Lethem, Guyana - Bonfim, Brazil | Customs and Immigration

February 26th, 2024 by Radio Baobab

Everything still as described. Unfortunately we only got 14 days for our TIP (30 days on the visa)… they could not explain why they did that… but also refused to give us 30 days. Friendly but bureaucrqtic and non-sensical (Brasil to Guyana)

October 10th, 2023 by felixhagem

Exiting Guyana with a dog:
Exiting Guyana is a standard process. First go to the migration and get your exit stamp, after that hand in your TIP at the customs. Process to cancel the TIP seems to be a bit more time consuming in Guyana but nothing major.

Exit permit for your dog:
You have to get the exit permit at the GLDA in Guyana. At the border you go to the GLDA office (same building as migration and customs, just ask for directions). There you hand in one copy of your exit permit. The officer took a photo of our dog (as they also did when entering from Suriname) and after that you're good to go.
If we did not actively tell them that we have a dog, we could have exited without the permit as they did not check our car.

October 7th, 2023 by ronaldrooij

Going from Guyana to Brazil. Avoid lunchtime: customs is closed between 12:00-14:00.
So we arrived at 12:15 en were ready at 14:20. Very friendly people although.

September 26th, 2023 by puser2074

TIP extremely slow delivery, wait for some kind of authorization after having handed in all papers and the official having verified and taken pictures of all of them. Waiting time about 1h30 for this alone.

May 22nd, 2023 by andarengonaestrada

Primeiro nós fomos ao consulado da Guiana em Boa Vista para solicitar a autorização, que pode demorar de um a três dias.

É preciso carimbar o passaporte na saída do Brasil, mesmo sendo brasileiro.

Após o carimbo dos passaportes na entrada da Guiana, é preciso fazer o seguro do carro ou motor home , tirar 2 cópias e voltar na aduana.

Só aceitam dólar guiano para o seguro.

Enfim ficamos uma manhã toda em função dos papéis.

October 19th, 2022 by TalesInVan

So follow the last comment of averylonghoneymoon but cross finger to be with a good custom guy !
We didn't have the chance, 2 people from the consulate of Guyana stamped us our passport and let us try to find a solution, we meet fortunately a guy who drove us to the Brazil consulate of Lethem (super nice people). They told us also we need to go back and they asked the consulate of boa vista what can we do. He didn't know either, said he will send us a cab with the authorisation but fortunately we knew that when you have a foreign car you don't need it. So we went to the town hall directly and they told us that we need the insurance and after that the Guyana Revene authority gave us the TIP to enter the country.
So don't listen to them at the border if they told you, you need an authorisation, you don't need it (Brazilian vehicle yes). Go directly after the passport stamp to the insurance near the bank and after that go to the guyana revenue authority and get back one original of the TIP stamp at the border.

September 23rd, 2022 by A very long Honeymoon

From Brazil to Guyana:
Nothing special needed, no one asked for Covid or yellow fever vaccination or test. Have title, passport, driver license copies ready for Guyana TIP, else you need to make them in town.

1. Hand in TIP in the left building where they have a military check point. Will get a signed out copy back.
2. Drive a bit further, get passport stamped.
3. Drive into Guyana, after the switch to left-hand drive, stop at the first building. Get your passport stamped. At the aduana next to the migration desk, say you need the TIP.
4. They will guide you into town to the TIP office and will tell you to get insurance first (still same iOverlander insurance point). Insurance was 3000GYD/month, they said Suriname can only be added in Georgtown.
5. You go back to TIP office, they make the tip and you have to go back to the border to get it stamped

-->IMPORTANT: Be very nice and explain them that you would like to explore the region a bit and if they only could give you a bit more than 3 days. They were clear that they normally give only 3 days and in Georgetown you have to renew, but when we explained them everything nicely they did do their magic and we had 14 days to Georgetown. The system is supposed to change in the coming months, giving you automatically more than 3 days.
Nobody checked or asked for fruits/veggies/alcohol.

December 8th, 2019 by It's not a slow car, it's a fast house

Correction- There is a procedure for entering Guyana with pets. The person was gone when we crossed and this caused a big hassle when exiting to Suriname. Must show vaccines and pet passport. Must scan for a chip. Will pay a fee and get a form. The form needs to be filed in Georgetown with Livestock Authority. Keep all copies to present upon exit.

December 8th, 2019 by It's not a slow car, it's a fast house

Exit Brazil on Sunday, cannot get TIP cancelled before 1:00pm. Entering Guyana, cannot purchase required insurance until Monday.
After you buy insurance make two copies of it and registration, license, passport before getting TIP.

June 3rd, 2019 by carnetdepassage

when entering in Guyana, you need to get the insurance in town before coming back to the customs for the tip. only three days given here, and you can extend it in Georgetown.

July 20th, 2018 by Panamerican5050

A reminder that the insurance office is only open week days 9.00 to 4:30 and on Friday only until 3:30pm. Allow about 2.0 hours all up for Brazil to Guyana border crossing. We paid G$ 6000 for a Toyota 4Runner.

January 3rd, 2018 by Ride2Kite

Guyana exit in 5 min. TIP left at customs in the same building. Brazil entry equally in 5 min. No entry form needed. Immigration officers friendly, asked how long we want to stay. Said 60 days got full 90 days. Hurray! We had only 10 days left for Manaus and BR319 to Porto Velho now we can relax and go easy. Obviously they didn’t check our previous stays?! Don’t understand why but refused to ask 😀

December 25th, 2017 by sentidosenmovimiento.wixsite.com

if you are coming to Guyana, the inmigration will give to you just 3 day to arrive to Georgetown. but it those days finish un weekend or hollyday you'll have until the next working day.

warning. the road is extreamly bad, the worst that we've done includen the BR 319 from Manaus to Porto Velho. but we are not 4*4 and Made it, in 4 days driven slowly

June 19th, 2017 by anoukjonker

Insurance only accepts cash, we paid $3000 for our Land Rover Discovery for 1 week. We couldn't withdraw money from the bank with mastercard, they only accept visa. We also couldn't get a cash advance in the bank office, but they exchange reals/dollars/euros.

June 18th, 2017 by Tucks' Truck

Don't arrive to enter Brazil before 13:00 hrs on a Sunday!!! The guy with authority to issue TIPs doesn't work Sunday mornings and you have to wait for him. Once he arrived it still took him 45 mins to do the TIP (issued to expire on the date that our insurance expires). Immigration was quick. Having been in Brazil recently and used up 60 of our 90 days (no visa req'd for Brits) we understood that this time we should only get the remaining 30 days BUT he gave us a full 90 days again. Hurrah! Now we've got plenty of time to tackle the BR-319 😀

November 14th, 2016 by 4ever2wherever (Margriet & Jan)

We traveled from Guyana to Brazil. The Guyana side was busy and chaotic with people entering, but we got our exit stamp in 5 minutes. Nobody was interested in our TIP. Brazilian immigration was quick. We were asked how many days we wanted. When we said 60 one of us got it, the other got 26 (90 - the days already spent in Brazil during the last 6 months). We got 60 for the car (same as driver's passport). Customs was not very efficient and took about half an hour.

August 27th, 2014 by petersride.com

Entering Guyana from Bonfim, Brazil -

Step 1 - complete immigration forms and a short interview with official. Provide passport.

Step 2 - after a conversation with the officials, go into Lethem and purchase liability insurance in office above the GBTI bank. If you arrive after close of business, you will be allowed ride in Lethem, spend the night and return to the border the next day with proof of insurance.

Make copies of the following documents: passport, proof of vehicle ownership (ex. title), driver's license, vehicle registration for US riders (or alternate document which has the license plate number) and proof of insurance. Savannah Inn Supermarket has a copy machine.

Check with the officials to confirm which pages of your passport they need copied. Also confirm the number of copies required of each document. I forgot to make copies of the insurance paperwork and had to make a return trip to the copy center...wasted 30 minutes at least.

August 27th, 2014 by petersride.com

Additional info:

Savannah Inn offers clean and inexpensive lodging if you need to spend the night.

Apparently there are two banks in Lethem, GBTI and Republic. Both are national banks, without relationships to international banks, so withdrawing funds from your home bank via the ATM will not be possible. You might be able to withdraw funds from the ATM machines at GBTI using a Visa or MasterCard cash advance. The only bank I know of in Guyana supporting cash withdraw from a foreign bank via an ATM is the Scotia Bank in Georgetown. Plan ahead and acquire funds before leaving Brazil.

If you need anything special, then stock up before leaving Lethem. There are several small grocery stores, but not much until you reach Linden.