How to send money from the US to Guatemala

Guatemalan families received US$25,530.2 million in remittances in 2025, 18.7% more than in 2024, according to the Banco de Guatemala (Banguat), and the World Bank puts the inflow at about a fifth of the country's economy. On this route the exchange-rate margin is small, under 1% on World Bank averages, so the flat fee does most of the damage and how often you send matters as much as whom you send with. The sections below price a transfer from the US, weigh cash pickup against a bank deposit, list what a Guatemalan recipient needs and explain the rules and calendar at both ends. For the basics of any international transfer, see the money transfer guide.

How much of your money is lost to fees and the quetzal rate?

On World Bank averages for the third quarter of 2025, a $200 transfer lost 4.19% to costs and a $500 transfer 2.76%, mostly in flat fees.

The average fee was $6.53 on $200 and $9.57 on $500, while the exchange-rate margin stayed below 1% at both amounts, at 0.92% and 0.85%. In dollars, the total cost came to $8.37 and $13.80.

With a thin margin and a flat fee, the number of transfers you make moves the total more than small differences in the rate. The worked example below sets a weekly habit against one monthly transfer. The table converts three amounts at the latest mid-market rate and with markups of 0.9% and 2%, roughly the survey's typical margin and a high one.

Banguat publishes a reference exchange rate for every day of the year, and it is the natural yardstick for a quetzal quote. A provider offering Q7.57 per dollar when the reference is Q7.64 is keeping just under 1% of the money. The mid-market exchange rate guide explains the benchmark, exchange-rate markups walks through the arithmetic, and our exchange rate methodology covers the rates shown on this page.

Should your family collect cash or take a bank deposit?

Choose a deposit if your relative has a bank account and cash pickup if they do not, or if they need the money in hand the same day.

Cash pickup is the classic Guatemalan payout. Money can be collected at bank branches and at payout agents such as pharmacies and convenience-store chains, and many banks extend their reach through agents in local shops, which matters in rural areas where branches are far apart. Pickup is often possible within minutes of payment in the US. Your relative shows a DPI, the national ID card, and the reference number from your receipt, and should check branch hours before travelling, since smaller towns may have short weekend hours.

A deposit lands in a monetary (checking) or savings account and saves the trip. Guatemalan law has made holding foreign currency free since 2000, including accounts in US dollars, so a relative saving for a large purchase can receive dollars into a dollar account where the provider offers it, and skip a conversion. When the paying bank is not your relative's bank, the money crosses between banks through the clearing house Banguat settles, which sets the speed limits described below.

Recipient details for a Guatemalan payout

Gather these before you start a transfer; deposits need the account details, while cash pickup needs the name, the DPI and the reference number.

The CUI printed on the DPI has 13 digits: eight assigned by RENAP, the national registry, one check digit, and two digits each for the department and the municipality of birth. It never changes, so even an old card shows the right number, though a payout point will want a valid one. Guatemalan names carry two surnames and official forms ask separately for a married surname, so check whether your relative's DPI includes one and copy the name exactly as printed.

Guatemala's standardized account number follows the IBAN format: GT, two check digits, a four-letter bank code, and 20 characters that encode the currency, the type of account and the account number itself. Banks use it for transfers between institutions and across Central America and the Dominican Republic, and your relative can find it in a banking app or at a branch. The guide to IBAN numbers explains how the check digits catch typing errors.

How do Guatemalan banks move a deposit, and how fast?

Interbank deposits in Guatemala are instant only from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and up to Q20,000; larger or later transfers wait for the next settlement cycle.

The Cámara de Compensación Automatizada, or CCA, clears transfers between Guatemalan banks in quetzales and US dollars; a private company operates it and Banguat settles the results. Since March 2020 it has offered instant transfers, known as TIF, of up to Q20,000 or US$2,500, available from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Anything larger goes as a deferred transfer, or TDF, of up to Q500,000 or US$60,000, which can be loaded at any hour but settles in six cycles between about 7:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. A remittance paid by your relative's own bank never enters the clearing house, which is why same-bank deposits are often the quickest.

National holidays slow the other parts of the chain. Branches and many payout points close or shorten their hours, so cash pickup and large deposits can slip to the next working day. Every municipality also has a local holiday for its patron saint's fair, when branches in that town close. The dates below come from the labor ministry's list of paid holidays.

Typical delivery times on other routes are compared in how long international transfers take.

Which Guatemalan rules apply to the money?

Family remittances are not taxed in Guatemala, dollars can be held freely, and cash transactions above US$10,000 in a day go on a special register.

Guatemala taxes income on a territorial basis. Only income produced by activities in Guatemala is in scope, and guidance from the SAT, the tax authority, says income generated abroad, such as pay for work done outside the country, falls outside the income tax. Remittances earned in the US are therefore not taxable income for the family that receives them.

Foreign currency is unrestricted. The Free Negotiation of Foreign Currency Law of 2000 makes holding, transferring, buying and selling foreign currency free, and allows deposits and accounts in foreign currency at Guatemalan banks. A family can keep dollars, convert them at whatever rate a bank offers, or move them between accounts without permission.

Large cash movements are recorded. Under the anti-money-laundering law, banks and other reporting institutions keep a daily register of cash transactions above US$10,000, and several cash transactions by or for the same person in one day count as one. Anyone carrying more than US$10,000 in cash into or out of Guatemala must declare it at the border, and undeclared money can be seized, a rule that applies to relatives travelling home with savings as much as to anyone else.

What changes on the US side?

Paying in cash now costs an extra 1% in federal tax, and every transfer comes with federal disclosure, cancellation and error rights.

The tax, in force since January 1, 2026, is 1% of the amount sent, on transfers paid with cash, a money order, a cashier's check or a similar physical instrument. Transfers funded from a bank or other financial-institution account, or with a US-issued debit or credit card are exempt, so the simplest way to avoid it is to fund the transfer from a bank account or card rather than handing over cash at an agent. The provider collects the tax and passes it to the IRS. The proposed regulations published in April 2026 are not yet final, and the guide to the remittance transfer tax tracks the details.

Before you pay, the provider must disclose the fee, the exchange rate and the quetzales your relative will receive; you can cancel within 30 minutes after paying, for a full refund, and you have 180 days from the date the receipt said the money would be available to report a problem such as money that never arrives, as remittance transfer rights explains.

Larger help, such as paying for land or a house, can cross the annual gift tax exclusion of $19,000 per recipient. That means filing Form 709, but rarely paying tax, since gift tax is due only after lifetime gifts pass $15,000,000 per person; the guide to gift tax on money sent abroad explains the filing.

Busy months for remittances to Guatemala

Banguat's monthly figures show two seasonal bumps and one recent record. In 2025, May jumped 14.9% from April to US$2,281.1 million, the month of Mother's Day, which Guatemalan law makes a paid day off for working mothers, and December rose 16.1% from November to US$2,241.3 million. October 2025 was the biggest month of that year, at US$2,390.0 million. In 2026, July set a monthly record of US$2,468.6 million, while May came in 2.6% below May 2025.

Sending a week ahead of Mother's Day and the December holidays keeps you clear of the rush and leaves time to fix a name problem at the counter. In 2027, Mother's Day falls on Monday, May 10, and Christmas Day on a Saturday.

Frauds that target Guatemalan families

Notario fraud is aimed squarely at Spanish-speaking immigrants. In many Spanish-speaking countries a notario is a lawyer with special credentials, but in the US a notary public may only witness signatures and administer oaths. USCIS warns that a notario público is not authorized to provide any immigration legal service, that only an attorney or an accredited representative of a Justice Department recognized organization can give legal advice, and that immigration forms are free. Anyone asking for a transfer to speed up a case or fix a status is a red flag.

Impostor calls follow the same script on this route as elsewhere: someone claiming to be from ICE or USCIS says you owe a fine or a bond and must pay at once. The FTC says those agencies never accept gift cards, cryptocurrency or wire transfers, and USCIS says it never asks anyone to send money to an individual.

On the Guatemalan side, warn relatives about messages from a new number that claims to be you and asks them to collect a transfer and pass the cash on, a common way to recruit unwitting money mules. Share pickup reference numbers only with the person collecting. The money transfer scams guide lists other warning signs.

Why remittances matter so much to Guatemala

On the World Bank's measure, Guatemala received about US$25.7 billion in 2025, equal to roughly 21% of its GDP.

The World Bank's figure includes pay earned by Guatemalans working abroad for short periods, so it runs slightly above Banguat's family-remittance series, which came to US$25,530.2 million in 2025. Growth has cooled since that 18.7% jump: January to September 2026 brought in US$20,015.7 million, up 5.5% on the same months of 2025, and March 2026 was the second-strongest month on record at US$2,441.8 million.

Few economies lean on this money as heavily. Remittances to Mexico equal about 3.5% of its GDP, as the guide to sending money to Mexico shows, while Honduras and El Salvador depend on remittances even more than Guatemala does, at more than a quarter of GDP.