Country-wide policy
A deregulation programme is about to rewrite what Bolivia asks for
On 30 March 2026 Bolivia created a government-wide deregulation programme called Tranca Cero. It builds a single national catalogue of procedures and provides that, once that catalogue is fully in place, no requirement outside it may be demanded. The migration directorate has put a notice at the top of its own procedures page saying its published requirements are the ones currently in force and that the changes coming out of the programme will be added when the implementing rules appear. Everything on Bolivia's pages should be read against that.
Topics it changes
- Visiting as a tourist
- Residency on passive income
- Residency as a retiree
- Residency through work
- Residency through investment
- Residency as a student
- Residency through ancestry
- Residency through marriage
- Residency under a regional treaty
- Becoming a citizen
- Opening a bank account
- Driving and licence exchange
- Bringing your belongings
What it requires
- Treat any requirement list published before the programme's implementing rules as provisional
- Check the migration directorate's notice before relying on a document list
- Expect requirements to be removed rather than added
At a glance
- Instrument
- Decreto Supremo 5595
Decreto Supremo N° 5595, published in the Gaceta Oficial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia.
- Signed
- 30 March 2026
The decree writes the date in words - "a los treinta días del mes de marzo del año dos mil veintiséis" - as Bolivian instruments generally do.
- In force from
- Once the Ministry of the Presidency issues implementing rules
The decree gives that ministry up to thirty working days from publication, and provides that the decree itself only enters into force once that is done.
- Effect once the national catalogue is complete
- A procedure or requirement not in the catalogue may not be demanded, unless a Law or Supreme Decree provides for it
- Migration directorate's own position
- Published requirements are those currently in force; programme changes will be added later
Why this is on the page rather than in a note
A reader planning a move needs to know that the document lists are about to be revised by an explicit government programme, not drift. The decree is signed and published; what has not happened yet is the implementing rule that switches it on, and the migration directorate is saying so itself at the top of the page every applicant reads.
What the law says
«DECRETO SUPREMO N° 5595»Our translation - not official
SUPREME DECREE No. 5595
About this source
The gazette. An act takes legal effect on publication here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for consolidated text. It publishes instruments as enacted and never merges amendments, so an amending decree's own article numbers have to be translated into the articles of the law they amend before anything is quoted. Reachable only through a scraper from some networks; direct fetches fail.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«El presente Decreto Supremo será reglamentado por el Ministerio de la Presidencia en un plazo de hasta treinta (30) días hábiles a partir de su publicación.»Our translation - not official
This Supreme Decree shall be regulated by the Ministry of the Presidency within a period of up to thirty (30) working days from its publication.
The paragraph immediately after it makes entry into force depend on that step being taken.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The gazette. An act takes legal effect on publication here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for consolidated text. It publishes instruments as enacted and never merges amendments, so an amending decree's own article numbers have to be translated into the articles of the law they amend before anything is quoted. Reachable only through a scraper from some networks; direct fetches fail.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Todo trámite, requisito o procedimiento administrativo que no esté incorporado en el Catálogo desde su implementación plena, no podrá ser exigido, salvo aquellos que estén previstos en Ley o Decreto Supremo y el régimen medio ambiental.»Our translation - not official
Any procedure, requirement or administrative process not incorporated into the Catalogue from its full implementation may not be demanded, save those provided for in a Law or Supreme Decree and the environmental regime.
Migration requirements largely sit in Ley 370 and Decreto Supremo 1923, so the carve-out for instruments of that rank covers much of what this country's pages describe.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The gazette. An act takes legal effect on publication here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for consolidated text. It publishes instruments as enacted and never merges amendments, so an amending decree's own article numbers have to be translated into the articles of the law they amend before anything is quoted. Reachable only through a scraper from some networks; direct fetches fail.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Las modificaciones resultantes del Programa 'Tranca Cero' serán incorporadas una vez emitidas las disposiciones normativas correspondientes.»Our translation - not official
The modifications resulting from the 'Tranca Cero' Programme will be incorporated once the corresponding regulatory provisions have been issued.
About this source
The migration directorate. Runs the migration system and publishes the requirement and fee catalogue for every procedure, differentiated by the applicant's nationality - which is how the difference between an Andean, a Mercosur and an ordinary applicant becomes visible at all.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for the text of any instrument: it paraphrases and mis-titles them, calling SEGIP's counterpart the "Dirección Nacional de Migración". Cannot be cited for the visa-group lists, which it never publishes, nor for how tourist requirements differ by nationality - its tourist rows are identical for every country and demand a consular visa even of visa-exempt ones, which contradicts Decision 878. Two of its requirement fields ship with developer placeholder text still in them. The citable text is a JSON feed on a non-standard port, so a publisher-origin match will not find it.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Es dado en el Palacio de Gobierno, a los treinta días del mes de marzo del año dos mil veintiséis.»Our translation - not official
Given at the Palace of Government, on the thirtieth day of the month of March of the year two thousand and twenty-six.
The date is written in words, as Bolivian instruments write dates. There is no numeral anywhere in the decree to read it off.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The gazette. An act takes legal effect on publication here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for consolidated text. It publishes instruments as enacted and never merges amendments, so an amending decree's own article numbers have to be translated into the articles of the law they amend before anything is quoted. Reachable only through a scraper from some networks; direct fetches fail.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
Practical notes
Nothing in Decreto Supremo 5595 mentions migration specifically. It applies to the executive branch as a whole, and the migration directorate has chosen to warn applicants about it.
Whether the implementing rules have since been issued was not checked against any later instrument; the decree was read on the day it is cited.