Living in Paraguay on Income You Do Not Earn Locally
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Panama 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 Panama to Paraguay · Residency on passive income
Paraguay has no rentista visa, no investor-income category and no published income threshold. Since Ley 6984/2022 there is one route for almost everybody: temporary residency for up to two years, then a change of category to permanent. Temporary residency is granted on documents - identity, birth, civil status, police and Interpol certificates, two sworn declarations - and the migration directorate's own 2026 resolution states in terms that proof of economic solvency applies exclusively to permanent applications. When the money question does arrive, two years later, it is answered with evidence rather than an amount: a remote worker shows an employment certificate stating the income and how it is paid, a property owner shows a title registered at least two years earlier.
At a glance
- Income threshold for temporary residency
- None published
The directorate's requirement list for temporary residency contains no solvency item, and Resolución DNM N° 407/2026 states that solvency proof applies exclusively to permanent applications
- Income threshold for permanent residency
- No amount published
The test is documentary evidence of effective income or real availability of resources, assessed category by category; no figure appears in the resolution or on the directorate's pages
- Temporary residency term
- Up to 2 years, renewable for the same period
- Fee, temporary residency
- 25 jornales - Gs. 2.926.925as of 2026-07-01
Includes the precarious residency card and the change of category; the law's own article 100 still reads 10 jornales, superseded by the current schedule
- Fee, permanent residency
- 25 jornales - Gs. 2.926.925as of 2026-07-01
The schedule in force from 1 July 2026 charges 25 jornales for permanent residency including the change of category, converted at the minimum jornal of Gs. 117.077; article 100 of Ley 6984/2022 itself still reads 15 jornales.
- Absence that cancels temporary residency
- More than 1 year without authorisation
Set by Resolución DNM N° 376/2026, not by the law, which is silent on absence from temporary residency
- Window to change category
- The 3 months before the temporary card expires
Set by the directorate's change-of-category procedure, which also allows a late filing up to one month after the card expires on payment of the overstay fine.
Requirements
- A valid passport or national identity document, with a consular visa first where your nationality requires one for residency
- Proof of entry - the stamped migration slip or the entry stamp in the passport
- A birth certificate and a civil-status certificate, legalised or apostilled and translated into Spanish
- Police or criminal record certificates from your country of origin, or from the country you lived in over the last three years, plus an Interpol certificate and a Paraguayan police certificate for foreigners
- Two sworn declarations before the directorate: one undertaking to respect the Constitution and the laws, one stating the profession or occupation you will pursue and your address in Paraguay
- The fee - 25 jornales, Gs. 2.926.925 in cash from 1 July 2026
- Two years later, for the change to permanent residency: documentary proof of economic solvency under one of the published categories, matching the occupation declared at the temporary stage
In detail
There is no income visa, and that is the point
Read the requirement list the directorate publishes for temporary residency and the striking thing is what is missing. Identity document, entry record, birth certificate, civil status, three separate criminal-record certificates, two sworn declarations, the fee. No bank statement, no deposit, no monthly income, no proof of accommodation. The economic question is asked once, two years later, when you convert to permanent residency, and the directorate's 2026 resolution says so expressly. This is the single largest difference between what Ley 6984 requires and what most published guidance about Paraguay still describes.
What solvency means when it is finally asked
The annex to Resolución DNM 407/2026 lists twelve categories and assigns each its own evidence. A remote worker or digital nomad shows a work certificate stating the income and how it is paid. A property owner shows a title registered at least two years earlier. An independent trader shows a taxpayer registration and either three months of VAT returns or the last annual personal income tax return, plus a tax-compliance certificate, and has to show movement. None of the twelve names a figure. Solvency is proved, never presumed, and the evidence has to match the occupation you declared when you first applied.
The clock you have to watch is the card, not the calendar
The change of category has to be filed in the three months before the temporary card expires. Miss that and you have one month afterwards to file anyway, paying the overstay fine. Miss that too and the only thing left is an extension of the temporary residency, available up to six months after expiry. Separately, leaving Paraguay for more than a year while holding temporary residency now gets the residency cancelled, and once cancelled you are back to visitor status with thirty days to leave or start again.
Compared with the neighbours
Peru grants its rentista status indefinitely from the first decision and names US$ 1,000 a month of foreign income. Uruguay and Colombia both have income-defined categories with published amounts. Paraguay has neither an amount nor a first-grant permanent status: everybody serves two years of temporary residency first, and the compensation is that nothing is asked about money until the end of it.
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.
Paraguay expresses migration fees and fines not in guaranies but in jornales - day-wage units tied to the legal minimum wage. A figure in guaranies is therefore only meaningful next to the jornal it was converted at and the date that conversion took effect. There is a second trap on top of it: the numbers written into article 100 of the migration law are not the numbers being charged. The law says permanent residency costs 15 jornales and temporary residency 10; the schedule in force since 1 July 2026 charges 25 for each.
Paraguay's visa table answers two questions per country, and the second one decides whether the country is as easy as its reputation. Visiting is visa-free for most of Europe, the Americas, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Extending that stay, applying for residency or carrying out any paid activity is a separate permission, and for most of those same nationalities the table says a visa is required. Four European countries - the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Liechtenstein - are exempt from both. Spain needs the visa but gets it free.
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 Panama
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
«De hasta 2 (dos) años, prorrogables por igual período. La residencia temporal será requisito previo al otorgamiento de la Residencia Permanente.»Our translation - not official
Up to 2 (two) years, extendable for an equal period. Temporary residency is a prerequisite for the grant of Permanent Residency.
The law itself says the same thing, but its published PDF breaks the sentence across a line; the directorate's own page states it cleanly and is the version quoted here.
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
«El presente Anexo tiene por objeto establecer los criterios, condiciones y medios probatorios para la acreditación de la solvencia económica, como requisito de admisibilidad para las solicitudes de residencia permanente»Our translation - not official
The purpose of this Annex is to establish the criteria, conditions and means of proof for demonstrating economic solvency, as a requirement of admissibility for applications for permanent residency
This is the instrument behind the list of solvency categories that the directorate publishes on its residency pages. It replaced the annexes of Resoluciones DNM 710/2024 and 905/2024 and their amendments.
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
«la acreditación documental de solvencia económica constituye un requisito aplicable exclusivamente a las solicitudes de residencia permanente»Our translation - not official
documentary proof of economic solvency is a requirement applicable exclusively to applications for permanent residency
The recital continues: sin alterar los requisitos legalmente previstos para la residencia temporal - without altering the requirements laid down by law for temporary residency. This is the clearest official statement that there is no income test at the first stage.
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
«La acreditación de solvencia económica no podrá presumirse en ningún caso, debiendo ser acreditada conforme a los medios probatorios establecidos en cada categoría del presente Anexo.»Our translation - not official
Economic solvency may not be presumed in any case, and must be proved in accordance with the means of proof established in each category of this Annex.
The same article requires the documents to be coherent with the profession or occupation declared when the temporary residency was applied for, which makes the declaration filed two years earlier a commitment rather than a formality.
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
«Certificado o constancia de trabajo que respalde la relación laboral y en el cual se indiquen los ingresos percibidos, así como el medio en el que recibe sus honorarios o salario.»Our translation - not official
A work certificate or statement supporting the employment relationship and stating the income received, as well as the means by which fees or salary are received.
This is the whole of what a remote worker has to show. There is no amount, no bank balance and no requirement that the money enter Paraguay - a marked contrast with Peru, where the rentista route names US$ 1,000 a month and requires the funds to arrive through a supervised bank.
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
«Los solicitantes que invoquen esta categoría deberán presentar el Título de propiedad inscripto en la Dirección General de los Registros Públicos (hoy Registro Unificado Nacional RUN), con registro previo en los últimos dos (2) años.»Our translation - not official
Applicants invoking this category must present the title deed registered with the Public Registries (now the Registro Unificado Nacional, RUN), registered within the previous two (2) years.
The directorate adds that it may require further documents evidencing income derived from the property, so owning alone is not stated to be sufficient.
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
«El carnet de Residencia Precaria habilitará a sus titulares, durante su período de vigencia, a permanecer, salir y reingresar al territorio nacional, trabajar y estudiar.»Our translation - not official
The Precarious Residency card entitles its holders, while it is valid, to remain in, leave and re-enter the national territory, to work and to study.
Issued once only and valid for 90 consecutive days while the temporary application is decided. The same article says its extension and duration create no right to a favourable decision.
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
«que el extranjero con residencia temporal haya salido del país y no haya reingresado por el periodo de tiempo de más de 1 (un) año, sin mediar autorización otorgada por Resolución, se procederá a la CANCELACIÓN DE SU RESIDENCIA VIGENTE»Our translation - not official
where the foreigner holding temporary residency has left the country and has not re-entered for a period of more than 1 (one) year, without an authorisation granted by Resolution, their current residency will be cancelled
The law fixes an absence rule only for permanent residency, at three years. The one-year rule for temporary residency is the directorate's, made in 2026, and it is checked twice a year against the migration movement register.
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
«Residencia Permanente (Incluido cambio de categoría) | 25 | 2.926.925»Our translation - not official
Permanent residency (including change of category) | 25 | 2,926,925
Quoted as a table row so the unit - 25 jornales - stays attached to the converted amount. The temporary residency line on the same table carries the identical figure.
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
«El cambio de categoría de temporaria a permanente deberá tramitarse dentro de los 3 (tres) meses anteriores al vencimiento del carnet de admisión temporaria.»Our translation - not official
The change of category from temporary to permanent must be applied for within the 3 (three) months before the expiry of the temporary admission card.
Missing this window is not fatal: the same page allows the change up to one month after expiry on payment of the overstay fine, and after that only an extension of the temporary residency, available up to six months after expiry.
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
Practical notes
The solvency categories are published as an annex on the directorate's permanent-residency pages and in Resolución DNM N° 407/2026 itself. Where a page and the resolution differ, the resolution is the instrument.
Applying from inside Paraguay is possible - the requirement list asks for proof of entry - but for most nationalities the visa table requires a consular visa before travelling if the purpose is residency rather than a visit.
We read the directorate's pages for spontaneous, temporary, permanent, Mercosur and SUACE residency and the whole of Ley 6984. None of them sets up a separate income-based or retirement-income visa; the pension route appears only as a solvency category at the permanent stage. That is an absence in those pages, not an exhaustive review of Paraguayan law.
Guidance written before 2022 describes a different system. Ley N° 978/1996 was repealed outright by article 107 of Ley 6984, so procedures described under it no longer exist. We have not read Ley 978/1996 and make no claim about what it required.
- administersResidencia Temporal establecida por la Ley N° 6984/2022 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
- administersResolución D.N.M. N° 407 del 28 de mayo de 2026 - criterios de acreditación de solvencia económica
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
- administersResidencia Permanente para el cambio de categoría de residencia temporal establecida por la Ley N° 6984/2022
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
- administersResolución D.N.M. N° 376 - procedimiento para la cancelación de residencias por ausencias injustificadas
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
- administersAranceles Migratorios - escala vigente desde el 01/07/2026
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