Permanent residency and immigration requirements

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Permanent residency and immigration requirements

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Sr. Glen

The process for permanent residency is Paraguay is fairly "easy", but requires a lot of documents, authentications and copies. Additionally, a good dose of patience is also a necessary ingredient.

I've seen some websites that suggest you can come to Paraguay for 2 days, apply for residency, leave and return in a couple months to pick up your cedula. I don't believe that is realistic for a number of reason, and furthermore what is the point of getting permanent residency someplace you don't actually plant to spend a lot of time.

The process is the process, it includes multiple steps and they must be completed in the right order. For example, you must make a deposit in a bank account. That might be logically, your first step. However, you must first wait for your interpol report to be returned as a requirement of opening the bank account.

That step alone, will take 48 hours. Interpol also has a sign up telling people not to bother asking about getting the report any sooner. Hence the impracticality of completing the initial application within 2 days.

Although I went those the whole immigration process in Uruguay without any outside help and found it a worthwhile experience, I decided in Paraguay to get the assistance of someone with experience in the area. Whether you do it yourself, with an attorney or a consultant, I think it is a good idea to have a good overview of the requirements and process.

I will outline the requirements here as taken from the Immigration website on Dec 2, 2011. I'll mix my rough English translation and comments in. Please don't take any of this as official advice, but an overview of my experiences and observation.

1-DOCUMENTO DE IDENTIDAD VIGENTE: Pasaporte o Cédula de Identidad para los países del MERCOSUR , Bolivia y chile.

Your identity document, ie: passport. You cannot use the Mercosur Cedula unless you are a national of that country, ie: as a legal resident of Uruguay I could not use my Uruguay cedula to apply for residency in Paraguay.

2-Certificado de Nacimiento. (*)

Birth certificate. This needs to be legalized by the Paraguay consulate when you were born. I tried to use a legalized copy of the birth certificate Uruguay made for me when I become a resident there. They would not accept that unless a certificate of nationalization accompanied it.

3-Certificado de Matrimonio, Sentencia de Divorcio y/o Defunción en su caso, para justificar el estado civil. (*)

Marriage and/or divorce certification. Again legalized by the Paraguayan consul.

4-Certificado de Antecedentes Penales o Policiales (desde los 14 años de edad) del país de origen o del país de Residencia de los últimos 5 años debidamente acreditada. Para ciudadanos de nacionalidad Brasileña: Certificados expedido por la Policía Federal o del Poder Judicial – Justicia Federal. Para los ciudadanos Argentinos: Certificados expedidos por la Policía Federal o Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos. (*) [el Certificado de antecedentes debe ser de la Justicia Federal Nacional para el caso de los Ciudadanos Brasileños]

A police background report. This clearly states that it needs to be from your country of origin OR your country of residence for the last 5 years. Again, it will need to be legalized by the Paraguayan Consulate where the document originates.

For US Citizens, this means a background check from the FBI. That make take up to 10 weeks (or more) to receive. You may want to get this BEFORE you come to Paraguay. If you are in Paraguay, you can get fingerprint cards from the U.S. Embassy, have your fingerprints taken at Interpol and then mail them to the FBI. You will then need a friend (or lots of international mail) to get to it legalized. You can view a more detailed article on this: FBI Background Check

If you have been living in another country for 5+ years it might be easier to get a certificate from that country.

I would recommend doing both. Although the requirement listed here clearly says "OR", you may find that during the process someone will ask for both, or the one from your country of origin, or from your country of residency for the past 5 years.

It also says "from 14 years of age," so if you have lived various places...

5-Certificado de antecedentes, para extranjeros expedido por el Dpto. de Informática de la Policía Nacional (Boggiani y R.I. 2 Ytororo) desde los 14 años de edad.

Background check by the local police for foreigners. I got a flaky little plastic card on the spot with my picture and signature.

6-Certificado Sanitario, expedido por médicos habilitados y visado por el Ministerio de Salud (Brasil y Manuel Domínguez), haciendo mención a la salud MENTAL, FISICA y sobre no poseer enfermedades INFECTOCONTAGIOSAS.

The medical example, seems now to be simply an HIV test.

7-Certificado de Vida y Residencia expedido por la Comisaría Policial jurisdiccional o Juzgado de Paz, VIGENTE.

"Certificado de Vida y Residencia" apparently a certificate from the police that you are alive and live here.

8-Constancia de su ingreso y permanencia en el país.

Another reason I had someone do all the "grunt" work for me. I can't tell you were this certificate came from because someone did that part for me.

9-Visa Consular, para los países que requieran de la misma (verificado por el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores; 14 de mayo y Palma).

If your country of nationality requires you to have a consular visa to enter the country (ie: US Citizens), you will need to have the visa, and you will have to get it legalized (in Paraguay). There was no cost, but the office was only open from noon to 1pm.

10-Dos fotos tipo carnet (2,5 x 2,5).

Two fotos. Get more than 2 just in case.

The following are various options for showing that you can support yourself, note, 12, 13, 14, and 15 are all listed as "O", ie: "OR":

11-Título Profesional a nivel universitario (*)
12-O Contrato de Trabajo de Ejecución Diferida, mencionando el salario a percibir con hoja de Certificación de firma ante Escribano Público, Patente, R.U.C. y C.I. del empleador.
13-O Título de Propiedad destinado a la producción, con un mínimo de 10 hectáreas. (Inscripto en lo Registros Públicos de la Propiedad)
14-O Contrato de arrendamiento; C.I. del arrendatario y el Título de propierdad que arrienda
15-O Escritura de Constitución de Sociedad, (Inscripto en los Registros Públicos de comercio)

What seems most commonly used is a deposit in an Paraguayan financial institution of US$5,000. A 6-month CD for US$5,000 is used to show your financial ability. If you are applying as a couple or family, this is per person.

16-En todos los casos, para la Residencia Permanente, presentar una Declaración Jurada ante Escribano Público, de Cumplimiento de la Constitución Nacional y las Leyes Nacionales mencionada en el Art. 23 de la Ley de Migraciones 978/96.

A signed declaration you will abide by the laws of Paraguay.

All documents from outside Paraguay must be legalized in the place of issuance by the Paraguyan Consul, and then by the Ministry of External Relations in Paraguay. Additionally, if not in Spanish or Portuguese translated by an official translator. Additionally, the originals and two certified copies of all documents will need to be filed with Immigration. I'm not sure if one copy is for the Police when you get your cedula or if there is a third copy for them.

Once all the documents are ready, authenticated, and copied, you file them in immigration. They will take your photo and have you sign. Make sure you don't touch the line as you sign... you then get a receipt that says it is good for 90 days. Though I don't think you can use that as an indication the process will only take 90 days!

I am not going to get into how long the process takes, because I think like in Uruguay, it it takes as long as it takes and for one person that might be a month or two and for another a year or two.

Now you can just wait, remember, I mentioned in the beginning, that "patience" was a requirement. Though not in the list of requirements on Immigration's website, it may well be the most important requirement.

In my case, I had the surprise that they started the visa legalization part of the process so I had something to do while waiting. ie: just because you think everything is done and ready, doesn't mean there won't be more documents or corrections needed.

Finally, I got a call from my consultant and everything was ready and it was time to go get my cedula. Immigration had made a nice little ID card showing my "Admision Permanante" and it was off to the police station for my cedula.

That turned into the most frustration part of the process. The first couple of times the system was down and they coudldn't do anything at all. Once we got past that, it was time to actually make the id card. The process is quite simple, but a bit tedious.

Take your photo, take your fingerprints, scan them as sets and individually. On the last finger, the Windows program crashed and we had to start over. Then all the documents filed with immigration were reviewed and scanned. Opps! The clerk read one of them a couple times and then looked through the whole stack of stuff and then left his desk.

When he returned, he explained that there was a problem with one of the documents. Although immigration accepted the documents, the police wouldn't. It seems they each have a list of requirements which are worded just a little differently. So that had to be resolved. When I returned to finally make the cedula, all the fingerprints, scanning and photo had to be completed again.

Now everything was ready. Almost. Now it was time to wait again, this time just a week. Then my cedula was ready to be picked up and the process complete.

What is missing from the above story is all the trips to the different offices, especially the escribiana's office for certified copies, and I suspect my consultant did even more running around to offices without me.

The key is to get all your documents in order and legalized before you start the process. Also it is a good ideas to keep an open mind and go with the flow of the process without any expectations. It will get done eventually and then you can enjoy the simple life in Paraguay.

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