Paraguay Residency Requirements: Documents, Fees, Timelines and the Step-by-Step (2026)

Short answer: for temporary residency in Paraguay, article 50 of Law 6984/2022 lists twelve items, and for most applicants they boil down to four documents prepared at home (passport, apostilled birth and civil-status certificates, apostilled police clearance) and four things done in Asunción (Interpol and National Police clearances, two sworn declarations and the fee of Gs. 2,926,925, about $475 since 1 July 2026). The filing trip is three to five working days; the decision, two to four months; the cédula, a few weeks more. No bank deposit, no medical certificate, no proof of income at this stage. Income is proven two years later, at conversion to permanent, and that is the paperwork worth starting to keep today. Here is the full list, the order, and the mistakes that cost months.

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The documents the law requires

Transcribed from article 50, because most lists in circulation mix requirements of the old law with the habits of whichever agent wrote them:

1. Passport or valid identity document (original and certified copy). More than six months left: the process runs long.
2. Consular visa, only where required. Visa-free nationals do not need one.
3. Proof of entry into the country: the entry stamp or migration slip.
4. Birth certificate, apostilled.
5. Civil-status certificate: marriage, divorce or spouse’s death certificate as applicable, apostilled. If single, whatever your civil registry issues as proof of status.
6. Police clearance from your country of origin or from the country where you lived over the last three years, from age 14, apostilled.
7. Interpol clearance certificate, from age 14.
8. Foreigners’ clearance certificate from the National Police IT Department, from age 14.
9. Sworn declaration of commitment to respect the Constitution and the laws of Paraguay.
10. Sworn declaration of the profession, activity or trade you will carry out and of your address in Paraguay.
11. Payment of the fee.
12. Any other requirement set by regulation (Decree 4134/2022 and DNM resolutions).

Every foreign document must be current and legalised or apostilled, and if it is not in Spanish, translated by a Paraguayan sworn translator or by a foreign sworn translator authorised in their country, with the translation itself apostilled. The two sworn declarations are generated by the DNM’s own system at filing. The DNM can waive part of the list by reasoned resolution, or refuse residency to anyone convicted of intentional offences carrying sentences over two years.

What you prepare at home

The file is won or lost at home. Four apostilled documents, each with its trap:

Full birth certificate. Ask for the long-form version with parents’ names, not the short extract: Paraguay wants to see full filiation. Apostilled by your country’s competent authority (in the UK the Legalisation Office; in the US the Secretary of State of the issuing state; in EU countries the ministry or court designated under the Hague Convention).

Civil-status certificate. Married: full marriage certificate, apostilled. Divorced: the marriage certificate with the divorce annotation or the decree. Single: whatever your registry issues, and note that some countries issue nothing, in which case a sworn statement before a notary, apostilled, is the workaround.

Police clearance. From the national authority (ACRO in the UK, FBI Identity History Summary in the US, the Ministry of Justice in Spain or Italy, the Bundesamt für Justiz in Germany). Paraguay treats it as current for 90 days from issue: schedule the trip around that date, not the other way round. If you lived in another country during the last three years, that country’s clearance too.

Passport. Long validity and free pages. If it is renewed mid-process, tell the DNM: they cross-check the number.

Translations. Everything not in Spanish needs a sworn translation, and if the translator is outside Paraguay, the translation is apostilled as well. Budget $150–500 for apostilles, copies and translations, and budget time: from ordering the first certificate to holding four apostilled and translated documents takes two to six weeks depending on the country.

All of that is done from your sofa. It is also the moment to decide the activity you will declare (item 10), because at conversion you will be asked for consistency with it: if you live off your LLC, declare “remote worker” or “service provider”, not “investor”.

What happens in Asunción

Filing is personal: you must be physically at the DNM in Asunción to submit the file and give biometrics. A proxy can follow up afterwards. The typical trip is three to five working days, and the order matters:

1. Day 1. Arrival and proof of entry. Notarised copies of passport and documents.
2. Days 1–2. Interpol clearance (office in Asunción, by appointment) and the Foreigners’ clearance from the National Police. They take from one to several days; with an agent, they are requested ahead so they are ready when you land.
3. Day 3. Filing at the DNM: form, sworn declarations generated in the system, fee paid in cash in guaraníes, fingerprints and photo. You leave with the precarious residency card (90 days, article 57), which already lets you leave and re-enter, work and study.
4. Afterwards. The DNM decides in two to four months. With the resolution and the temporary resident card you request the certificate of settlement (Gs. 234,154) and process the cédula at the National Police Identification Department, which requires presence for photo and fingerprints and takes days to weeks. If you have left, that is the second trip.

That is what sits behind the “three days” that agents advertise: three days to file, not three days to hold residency.

Fees and a real budget

Article 100 of the law sets the fees in minimum daily wages, and the DNM publishes them in guaraníes whenever the wage changes. Those in force since 1 July 2026 (Decree 6225/2026 and DNM Resolution 478/2026):

The reference rate is about 6,150 guaraníes to the dollar in September 2026; the guaraní has strengthened this year, so in dollars the fees are a little dearer than twelve months ago. They are paid in cash in guaraníes. If a website shows Gs. 2,787,550, that is the pre-July schedule.

What the table leaves out is what weighs most: professional fees. The market runs $1,500–3,000 per adult at serious agencies and law firms, less for spouses and children. It can be done without an agent, and I know people who have; it costs more trips, more queues and, above all, more risk that an expired document sends you home. A realistic all-in budget for one adult, flights aside, is $2,500–4,000.

The realistic calendar

From the first document to the cédula, for someone who gets it right first time:

• Weeks 1–4 (up to 6 for some countries). Certificates, apostilles, translations. Police clearance ordered last so it arrives fresh in Asunción.
• Week 5–7. Trip: Interpol, National Police, filing at the DNM, precarious card. Three to five working days.
• Months 2–4. Temporary residency decision. The 90-day precarious card nearly always covers the wait; if not, it is extended.
• Month 3–5. Temporary resident card, certificate of settlement and cédula. Requires presence.
• From the cédula. RUC at the DNIT if you will have local activity, bank account, driving licence.
• Month 21–24. Window to apply for permanent residency, with the Resolution 407/2026 proof of means.
• Month 24–30. Permanent residency decision and ten-year cédula.

Some compress it, some stretch it. The real accelerator is not an extra payment: it is having the Paraguayan clearances requested before you land and the home-country ones inside their window.

After the cédula: RUC, bank and certificate

The cédula opens three doors, best crossed in order. First the RUC at the DNIT, not compulsory if you only have foreign-source income, but required if you will invoice anything in Paraguay, and useful both for the tax residency certificate and for the self-employed category at conversion. Second, the bank account: banks ask for the cédula, proof of address and, increasingly, source of funds; bring the LLC’s statements. Third, the tax residency certificate under General Resolution 65/2020, which requires a RUC and a clean record if you are a taxpayer, or a valid cédula if you are not, and which is what you will show your previous tax authority. Covered in tax residency in Paraguay.

And the folder almost nobody opens: the conversion one. Since July 2026 permanent residency goes to those who prove real activity and income in one of twelve categories (DNM Resolution 407/2026). If you live off your LLC, the category is “remote worker” and the evidence is a contract or certification from the payer and proof of the payments, apostilled and translated. Start keeping that on day one. Explained in temporary vs permanent residency.

The mistakes that cost months

• Expired clearances. Ordering them first and travelling two months later. They come last.
• Short extract instead of full certificate. The birth certificate must be the long form.
• Apostilling a photocopy. You apostille the original or the official electronic certificate, not a copy.
• Declaring “investor” without investing. At month 21 they will ask for the investment. Declare what you actually do.
• Missing the permanent window. One month of grace with a fine; after that, extension and start again.
• Believing the cédula ends your tax residency at home. It does not. Moving does; see Paraguay residency from Spain or tax residency for founders.

How we do it at Cheq

We review your documents before you leave home, request the Paraguayan clearances before you arrive, accompany you at the DNM with our of-counsel legal partners in Asunción and open the conversion folder from day one, because we know what the DNM will ask for in two years. And we coordinate the residency with your LLC and your banking, which is what makes the whole thing make sense.

In short

• Four apostilled documents from home; four steps in Asunción; one trip of three to five working days.
• Official fee Gs. 2,926,925 (≈ $475) since 1 July 2026; total budget $2,500–4,000 per adult.
• No deposit, no medical certificate, no proof of income for temporary; yes for permanent, since July 2026.
• 90-day precarious card at filing; decision in two to four months; cédula in person.
• Clearances are ordered last and you travel inside their 90 days.