Why Paraguay?

Paraguay is a country where you are a resident customer, unlike the EU. Permanent residency in Paraguay imposes few unnecessary obligations, unlike in the EU (e.g., conscription, social and health contributions, compulsory testing, census). But the fact that you don’t have any “forced” benefits like health insurance (properly, “health tax”) doesn’t matter at all, as you can pay for this service on the global free market (I have been using global health insurance with William Russell for several years now).

Paraguay is not as aggressive as most countries in global tax matters. It doesn’t want you to pay taxes on income you didn’t earn in Paraguay (similar to Panama’s territorial taxation of individuals). And it certainly doesn’t want to pay 41% in taxes and levies on crypto sales, as in Slovakia.

Unlike Panama, Paraguay is a member of Mercosur, so that you can enter other Mercosur countries—Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and now Bolivia—with only a Paraguayan cédula.

You can use the Paraguayan “proof of address” (called “la vida y residencia”) or Paraguayan national ID (called “cédula”) for the KYC/AML process with your preferred crypto exchange (for example, Binance officially supports Paraguayan residents; similarly, Xapo and other crypto fintech services). While the exchange may inform the Paraguayan tax authorities of your transactions, they will disregard them because they are your foreign income, which is neither taxed nor declared in Paraguay (including dividends from foreign companies you own outside Paraguay). You can send funds from a crypto exchange to your Paraguayan or Georgian bank and pay with your Visa or Mastercard.

When you cancel your permanent residency in the EU, you will be freed from many of the obligations of permanent residency. Two different continents will automatically become your new home: The EU, where you can live for as long as you like thanks to your EU citizenship, and Latin America, where you can move around a lot of countries using your Paraguayan cédula.

You can also get a Paraguayan driving license – Paraguay won’t take your EU one, unlike any other EU country (two licenses are just enough to avoid unnecessary stress on the road 🙂

When police stop you in your home country, please show them your Paraguayan cédula + Paraguayan driving license and state that you are transferring to your country of permanent residence (Paraguay). Similarly, if Paraguayan police stop you, please show them your EU passport + EU driving license and state that you are transferring to your country of citizenship.

What do I need for this, and how does the process work?

You can apply for permanent residency in Paraguay within two years of obtaining temporary residency. A brief three-day visit is sufficient to obtain temporary residence. Avoid public holidays when no one is working in Paraguay.

Within three months, you will be granted temporary residence. You can then apply for a cédula (Paraguayan national ID) (either to stay in Paraguay for a month or use our express service, where we can take your biometric fingerprints for your cedula in advance). You must apply for the cédula within 12 months of obtaining temporary residency. Suppose you missed this deadline and would like to apply for a cédula on your next mandatory visit within one year. In that case, you will need a new apostilled criminal record certificate translated into Spanish.

You must return to Paraguay within one year of your temporary residency being approved (this new obligatory visit will be required from 1.1.2026). You can visit Paraguay and apply for permanent residency within two years (precisely 21-24 months) of getting your temporary residency. At any time in the future, you can visit Paraguay in person to apply for a cédula for permanent residency (or use our express service when we request your cedula on your behalf).

After that, as a permanent resident of Paraguay, you only need to visit the country once every three years.

From your home country, you need:

1. The birth certificate must be apostilled and translated into Spanish by a legal translator, and the translation must then be apostilled.
2. A valid passport—If you plan to cancel your permanent residence in your home country, we recommend applying for a second passport (many countries allow it).
3. The criminal record extract must be apostilled and translated into Spanish by a legal translator, and the translation must subsequently be apostilled.
4. University diploma (to be legalized usually by the Ministry of Education) – you only need this if you want to apply for permanent residency. It is not required for temporary residence. If you don’t have a university degree (or other technical diploma), you must prove your economic activity in Paraguay to obtain permanent residency. This means that you must be registered with the Paraguayan tax office (we will register you there) and make three monthly VAT declarations (then apply for a “cumplimiento tributario” – a certificate that you have fulfilled all your obligations to the tax office).
5. Marriage (and divorce) certificate (if you have one) must be apostilled, translated into Spanish by a legal translator, and then apostilled again.

Once again, all these documents must be apostilled and officially translated into Spanish (by a state-certified translator), and then the translation must be apostilled again.

1st visit to Paraguay (for three working days) — application for temporary residence

The first visit to Paraguay is required for only three working days (we usually handle all formalities on the first day, so the remaining two days are reserved). It is necessary to avoid public holidays, when no one works in Paraguay.

For this visit, please bring all the documents listed above. During one morning, we will “run around” with you to all the necessary offices (including Interpol, where they will do a “background check”), take photos of you for the relevant documents, and, with the help of our lawyers, apply for temporary and later permanent residence in Paraguay.

If you have our “express service,” we will collect your biometric fingerprints during this visit (on Thursday). Once your temporary residence is approved, we will apply for a cédula (Paraguayan ID card) on your behalf.

If you do not have the express service and are going through the standard process, you will need to come to Paraguay for another visit after your temporary residence is approved (currently one month, but may take up to three months), and apply for a cédula for temporary residence. To apply for a cédula, you must have a valid, apostilled, and translated criminal record extract in Spanish (issued within the past 12 months from your home country).

Once your documents (residence card, cédula) are issued, we will collect them on your behalf and send them to you worldwide.

2. Visit to Paraguay (for one day) — mandatory visit (enforced from January 1, 2026)

Paraguay requires temporary residents to make one mandatory visit within 365 days of approval of temporary residence. We recommend that you do this as late as possible, ideally 300–365 days after approval of temporary residence, so that you can apply for permanent residence on your next visit.

During this visit to Paraguay with a valid cédula, you can apply for a Paraguayan driver’s license (for both cars and heavy motorcycles). The entire process of obtaining your driver’s license takes about 2 hours at the office.

We can also apply for a Paraguayan driver’s license remotely.

Similarly, based on your temporary residence permit, we will register you with the Paraguayan tax office (SET) remotely.

During this visit, you can also open a bank account (I recommend Banco Familiar, ITAU, or UENO). This account can also be opened remotely from a Paraguayan IP address (you can obtain one via NordVPN if you have Revolut Premium+ or Surfshark).

If you do not have a local income source in Paraguay, you can only open a basic bank account (with a monthly limit of approximately $1,000). Again, you must already have a valid cédula to open a bank account.

In this case, we recommend opening a premium non-CRS, non-spying bank account in Kyrgyzstan or Georgia, where you can set up your Paraguayan (tax) residence.

3. Visit to Paraguay — application for permanent residence (within two years, for three working days)

If you want to apply for permanent residence, you should appear in Paraguay in the 21st–24th month of your temporary residence. A university degree is required to apply for permanent residence (the Ministry of Education must legalize it in the country that issued the degree and apostille it —we will take care of all this for you). If you do not have a university degree, you must be registered with the Paraguayan tax office (SET) and fill out tax returns for the last 3 months (and apply for a “cumplimiento tributario” certificate — confirmation that you have fulfilled all your tax obligations). At Liberation.travel, we will be happy to help you with this entire process.

If you have our “express service,” we will collect your biometric fingerprints during this visit (on Thursday) and, once your permanent residence is approved, we will apply for a cédula (Paraguayan ID card) on your behalf.

If you do not have the express service and are going through the standard process, you will need to come to Paraguay for another visit after your permanent residence is approved (currently one month, but may take up to three months), and apply for a cédula for permanent residence.

Next visit to Paraguay (once every three years to maintain permanent residence)

You have permanent residence in Paraguay for 10 years, and as a permanent resident, you are required to visit at least once every 3 years.

Deregistration of permanent residence in the EU

As long as you don’t want to apply for a mortgage, be a full-time employee of a corporation, or be able to vote in regional elections, I don’t think there’s any rational reason to be a permanent resident in the EU (it’s just a bunch of obligations you want to get rid of). That’s true regardless of whether you live there.

I’ve tried to summarise the risks and benefits of losing permanent residence in most EU countries:

Risks of losing residency:

• You lose your firearms license
• You cannot renew your EU driving license (but you can use your Paraguayan license as a tourist in the EU)
• You cannot vote in regional elections (only national)
• You cannot apply for a mortgage/loan in your EU bank (exceptions can be applied for)

Benefits of losing residency and getting Paraguayan residency:

• You may lose your conscription if it is tied to your permanent residency (e.g., Slovakia). Unfortunately, sometimes, it is tied to your citizenship. 🙁
• You will eliminate the obligation to pay social/health contributions and taxes! (So you shouldn’t be in your citizenship country most of the year; you shouldn’t have a permanent residence and apartment there.)
• You will eliminate the state’s harassment by deleting yourself from many registers. The state will also lose the ability to communicate with you (which is a “feature,” not a “bug”), while you will not lose that ability—you will be able to use your passport to do everything at any state office.
• You will likely have better access to health care in your EU country because you will pay in cash and be reimbursed by a global health insurance company (you will not be a victim of the quotas that the current health insurance companies have signed with doctors)
• Freedom to leave – if there is a lockdown/crisis, you will always be allowed to leave the country to go home (to Paraguay) and always back because you are EU citizens (note that in April 2020, the Czech government closed the border for Czech citizens who could not leave the Czech Republic because of COVID-19 – if they had residency in Paraguay, they could go!)
• Getting rid of many collective obligations (obligation to be counted, blanket COVID testing, etc).
• On the Paraguayan cédula, you can travel all over Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and now Bolivia)
• You get the best tax residency in a country with territorial taxation (all those who don’t live anywhere else for more than 183 days a year can take advantage of it)

Getting rid of it is usually straightforward:

1. You visit your local office and apply to cancel your permanent residency.
2. With a certificate from the local authority, you go to the police, hand over your national ID, and tell them that you are canceling your permanent residence.
3. You then check out with the social and health insurance offices (currently, this should be done automatically when you cancel your permanent residence). Of course, you can’t be officially employed (if you are engaged in your own company, you get fired) to deregister with the social insurance office. The health insurance company may want proof that you are paying for your health insurance elsewhere. The cheapest option for this certificate (from €40/month) is SafetyWing, which also offers insurance. If you want better insurance coverage for cancer or heart disease, migrate to William Russel, IMGlobal, or AllianzCare.

And you have just successfully freed yourself. You’re one step closer to becoming a global citizen.

Conclusion

According to the flag theory, it is good to have citizenship in one country, permanent residence in another, a bank account in a third country, a business in a fourth country, customers in a fifth country, and physical residence in a sixth country. You should choose each country as best as possible for a particular purpose and from a global perspective.

It is absurd and naive to think that a single country can give you this. The EU, in particular, is entirely unsuitable for most of these things (it’s good to have an EU passport, maybe EU customers, but that’s about it).

Paraguay may not be a country to live in (though it is very affordable). However, it is ideal for permanent residence and tax residency.