Bahamas or Guatemala
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| Bahamas | Guatemala | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 10 years | 5 years |
| Partner can work | yes | yes |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | difficult | no trouble |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | no | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 1 826 · estimate | $ 976 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 58,0 | $ 35,7 |
| Life expectancy | 74.71 | 72.75 |
| Homicides/100k | 29.9 | 22.76 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 3.5 | 5.8 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Bahamas — 17, Guatemala — 17. Types present in both: work, study, family, investment and retirement. Bahamas adds: repatriation. Guatemala adds: remote work and talent.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Bahamas: fees range from 200 to 25,000 BSD. Routes with a published decision deadline: 17; the shortest is 28 days. Guatemala: fees range from 25 to 700 USD. Routes stating an income threshold: 3; the lowest is 1,250 USD a month.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: Bahamas with no residence period, Guatemala after 5 years. Citizenship: Bahamas after 10 years, Guatemala after 5 years.
Bahamas in brief
The Bahamas is an archipelago of more than 700 islands and cays southeast of Florida; the economy rests on tourism and the offshore financial sector. There is no personal income tax — the main budget revenue comes from VAT and customs duties (Department of Inland Revenue, inlandrevenue.finance.gov.bs). Permanent residence is available through the Economic Permanent Residence Certificate for an investment of $1.0 million or more in real estate or Central Bank of The Bahamas bonds, with no requirement for time resident in the country (Section 17A of the Immigration Act), or through long-term retention of a work permit (10–20 years depending on category). The cost of living is among the highest in the Caribbean: renting a one-bedroom flat in central Nassau exceeds $1,380 a month (livingcost.org, 2026). The country lies in an active tropical cyclone zone (season June–November, INFORM risk 7.4 out of 10, 2026): Hurricane Dorian in September 2019 nearly destroyed Marsh Harbour on Abaco and caused serious damage to Freeport on Grand Bahama.
Guatemala in brief
The Migration Code (Decree 44-2016) divides foreigners into tourists, temporary residents — for work, study, investment, science, or the arts, for up to five years with renewal — and permanent residents. Rentista and pensionado are an exception to the general logic: income from abroad grants permanent residence directly, bypassing the temporary stage (article 78(e)). Naturalisation takes five years of continuous residence under the general route (Nationality Law, Decree 1613, article 33), with an exam in Spanish and an oath requiring formal renunciation of prior citizenship; people born in other countries of the former Federal Republic of Central America obtain status as a Guatemalan by origin through the separate equiparación mechanism, without such renunciation, and Spaniards keep both citizenships under the bilateral nationality convention of 1961. Bringing in dogs and cats requires no quarantine or antibody titre testing provided rabies vaccination is current. Population and business activity are concentrated in the capital agglomeration around Guatemala City and Mixco, while the tourist flow goes to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Antigua Guatemala, to Lake Atitlán near Panajachel, and to the western-highlands cultural centre of Quetzaltenango. The country lies in a seismically active region with several active volcanoes near populated areas and one of the highest rates of violent crime in Latin America.
Other comparisons
Bahamas or… Panama · Costa Rica · Peru · Ecuador · Trinidad and Tobago · El Salvador · Cuba · Guyana
Guatemala or… Honduras · Nicaragua · Belize · Bolivia · Colombia · Greenland · Jamaica · Dominican Republic
More on each: Bahamas · Guatemala. Build your own comparison — up to four countries
This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.