Which residency is cheapest?

On published government cost alone, Paraguay: the migration authority quoted Gs. 2,926,925 for temporary residency on 19 August 2026, with no investment, deposit or property purchase in the general route. Malaysia’s MM2H starts at a USD 150,000 fixed deposit plus a compulsory property purchase. Panama’s Friendly Nations subcategory now runs through employment, property or a fixed-term deposit.

Which one demands the least physical presence?

Nobody publishes a residency that requires nothing. MM2H states 90 cumulative days a year. The UAE publishes 183-day and 90-day tests for tax residency. Georgia’s Tax Code sets 183 days in any continuous 12-month period. Paraguay publishes no day count for individuals, which is not the same as none being expected: the tax residency certificate requires your full migration movement record.

Why are some cells in the table empty?

Because the authority has not published the figure, or because we could not reach the official page and refuse to fill the gap from a competitor. Costa Rica is the clearest case: migracion.go.cr and the national legal information system both blocked automated retrieval on 20 August 2026, so no Costa Rican monetary threshold appears anywhere on this site.

Which is fastest to citizenship?

We do not rank them, because naturalisation is discretionary everywhere and the published minimum is only the earliest possible date. For Paraguay the Constitution sets three years of radicación as one of the conditions and the process runs through the courts, not through the migration authority.

Paraguay vs Other Residencies: The Comparison Matrix

One table for the seven alternatives we cover, and a link to the page that does each one properly. Blank cells mean the authority has not published a figure, not that the figure is zero.

Last verified 2026-08-20Next review 2026-11-208 official sources

This page is the index, not the argument. Each row summarises a comparison that has its own page, and each of those pages carries the sources. Where a cell says the authority publishes nothing, that is the finding, not a gap we forgot to fill.

The honest headline: Paraguay is the cheapest published route of the seven and the least specific about what it expects of you. Georgia and the UAE write their tax residency tests down. Malaysia writes its capital requirement down. Costa Rica publishes figures we could not retrieve. Pick the trade you can live with.

The matrix

Country	Entry cost published	Route and timeline	Presence expected	Tax treatment	Path to citizenship
Paraguay	Gs. 2,926,925 temporary residency; Gs. 2,341,540 MERCOSUR; no investment in the general route	Temporary up to 2 years renewable, then a 3-month window to convert; MERCOSUR temporary 2 years non-renewable with a 90-day window	No published day count for individuals; the tax residency certificate requires your full migration movement record	Territorial by design under Ley N° 6380/2019, taxing Paraguayan-source income	Three years of radicación is one constitutional condition; the process is judicial and discretionary
Uruguay	Not published here	Permanent residency through the Dirección Nacional de Migración, with a means-of-livelihood certificate for non-MERCOSUR nationals and dependants	More than 183 days is one of the published tax residence tests	Territorially flavoured, with investment-based residence tests in indexed units and new-resident regimes we do not confirm	Not covered on this site
Panama	Friendly Nations now runs through Panamanian employment, property or a fixed-term deposit	Two-year provisional residence before permanent	Not published here	Territorial: 0% to USD 11,000, 15% to USD 50,000, 25% above, on Panamanian-source income	Not covered on this site
UAE	Depends on the route and on maintaining the structure	Varies by permit type	183 days, or 90 days for nationals, permit holders and GCC nationals meeting the stated conditions	No personal income tax; 9% corporate tax on natural persons above AED 1m turnover, excluding wages and personal investment income	Not covered on this site
Portugal	Not published here	Varies by permit type	Not published here	NHR revoked from 1 January 2024; IFICI at 20% for ten years on listed activities, with pensions outside the exemption	Not covered on this site
Costa Rica	Not published here. Ley N° 9996 and its Reglamento set the inversionista, rentista and pensionado thresholds; both official hosts blocked retrieval on 20 August 2026	Not published here	Not published here	Income taxes on individuals are levied on local income irrespective of nationality and residence status, on a scale of 0%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% for the self-employed	Not covered on this site
Georgia	Not published here	Residence permits are decided under Georgian immigration law, which we do not summarise	183 or more days in any continuous 12-calendar-month period ending in the tax year	20% on Georgian-source income; a resident natural person's non-Georgian-source income is exempt; small business status at 5% up to GEL 100,000	Not covered on this site
Malaysia (MM2H)	Fixed deposit of USD 1m Platinum, USD 500,000 Gold, USD 150,000 Silver, plus a compulsory property purchase in every tier	Pass of 20, 15 or 5 years by tier, renewable	90 cumulative days a year in all three tiers	MM2H is a pass, not tax residence. Resident individuals are subject to tax on foreign-sourced income received in Malaysia; resident rates reach 30% above MYR 2,000,000	Not covered on this site

How to read the empty cells

Three different things produce a blank, and they are not equivalent.

The authority publishes nothing. Paraguay's presence requirement is the clearest case: the Resolución General N° 65/2020 contains no day count for individuals, and we read it in full.
We could not reach the official source. Costa Rica is the example. migracion.go.cr and the Sistema Costarricense de Información Jurídica both refused automated retrieval on 20 August 2026, so no Costa Rican monetary threshold appears anywhere on this site, even though the figures are easy to find on relocation blogs.
It is outside what this site covers. We do not track naturalisation timelines outside Paraguay, and we are not going to start by summarising six citizenship regimes we cannot maintain.

The three questions the table cannot answer

Which one gets me out of my current tax residency?

None of them, on their own. Leaving a tax residency is decided by the law of the country you are leaving, and in several cases by a filing with a deadline. That is the subject of what Paraguayan residency does not solve, and the same logic applies whichever destination you pick.

Which one will an inspector accept?

The one you can evidence. A certificate from the destination country is one document in a file that also contains your housing, your family, your income split and your travel record. A country that publishes its test gives you a cleaner argument, which is a genuine point in favour of Georgia and the UAE.

Which one is cheapest overall?

Entry cost and running cost are different questions. Paraguay wins the first on published figures, with no investment in the general route. On running cost, the honest comparison is against your own numbers: rent, schooling, insurance, flights home and the cost of maintaining any structure. Several of these destinations return their tax saving to you and then take it back in rent.

Where Paraguay is genuinely weaker

We are a Paraguayan firm and this hub would be worthless if it did not say this plainly.

No published day test. Georgia gives you Article 34(2). The UAE gives you Cabinet Decision No. 85. Paraguay gives you a documentary procedure and a movement record. If you need a number to plan against, Paraguay does not have one.
A short treaty network. Without a double taxation agreement there is no tie-breaker if two states both claim you.
Connectivity. Asunción is not a hub. Panama City and Dubai are.
Unpublished solvency figures. Resolución DNM N.° 407/2026 states an evidentiary standard and no amount, which is uncomfortable at the application stage.

What Paraguay has against all of that is cost, in a country where the cost is low enough to be a strategy rather than a compromise. Start at the residency guide, or at tax residency if the question is fiscal.

In this section

Common questions

Which residency is cheapest?: On published government cost alone, Paraguay: the migration authority quoted Gs. 2,926,925 for temporary residency on 19 August 2026, with no investment, deposit or property purchase in the general route. Malaysia’s MM2H starts at a USD 150,000 fixed deposit plus a compulsory property purchase. Panama’s Friendly Nations subcategory now runs through employment, property or a fixed-term deposit.
Which one demands the least physical presence?: Nobody publishes a residency that requires nothing. MM2H states 90 cumulative days a year. The UAE publishes 183-day and 90-day tests for tax residency. Georgia’s Tax Code sets 183 days in any continuous 12-month period. Paraguay publishes no day count for individuals, which is not the same as none being expected: the tax residency certificate requires your full migration movement record.
Why are some cells in the table empty?: Because the authority has not published the figure, or because we could not reach the official page and refuse to fill the gap from a competitor. Costa Rica is the clearest case: migracion.go.cr and the national legal information system both blocked automated retrieval on 20 August 2026, so no Costa Rican monetary threshold appears anywhere on this site.
Which is fastest to citizenship?: We do not rank them, because naturalisation is discretionary everywhere and the published minimum is only the earliest possible date. For Paraguay the Constitution sets three years of radicación as one of the conditions and the process runs through the courts, not through the migration authority.

Not sure which pathway applies to you?

Paraguay publishes several residency routes with different requirements, fees and deadlines. A short call will tell you which one fits your situation — or whether Paraguay is the wrong answer for you.

Book a free call Message us on WhatsApp

Sources

Every legal, fee and procedural statement on this page is taken from the sources below and was checked on 2026-08-20. Where they change, this page changes.

Dirección Nacional de Migraciones — Residencias — The residency categories published by the migration authority
Dirección Nacional de Migraciones — Actualización del régimen de acreditación de solvencia económica — Resolución DNM N.° 407/2026 — categories, effective date and standard of proof
Gobierno del Uruguay — Residencia legal permanente — Uruguayan permanent residency: authority, means-of-livelihood requirement and document rules
Servicio Nacional de Migración de Panamá — Permisos migratorios — Panamanian residence permit categories, including the Países Amigos subcategory
UAE Federal Tax Authority — Cabinet Decision No. 85 of 2022 on determination of tax residency — UAE individual tax residency: the 183-day and 90-day tests and the principal residence test
Tax Code of Georgia — Legislative Herald of Georgia (matsne.gov.ge) — Article 34(2): resident where a person actually stayed 183 or more days in any continuous 12-calendar-month period ending in the tax year. Article 81(1): 20% on a natural person’s taxable income. Article 82(1)(u): income of a resident natural person that is not Georgian-source income is exempt. Articles 88(1) and 90(1): small business status up to GEL 100,000 of gross income, taxed at 5%
Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture Malaysia — Terms and Regulations for New Participants under the MM2H Programme — MM2H tiers as stated accurate to 22 July 2024: Platinum USD 1 million fixed deposit, RM200,000 participation fee, residence of RM2 million or above, 20-year pass; Gold USD 500,000, RM3,000 fee, residence of RM1 million or above, 15-year pass; Silver USD 150,000, RM1,000 fee, residence of RM600,000 or above, 5-year pass. All categories: 25 years and above, 90 cumulative days of presence a year, offshore income requirements dropped, resale of the residence barred for 10 years
Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería de Costa Rica — Regularización — The Costa Rican residency categories, including inversionista, rentista and pensionado. Retrieval was blocked on 2026-08-20, so no Costa Rican figure is published from it

This page is general information about Paraguayan rules as published by the authorities named above. It is not legal or tax advice for your circumstances, and immigration outcomes depend on your nationality, documents and individual case. See our legal and tax information disclaimer.