This guide covers retirement-income and business-investment residency; if you are looking for a skilled-work or employer-sponsored route, other countries' guides are a better fit. Browse other countries

The Palacio de los López, the white presidential palace in Asunción, seen from its grounds.
Country guide · Paraguay · Living there long-term
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Paraguay, at your own pace.

Paraguay's residency is built around a pension door and a business door.

Verified against the official migraciones.gov.py portal · 2026-10-01· Photo: Pixabaymigraciones.gov.py

When rules change mid-way, the date your application is filed is what often decides which rules apply to you. Where are you right now?

Start here

Pick by how you live

2 routes, grouped by what Paraguay's system asks of you day to day — not by which visa is most talked about. Every figure below is what Immimaps has verified against Paraguay's official programme rules.

I'm retired, or nearly

A pension or other steady income from outside the country, and no plan to take a local job.

Paraguay Residency for Retirees (Jubilados y Pensionados)

For retirees whose income comes from a lifelong pension or annuity, with earnings from work, a business or discretionary investments not counting as qualifying income.

Threshold, not at risk
The thing agencies don't say plainly

Most of these sums are shown, not spent.

On most remote-work and retirement routes, the figure is proof of means — it sits in your own account until it's checked, and nothing is transferred. Routes where money genuinely moves are marked below.

1

route asks you to show a balance or income — once it's checked, it stays yours.

1

route places capital that is exposed until the hold period or conditions are met.

Staying on

What keeping the visa actually asks of you

Settling for good
Both open on every route

Counted from each route's own rules. Some routes lead to permanent residence or citizenship and some don't; the route cards below say which.

Issuing authority
Dirección Nacional de Migraciones
Official source
PR / citizenship pathway
Both open on every route
Who this fits
Retirees whose income is a lifelong government pension, social security payment or annuity, and who want residency without an employer or a large capital placement.People who want to run a real business in Paraguay and are ready to commit investment and local hiring in return for permanent status from the start.Families who want a spouse and children included on the same application rather than applying separately.Anyone prepared to travel to Paraguay in person to file, give biometrics and collect a national identity card, because neither route can be completed entirely from abroad.
2 PROGRAMMES

Pick a route, see the real commitment

Every official figure below is what Immimaps has verified for that route against Paraguay's official programme rules — not a marketing minimum. Service fees are what independent firms publish for the route, shown only once five or more are on file.

Threshold, not at risk
Paraguay Residency for Retirees (Jubilados y Pensionados)

For retirees whose income comes from a lifelong pension or annuity, with earnings from work, a business or discretionary investments not counting as qualifying income.

Service fees on fileUSD 2,720typical · middle half USD 2,189–3,102 · 12 firmsfull package · tax not stated · undated
Check a proposal for this route
Capital at risk
SUACE Business Residency
$70,000one-time

A business-based route for people who set up or buy into a Paraguayan company, with permanent residency granted directly once the investment plan is approved and then carried out.

Service fees on fileUSD 5,245typical · middle half USD 3,725–5,849 · 6 firmsfull package · tax not stated · undated
Check a proposal for this route
COST, STAGE BY STAGE

What each route costs, stage by stage

Added up from the official figures on file for each route — split into money spent for good, money locked and returned later, and money shown but never transferred. Not a modelled estimate.

Paraguay Residency for Retirees (Jubilados y Pensionados)▾

At application

Decision — reported: 2 months.
  • Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: PYG 3,161,079, paid to the government for the initial application.
PYG 3,161,079 spent for good
SUACE Business Residency▾

At application

Decision — reported: 3 months.
  • Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: PYG 3,161,079, paid to the government for the initial application.
  • Locked$70,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
PYG 3,161,079 spent for good
$70,000 locked

Figures in more than one currency; not added together.

The Palacio de los López, the white presidential palace in Asunción, seen from its grounds.
Palacio de los López, AsunciónPhoto: Pixabay
HOW THE PROCESS UNFOLDS

The order Paraguay Residency for Retirees (Jubilados y Pensionados) follows

Processing
Dirección Nacional de Migraciones reviews the application and issues a decision.
reported: 2 months
Residency permit issued
Valid for the permit period.
reported: 2 years
PR-eligible
The residency permit becomes eligible to convert to permanent status.
reported: 1 year, 9 months
Citizenship-eligible
Eligible to apply for citizenship, subject to the country's standard requirements.
reported: 5 years
This shows the order Paraguay Residency for Retirees (Jubilados y Pensionados) follows, not a promised timeline. Any duration shown is what the official source reports as typical — not a guarantee for any individual case.
Did the rules change in 2026?
  • 2026-04-22The Ministry of Industry and Commerce put a new framework for the Foreign Investor Certificate into force (Resolution 0283/2026). Besides the productive-business route, it recognises investment through financial instruments, real estate for economic use and tourism projects, each with its own minimum, and keeps criminal-record checks, a sworn statement on the source of funds and periodic follow-up of the investment. source
Check the migraciones.gov.py portal directly →
What would a year in Paraguay actually cost you?

The cost calculator separates money spent for good from money that's only shown or locked up.

Open the cost calculator
Been handed a visa package or agent's offer?

Upload it and Immimaps checks it against what Paraguay's official programme actually requires, and reads the contract clause by clause. Free, no account.

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Every official figure on this page is checked against Paraguay's official immigration sources. Service fees are what independent firms publish for a route — not an official figure, and never any one firm's price. Immimaps does not publish success rates, approval odds or any probability score — here or anywhere else.

Don’t take a life-changing move on someone else’s word.

Immimaps is not an agency and takes no placement fees. We show the real figures on every route, show the working, and tell you what it actually costs.

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