North and Central America and Caribbean

Insurance

 

We recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling.  You should check any exclusions and that your policy covers you for the activities you want to undertake.  This includes cover for medical treatment and accidents and for unexpected losses such as cancelled flights, stolen cash, cards, passport or luggage.  For more general information see Travel Insurance.

If things do go wrong when you are oversees then this is How We Can Help.

Registration

Register with our LOCATE service to tell us when and where you are travelling abroad or where you live abroad so our consular and crisis staff can provide better assistance to you in an emergency.  More information about registering with LOCATE can be found here.
 

Consular Assistance

There is no British Embassy in Nicaragua.  The British Embassy in Costa Rica has overall responsibility for Nicaragua but you can contact the British Honorary Consul in Managua in the event of an emergency (see contact details below).

From 9 November 2009, applications for British passports should be sent to the UK Passport Service for the Americas & Caribbean in the British Embassy in Washington.  The British Embassy in Costa Rica will continue to issue Emergency Passports for people who need to travel urgently.

 

Passports should be left in a hotel safe/security box.  A photocopy of the personal details page should be carried for identification purposes.

 

All passport holders who wish to enter the US, either from or on the way to Nicaragua, under the Visa Waiver Programme must present an individual machine-readable passport and must have completed the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA): see the Entry Requirements section in the Travel Advice for the United States.  If you do not have a machine-readable passport you must obtain a non-immigrant visa from the nearest US Embassy prior to travel. 

Money

The American Dollar, either in cash or travellers’ cheques, is the only foreign currency, which is freely exchangeable in Nicaragua.  Banks do not exchange sterling.

 

You should avoid using street moneychangers, as there have been reports of assaults on people exchanging money in the streets.  

Contact Details - Honorary British Consul in Managua

Dr Jose Evenor Taboada

Address:  Apartado Postal (P O Box) 2382
Managua
Nicaragua

Telephone:  (00)(505) 2254 5454/3839
Facsimile:  (00)(505) 2254 5295
E-mail:  taboada@taboadalaw.com

Office hours:  Local:  09:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday
GMT:  15:00 to 19:00 and 21:00 to 00:00 Monday to Friday.