How to Get Residency in Paraguay: Complete 2026 Guide

The four residency categories

The Dirección Nacional de Migraciones — the migration authority, usually shortened to DNM — publishes these categories. Anything not on this list is not a Paraguayan residency category, whatever a brochure calls it.

The five routes to permanent residency

This is the part most English-language guides collapse into one. The migration authority publishes five, and they are not variations on a theme — they have different prerequisites.

1. Change of category from temporary residency. The general route. You hold temporary residency, then convert. The window is three months before expiry.
2. MERCOSUR permanent residency. For nationals of the eight countries the authority lists. Two years, non-renewable, 90-day conversion window.
3. Foreign investors, via SUACE. Including the Paraguay Investor Pass announced in April 2026, which grants permanent residency without a prior temporary period.
4. Children and spouses of Paraguayans. A family route with its own requirements.
5. Foreign family members of repatriated nationals. A narrower family route.

If you fall into routes 3, 4 or 5, you do not need temporary residency first. If you fall into route 1 — which is most people — you do.

The standard route, step by step

1. Assemble and legalise your documents

The heaviest part of the process, and the part that happens in your own country rather than in Paraguay. You will need a valid identity document, a birth certificate, a civil-status certificate, and a criminal or police record from your country of origin or last residence. Everything foreign has to be translated into Spanish and apostilled or legalised. See the document checklist and the apostille guide.

2. Apply in person in Paraguay

The migration authority states the application is made in person. Follow-up may then be handled personally or through a legal representative. Its public counter is at Caballero N° 201 in Asunción, open Monday to Friday, 07:00 to 14:30.

3. Hold precarious-resident status while it is processed

Once your file is admitted you become a residente precario. The authority states this allows you to leave and re-enter the country, to study and to work for the duration of the residency.

4. Receive temporary residency and the cédula

The temporary residence card is valid for up to two years and renewable for equal periods. The Paraguayan identity card — the cédula — is issued with the same validity.

5. Convert to permanent residency inside the window

Apply in the three months before the temporary card expires. Up to one month late is still possible with payment of the overstay fine. Beyond that, only an extension is available and you lose the conversion.

What it costs the government

These are the fees published by the migration authority, checked on 19 August 2026. They are quoted in guaraníes and they change from time to time. Professional fees, apostilles, translations and travel are all separate — see the full cost breakdown.

Two things that are not true

"You need to buy property or invest." Not for temporary residency. The migration authority states expressly that there is no obligation to own property or make an investment in Paraguay in order to apply. Investment is only relevant to the separate investor routes.

"Residency makes you a Paraguayan tax resident." These are two different statuses, granted by two different authorities under two different laws. Getting a cédula does not by itself answer where you are taxed, and it certainly does not answer what your home country will do. See tax residency vs legal residency.

Residency, permanent residency and citizenship are three different things

Paraguayan naturalisation is governed by Article 148 of the Constitution and requires, cumulatively: legal age; a minimum of three years of radicación in the national territory; regular exercise in the country of a profession, trade, science, art or industry; and good conduct as defined by law. Naturalised nationality is also lost through unjustified absence from the Republic for more than three years.

That is materially different from "hold a permanent residency card for three years." Residency is a prerequisite for naturalisation, not a countdown that runs while you live somewhere else. Anyone offering you a Paraguayan passport on a timetable is describing something the Constitution does not say.

Where to go next

If you know your route, go straight to it. If you do not, start with the requirements — the eligibility test will usually tell you which route you are on.