The document list for Paraguay’s ordinary residency route is short, which is part of the appeal. What trips people up is not the list. It is the timing — and the fact that most of it depends on you, not on us.
Here is the practical version. We confirm the current requirements for your case before anything is filed, because they do change.
The documents
- A valid passport.
- Your birth certificate, apostilled.
- A criminal record certificate from your home country, apostilled and no more than 90 days old — more on why that matters below.
- A certificate of marital status, if you are anything other than single: married, divorced or widowed.
As a rule, documents issued abroad need an apostille. If your country is not part of the Apostille Convention, the equivalent is consular legalisation.
Not on the list yet: proving you can support yourself
You do not have to prove your income to file for temporary residency. That comes two years later, when you convert to permanent residency — and it is worth knowing about now, because the rules for it changed in 2026.
Since 6 July 2026, Resolution 407/2026 of Paraguay’s Directorate of Migration has set how economic solvency is accredited, under one of twelve defined categories — employee, independent worker, remote worker, retiree or pensioner, property owner and company shareholder among them. It is not a deposit to lock up; it is showing, on paper, how you support yourself. “Verifiable” is the word that matters: bank statements over a period, tax returns, a pension letter. Not a screenshot, and not a declaration with nothing behind it.
The 90-day rule
Your criminal record can be no more than 90 days old on the day you apply. And it is not checked once but twice: at Migraciones, when you file for residency, and at Identificaciones, when you apply for your cédula.
Order it too early and it expires before you file; order it too late and the apostille eats your margin. It is one of the most common ways a timeline slips, which is why we plan the sequence of your paperwork with you before you order anything.
Translations
If your documents are in Spanish, there is nothing to translate — which settles it for most applicants from Spanish-speaking countries.
Anything in another language needs a sworn translation. You can have it done abroad by a sworn translator, or leave it to us: our packages include translation from most languages, as long as Paraguay’s official registry has a sworn translator for that language.
How many trips
You do have to come to Paraguay in person. Everything can be done in a single trip, or split across two — the difference is the package, and we will go through which one fits you on a call.
Families
There is no family application. Each person — your spouse, each of your children — has their own application and their own file. Plan the paperwork for each of them, not just for you; we confirm exactly what each person needs.
In short
A short list, tight timing, and the slowest parts depend on you. If you want to know whether the ordinary route fits before you order a single document, our fit quiz takes five questions. If you have already decided, book a call and we will set the order of your paperwork.