Paraguay Retirement Visa 2026: Residence for Pensioners

Paraguay retirement residency is residence by financial means. Nothing is invested, donated or spent: at the permanent stage you show that a pension is paid to you, and it stays yours. Unusually, there is no separate pension visa: you first hold ordinary temporary residence, with no financial test, and prove your pension only when you convert to permanent residence.

What is Paraguay's residence for pensioners?

Paraguay's residence for pensioners is the two-stage path a retiree follows under Ley 6984/2022 De Migraciones (read 11 October 2026): temporary residence (Residencia Temporal) of up to two years under article 46, then permanent residence (Residencia Permanente) under article 52. Article 46 makes the temporary stage a prerequisite, and article 50, which lists its requirements, contains no financial test.

The pension enters only at the second stage. Resolución DNM 407/2026 and its Anexo Único (read 11 October 2026) set out how solvency is proved for permanent residence through 12 categories, and "jubilados o pensionados" (retirees or pensioners) is one of them (Anexo Único, articles 1 to 4 and 14). The resolution applies to files submitted from 6 July 2026, and its article 3 repeals the earlier solvency provisions. The authority for both stages is the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (DNM).

So, does Paraguay have a retirement visa? Not as a separate category: what is often called Paraguay's retirement visa is this general route, used by a retiree. It gives residence, not nationality and not a passport. For the difference, see residency versus citizenship.

Who qualifies, and how much pension do you need?

Paraguay's residence for pensioners has no published pension minimum. These are the requirements in the official texts we read:

• Temporary stage, no financial test: no income or solvency proof is required to obtain temporary residence (Ley 6984/2022, article 50).
• Declare retiree or pensioner status: temporary residents declare the lawful activity they will carry out, and DNM later checks that your evidence matches it.
• Permanent stage, a pension certificate: a constancia de jubilación o pensión stating the amount you receive and the financial medium through which you receive it, legalised or apostilled (Resolución DNM 407/2026, Anexo Único, article 14).
• No minimum amount: the Anexo sets no minimum pension, makes no distinction between state and private pensions and does not require a lifetime pension.
• Older figures are superseded: article 3 of the resolution repeals the earlier solvency provisions.
• Dependants: each family member files under the same regime. At the permanent stage a spouse or another relative you support uses the Dependientes category (article 15), with no amount per dependant, and children aged 0 to 17 are exempt from solvency proof.
• No investment and no minimum age: no investment, deposit or purchase is required, and no minimum age is stated in the instruments we read.

Whether DNM applies any minimum or health-insurance requirement in practice is not yet officially confirmed, so we check it for your case. The route fits a retiree with a documented pension who will file in person and hold temporary residence first. It does not fit someone living on dividends, interest or rent without a pension, which have no category of their own in the Anexo.

Is Paraguay's retirement visa a golden retirement visa?

Yes. Mirabello Consultancy rates Paraguay's residence for pensioners Golden, with a score of 78 out of 100 and confidence grade B in the Mirabello Golden Retirement Index, scored on 11 October 2026 under methodology 1.1. Under Mirabello's standard, a golden retirement visa is a residence permit, not citizenship, and needs no investment. Golden means a score of at least 70 out of 100, a confidence grade of A or B, and no fail on the tax of foreign income, physical presence or renewal. Paraguay's strongest pillars are tax, because a foreign pension sits outside the tax base, and presence, because there is no minimum stay. Its weakest is processing, because DNM publishes no processing time. The Index records no warning flag against the route, and its renewal category is "none: permanent residence at first expiry": a retiree can move to permanent residence when the temporary permit first expires, without renewing it first. Every route in the Index is scored from official sources.

Do you have to live in Paraguay?

Paraguay sets no minimum stay for this route: no minimum annual presence appears in Ley 6984/2022 or in Resolución DNM 407/2026. Two absence rules apply instead (Ley 6984/2022, articles 54 and 55.2):

• Temporary residence can be cancelled after more than one consecutive year of absence.
• Permanent residence is lost after more than three consecutive years of unjustified absence.

Applications are filed in person, and the temporary stage has the stricter absence rule. Time in Paraguay matters separately for naturalisation and tax residence. Ley 6380/2019 does not define individual tax residence and the regulation that sets the test was not located, so the day count is not yet officially confirmed. To compare routes with light or no presence rules, see our guide to residency without relocating.

Does Paraguay tax a foreign pension?

Paraguay taxes individuals on a territorial basis: the personal income tax (Impuesto a la Renta Personal, IRP) covers only income of Paraguayan source (Ley 6380/2019, articles 47 to 49, read 11 October 2026). A foreign pension, and foreign dividends, interest and rent, are therefore outside the tax base even for a tax resident.

Two points need care. Services performed abroad for Paraguayan taxpayers count as Paraguayan-source income (article 48.3), and unjustified increases in net worth are taxable (article 57.11), so document the money you bring in. And tax follows tax residence, not the permit: the treatment applies once you are tax-resident in Paraguay, and the country that pays your pension may still tax it under its own law and the relevant tax treaty. This is general information, not tax advice. See also our guide to countries that don't tax foreign pensions.

How long does it take, what does it cost, and what documents do you need?

DNM publishes no processing time for temporary or permanent residence, so the timeline is confirmed per case. The stages themselves are set by law:

1. Temporary residence application, filed in person with DNM, declaring retiree or pensioner status as your activity.
2. Precarious residence card, valid for 90 days while the temporary application is processed; it allows you to stay, leave and re-enter, work and study (Ley 6984/2022, article 57).
3. Temporary residence of up to two years, which can be extended for an equal period (article 46).
4. Conversion to permanent residence, filed in the three months before the temporary card expires, or up to one month after it with a fine, with your pension certificate under Resolución DNM 407/2026.
5. Permanent residence, indefinite, with the card renewed every 10 years (article 59).

Government fees are not held in our data master, so we confirm current DNM amounts for your case. Documents follow Ley 6984/2022, articles 50 and 52, and the DNM pages for temporary residence and permanent residence (read 11 October 2026). The file includes criminal-record certificates, apostilled and translated, and later the pension certificate described above. No medical certificate appears in articles 50 and 52. The complete list is confirmed for your nationality and case.

Does it lead to Paraguayan permanent residency and citizenship?

Paraguay's residence for pensioners leads to permanent residence at the first expiry of the temporary permit: temporary residence runs up to two years, and you convert by proving your pension in the three months before the card expires. Paraguayan permanent residency is then indefinite; only the card is renewed, every 10 years (Ley 6984/2022, article 59). In the Index, the renewal category is "none: permanent residence at first expiry".

Citizenship comes through naturalisation. Article 148 of the Constitución Nacional (read 11 October 2026) requires at least three years of settled residence. The point from which that period is counted is not yet officially confirmed, so the practical total from arrival is confirmed per case. Multiple nationality is admitted only through a reciprocal treaty (article 149), and a naturalised Paraguayan who voluntarily acquires another nationality loses the Paraguayan one (article 150). Whether applicants must renounce an existing nationality is not yet officially confirmed, so check the effect on your current nationality first.

What does the market get wrong about Paraguay residency for retirees?

• Some guides say Paraguay has a dedicated retiree or rentista visa with a fixed monthly pension minimum. The statute has no such category. The current DNM solvency annex lists jubilados o pensionados as one of 12 evidence categories, with no amount, and article 3 of Resolución DNM 407/2026 repeals the older solvency rules still quoted online.
• Some guides say you need a large bank deposit or proof of funds to start. The temporary stage lists no financial test (Ley 6984/2022, article 50); the pension is proved only at the permanent stage, and a bank deposit appears in article 52 only for investors.
• Some guides say that no tax on foreign income means no Paraguayan tax at all. Paraguayan-source capital income and gains are taxed at 8%, services performed abroad for Paraguayan taxpayers count as Paraguayan-source, and unjustified increases in net worth are taxable.

Paraguay residence for pensioners or another route?

To retire in Paraguay on a documented pension, this route offers a low entry bar and permanent residence after the temporary stage. Three alternatives are worth weighing:

• Paraguay Investor Residence grants permanent residence directly, without the temporary stage, against a qualifying investment. It is a different product with its own thresholds, explained in our Paraguay Investor Pass 2026 guide.
• Uruguay residency for retirees grants permanent residence directly, on proof of sufficient regular income with no fixed floor.
• The Panama Pensionado visa is permanent from the grant but sets a published lifetime pension minimum, and Guatemala's pensionado and rentista residence is also permanent from the grant.

Our comparison of Caribbean and Latin American retirement visas sets the regional routes side by side, the Mirabello Golden Retirement Index ranks every scored route, and the retirement and passive-income residency guide covers the wider directory.

What is not yet officially confirmed

• Whether DNM applies any pension minimum or health-insurance requirement in practice: the resolution sets none.
• Processing times for temporary and permanent residence: not published by DNM.
• Current government fees: not held in our data master.
• The individual tax-residence test, including any day count: not defined in Ley 6380/2019, and the regulation that sets it was not located.
• The absence of a wealth tax and an inheritance tax: recorded from a secondary source, not yet confirmed from an official text.
• When the three-year naturalisation period starts to run, and whether an existing nationality must be renounced.

Ask Mira, by Mirabello

For a first answer at any hour, ask Mira, by Mirabello, the AI advisor of Mirabello Immigration Intelligence. Mira reads the same verified programme data as this page and can compare this route with the other options in our retirement and passive-income residency guide. A specialist then checks the details that decide your case.

How Mirabello Consultancy helps

Mirabello Consultancy sets up your temporary application so that the activity you declare matches the pension evidence DNM will check later, prepares the apostilled and translated documents, coordinates the in-person filing through licensed local counsel in Paraguay, and diarises the three-month conversion window. To check whether your pension documents fit the jubilados o pensionados category, book a free, confidential consultation.

Information only, not legal or tax advice. Requirements were read from the official sources linked above on 11 October 2026 and can change; we confirm them for your case.