How long does residency in Paraguay take?

¿How long does residency in Paraguay take, what factors influence the process, and what are the best and worst case scenarios that could be expected??

The process of processing the residency and identification card has several stages, in many of which the duration time depends on third parties, as is the case with the officials of the institutions, in this case Migrations and the Police. For this reason, we cannot give you an exact number of days, but we can give you the estimation that it will be very fast and your documentation will be ready in a very good time, always within the legal requirements.

It is worth clarifying, before continuing, certain factors that could cause misunderstandings during the process. When we talk about ‘days’, especially if we refer to government offices, we are talking about ‘working days’, that is, the 5 days a week that the institutions work. Therefore, if you carry out a procedure on Friday that is estimated to take two days, there is a very high probability that, depending in part on the time of day the procedure was carried out, it will not start until Monday, so it will be ready on Wednesday. Thus, a process estimated in two working days ends up taking 5 actual days.

Another factor that can drastically influence the estimated times is the existence of holidays between the days in which you made a procedure. You can easily extend the deadlines from a couple of days to a week or even more, since there are holidays and festivities that take up to half a week, as is the case of Easter, or the holiday of December 8, which, although it is only one day, government institutions usually take up to one or two days around the date since many people are used to travel.

With all this clarified, we detail the process in stages:

This step of having all your papers and documents in order by the time they are required - you carry it out in your home country and it is done prior to any paperwork, so the time it takes does not influence the rest of the process. We include it as a step, however, so that you have a clear picture of everything that needs to be done from start to finish, both on your side and ours.

It consists only of the apostille of all your documents. The process itself is simple, although the requirements and deadlines may vary in different countries. The time it takes depends on the country you are coming from, which can be from 1 day to 2 months.

For example, in Spain it takes 1 day, in Argentina it takes 30 to 50 days, although with a notary it takes 10 days, and it varies according to the country. If your country has an embassy in Paraguay it is possible to apostille here but it is usually more expensive and I do not recommend it unless you are in Paraguay and do not have the documents apostilled.

Once you have your documents ready, we would take care of to complete the application forms, obtain stamps and certifications, translations (if necessary), and register your application in the Paraguayan government system. This whole process can take a couple of days, no more than one week.

Step 2: Enter Paraguay

If you do not need a visa to enter the country, you can come whenever you want. If a visa is necessary in your case, you will have to go in person to a Paraguayan Embassy or Consulate to obtain one. It may take about 3 days from the day you made your application until you can pick it up, although times may vary between different Embassies or Consulates.

Also if you are in contact with me I will give you all kind of tips at the airport, running cabs, managing money exchange rate in the country.

Step 3: Apply for Residency

We arrange an appointment, depending on your and our availability, in which we must visit the various government institutions to carry out the procedures that will require your presence. This is usually done in 6 hours but spread over 3 different days.

Some institutions are somewhat remote from each other, so even if you are traveling by car, it is advisable to start early in the morning to avoid running short of time, since some departments only work until noon.

Step 4: Apply for the Cédula

You must wait for the release of the residence to be issued. After that time we pick it up and go to the next institution to apply for your Paraguayan identity card. The process itself does not take much time, which would be only the time it takes to get a number and wait for them to call you to complete your data and take your photo. What does take some time would be the issuance of the document, which is usually 25-30 days to be ready.

Once the estimated term has elapsed, we will pick up your identity card.

Withdraw Cedula

Once those 25-30 days have passed, you can pick up the Paraguayan cedula, and you have all your documents in a short period of time if you have counted on our help.