Rules for visitors

The law applies to everyone

The laws of Coral Island apply to everyone on the island, in its waters and in its airspace, whether you are a citizen, a resident or a visitor (section 3 of the Criminal Code Ordinance 2026).

The laws of Los Santos and of the State of San Andreas do not apply here. Something that is lawful in Los Santos may be an offence on the island, and a licence or permit issued in Los Santos may have no effect here.

Not knowing the law is no excuse. This page summarises the rules that matter most to visitors. It is a guide, not the law: where the two differ, the law applies. Every ordinance is published in full on the laws page.

The new laws described on this page come into force on 1 October 2026. No one is punished under them for anything done before that date (section 4).

Your visa and your status

• Keep your visa number with you. Immigration officers and officers of the Coral Island Police Service may check your status at any time (section 9 of the Immigration and Citizenship Ordinance 2026).
• When an officer reasonably suspects an offence, you must give your name, your address and proof of your status on the island if asked (section 17 of the Police Service Ordinance 2026).
• A tourist visa or a business visa does not permit you to work. Work on the island needs a work visa tied to your employer.
• A visa belongs to one person. It cannot be lent to or used by anyone else.

What not to bring

Do not bring any of these to Coral Island:

• a prohibited weapon of any kind, including automatic firearms, sawn-off shotguns, sound moderators, stun weapons and knuckle-dusters (Schedule 1 to the Firearms and Ammunition Ordinance 2026)
• a firearm or ammunition, unless an import permit covers it. Every firearm and all ammunition must be declared on arrival (sections 31 and 32 of the Firearms and Ammunition Ordinance 2026)
• any controlled drug, including cannabis. It makes no difference that you bought it lawfully in Los Santos (section 4 of the Misuse of Drugs Ordinance 2026)

The full list, with what needs a licence and where you may not go, is in restrictions at a glance.

Firearms

A firearms licence or permit issued in Los Santos, or anywhere else outside Coral Island, is not valid on the island (section 7 of the Firearms and Ammunition Ordinance 2026). A holder of a tourist visa or a business visa cannot hold a firearm certificate.

A visitor aged 21 or over may use a shotgun or a rifle only for target shooting at a licensed range or for lawful hunting, under a visitor's firearm permit sponsored by a licensed range or dealer. The permit lasts up to 14 days and never beyond your visa. Handguns are not allowed on a visitor's permit (section 33).

Without a permit, a visitor may shoot only at a licensed range, using the range's own firearms, under the direct supervision of a range officer (regulation 11 of the Firearms Regulations 2026).

If you arrive with a firearm or ammunition, you must declare it at once to a police officer, an immigration officer or the Harbour Master and deliver it, unloaded, to the Police station, Puerto Coral. It is held there until a permit covering it is produced or it is taken off the island again (section 32).

No firearm, ammunition or prohibited weapon may be carried on a scheduled passenger flight between Sandy Shores Airfield and Coral Island Airfield (section 34).

Read weapons and firearms for knives, other weapons and the places where firearms are never allowed.

Drugs

Coral Island controls drugs in three classes (Schedule 1 to the Misuse of Drugs Ordinance 2026):

It is an offence to bring a controlled drug to the island or take one away, to produce, supply or possess one, or to grow cannabis. The maximum penalties run from a fine to imprisonment for life for importing or supplying a Class A drug (Schedule 2).

Cannabis is a controlled drug here even if you bought it lawfully in Los Santos. An adult found with no more than 28 grams for their own use may be given a penalty notice of $500 instead of being prosecuted, no more than twice in 180 days (section 18). Larger amounts, any other drug, or a further occasion lead to prosecution.

A drug supplied by, or on the prescription of, a medical practitioner of the Island Health Clinic for your treatment is lawful (section 14).

Alcohol

• You must be 18 or over to buy alcohol. It is an offence to sell alcohol to anyone under 18 or to buy it for them (section 10 of the Liquor Licensing Ordinance 2026).
• Alcohol may be sold only by premises holding a premises liquor licence, or at an event held under an event permit that allows it (section 4).
• Licensed premises must not serve anyone who is drunk.
• The Minister may declare alcohol-free zones by notice in the Gazette. In a zone an officer may require you to stop drinking and hand the alcohol over (section 14).
• Being drunk and disorderly in a public place is an offence, and may be dealt with by a penalty notice of $500.
• Firearms are not allowed in premises licensed for drinking on the premises while they are open.

Driving

• You may drive on the island with a valid driving licence for the vehicle issued by the Los Santos authorities or the authorities of any other state. Coral Island does not issue driving licences (section 3 of the Road Traffic Ordinance 2026).
• Keep to the right-hand side of the road.
• The speed limit is 50 kilometres an hour in Puerto Coral and at Coral Island Airfield, and 80 kilometres an hour elsewhere, unless a sign shows otherwise (section 5).
• The drink-driving limit is 0.05 per cent blood alcohol (section 9). An officer may require a breath test, and failing to provide one without reasonable excuse carries the same penalty as driving over the limit (section 10).
• Do not drive on a beach, in the Salt Pond Wildlife Reserve, or on any other land that is not a road without the owner's permission (section 12).
• Racing on a road is an offence, except at an event held under an event permit on a closed road.
• If you are involved in an accident that causes injury or damage, stop, give your name, help, and report it to the Police Service within 24 hours.

Dangerous driving and driving over the limit can lead to imprisonment and to disqualification from driving on Coral Island.

Behaviour in public

Sexual activity is lawful only between consenting adults in private premises, such as a home or a hotel room that cannot be seen into from outside. It is an offence anywhere else: in a vehicle, on a street or a beach, in a park or a car park, or anywhere it can be seen from a public place (section 3 of the Public Decency and Nuisances Ordinance 2026). A vehicle, vessel or aircraft is never private premises (section 2).

It is also an offence in a public place to:

• be naked
• be drunk and disorderly
• use threatening, abusive or disorderly words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress
• drop litter or dump rubbish
• write graffiti or put up posters without the owner's consent

Amplified noise that can be heard in a public place or a neighbouring home between 23:00 and 07:00 is an offence unless an event permit allows it, and the equipment may be seized (section 8). Causing unnecessary suffering to an animal is an offence at any time.

Many of these minor offences may be dealt with by a penalty notice of $250 or $500. Paying it is not a conviction.

The reef and wildlife

The fringing reef around the island and the waters within 200 metres of it form the Reef Line Protected Area. Mangrove Bay Marine Park and the Salt Pond Wildlife Reserve are also protected areas (Reef and Marine Parks (Protected Areas) Order 2026).

• Moor only at Puerto Coral harbour, the north jetty at Northpoint Landing or the Mangrove Bay visitor moorings.
• Never anchor on the reef, or anywhere in a protected area except on a fixed mooring.
• Do not damage or remove coral, and do not take fish or shellfish in a protected area unless a notice allows it (paragraph 3).
• Follow the directions of the reef wardens and the Harbour Master.
• During the coral spawning season, from 1 October to 30 November 2026, further restrictions apply (GN 8/2026).

Anchoring in a protected area other than on a fixed mooring may be dealt with by a penalty notice of $1,000. Before you go out on the water, take the Reef Pledge.

Protected places

From 1 October 2026 these are protected places under the Protected Places and Restricted Areas Ordinance 2026 (GN 20/2026):

• Government House, Puerto Coral, with its grounds and helipad
• the Government Complex, Puerto Coral
• Coral Control and every installation of the Coral Island Defence Force
• Coral Island Airfield beyond the passenger terminal: the runway, taxiways, apron and control facilities
• the Police station, Puerto Coral
• the berths of Coastguard Command at Puerto Coral harbour

You may use the public parts while they are open: the public counter and the border desk at Government House, the public counters at the Government Complex, and the front office and the firearms counter at the Police station. Anywhere else you need the permission of an authorised officer, and you may be searched as a condition of entry (section 4).

Do not fly a drone within 500 metres of a protected place, or over an area cordoned off by the police or the Defence Force, without permission (section 7). Do not cross a police or Defence Force cordon without permission (section 6).

Ordinary photography is not an offence. Recording a defence installation for a purpose prejudicial to the safety of Coral Island is.

Anyone who lands on the island without clearance must report at once to the border desk at Government House (section 10 of the Border Security and Airspace Ordinance 2026).

The police

The Coral Island Police Service keeps the peace and enforces the laws of Coral Island. No police officer of Los Santos or of any other state has any power on the island unless the Commissioner authorises it in writing (section 7 of the Police Service Ordinance 2026).

• An officer may stop and search you or your vehicle only on reasonable grounds to suspect that you are carrying stolen property, a controlled drug, an unlawful firearm or ammunition, a prohibited or offensive weapon, or an article for theft, burglary or damage (section 8).
• Before searching, the officer must give their name, their station and the reason. You may ask for a copy of the record of the search.
• An officer who is not in uniform must show a warrant card before using a power.
• You must stop a vehicle or vessel when an officer in uniform tells you to.
• An officer may direct you to leave an area and not return for up to 24 hours if your behaviour has caused, or is likely to cause, harassment, alarm, distress or crime.

Resisting or obstructing an officer is an offence (section 54 of the Criminal Code Ordinance 2026).

To complain about an officer, go first to the Commissioner of the Coral Island Police Service at the Police station, Puerto Coral, or use the complaints service and choose the Ministry of Health and Public Safety. If you are not satisfied with the answer, you may take the complaint to the Complaints Commissioner.

If you are arrested

If you are arrested you have the right (section 11 of the Courts and Criminal Procedure Ordinance 2026):

• to be told that you are under arrest and why, as soon as practicable
• to be told that you need not say anything
• to consult a legal practitioner in private
• to have one person told where you are
• to an interpreter and to medical attention
• to be treated humanely

Nothing you say because of force, threats or inducements can be used in evidence.

You must be released, charged or brought before a magistrate within 24 hours of your arrest. A magistrate may extend that once, by up to 24 hours (section 12). If you are charged and not given bail, you must be brought before a magistrate as soon as practicable, and in any event within 48 hours.

You have a right to bail unless the court has substantial grounds to refuse it. Bail may carry conditions, including living at a stated address, reporting to the police, surrendering your travel documents and not leaving Coral Island (section 16).

Read more about courts and justice.

The most serious crimes

Murder and treason are capital offences on Coral Island. A court may pass a sentence of death or of imprisonment for life for them (section 19 of the Criminal Code Ordinance 2026). No other offence carries the death penalty, and death is never a mandatory sentence.

A sentence of death can be passed only after a trial before a judge and a jury of 7 in the Island Court, with a unanimous verdict and a legal practitioner for the accused, at public expense if necessary. Every such sentence must be referred to the Court of Appeal, whether or not the condemned person appeals. If the Court affirms it, the President decides whether to exercise the power of mercy after taking the advice of an independent committee. How capital cases work.

Other grave offences, such as manslaughter, robbery, kidnapping, rape, terrorist acts and importing or supplying a Class A drug, carry a maximum of imprisonment for life.

If you break the law

• Minor offences may be dealt with by a penalty notice. You pay a fixed penalty within 14 days or ask to be tried instead. Paying is not a conviction (Penalty Notices Regulations 2026).
• Other offences are tried in the Magistrates' Court or, if they are serious, in the Island Court. Fines are set on a standard scale of seven levels, from $250 at level 1 to $25,000 at level 7. On conviction on indictment in the Island Court a fine has no maximum.
• A court may sentence you to imprisonment. There is not yet a prison on Coral Island: prisoners are held in places of custody designated by the Minister, which may be in Los Santos under arrangements with the Los Santos authorities (section 47 of the Courts and Criminal Procedure Ordinance 2026).
• If you are not a citizen and you are convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment, the court may recommend that you be removed from the island and banned from entry. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship decides (section 32).
• An immigration officer or a police officer may remove from the island a person whose conduct warrants it. Removal revokes every visa you hold and brings an entry ban of 30 days. The Department may impose a longer ban, with a written reason (section 6 of the Immigration and Citizenship Ordinance 2026).