Becoming Paraguayan by Naturalisation
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Venezuela on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Venezuela to Paraguay · Becoming a citizen
The constitution asks for three years of settled residence, majority, the regular exercise of a profession, trade, science, art or industry in the country, and good conduct as defined by law. The Supreme Court, which grants the naturalisation letter, reads the three years as three years of permanent residency counted from the date of the decision granting it - not from arrival. Since permanent residency normally follows two years of temporary residency, the realistic minimum from first arriving is around five years. Naturalised Paraguayans lose the nationality after three years of unjustified absence declared by a court, and exercise citizenship, including the vote, only two years after obtaining it.
At a glance
- Residence required by the constitution
- Three years, minimum
- How the court counts it
- Three years of permanent residency from the date of the permanent-admission decision
- Realistic minimum from first arrival
- About five yearsCALC (calculated by us, not published)
Two years of temporary residency, then three of permanent; derived from the two rules quoted on this page rather than stated as a single figure by any authority
- Judicial fee
- Gs. 43.051
Published by the Supreme Court on its requirements page; bank counter payments carry a commission of up to Gs. 4.400
- Full citizenship rights
- Two years after naturalisation
- Loss of naturalised nationality
- Three years of unjustified absence, declared by a court, or voluntarily acquiring another nationality
- Dual nationality
- Only by international treaty or constitutional reciprocity
Figures marked CALC are our arithmetic, not a figure in any instrument. Where the law states a threshold as a multiple of something else, the amount shown is that multiple applied - and it moves when the underlying figure does.
Requirements
- Majority - eighteen years of age
- Three years of permanent residency, counted from the date of the resolution granting permanent admission
- A certificate of settled residence from the migration directorate, plus the permanent admission card
- A Paraguayan identity card and a passport, in certified copies
- Police, judicial and country-of-origin criminal record certificates
- Evidence of occupation: an employment certificate naming the employer's social security and taxpayer numbers, or a trading licence and taxpayer number for a trader, or a study certificate for a student, or the qualifying title for a professional
- A curriculum vitae, a sworn declaration signed before the court, and the judicial fee
- A written application through a lawyer, giving an address for service in Asunción
In detail
Three years, counted from a date most people get wrong
The constitutional text says a minimum of three years of settled residence and stops there. The Supreme Court's own requirements page supplies the reading that matters: three years of permanent settled residence, counted from the date of the permanent-admission resolution. Under the migration law in force since 2022 that resolution cannot arrive until after two years of temporary residency. Add the two rules together and the first day you can file is about five years after you arrive, which is the figure to plan around.
What else the constitution asks
Majority, good conduct as defined by law, and the regular exercise in the country of a profession, trade, science, art or industry. The court turns that last one into documents: an employment certificate naming the employer's social security and taxpayer registration numbers, or a trading licence and taxpayer number with two commercial references, or a study certificate, or the professional qualification. Whichever applies, it is evidence of doing something in Paraguay rather than merely living there.
Nationality now, citizenship in two more years
Paraguay separates the two. Naturalisation makes you a national; you become a citizen, and therefore a voter in national elections, two years later. Permanent residents, meanwhile, can already vote in municipal elections under the migration law without naturalising at all, which makes the local franchise the cheapest of the three.
Two ways to lose it
A naturalised Paraguayan loses the nationality after more than three years of unjustified absence, declared judicially, or by voluntarily acquiring another nationality. Multiple nationality is admitted only by treaty or by constitutional reciprocity. Anyone who would be acquiring a second nationality here, rather than a first, should establish which treaties apply before filing; we did not read them.
Country-level policy
Ley N° 6984/2022 replaced the migration law Paraguay had used since 1996, and it changed the single thing the country is best known for. Permanent residency is no longer something a newcomer can be granted on arrival: temporary residency, granted for up to two years, is now a prerequisite for it, and the only exemptions are investors under the SUACE business regime and the foreign family of a repatriated Paraguayan. The old law was repealed outright rather than amended, so guidance written before October 2022 describes procedures that no longer exist - including, on the revenue authority's own pages, the definition of who counts as a tax resident.
Two different clocks, one of them made by the migration directorate rather than by the law. Permanent residency is lost after more than three years of unjustified absence, which is in the migration law itself. Temporary residency is cancelled after more than one year of absence without authorisation, which is not in the law at all: it comes from a 2026 directorate resolution that also sets up a procedure for asking permission to be away for longer. Cancellation is checked twice a year against the entry and exit register, and the directorate notifies the police, the Supreme Court and the revenue authority when it happens.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Venezuela
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«2) radicación mínima de tres años en territorio nacional;»Our translation - not official
2) a minimum of three years' settled residence in the national territory;
One of four cumulative requirements. The others are majority, the regular exercise in the country of a profession, trade, science, art or industry, and good conduct as defined by law.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state's unified public information portal, which hosts scanned official publications including the Constitution.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A scan, and its OCR drops letters inside the naturalisation article itself - it renders 'mayoría' as 'mayorla'. Quote only lines that render cleanly and record that the source is an OCR scan. Not a consolidator of ordinary legislation.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«Para iniciar el trámite, debe contar con TRES años de radicación permanente, contado desde la fecha de resolución de admisión permanente, conforme al Art. 148 Numeral 2 de la Constitución Nacional»Our translation - not official
To start the procedure, you must have THREE years of permanent settled residence, counted from the date of the permanent admission decision, in accordance with Article 148 numeral 2 of the National Constitution
This is the sentence that turns a three-year constitutional rule into a five-year practical one. The constitution says radicación mínima de tres años; the court reads radicación as permanent radicación and starts the clock at the permanent-admission resolution, which under Ley 6984 cannot come earlier than two years after the temporary residency.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The supreme court, which grants the Carta de Naturalización and publishes the requirements for it.
Standing: Decides what it means
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for residency or migration procedure, nor for the constitutional text itself. Its news pages mention a naturalisation examination that its requirements page does not; news does not establish a requirement, so the requirements page is the only citable one. Says nothing about how long naturalisation takes.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«Los paraguayos naturalizados pierden la nacionalidad en virtud de ausencia injustificada de la República por más de tres años, declarada judicialmente, o por la adquisición voluntaria de otra nacionalidad.»Our translation - not official
Naturalised Paraguayans lose their nationality by reason of unjustified absence from the Republic for more than three years, declared judicially, or by the voluntary acquisition of another nationality.
Two conditions with different mechanics. The absence has to be declared by a court, so it is not automatic. The acquisition of another nationality is written without that qualification.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state's unified public information portal, which hosts scanned official publications including the Constitution.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A scan, and its OCR drops letters inside the naturalisation article itself - it renders 'mayoría' as 'mayorla'. Quote only lines that render cleanly and record that the source is an OCR scan. Not a consolidator of ordinary legislation.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«toda persona de nacionalidad paraguaya por naturalización, después de dos años de haberla obtenido.»Our translation - not official
any person of Paraguayan nationality by naturalisation, two years after obtaining it.
Nationality and citizenship are separate in the Paraguayan constitution. Natural-born Paraguayans are citizens at eighteen; naturalised ones become citizens two years after naturalisation, and citizenship is what carries the vote.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state's unified public information portal, which hosts scanned official publications including the Constitution.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A scan, and its OCR drops letters inside the naturalisation article itself - it renders 'mayoría' as 'mayorla'. Quote only lines that render cleanly and record that the source is an OCR scan. Not a consolidator of ordinary legislation.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«La nacionalidad multiple podrá ser admitida mediante tratado internacional o por reciprocidad de rango constitucional entre los Estados del natural de origen y del adopción.»Our translation - not official
Multiple nationality may be admitted by international treaty or by reciprocity of constitutional rank between the States of origin and of adoption.
Read with article 150, which makes voluntarily acquiring another nationality a ground for losing a naturalised Paraguayan one, this is the article to check against your own nationality before applying. We did not read Paraguay's treaties on the point.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The state's unified public information portal, which hosts scanned official publications including the Constitution.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A scan, and its OCR drops letters inside the naturalisation article itself - it renders 'mayoría' as 'mayorla'. Quote only lines that render cleanly and record that the source is an OCR scan. Not a consolidator of ordinary legislation.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
«Los extranjeros con radicación definitiva tendrán derecho al voto en las Elecciones Munici-»Our translation - not official
Foreigners with definitive settled residence shall have the right to vote in Municipal Elections...
The sentence continues across a line break in the published PDF: pales; conforme con lo establecido en el Código Electoral. Permanent residents can therefore vote locally without naturalising at all.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The migration directorate. Administers residency under Ley 6984/2022 and issues its own resolutions under arts. 78, 79 and 82. Publishes the law as a PDF booklet, per-route requirement pages, the migration fee schedule and a resolutions index.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the gazette: it reproduces Ley 6984 but did not make it. Its requirement pages restate the law and sometimes diverge from it - art. 100's fee figures against the schedule in force is the live example, and the schedule wins. Cannot be cited for the SUACE investor threshold, which is the industry ministry's, nor for the tax consequences of a migration status. The law booklet is a justified-column PDF, so extracted text breaks words across lines.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Se debe abonar el monto de Gs. 43.051»Our translation - not official
The amount of Gs. 43,051 must be paid
The judicial fee, published on the same page as the requirements. Payments made at a bank counter or collection point carry a commission of up to Gs. 4.400 including VAT; paying through home banking carries none.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The supreme court, which grants the Carta de Naturalización and publishes the requirements for it.
Standing: Decides what it means
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for residency or migration procedure, nor for the constitutional text itself. Its news pages mention a naturalisation examination that its requirements page does not; news does not establish a requirement, so the requirements page is the only citable one. Says nothing about how long naturalisation takes.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The application is filed through a lawyer, with an address for service in Asunción, and the sworn declaration is signed in person at the Supreme Court.
Foreign-language documents must be translated by a translator registered with the Supreme Court, not by any sworn translator.
The procedure itself is governed by the court's internal regulation, Acordada 464/2007, from article 37 onwards. We did not read it, so nothing here describes the steps after filing, the timescale, or whether any examination is set.
The judicial fee is small - Gs. 43.051 - and is paid at a bank or collection point after the liquidation is issued by the court's revenue office.
- consolidatesConstitución de la República del Paraguay
Portal Unificado de Información Pública del Paraguay
About this source
The state's unified public information portal, which hosts scanned official publications including the Constitution.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: A scan, and its OCR drops letters inside the naturalisation article itself - it renders 'mayoría' as 'mayorla'. Quote only lines that render cleanly and record that the source is an OCR scan. Not a consolidator of ordinary legislation.
We re-read it every 365 days. More about this source
- adjudicatesCarta de Naturalización - requisitos
Corte Suprema de Justicia (Paraguay)
About this source
The supreme court, which grants the Carta de Naturalización and publishes the requirements for it.
Standing: Decides what it means
Cannot be cited for: Cannot be cited for residency or migration procedure, nor for the constitutional text itself. Its news pages mention a naturalisation examination that its requirements page does not; news does not establish a requirement, so the requirements page is the only citable one. Says nothing about how long naturalisation takes.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
- administersLey N° 6.984 de Migraciones (texto publicado por la Dirección Nacional de Migraciones)
Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (Paraguay)
About this source
The migration directorate. Administers residency under Ley 6984/2022 and issues its own resolutions under arts. 78, 79 and 82. Publishes the law as a PDF booklet, per-route requirement pages, the migration fee schedule and a resolutions index.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: Not the gazette: it reproduces Ley 6984 but did not make it. Its requirement pages restate the law and sometimes diverge from it - art. 100's fee figures against the schedule in force is the live example, and the schedule wins. Cannot be cited for the SUACE investor threshold, which is the industry ministry's, nor for the tax consequences of a migration status. The law booklet is a justified-column PDF, so extracted text breaks words across lines.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source