The Repatriación Benefit: Forms & Worksheets

If you're Salvadoran by birth or naturalization and moving to El Salvador, the 2025 diaspora law lets you bring your household goods (up to $100,000), up to two vehicles, and the tools of your trade without paying import duties or taxes. This page keeps the official documents and status current for Chapter 7.

In the book: Chapter 7

The chapter walks you through using the benefit, start to finish:

• Who qualifies, including children and grandchildren born abroad
• The one thing to say at the airport so you don't miss your chance on day one
• Which cars qualify, and the age rule that surprises hybrid owners
• How to declare work tools without them being treated as inventory
• How close our own household came to the $100,000 cap

In the book: Chapter 13

The chapter covers the shipping side of the move:

• How to read a shipping quote line by line, and what it can leave out
• When to book, and why to pack your suitcases for six weeks
• What US Customs needs before your car can leave the country
• What happens when customs gives your container a red light
• What a 40-foot container with a car really cost, line by line

Status (September 2026)

• The law: Decreto Legislativo No. 375, in effect since August 21, 2025.
• How long it lasts: the tax benefits run for five years, through August 2030.
• Customs rules: DACG No. DGA-011-2026, dated August 7, 2026, as modified (it replaced DACG-016-2025).

Official documents

• Beneficios para la diáspora: the customs agency's (DGA) overview.
• DACG No. DGA-011-2026 (PDF): the customs rules for the benefit, current version.
• The law, official text (PDF): Diario Oficial No. 148, Tomo 448, August 11, 2025, pages 19 to 45.
• Vehicle valuation: DGA's appraisal service.

All official documents are in Spanish.

Forms

• Declaración Jurada de Repatriación de Salvadoreños (code 188): signed in person with immigration (DGME).
• Anexo II (household goods) and Anexo III (work implements): the value worksheets. As of September 2026, DGA doesn't post them as separate downloads; ask your shipping company's customs broker or DGA for the current format.

Customs (DGA) contacts

Departamento de Atención al Usuario: phone 2244-5182, WhatsApp 7073-8768, [email protected] (as published in DACG-011-2026).

Restricted items (as of October 2026)

Some goods need a permit before they ship, even under the benefit:

• DGA: restricted and dangerous goods, with the agencies that issue permits
• US Commerce Department: El Salvador's prohibited and restricted imports (in English)
• Civil Aviation Authority (AAC): drones

Shipping links

• US Customs and Border Protection: exporting a vehicle
• Federal Maritime Commission: licensed shipping companies (search before you hire one)

If you're not Salvadoran

• Impuestos a pagar: DGA's explanation of import duties and IVA.
• Importación de Menaje de Casa: the household-goods process, including for pensionado and rentista residents.