El Poy, El Salvador to Antigua Octopeque, Honduras | Customs and Immigration

We crossed the border from Honduras to El Salvador. Very easy, almost no one else crossing, friendly staff. No car checking. TIP at El Salvador took some time, but still OK. Didn't pay anything for exit or enter.

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We crossed into El Salvador from Honduras in late August 23 at El Poy. Two people, car & dog.
The first stop was Aduana Honduras.
The cars TIP had 30 days left and I told the lady that we will come back to Honduras in about two month. She told me there is no waiting period to return to Honduras (besides 24h for the processing of the TIP cancelation) and when we return we will get a new TIP. I don't know if that's right (yet).
Cancelation took 15min, no look at the car, no questions, free.

Next step was us leaving Honduras, migración.
We both had extended our CA4-visas in Honduras for 30 days already and only had 2 days left. Consequently, the migración officers told us we'd need to leave the CA4 and that we could fly to Costa Rica to renew our visas. We told them that we would do that if necessary.
They gave us our exit stamps and wished us a good journey. 15min again.

At the actual border, an El Salvadorian officer asked for our papers and told us where to go next.

Migración El Salvador was very easy - we got 180 days. Jupp. No staps or anything, but the nice lady welcomed us and told us we got 180 days to explore the country. Here, for the first time on the Panamericana, my passport got connected to the car. So when they check my passport they will know there is a car associated with me.
I asked if that will be a problem in case I want to leave the country without my car (ie flying out), but they said no.

Aduana El Salvador was easy, too. Very nice, no fees, no questions. They asked for the copies of the documents, as always. Short inspection of the car and VIN. BUT the whole process took almost two hours with me waiting in front of their windows.
All that time my girlfriend was waiting in the car with the aircon running.
However, for the car I only got 60 days TIP (thats the norm) and my question, if and how to extend this time, was not answered clearly. Possible, yes, but no information on how.

Final step, leaving the border area, we showed the papers, the vin was checked again, and they welcomed us to their country again.

All in all a very pleasant but long border crossing.

Ah, and for whatever reason our Honduras Claro-sim stopped working here. We had to get new chips.

I hope that helps.

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Fairly easy border process still
From Salvador to Honduras:
- first guy at the entrance of the border place cancels your tip. You need a photocopy of the tip
- exit stamp at immigration
That’s it on the El Salvador side.

Honduras side:
- covid cert upload at one of the offices on the right: you have to fill in an online form and uplpad your covid cert. They have wifi for that.
- passport check and exit stamp, pay $3
- drive almost to the end of the border area and there is a blue building on the left where you’ll get your new tip. pay $35

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As described by others. Process was very easy and quite quick, a little over 1 hr total.

Across from the last gas station in El Salvador there’s a tienda w a blue awning that can refill Claro so I bought a big package that hopefully will take me at least thru to Nicaragua to save the hassle of getting another SIM card.

Exiting El Salvador -> someone asked to see my tip while I was on the moto, then I went inside the building where they took my passport and gave me a paper slip.

Then went on to Honduras where I parked my bike in front of the white and blue building on the left and walked to the health office. There is a wifi password and all the instructions written in the wall. I did not fill out the form ahead of time. I filled out the form from my phone while standing in line, took 5 minutes. They asked for an upload of the covid card or test. I submitted it on the phone while the officer was waiting (I was the only one there then) and he did not ask to see any documents for the covid stuff. He gave me a paper to take back to the immigrant.

Went into the white and blue building immigration office where I gave them the slip from the health office and my passport. They took my fingerprints and a photo.

I got the 90 extension in El Salvador and he asked about that stamp but it wasn’t a problem. Paid $3 and got two paper slips from them.

Then rode the bike down the road to another white building on the left. Parked the bike and went to the window where they asked for the El Salvador TIP and then processed a Honduras TIP. Asked for $35 which I paid in usd or you can pay in Lempira. Didn’t take too long.

Everyone was helpful and friendly.

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Crossed today at this border, and it was overall fairly easy. Took 1.5 hours total, 30min on the El Salvador side and 1 hr on the Honduras side. At 8:30 am it was quiet, no lines or waiting, all the time was just what it took to process my documents.

I filled out the Honduras pre-check, but no one ever asked for it. On the Honduras side, a friendly agent had me park the bike and sent me to a Health inspection first. There they did want a pre-check form, which I had not filled out. So the man had me log on to their Wi-Fi, fill out the form, and then also looked at my Covid vaccination form. A photo was fine, he didn’t need the original.

At passport control/immigration it was very fast. They had some sort of scanner that took my fingerprints, and also took a photo.

The TIP for my moto took the longest, she copied the info from the El Salvador paperwork. It was the same price others have mentioned, around $35. I hadn’t changed my money, and they did not accept cards. But they did accept my USD and gave me change.

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El Salvador --> Honduras
Dogs/pets: just wanted to add that you have to go to SEPA which is right next door from migracion. They take the health check seriously (they actually DO look at your dog haha..) Bring recent health certificate and proof of vaccinations. You don't need copies, they copy everything on the spot. You need the forms you get when exiting Honduras and going to Nicaragua. It takes about 30 minutes and costs the equivalent of $20 in lempiras, you can pay by card. They were very friendly, we were offered coffee while waiting :)

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Same experience as improbablyadventuring, except El Salvador asked for a copy of the TIP. Parked on the ramp next to the outbound migracion building across from the banco. Very smooth , if slow

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Honduras to El Salvador with a motorcycle. Smooth but slow border crossing. When exiting Honduras ask for a copy of the cancelled TIP, you'll need this to pass the checkpoint and get the TIP for El Salvador. The Honduran aduana told me I didn't need it but he was wrong, I had to turn around at the checkpoint and go back for it.

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El Salvador —> Honduras. We were crossing with friends, so the time took a bit longer than it would’ve otherwise. We enjoyed the crossing and met a lot of really nice people.
The El Salvador side was 8-8:55 am on a Saturday. No trucks to drive past.
First, checkpoint guard. Evidently we were supposed to get a stamp, but didn’t. We’ll get back to that.
Parked, then met nice Aduana guy who inspected the inside of our habitat and Jeep, then said that was all he needed.
On to Migración. We presented our passports and got a small white paper each.
There was a problem with Eric. Though he had his passport stamp, he wasn’t in the El Sal computer system. They fixed it.
Back to Aduana because we knew we weren’t actually done. Eric had to walk back to the checkpoint and get that stamp. Back at the window, we showed our original TIP and our photocopy. They signed the copy and entered stuff in the system.
Leaving in our Jeep, we handed over those little white papers we got with our passports.

On to Honduras.
Parking was a chore because it was really congested with trucks, but they moved a motorcycle and made a spot for us to park on the side of the road.
Banco first, which is actually the health office.
The lady checked our vaccine records (needed original passports) and gave us a paper each, which was never requested at migración. We also learned that kids two and up need a COVID test if they aren’t vaccinated.
Back to the first blue building, which says instituto nacional de migracion on the outside.
Presented passports.
They took our fingerprints and took a photo of each of us.
We paid 75 lempiras per person at migration (can also pay $3 USD). We learned this is a tax that would be included in your plane ticket if you were flying in.
Everyone was so nice and one staff member spoke a little English.
Back in vehicle and drove to last blue building.
This part took an hour and a half to get our TIP, which was almost all the guy filling out the computer and physical forms.
We had to provide the driver’s passport, vehicle title, and copies of both, plus our El Salvador TIP.
Finished at 10:55 am
There was no one in front of us in Honduras at any of those steps.

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El Salvador --> Honduras .
Exactly as it's described really smooth and helpful people in both side. 20min in Salvador and 1h10 in Honduras. First Aduana in Salvador, after immigration, for the exit, they give you a paper that you will give it ib the Frontera itself.
After stop at health point first, they check vaccination. It's better if you enter in the prechequeo before they will just check that. After immigration,they asked lots of question and finally aduana. Nice people each time, very friendly and smooth

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Exit El Salvador. Aduana or Migration first it doesn't matter. Aduana seems to be closed between noon and 1pm. Straightforward, no fees.

Enter Honduras. You first have to go to the Salud office on the right past Migration, which isn't really marked so ask for it. They'll check your vaccination record and the health declaration you filled out online (You don't need to bring anything, they look it up based on your passport number). Since my 2nd dose was over 9 months ago (I'm not sure if the cutoff is 9 or 6) they required that I get a Pfizer booster on the spot, which i wasn't really happy with because the only proof was a handwritten post it note with a stamp. They give you a piece of paper which you take to immigration along with your prechequeo. They ask a million questions and do a full fingerprint. pay $3 here and they give you a stamped receipt and stamp your passport.

Then drive to Aduana, which is pretty straightforward. I paid 780 lempiras for the importation of the bike, which I'm not sure is based on the value (lie and say its cheaper just in case). And that's it! the whole process only took about an hour and a half

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By moto:
- 3 hours
- 3$ + 781 lempiar
- No precheque made before. Nobody asked

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Update on the procedure going from El Salvador to Honduras: Total time about 3 hours, 1 hour in El Salvador and 2 in Honduras. Arrived at 9:30 and left 12:00 just before lunchtime (the woman in the aduana office was already talking about lunch with her colleagues while doing or paperwork).

We didn't need any copy of any document, only originals. We did fill out the prechequeo (and had it printed out) as well as the health form online, but nobody ever asked for it. Not sure if it would have helped to mention it or if it would just confuse everyone.

1a. Checking out the car from El Salvador: An Aduana office will stop you before the main building, will check your VIN, License Plate and briefly the interior of your van. You get a stamp on your TIP.
1b. He told us to wait in line with the trucks for the final sticker and stamp, even though tourists should go to the left side of the building. No discussion helped so we waited in line with the trucks.
1c. After 30 minutes we arrived at the booth and needed to put our original TIP into an "air post" tube and send it to the office (Enviar button). Took 5 minutes, came back and we needed to sign with Name, Passport Number and signature. Send it back again, get a copy with an original sticker and stamp. That's all for the car.

2a. Checking out yourself: Drive past the main building and park somewhere, go back to immigration (they have a separate entrance for Salidas). Hand over passport and TIP, get everything back and a little paper.
2b. Drive further, get stopped by immigration officer. Hand over passport and little paper (will be thrown away). For some reason get your temperature checked.

3. Entering Honduras: Health Check
Drive a bit further, park somewhere. Go to the small office next to the official immigration "Entrada". Show test or vaccination, get a little paper with your information. For some reason they asked for a yellow fever vaccination as well, we had it so no problem. But we know of other friends that crossed without it a week earlier without problems. Maybe check yourself if it's needed.
4. Honduras Immigration: Go to the immigration "Entrada" next door, get a stamp in your passport, pay $3 pP (with receipt), get asked a lot of questions (everything they ask for in the prechequeo online, but they never asked us for the prechequeo...), provide fingerprints of right hand (about 20 minutes)
5. Aduana to get TIP for Honduras: Drive a bit further up to the building next to the yellow barge. This took the longest, but very friendly woman and professional. Hand over the El Salvadorian TIP and the owners passport. This way they can copy everything over. She will fill out everything, you just need to check that the info is correct. You can pay directly in cash here, ours was 531+135 Lempiras. No dollars accepted, so I needed to go back a bit to find someone to exchange money. Shouldn't be a problem though. Luckily we didn't need to go to a bank to pay.
6. Leave border zone: an officer at the barge will check your TIP papers and hand them back. Drive a bit further to a "Frontera" border police checkpoint, they will want to see your passport and stamps and maybe ask a few questions about the car. Friendly and quick though as soon as we mentioned that we are tourists and the van is a casa rodante (although he didn't understand the term at first).

Done! Relatively straight forward border, but slow. Not sure if we were just unlucky to end up in the truck lane, but the rest went smooth.

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As described. A fairly straight forward process with very helpful officials to direct you where to go. We crossed from El Salvador to Honduras, and we didn’t need any copies of our paperwork (other than a hard copy of our covid tests). No fees while leaving El Salvador, $3 USD fee at the Honduras Immigration office & a $35 USD fee for vehicle permit at Honduras Customs. No bank needed - they accepted USD. Arrived at 16:30 and were through at 18:30. No passport stamps, only a paper slip/receipt at Honduras immigration.
Process goes:
1) El Salvador Aduana
2) El Salvador Immigration
3) Honduras Immigration
4) Honduras Aduana

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Honduras to San Salvador

easy crossing 2h in total including the aduana system being down for 25min and including getting Sim Cards at first tienda out of the border permises

no cost at any point

El Salvador agents kept asking for the Hondurian TIP or some other hondurian car paper which is crazy because all hondurian car paper the Honduran agent kept to himself. Just keep going on with Migracion first and then aduana.

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Crossed from Honduras into El Salvador with motorcycle. Easiest crossing so far in Central America. No fees and no helpers around (or needed). Total time 90 minutes - most of that because of a short queue to get the new TIP. This was a Saturday mid-morning. Note the road on the Honduras side leading to this border is very poor - definitely not one to do late in the day.

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Honduras customs is a couple hundred meters from the border by the swing arm gate. After paperwork you drive back to the border where the bank is, pay your fee, then turn around once more and go back to aduana. Fee only in cash, lempiras. our truck was 780 L

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Took us 3 hours to cross into Honduras today. Firstly we queued behind a coach load who had just arrived before us at immigration so that took just over an hour.
Then we managed to pick the slowest staff member at Aduana, he took 45 minutes to fill in his paperwork. When I arrived at the bank it had just closed for lunch. 30 minute lunch break took 45.
The border may be open 24/7? The bank is open Monday - Friday 08.30 - 12.00 & 12.30 - 16.30 and Saturday 08.30 - 12.00. If you arrive when the bank is closed????

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As described by Señor Sep. 2hs in total. Tip took time buy woman was nice. You can only pay with Honduras money that you can easily get in street. They also asked us for yellow fever vaccine

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From El Salvador into Honduras:

We arrived early on a Saturday morning (07:30 am) which didn't seem to be the best time. There were lots of people crossing by foot so it was quite crowded.

We were told the border was open 24/7 but can't confirm that.

Exiting El Salvador:
1) Car
At the entrance of the border zone a guy from the aduana waved us to stop. He asked us if we had a copy of the vehicle import paper which we didn't. The fotocopiadora was still closed so he gave our TIP to a guy on a bicycle who came back a few minutes later with two copies. We paid 0,25 Cents. The aduana guy took us to a small container-building right next to the street. We got a stamp and a sticker at one of the copies and the original TIP doc was kept.

2) Persons
To exit El Salvador we parked the car somewhere within the border zone. It was quite busy with local shops and cars. We went into the immigration building at the left hand side entering the border zone. We had to queue for a bit. They checked our entry stamps into Guatemala.

Entering Honduras:
1) Persons
We left the car where it was and walked to the Immigration building for Honduras. Don't queue in the lines for the C4 citizens (except you are) in front of windows at the outside. Pass the Line on the right into a small office with two desks. There you pay 3USD pP, get a stamp and a small paper with your entry data. You also get a receipt for the entry fee.

2) Car
The aduana for the car import is on the left of the exit barrier into Honduras (see coordinates of the iO spot). You can walk.
The guy there wanted to get our second copy of the El Salvador TIP and a copy of the drivers passport and the vehicle registration. He filled out a form with our data, checked the VIN and the licence plate.
He gave us some docs. With that we went to the bank on the left almost back at the immigration building (it has red signs on it). We paid 35 USD in Lempiras. We had changed the money on the street for a good rate but in the bank they also had a sign about changing rates so you can probably get Lempiras there aswell. On Saturday s the bank opens at 08:30.
With the docs from the bank we walked back to the aduana. He gave us a TIP doc and stamped the driver's passport. Check them for he didn't copy our VIN correctly!

Then you can go back to your car. The guy at the barrier checked our TIP and we drove into Honduras!!!

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Did it today, from Honduras to El Salvador
(french passports, car registrated in Québec, Canada)
1*) Aduanas Honduras, on the right hand side (don't hesitate to pass the stopped trucks). We had our temporary import permit cancelled (mandatory if you leave the country according to the officer, even if you plan to come back later).
2*) Immigration office Honduras. Close to the Pollolandia, just before the actual border. Here you get your exit stamp
3*) Immigration office El Salvador. 100m after the border, in a big building. Here you have your entrance in the country registered (no stamp in the passport, no fee)
4*) El Salvador customs (Aduanas) a little bit after the migration office. Here you hand your application for the temporary import permit, an officer checks your car, and then gives you the permit (no fee).
Took us two hours on a friday, starting at 11 am (easy crossing, but lot of trucks so a little bit of waiting is to be expected)

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The coordinates are for the TIP for Honduras. On El Salvador side took 20 minutes to cancel their TIP - you need a copy as well as original. Then you go through barrier to immigration where they give you a receipt to leave the country. Honduras immigration takes your fingerprints and photo and stamps your passport. Cost $3ea. TIP for Honduras is right before their barrier on left. Need passport, copy of title, registration and your license; TIP goes in one person's name. Cost is $35 which you pay at bank after paperwork is done, then come back with receipt. This part took only about a half hour. As bank was not open on Sundays, we paid right at Aduana but had to pay $38 not $35 but we had no lineup or wait. Woman seemed to know what she was doing too. She did not come out to vehicle at all. Whole process took less than 1.5 hours.

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Easy check out and check in. We didn't need any copies nowhere.

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Our experience of crossing from Honduras to El Salvador at El Poy on 17th May 2016 with a motorcycle. Includes GPS coordinates and photos. http://www.tiger800rtw.com/?p=1298

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El Salvador into Honduras Leaving El Salvador was quick and easy. The Aduana officer canceled our import permit without even looking at the car, passports or drivers registration. Immigration honduras was quick and officers very friendly (3 US fee and you will get a receipt). When we went to a different building for the import permit, the guy there did not know what to do. Took him a while of walking around looking confused to figure things out asking us where the vin number etc. is and once he got his phone call things seemed to start coming together. It was probably the first time for him dealing with this case. After a while he passed all the paper stuff to another person to finish it. After that was done we needed to go to the bank down the street to pay the fee for our minivan (598.70 + 135 lps), but unfortunately the bank was closed. So we waited. The bank only takes lempiras. But if you have american they will gladly direct you to the scalper that will trade you for lempira.Total time 2 h 45 min.If you cross here you might wanna plan some extra time. There is also just a one lane bridge right at the crossing so you might get stuck waiting, but be sure to pass all the semis and wait at the front by the bridge and push through as soon as you can.

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crossing from El Salvador to Honduras:
-felt safe and not too busy, mainly truck driver there - not a single "helper" so it was relax
-same routine as mentioned before
-for dog: go to the quarantina ( little yellow house next to the honduras douana),show the papers (vaccination certificate, health certificate in Spanish at least) and give a copy of all of it plus your passport, pay $us11.50 or 250Lempira for the permit ( apparently it will be valid all the way to Panama..)
-we paid $3pp for the entry (you pay with $) and around 750L ($32) for the vehicle permit ( payable at the bank in Lempira, you can change your us$ in the street for good rates)-the all process took about 2 hours because the computer was bugging and was lunch time, should be a bit faster in normal time)
was an easy border but as usual some papers works to do!

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Crossed the border february 2015 from El Salvador into Honduras.

Exit El Salvador:
- First Aduana, 5 minutes if all your paperwork is in order. No costs. Just hand over the Temporary Importpermit and they'll cancel it.
- Then Immigration. Again, they just check you out of the system. No stamps in passport, only at airports and seaports (CA4).

Import Honduras:
- First Immigration: 3$ pp entry tax, receipt is handed over.
- Then Aduana for the motorcycles. Takes almost 2 hours. Get the paperwork done, then go and pay the fees at the bank (L712 per motorcycle = 35$) and then back to Aduana. Needs 2 copies of everything. 

NO KIDS or HELPERS at this border. They didn't see another tourist with his own vehicle for months...

www.wanderingsouls.be

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