Permanent Residency in Paraguay: What Changed in 2026
In July 2026 the financial-means rules changed again. The updated map of the route to the Paraguayan identity card, with the 12 documentary categories.
One claim keeps circulating in practically all coverage of Paraguayan residency: that you simply deposit around US$5,000 in a state bank, wait between 90 and 120 days, and receive permanent residency directly.
That information has been out of date since October 2022.
Worse: even content presented as freshly published in 2026 still repeats the deposit as though it were the rule in force. And between the writing of those pieces and your reading of this one, the rule changed again — the National Directorate of Migration (DNM) approved an entirely new set of implementing rules, in force since 6 July 2026.
Anyone planning a move to Paraguay on year-old information is not merely out of date. They are calculating the wrong timeline, the wrong documents and the wrong route.
What Law 6984/22 actually established
Law No. 6,984/2022, the Migration Act, was passed on 17 October 2022 and repealed the previous 1996 law in full. It created two central categories:
- Temporary residency. Authorisation for up to 2 years, renewable for an equal period. It is the standard entry gate: a foreign national arriving with the intention of settling passes through here first. It gives access to the Paraguayan identity card, valid for the same period as the temporary residency.
- Permanent residency. Authorisation to reside indefinitely, with an identity card valid for 10 years. The standard route to it is not direct: it requires having completed the temporary residency period and applying for the change of category within the 3 months before the card expires (from month 21, on a standard 2-year card).
It was in that 2022 reform that the old US$5,000 solvency deposit at the Banco Nacional de Fomento ceased to exist as a standard requirement. Anyone still citing it as the current rule is describing a regime that has not applied for nearly four years.
The change almost no one has covered yet
On 25 June 2026 the DNM approved Resolution DNM No. 407/2026, effective for applications filed from 6 July 2026 — a few weeks before this article was published.
The rule unifies the criteria for evidencing financial means, both for the Law 6984/22 route and for the Mercosur Residence Agreement, and creates 12 specific categories, each with its own documentation:
- Professionals
- Technicians
- Employees
- Independent workers (commerce or services)
- Remote workers or digital nomads
- Property owners
- Company shareholders or partners
- Farmers and ranchers
- Religious workers
- Retirees or pensioners
- Dependants
- Students
The logic shifts from “deposit a fixed amount” to “evidence, with documents specific to your category, lawful means of subsistence and the actual exercise of the declared activity”. That is harder to summarise in a generic article — which is exactly why most available content still prefers repeating the round number of the old deposit.
Before and after, side by side
| Dimension | Pre-2022 rule | 2022–5 July 2026 | From 6 July 2026 (Res. DNM 407/2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evidencing financial means | ~US$5,000 deposit at the BNF | No fixed deposit; criteria varied between Law 6984/22 and Mercosur | Unified criteria, 12 specific documentary categories |
| Digital nomad / remote work | No category of its own | Informally treated as self-employed | Its own named category |
| Profession printed on the card | Printed on the physical document | Printed on the physical document | Removed from the printed card (retained in the internal system) |
| Income verification | Documentary, unstandardised | Documentary, unstandardised | Stricter verification mechanisms by category |
Note on scope: Resolution DNM 407/2026 is very recent, and its practical application — exactly which documents each of the 12 categories will require at the counter — is still being consolidated by the firms working day to day with the DNM in Asunción. Before filing any application, we confirm the current text and the required document list directly at source, without relying on third-party summaries.
The direct route: when permanent residency skips the temporary stage
There are two exceptions to the temporary → permanent sequence:
- Foreign investors. Through SUACE (the Unified Company Opening and Closing System) or, since April 2026, through the Paraguay Investor Pass, permanent residency can be obtained directly, without the temporary stage. We cover this in detail in our article on residency by investment.
- Family members of repatriated Paraguayans. The foreign spouse, children and grandchildren of a repatriated Paraguayan access permanent residency directly, with the application fee waived on presentation of the Repatriation Certificate.
Outside those two cases there is no shortcut: the general route is temporary first, permanent afterwards.
Documents still required, whatever the category
Some requirements cut across virtually every option:
- Valid identity document and civil status certificate, apostilled or legalised at the Paraguayan consulate and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- Criminal and police record certificate, current, apostilled.
- Certificate of life and residence, issued by a Jurisdictional Police Station once in Paraguayan territory.
- Translation into Spanish by a registered public translator, for documents in a foreign language — with the exception of Brazilian Portuguese, which is exempt from translation.
- Documents issued in a country party to the Hague Convention and duly apostilled are recognised by the DNM without further legalisation.
What this changes for anyone planning the move
Three operational conclusions.
- The 21-to-24-month window is the critical point. The window to apply for the change of category opens 3 months before the temporary card expires and closes 1 month after expiry (with a fine). Missing it does not cancel temporary residency, but it forces a renewal and postpones permanent status.
- The financial-means category has to be settled from day one. Because Resolution 407/2026 requires coherence between the activity declared on entry and the documentation presented at conversion, deciding late which of the 12 categories to use — and failing to assemble the corresponding documentation across the two years — is the most common and most avoidable error.
- Absence from the country for more than a year cancels temporary residency. Anyone intending to keep an active life outside Paraguay during the temporary period has to factor that rule into travel planning.
Frequently asked questions
Does the US$5,000 deposit still exist?
No. It was abolished by Law 6984/22 in 2022. Since July 2026, evidencing financial means follows Resolution DNM 407/2026, with its 12 documentary categories.
Can permanent residency be obtained without the temporary stage?
Only through investment (SUACE or the Investor Pass) or as a direct family member of a repatriated Paraguayan. For every other profile, temporary residency is a mandatory stage.
How long does the full process take?
Temporary residency is valid for up to 2 years. The change of category to permanent is applied for from month 21. The administrative timeline for each stage varies with the category and the completeness of the file.
Does the Paraguayan identity card replace a passport for travel in the region?
For Mercosur and associated countries, the Paraguayan resident identity card is accepted as a travel document, removing the need for a passport on various regional routes.
The starting point
Rules changing twice in the same year are not a sign of instability — they are the price of a country rapidly adjusting its migration policy to attract foreign capital and talent. The problem is not the change itself. It is deciding with the map of the 2022 reform when the July 2026 reform already exists.
If Paraguay is on your radar, the next step is to map which of the 12 financial-means categories matches your actual situation — before assembling a single document.
One conversation is enough to know whether it makes sense to proceed.
Informational content. It does not constitute legal, tax or immigration advice. The rules cited were verified against the official sources indicated in July 2026 and may be amended or further regulated. Individual situations produce different outcomes and should be analysed case by case.