Paraguay Citizenship by Investment: Why It Does Not Exist

What the Constitution actually says

Chapter III of the Constitution deals with nationality and citizenship, beginning at Article 146. The article that matters for a foreign investor is Article 148, which states that foreigners may obtain Paraguayan nationality by naturalisation if they meet the following requirements:

The four requirements are cumulative, and none of them is a sum of money. Nothing in Chapter III provides for nationality in exchange for an investment, a donation or a fee.

Naturalisation is a judicial process. The petition goes to the Corte Suprema de Justicia, not to the migration authority and not to a ministry that could run an investment scheme. How long each stage takes in practice, and how radicación is counted, is covered in the real citizenship timeline.

The other route: honorary nationality

Article 151 lets Congress confer honorary nationality, by law, on foreigners who have rendered eminent services to the Republic. It is conferred by the legislature one person at a time. You cannot apply for it, and nobody can sell it to you.

Naturalised nationality can be lost

Article 150 is the part passport sellers leave out. A naturalised Paraguayan loses that nationality through an unjustified absence from the Republic of more than three years, once declared judicially, or through voluntarily acquiring another nationality.

Citizenship in the political sense comes later still. Article 152 makes a naturalised Paraguayan a citizen two years after obtaining nationality.

Citizenship and investment: what the Investor Pass gives you

The migration authority announced the Paraguay Investor Pass on 21 April 2026. It states that the Pass gives direct access to permanent residency without a prior period of temporary residency. The published thresholds are USD 200,000 for real estate or stock-market investment and USD 150,000 for tourism-sector projects.

The Investor Pass matters for citizenship in one way only: by granting permanent residency directly, it removes the temporary stage that general-route applicants go through first. It does not shorten the constitutional minimum, and it does not satisfy the requirement to exercise a profession, trade or industry in the country.

Dual nationality: the Spain and Italy treaties

Article 149 says multiple nationality may be admitted by international treaty, on a basis of reciprocity, between the state of origin and the state of adoption. Read together with Article 150, this means the treaties set the Paraguayan position on dual nationality. We have verified the texts of two. Neither is a shortcut.

Spain

The Convenio de Doble Nacionalidad between Spain and Paraguay was signed in Madrid on 25 June 1959 and published in Spain's Boletín Oficial del Estado in 1960. Article 1 allows Spaniards de origen (Spaniards by origin rather than by naturalisation) to acquire Paraguayan nationality without losing their previous nationality, under the conditions and in the form laid down by the legislation in force in the country granting it. An Additional Protocol, approved in Paraguay by Ley N° 1667 and in force since 1 March 2001 according to the BOE, confirms that people covered by the Convenio may hold passports from both countries at the same time.

For a Spaniard by origin, then, the treaty settles whether the Spanish nationality can be kept. It does not settle whether Paraguayan nationality is available. That is still Article 148, in full.

Italy

Ley N° 6479, promulgated on 30 December 2019, approves an agreement by exchange of notes signed in Asunción on 26 February 2019. Under it, Paraguayans and Italians may acquire or reacquire each other's nationality, under the conditions and modalities of the legislation in force in each country, without losing their nationality of origin. Unlike the Spanish convention, the Italian text is not limited to nationals by origin. The agreement entered into force on the date of the last diplomatic notification between the parties. We have not found that date in an official source.

Why "a Paraguayan passport for investment" is a red flag

These offers take various forms: a passport "included" with a property purchase, "fast-track naturalisation" for a fee, or a promise that the three years can be "handled". Each describes something the Constitution does not provide for. They tend to fall into three kinds:

• A residency sold as citizenship. The client pays for, and receives, permanent residency. The marketing called it a passport. The product is legitimate but misdescribed.
• A promise nobody can keep. A fixed passport date, "guaranteed approval", or a claim that presence or activity in the country is not needed. No provider controls a judicial decision.
• A document that should not exist. A passport or identity document obtained outside the constitutional route has no lawful basis. Even a genuine naturalisation can be lost under Article 150 after an unjustified absence of more than three years.

Our wider checklist is in residency scams and red flags. Any quote that puts a price on Paraguayan nationality, rather than on a residency application, should end the conversation.

The real route

1. Permanent residency. This comes either directly, through the Investor Pass or another permanent route, or through temporary residency followed by conversion within the three-month window.
2. Radicación. At least three years of genuinely being established here, while exercising a profession, trade or industry in the country, with a clean record.
3. The petition to the Corte Suprema de Justicia, and the court's decision.
4. Citizenship in the political sense, two years after nationality is granted.

Paraguay second passport cost: there is no price, because there is no programme

People searching for a Paraguay second passport cost are looking for a number that does not exist. Paraguay has no citizenship-by-investment programme and sells no passports at any price. What has a published price is the residency that begins the three-year clock: Gs. 2,926,925 in government fees on the general route. Anyone quoting a figure for the passport itself is quoting for something they cannot deliver.

What we would actually do

For an investor who wants a Paraguayan passport, we would separate the two decisions:

• Decide on residency on its own merits. If the Investor Pass thresholds suit an investment you would make anyway, it is the quickest route to permanent status.
• Treat citizenship as a project that starts only once you have moved. Live here, work or run a business here, keep your records clean, and revisit the petition once the three years are genuinely behind you.
• Check dual nationality before anything else. If you are Spanish by origin or Italian, read the treaty position above. Otherwise, confirm your own country's rules before counting on keeping both.
• Walk away from anyone selling the passport.