Make papers By yourself – Part II
Make a residence permit and cédula by yourself without any help
Part II – After you arrive in Paraguay
You have successfully completed the preparations in your home country.
You leave the airport full of energy (which you will still need). If you plan to stay longer in Paraguay, you can now treat yourself to a day’s rest after the long journey.
However, if you have only planned 2 weeks of vacation, you have to make good use of this time if you want to do everything yourself.
First find a taxi and negotiate the price.
Some have already managed to be driven through town for half a day for around EUR 50.
Others pay 2 to 3 times as much, depending on luck and language skills.
By taxi we start by copying the passport with the entry stamp and then having this copy certified by a local notary (escribania publica). This will later serve as “proof of legal entry” into Paraguay.
Certificate of good conduct from Interpol Paraguay
The journey continues and you come to Interpol, where you will hand in your fingerprints to obtain the Interpol Paraguay police clearance certificate.
For this you also need:
A copy of the passport (data sheet), notarized
A copy of the entry stamp, notarized
2 passport photos
If all of your documents have already been translated, you will now save around 3 days (why? See Part I).
If you have your documents translated in Paraguay, you now need a licensed translator – you can find one here.
Health certificate
While you’re waiting for the translator, it’s a good time to make an appointment with the doctor.
It’s about your health certificate.
You can obtain this certificate from a general doctor at the Ministry of Health in Paraguay. It confirms that you are physically and mentally healthy and that you do not have any contagious diseases (such as AIDS). In order to be able to confirm this, various examinations, such as blood analysis or a psychological report, are necessary.
If the certificate is available, it has to be confirmed by the Ministry of Health in Asuncion.
The costs depend on the type and number of examinations required; You should plan at least 3 days as a time frame.
Registration confirmation of your place of residence in Paraguay
Once that is done, we will confirm your residence in Paraguay.
Issued by the responsible police station.
Usually 2 witnesses + 2 copies of their Cédulas (ID card Paraguay) as well as a small donation to the police are sufficient and you have your registration confirmation in your hand within 1 hour.
National certificate of good conduct for foreigners
With the certified copy of your passport (do you still remember?) It goes to the “Identificaciones” in Asuncion for the receipt of your “national certificate of good conduct for foreigners”.
You will later need the original plus a certified copy.
Well, we’re slowly making progress and your “still to do” list is getting shorter.
Proof of capital of U $ 5,000
The next stop is a bank (or cooperative), where you set up a security account to deposit the proof of capital of U $ 5,000 or Gs 29,605,000.
Even if you (I admire anyone who can do this) have done without a professional interpreter, now is a good time to pay for one. If you have successfully explained your concern, the bank will issue you a certificate for the amount deposited. The bank often does this directly, in the case of cooperatives it can take 1 week.
The law also provides for other ways of proving solvency;
- an existing employment relationship for Gs 2,500,000 per month (or more),
- Proof of a higher academic degree can also be used,
- a certified proof of ownership of an agro-business (commonly known as a farm) of at least 10 hectares or
- a (quite high) pension notice (notarized, legalized and translated).
In practice, however, it does not pay to take the necessary paperwork for it to be – the proof of funds is the easiest way by far.
Statutory declaration
The affidavit to the notary is still missing, in the original with a certified copy.
Here you undertake to comply with the Constitution and the laws of Paraguay in accordance with Law 978/96, Art. 23.
Application for permanent residence in Paraguay at “Migraciones”
Now you have all the necessary documents and can apply to the immigration authorities (“Migraciones”) for a residence permit.
If you have even managed the bank and affidavit without an interpreter, then you need a professional at the latest.
During the application process the documents for completeness and the presence of all stamps are examined closely.
The deadlines (such as a DE certificate of good conduct not older than 90 days) must be strictly observed.
If documents and / or stamps are missing, your application will NOT be accepted!
But we are lucky and you have worked correctly and efficiently – congratulations.
Your application has been accepted! You will now receive the „Mesa de entrada“.
With this document, the authority confirms your application and you can initially remain legally in the country for 6 months.
The cost of the application amount of 1 July 2019 about 250, – Euro and are payable upon application in cash.
From now on, patience is required – count on a processing time of at least 8 months.
Your “Mesa de entrada” allows you to stay in Paraguay until your residence permit is issued.
However, if you want to leave Paraguay in the meantime, it is wise to always have your passport stamped when you leave and re-enter.
Police register for foreigners (Registro para extranjeros)
Once you have reached the “Mesa de entrada”, the journey continues to the “Registro para extranjeros” for the fingerprint card.
You will need:
certified copy of your passport
certified copy of the Interpol certificate of good conduct
certified confirmation of residence
Original + certified copy of the “Mesa de entrada”
2 passport photos
Application itself (to be completed in Spanish)
Identity card / Cedula de Identidad
A lot of time has now passed and you have already saved the number of the “Migraciones” as a favorite on your smartphone.
After hearing 83 times that your papers were being processed and that you would like to be patient, on the 84th call (to your shock!) You learned that everything is ready and you can pick up your residence permit. A day’s drive to Asuncion later you finally have your “Admisión permanente” in hand and would like to apply for your identity card (“Cedula”).
- The good news is that applying for the cedula is much easier and faster than obtaining a residence permit. The application for the cedula can be submitted to the “Identificaciones” in Asuncion or to a local office in the country.
- In many cases you can continue to use your old certificate of good conduct from Germany (up to 6 months after receiving the “Permanent”).
- Now you need a national criminal record of the original and certified. You have already practiced where to get it and how to do it.
- You now need an original and certified certificate of good conduct from Interpol. You have already practiced where to get it and how to do it.
- A certified copy of the permanent residence permit
- A certified copy of the fingerprint card (now you finally know why you went to all the trouble with the foreigner registration register last year!)
- 2 passport photos
- the application itself (to be completed in Spanish)
The processing time is around 30 days..
And that was about it!
Congratulations on your organizational skills and your angelic patience.
Statement of costs for the residence permit plus cedula
Even without immigration helpers, the following costs must still be calculated.
- Fixed costs for the application, stamping fees and translations approx. Gs 3,500,000 (EUR 500).
- Accommodation costs in Asuncion are variable, but 3 nights for the residence permit and 1 night for the “Cedula de Identidad” are to be expected. So a total of 4 nights with about 6 working days. In a hotel an overnight stay costs from Gs. 400,000, in very simple accommodations it is cheaper. Let us calculate with Gs 1,200,000 total costs as a good average for a rather simple accommodation.
- Travel costs for taxi or rental car for 6 days. Rent a car for 6 days is to be calculated with U $ 25 a day upwards, so from about Gs. 1,000,000 (EUR 150, -). Public transport is much cheaper, but everything also takes much longer. Taxi would reduce the GPS stress, but increase the costs.
- Variable cost of the trips. Parking fees are practically always payable in the city center. If you are traveling with a rental car (or your own vehicle), there is a good chance that you will also get one or the other parking ticket. These can quickly reach 1 million guaranies. Let’s calculate Gs 500,000 as an average, since not everyone will pay a fine, but fuel and parking fees will.
- Variable costs for food and drink. If you want to have at least one good meal a day in a restaurant, then we should plan at least Gs 50,000 per day here. If you work 6 days, that’s Gs 300,000. If you want to eat well, we can easily double the calculation.
- Time investment and nerve costs. Since you will spend an estimated 6 working days with the whole process, time is not particularly important to you. That is why we rate the value of your time with 0 Guaranies, since time costs you nothing and you cannot do anything more sensible with it.
If you add up the above items, you come to Gs. 6,500,000 (EUR 1,000) for the application for your residence permit and the Cedula in Paraguay. If you go through this process as a group or a family, then the 3.5 million fixed costs for each person remain the same. However, you can save a little on the rental car and travel costs.
However, you will hardly get below Gs.