Want to Live in Paraguay? How to Apply for Residency…

When we left NZ over a year ago we fully intended to live in Guatemala. We soon realized that it wasn’t our place. So we hit the road and travelled to Nicaragua. A stunning country, amazing beaches & scenery and we would have loved to have stayed there. But there were a few “challenges” , one of them being the residency/visa options. It soon dawned on us that Nicaragua wasn’t a good long term option either. That’s when we discovered Paraguay! We had already researched how to apply for residency before we left Nicaragua and were pleasantly surprised that the process seemed pretty straightforward and didn’t involve large sums of money. It looked promising.

The Residency Process

Paraguay recently changed its visa process. Previously you applied for permanent residency (with a USD deposit in to a Paraguayan bank). Now you apply for a two year temporary residency that you then renew to a permanent residency. We are NZ & Australian citizens so our requirements may differ to yours depending on your nationality. Here’s a link to the government information on the process https://www.migraciones.gov.py/index.php/tramites/residencia/residencia-temporal-por-la-ley-n-69842022 (in Spanish)

Within 90 days of the temporary residency visa expiring, you then apply for permanent residency that you renew every 10 years. Once your temporary residency is processed you apply for a cedula (cedula de identitad) which is the Paraguayan government identity card.

Document Requirements

When we left NZ we weren’t particularly organised and we didn’t have apostilled documents. with us. We ordered our documents while we were living in Nicaragua and had them couriered to Asuncion.

What we needed:

• Passport (make sure you have at least 6 months before expiry)
• Birth Certificate – apostilled
• Marriage Certificate – apostilled
• Police check from your home country or where you have lived for the past 3 years (for anyone over the age of 14 years) – apostilled

Your document requirements may differ, but these are the basic requirements. You also do need to be able to obtain a 90 day tourist visa to come to Paraguay to apply. The tourist visa application again varies dependent on your country of citizenship. The police check must be no older than six months validity.

Applying for Residency

Can you Put your Own Application In?

Personally, we wouldn’t recommend it unless you speak fluent Spanish!

If you would like a recommendation for an immigration lawyer please email us [email protected]

What Next?

Within three months of application, we will receive our temporary residency visa. Then we will apply for a cedula – we have already had our photo & fingerprints taken for this. This will arrive within three months of the application as well. We will also need to apply for a Paraguayan driver’s license once our temporary residency comes through.