Paraguay Investor Pass

Paraguay's Investor Pass grants permanent residence from USD 70,000, but that figure buys a working business, not a passive holding: it requires a business plan approved in advance and at least five formal Paraguayan jobs. Investors who want no operational duties start at USD 200,000, through financial instruments or property used for economic activity.

The programme rests on Resolución N.º 0283 of 21 April 2026 of the Ministerio de Industria y Comercio (MIC), which replaced Resolución 1052/2025. The MIC, through its unified business registration system (SUACE), issues a Constancia de Inversionista Extranjero (CIE). That certificate exists for one purpose: under Article 46 of Paraguay's Migration Law, Ley N.º 6984/2022, an investor who can prove an investment is exempt from the usual temporary-residence stage and may apply to the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones for permanent residence directly. That exemption, rather than a low price alone, is what sets the Investor Pass apart.

What the Investor Pass is, and what it is not

The Investor Pass is a residence programme. It gives you permanent residence in Paraguay and, from there, access to a Paraguayan identity card (cédula). It does not give you citizenship or a passport. Paraguayan nationality is a separate application to the Supreme Court of Justice, open after three years of permanent residence, counted from the date of the resolution admitting you as a permanent resident. It also requires legal age, good conduct and, under Article 148 of the Constitution, the exercise of a profession, trade, science, art or industry in the country. Naturalisation is a real possibility for someone who genuinely builds a life or a business in Paraguay. It is not a formality that follows the investment.

The four investment routes and what each costs

Every threshold is expressed in US dollars, and the guaraní equivalent at the official exchange rate on the application date is accepted.

• Productive investment, from USD 70,000. Industry, commerce or services, carried out under a business plan approved in advance and creating a minimum of five formal jobs. The plan must set out the company, its location, its activity code, a costed breakdown of the investment and an implementation timetable, and the investor must report progress on it regularly.
• Tourism investment, from USD 150,000. Creating, acquiring, expanding or operating tourism assets or services, again under an approved business plan with technical follow-up.
• Real estate, from USD 200,000. Property or real rights held to generate economic returns through rent, appreciation or productive use. Property bought for exclusively personal or family use does not qualify, and no business plan or job creation is required.
• Financial instruments, from USD 200,000. Capital placed through financial instruments, including the Paraguayan stock exchange, with no duty to create jobs or manage a business. The investment must be maintained for a minimum period and reported on annually.

What counts towards the productive and tourism thresholds is also defined. Property, machinery, equipment, vehicles used in the business, fit-out and installations count. Rent, salaries, utilities and recurring administrative costs do not. Where several investors share one project, each applicant must individually meet the minimum; a single USD 70,000 venture cannot carry two families.

The requirements that trip people up

You must go to Paraguay. Proof of entry into the country, an entry stamp or an official migration movement certificate, is part of the certificate file, and Migraciones states that the permanent residence procedure is personal and in person. Plan at least one trip for the application itself.

Background checks reach beyond your passport country. You need an apostilled or legalised criminal record certificate from your country of origin or, if you have lived elsewhere for more than a year within the last three years, from that country too, plus an INTERPOL certificate issued through INTERPOL Paraguay. Documents in other languages must be translated into Spanish by a sworn translator.

Source of funds is a sworn declaration, not a box to tick. Each applicant signs a declaration on the origin of the funds and a commitment to comply with the rules of SEPRELAD, Paraguay's anti-money-laundering secretariat, which receives the technical report on every business plan. For the productive and tourism routes you must also evidence solvency with recent bank statements or investment certificates, or with valued personal assets.

Investment evidence must be recent and specific. Financial investments must be certified by an entity authorised by the securities regulator under the Central Bank of Paraguay. Property is evidenced by a registered title deed or, for a purchase in progress, a private contract with notarised signatures on which a minimum share of the price has already been paid.

Family members. Neither the resolution nor the government pages we checked state how a spouse or children are included, or at what cost. We confirm this case by case rather than assume it.

How long it takes

Resolución 0283 instructs SUACE to issue the investor certificate within five business days of receiving a complete file; any request for further information pauses the clock. That deadline covers the certificate only. The residence decision by Migraciones and the issue of the identity card are separate steps with their own timelines, which the government does not publish as a single figure.

Keeping your residence

Permanent residence in Paraguay carries no minimum annual stay, but it is not unconditional. Under Article 55 of Ley 6984/22, residence can be cancelled after more than three consecutive years of unjustified absence. A visit at least once every three years keeps it active, and residents expecting a longer absence can request prior authorisation from Migraciones. The residence card itself is issued without an expiry date and is renewed periodically. Investors on the productive and tourism routes should also expect monthly monitoring of the certificate conditions by SUACE and verification against the approved business plan.

Tax: territorial, with an important exception

Paraguay taxes primarily on a territorial basis, which is a large part of its appeal. It is not accurate, however, to say that all foreign income is untaxed. Paraguay's personal income tax law treats certain foreign interest, returns and dividends received by residents as Paraguayan-source income. Whether and how that applies to you depends on your tax residence and the structure of your assets, so tax treatment belongs in individual advice, not a headline.

Who the Investor Pass suits, and who it does not

The Investor Pass suits entrepreneurs who genuinely intend to operate in Paraguay, investors who want a secure permanent residence in South America at a moderate threshold, and people who value a residence that can be kept with occasional visits. It also suits families building a longer-term base, provided they are prepared to live and work in the country if citizenship is the eventual goal.

It is the wrong tool if you want a second passport quickly or visa-free travel on day one: for that, citizenship by investment is the relevant category, which you can compare on our citizenship by investment hub, including the Argentina programme in the same region. If you are weighing Latin American residence options, the Panama Qualified Investor Visa is the natural comparison, and every residence route we cover is ranked on our golden visa and residence hub. And if you want the USD 70,000 route as a passive holding, it is not one: it is an operating business with five employees and ongoing reporting.

Mirabello Consultancy reviews your source of funds, business plan or investment evidence and document chain before anything is filed, so the certificate and the residence application move on the first submission. Book a free, confidential consultation to find out whether the Investor Pass, or a better-fitting programme, is right for you.