Paraguay Residency Documents: The Complete Checklist

The checklist

From the migration authority's published requirements for temporary residency under Ley N° 6984/2022. Permanent residency by change of category asks for a shorter set, because your identity and civil status are already on file.

Identity and entry

• Valid identity document — ID card, national ID or passport. Original plus authenticated copy.
• Proof of migratory entry — migration slip or passport stamp. Original plus authenticated copy.

Civil status

• Birth certificate, authenticated.
• Civil-status certificate — marriage, divorce or death certificate, whichever applies to you.

Background checks

• Criminal or police record from your country of origin or last residence. The authority requires it to be current and properly legalised.
• INTERPOL certificate — applicants aged 14 and over.
• Paraguayan police certificate — applicants aged 14 and over.

Declarations

• Sworn statement accepting the Constitution and the national laws.
• Sworn statement detailing your profession or activity and your address in Paraguay.

Visa

• Where a visa is required for your nationality: original plus authenticated copy, certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Economic solvency

• For permanent residency, documentary evidence under your category in Resolución DNM 407/2026. Minors are exempt from the solvency requirement.

The translation rule that catches people out

This is the single most useful thing on this page. The migration authority accepts translation into Spanish in two ways, and the second has a sting:

People who have documents translated at home by a certified translator and arrive expecting that to be the end of it are the ones who lose a trip. If the translation happens abroad, the translation is another document in the legalisation chain.

Order of operations

Legalise first, translate second. An apostille is issued on the original document by the authority of the issuing state; if you translate before you apostille, the apostille certifies the wrong thing and you start again.

1. Order the original certificate from the issuing authority in your country.
2. Have it apostilled, or consularly legalised if your country is not party to the Apostille Convention.
3. Translate into Spanish — ideally in Paraguay, which removes a step.
4. If translated abroad, apostille or legalise the translation too.
5. Have copies authenticated where the authority asks for "original plus authenticated copy".

Documents for children

Minors are exempt from the solvency requirement, but the authority publishes additional requirements depending on who is present:

• Both parents present: both sign; at least one must hold active residence or apply at the same time.
• One parent present: a judicial ruling or a notarial authorisation from the absent parent is required, and the legal parent must hold active residence or apply together.
• With a third party: judicial authorisation, or notarial authorisation from both parents homologated by the Youth Court. The guardian must be Paraguayan or hold active residence.

What "authenticated copy" means in practice

The authority repeatedly asks for an original plus an authenticated copy. In Paraguay that is done by a notary (escribano público), which is one of several reasons the application is filed in person. Photocopies you made at home are not authenticated copies.

Practical order in which to start

Criminal-record certificates and civil-registry extracts are the long poles — they depend on another government's processing time, and in some countries they cannot be obtained from abroad at all. Start those first, and treat everything else as fast by comparison. If you are sourcing documents from Europe, the country-by-country guide covers what differs by issuing state.