The full Paraguay residency guide. From boarding pass to cédula, country by country.

Step 0

Visa-free entry — who can fly in today.

Before residency, you need to enter Paraguay legally. This guide is for citizens who can enter without applying for a consular visa first.

Even if you'll later file for residency, you still need a Visa de Residencia. Citizens of visa-free countries can request it on arrival in Asunción (Visa de Arribo) or at the Foreign Ministry once you're on the ground as a tourist. Citizens whose nationality requires a tourist visa (notably China) must request the residency visa online via MRE before flying.

Visa-free for tourism (90 days)

Per Resolución 210/2023 and amendments, the following clusters can enter Paraguay visa-free as tourists:

• CIS Russia, Ukraine
• European Union Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Greece, Czech Republic, and others
• Americas United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Peru
• Asia & Middle East South Korea, Japan, Israel, United Arab Emirates

Need a tourist visa first

China, Cuba, India, most African countries. If you fall in this group the guide still applies — you just request the residency visa online before flying (see the China lane in Step 2).

Step 1

Land in Asunción, then file the Visa de Residencia at MRE.

After landing, your task is converting the tourist stamp into a right to file for residency.

Where to go

• Authority Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (MRE) — Dirección de Pasaportes y Servicios Consulares (DPSC)
• Address Eduardo Víctor Haedo 386, Asunción
• Hours 08:00 – 14:30 weekdays
• Phone (+595 21) 414-8771

What you do at MRE

You file an application for the Visa de Residencia on the basis that you are already in Paraguay legally as a tourist (or that you qualify for it from a visa-free country).

Visa fee — by nationality

• United States USD 160 10 years
• Canada USD 150 Passport validity
• Russia / Ukraine / EU USD 100 90 days

Paid on site. Validity above is for the residency visa itself; the actual TR/PR card runs longer (see Step 4).

Decision in 15 working days. The answer arrives by email.

China lane

If you carry a PRC passport.

PRC citizens can't enter visa-free, so the path runs through the consulate before you fly:

1. 01Apply online for the residency visa via the MRE portal: mre.gov.py/visas-comparecencia-new/.
2. 02Pick a Paraguayan consulate to collect the visa — Beijing, or a neighbouring country (Seoul is common).
3. 03Receive the visa stamp in your passport.
4. 04Fly to Paraguay with the residency visa already in hand.

Step 2

Document prep in your home country — by nationality.

The most common failure point of the whole process is documents going stale or apostilled wrong. Below is the by-country lane for the seven clusters that show up most often. Universal rule: every document must be issued in the last 3–6 months, translated into Spanish in Paraguay by a sworn translator (traductor público matriculado), and apostilled.

• RU Russia

  • Birth certificate

    Свидетельство о рождении

    Where: ZAGS at place of birth, or any MFC office.

    Apostille: Apostille on the original or on a notarised translation, at the regional ZAGS office.

  • Police clearance

    Справка о наличии (отсутствии) судимости

    Where: Gosuslugi portal (electronic, requires QES) or MVD.

    Apostille: Apostille only on the paper certificate from the MVD.

• UA Ukraine

  • Birth certificate

    Свідоцтво про народження

    Where: RAGS office. If yours is the old laminated form, request a duplicate on the green new-format blank — the old laminated certificates are not accepted.

    Apostille: Regional Ministry of Justice.

  • Police clearance

    Довідка про притягнення до кримінальної відповідальності, відсутність (наявність) судимості або обмежень

    Where: MVD service centre or the Diia app.

    Apostille: Same Ministry of Justice.

• EU European Union (Germany & France worked examples)

  • Birth certificate

    Geburtsurkunde (DE) · Acte de Naissance (FR)

    Where: Germany: international form. France: copy from the town hall of birth.

    Apostille: Germany: federal-state authority (Land). France: Cour d'appel of issuing region.

  • Police clearance

    Führungszeugnis (DE) · Extrait de casier judiciaire — Bulletin n°3 (FR)

    Where: Germany: online via Bundesamt für Justiz, posted to your address. France: online via casier-judiciaire.justice.gouv.fr.

    Apostille: Germany: Land authority. France: Cour d'appel.

• US United States

  • Police clearance (the key document)

    FBI Identity History Summary Check

    Where: Via an FBI-approved Channeler (24-hour turnaround) or directly at the FBI CJIS Division.

    Apostille: ONLY at the US State Department's Office of Authentications in Washington DC. State-level apostilles are NOT accepted by Paraguay.

  • Birth certificate

    State-issued Certificate of Live Birth

    Where: Department of Vital Records of the state of birth.

    Apostille: Secretary of State of that state.

• CA Canada

  • Police clearance

    RCMP Criminal Record Check (fingerprint-based)

    Where: Local police or an RCMP-accredited fingerprinting agency.

    Apostille: Global Affairs Canada — joining the Hague Convention pushed the timeline to 2–3 months. Start very early.

• SR MERCOSUR (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia)

  • Special preferential regime

    MERCOSUR residency framework

    Where: Either a clearance from your home country or the local Antecedentes para Extranjeros from the Paraguayan National Police.

    Apostille: TR is up to 2 years renewable, simpler paperwork than the standard track.

• CN China

  • Birth certificate

    出生医学证明 or 出生公证书 (notarised)

    Where: Notary office (公证处) in China — they also handle consular legalization.

    Apostille: China is not a Hague Convention apostille party for these purposes; documents go through consular legalization at a Paraguayan consulate.

Step 3

File the package in Asunción.

Once you're in Paraguay with the apostilled originals, you can run the local-document leg in roughly 5–7 working days.

Government offices you'll visit

• DNM (Migraciones) Av. Caballero c/ Manuel Domínguez — main DNM office, where the residency package is filed.
• Identificaciones (cédula) Av. Boggiani y R.I.2 Ytororó — Departamento de Identificaciones de la Policía Nacional.
• Interpol Asunción Inside the National Police complex — Interpol clearance is mandatory for every applicant aged 18+.

Procedure & fees

• Local certificates Interpol, National Police antecedentes, Vida y Residencia, medical exam — all done in dedicated Asunción offices over 1–3 days.
• DNM filing fee Gs. 892,016 (eight jornales) for Residencia Espontánea u Ocasional.
• Cédula issuance ≈ Gs. 10,000 (~ USD 1.5).
• Cédula production time 1–2 weeks. Your TR is already active during this wait.

MigraMóvil mobile sessions (2026 schedule on migraciones.gov.py) compress the residency + cédula combo to under 5 days when you can travel to a session.

Step 4

Convert TR to permanent residency.

Permanent residency is the natural follow-on to the 2-year TR. Mind the filing window:

• When to file Either 90 days BEFORE your TR expires, or within 30 days AFTER expiry (with a small late fee).
• What to file An updated set of essentially the same documents + your active TR + valid cédula.
• PR validity 10 years, renewable.
• Statutory basis Article 9, Law 6984/2022.

Step 5

Investor fast tracks — skip the 2-year TR.

If you don't want to wait 2 years for permanent residency, two programs grant PR directly:

• SUACE

  suace.gov.py ↗

  Sistema Unificado de Apertura y Cierre de Empresas — open a Paraguayan company through the single-window portal.

  • Capital threshold USD 70,000+ committed to the company.
  • Hiring requirement 5 Paraguayan jobs created.
  • Outcome Permanent residency immediately — no 2-year temporary stage.

• Paraguay Investor Pass (2026 program)

  ip.gov.py ↗

  New 2026 framework for investor PR — three tracks, no hiring requirement, fully digital filing.

  • Tourism track USD 150,000 in eligible tourism investment.
  • Stocks / real estate track USD 200,000.
  • Tax kicker Reduced 8% dividend tax (vs. standard 15%).
  • Timing Permanent residency in 10–15 working days from a complete file.