, it’s happened now.
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u/Unable-Cockroach-644 Jan 12 '24 edited Jan 12 '24
There’s a form that you might need to fill out 7 days before entering this f country, I’m Nicaraguan and once I was denied by honduras border.
Something I did was wait until 10pm and paid a guy to let me in, once you’re at Nicaragua border you might need to wait until the next morning to check in and enter the country
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I filled out that form and got an email today saying I had been denied entry. I am a solo female traveller so the idea of being stranded at a border alone at night isn’t very appealing!
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u/Unable-Cockroach-644 Jan 12 '24
That make a lot of sense, it’s kinda dangerous, dm me and let me help you fill out the form
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
Do you think I should try and fill out the form again? Or just go to the border with no form? I did the form because I didn’t want to waste time at the border but then I got rejected 😂
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u/Unable-Cockroach-644 Jan 12 '24
I just remembered that the form it’s only for us 😆
These guys have we banned since 2015 lol
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u/Unable-Cockroach-644 Jan 12 '24
Another thing is that you can give a try ids by going through the Honduran border and give a try cuz this form its exclusively for Nicaraguan citizens, take your passport with u and come
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I don’t think it’s just for Nicaraguan citizens? It’s an immigration form
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u/malichow84 Jan 12 '24
You shouldn't have a problem. And by the way, that online system none is using it anymore.
At the border, just say you are on vacation.
How long ago did you applied with the system? And how long did they take to reply your request?
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u/malichow84 Jan 12 '24
I also advice to search your one name online and see the result.
In 2021 I was crossing the border Nicaragua-Costa Rica and they took me aside to interview me (I realized they has my LinkedIn page, because they Google my name, the Tica Bus send the passenger list in advance, which is a normal regulation), I used to work in an NGO many years ago and they asked about that job a lot.
I changed my LinkedIn (which was the only/main result in Google search), 2022 crossed the border Nicaragua/Honduras (drove there myself) and they didn't asked anything.
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I have a unique name so unfortunately if they google me past work will come up even if I delete LinkedIn, social media etc.
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u/malichow84 Jan 12 '24
(Don't delete your social media, you can temporarily deactivate them, but this isnt a perfect solution).
Try and see what happens. As one person said before, they dont have a great system there (old computers). Turism is increasing and they are welcoming more people.
Please give us a follow-up!
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I applied about 4 days ago and I got an email saying I’d been denied entrance yesterday. But weirdly, when I look up the application number on the website it doesn’t say application denied.
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u/Reasonable_Sir436 Jan 12 '24
This applies also for Airplane? I am going and not sure if I have to fill the form or not
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u/malichow84 Jan 12 '24
I've hosted many US citizens in 2023, none of whom used the online form and never had any issues with migration agents at the airport
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u/Fit_Current5627 Jan 12 '24
What Hondura’s city are you? If you are close to the border you can solve the problem there, just go and ask for it, I’ll be surprised if they denied you again. Well, and if you want more confidence you should try an unpopular border like “Trojes-Teote”
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u/wheelenl Jan 12 '24
What's on your social media profiles
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I’m not on Facebook, my instagram is private and regardless is just photos of scenery. I have a private twitter account which says I used to work at a human rights org in my bio, which I can change. I can also shut down my LinkedIn. The problem is I have a unique name so if you google me things will come up.
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u/wheelenl Jan 12 '24
A friend who does airport arrival pickups for his b&b says they are googling people from abroad before entry
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u/M3R1994 Jan 12 '24
Can you re-do the form?
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u/zazabizarre Jan 12 '24
I have tried that. Re did it yesterday. Let’s see. Just need to weigh up my options and decide if it’s worth going to the border or just accepting defeat and booking a flight to Costa Rica.
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u/[deleted] Jan 12 '24
Same happened to me two weeks ago, I just decided to ignore it due to that happens with systems, when I was in the border I crossed normally with out any inconvenience. I’m currently here no problems at all.