Destination guide

Moving to Paraguay from Australia

A landlocked country between Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. Hot summers, mild winters and a capital on the Paraguay River.

Paraguay lets Australian citizens visit without a visa for up to 90 days, and temporary residence runs for up to two years with no income figure set. Permanent residence asks you to prove means in one of 12 categories, which include remote workers and retirees. Australia and Paraguay have neither an income tax treaty nor a social security agreement.

Visitor stay: No visa for tourism up to 90 days
Long-stay route: Temporary residence, up to 2 years, renewable
Income to plan for: Unknown. DNM sets no income figure for either stage
Tax treaty: No
Social security agreement: No
Travel advice: Exercise a high degree of caution

Good fit for remote workers
DNM's proof-of-means rules for permanent residence name remote workers and digital nomads as a category and ask for a work certificate stating your income, and personal income tax covers Paraguayan-source income only. See Staying a year or longer
Good fit for retirees
DNM names retirees and pensioners as a proof-of-means category, asking for a certificate of the pension amount and how it arrives, and Services Australia says the Age Pension continues at the outside Australia rate when you move abroad. See Staying a year or longer

The essentials

What to know.

Not advice. Figures last checked 18 October 2026.

Visiting

Australian citizens need no visa to enter Paraguay as tourists for up to 90 days, and the law allows one extension of up to the same period. The waiver is temporary: Law 7314/2024 runs it to 13 August 2027, the same date as for US, Canadian and New Zealand passports. DNM's table adds a catch for an Australian passport: a visa is required to extend a stay, apply for residence or do paid work. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says a Paraguayan visa is applied for through an online form and a consular interview. Which category and cost apply to an extension or residence are unknown: ask the Ministry or DNM.

The extension costs Gs. 585,385 in cash, about A$146, and staying past the date costs a fine of Gs. 702,462, about A$175.
For occasional paid activity, DNM's occasional residence lasts up to 90 days, can be renewed once in the year and costs Gs. 936,616, about A$233.
Paraguay has a Consulate-General in Sydney. Honorary consulates, such as the Melbourne office, cannot take visa applications.
There is no working holiday scheme between Australia and Paraguay: Home Affairs lists Paraguay as a country it is still negotiating one with.

Staying a year or longer

Temporary residence lasts up to two years, can be renewed for the same period and comes before permanent residence. DNM's list of requirements for adults sets no income figure for it. For permanent residence DNM asks you to prove means with documents in one of 12 categories, and none has a minimum amount.

Remote workers and digital nomads give a work certificate stating the income received and how it is paid. Retirees give a certificate of the pension amount and how it arrives.
Whether temporary residence is granted when all your income comes from abroad is unknown.
An investor can skip temporary residence: the investor route asks for a set minimum investment (to be safe, have more than US$71,000) and five direct jobs within 24 months.
Mercosur citizens have separate residence rules that do not apply to an Australian passport.

More detail

You ask for permanent residence in the three months before the temporary card expires. The temporary file costs Gs. 2,926,925, about A$729, plus Gs. 234,154 for the radication certificate. An extension of temporary residence costs Gs. 1,287,847, about A$321, and permanent residence costs Gs. 2,926,925.

Resolution DNM 407/2026 set the 12 categories for files entered from 6 July 2026. Employees give an IPS insured certificate or a registered work contract, the self-employed give a taxpayer registration with tax returns showing activity, and property owners give a title registered in the last two years.

Documents, fees and timing

A temporary residence file asks for your passport, proof of entry, your birth certificate, a national or federal police record, an INTERPOL certificate and a certificate for foreigners from the Paraguayan National Police. Foreign documents must be apostilled and translated into Spanish by a sworn translator registered in Paraguay. For an Australian citizen the national record is a National Police Check from the Australian Federal Police, which DFAT then apostilles. The process is in person.

A National Police Check costs A$57, or A$114 with fingerprints. DFAT charges A$105 a document for the apostille and takes card payment only.
DFAT accepts only a limited range of electronic documents and cannot say by phone whether yours qualifies, so ask first or order the paper copy.
A permanent card has no end date but is renewed every ten years for Gs. 468,308, about A$117.
How long DNM takes to process any residence type is unknown, and it warns that handing in documents does not mean the residence is granted.

More detail

Older requirements from the previous law, such as a promise of employment and a sanitary certificate, are not on DNM's current list. Confirm the list with DNM before you order documents.

The law cancels permanent residence after an unjustified absence of more than three years, and temporary residence after one year.

Tax

Paraguay's personal income tax falls on income of Paraguayan source, and foreign-source income is outside its base. DNIT's FAQ says an individual counts as resident for tax when holding permanent residence, but how DNIT treats a visitor or a temporary resident is unknown. How it treats pay from a foreign employer for work done from Paraguay is unknown too, so ask a Paraguayan accountant. Australia may keep its claim as well: leaving does not by itself end Australian tax residence, and a resident declares income from overseas on the Australian return.

Services income is taxed at 8% up to Gs. 50,000,000, 9% up to Gs. 150,000,000 and 10% above that; with gross services income of Gs. 80,000,000 or less, about A$19,912, you file but pay nothing.
Capital income of Paraguayan source is taxed at 8%.
The ATO sets four residency tests, and someone domiciled in Australia stays resident unless the Commissioner is satisfied their permanent place of abode is outside Australia.

More detail

Treasury's table of treaties in force and its list of information exchange agreements do not include Paraguay, and DNIT's list of conventions does not include Australia. No treaty tie-breaker applies, so you could be treated as resident of both countries.

The Department of Social Services' agreement list does not include Paraguay, so there is no agreement to combine contribution periods or to avoid being covered by two systems. IPS registers independent workers who hold a cédula and a RUC; which benefits that gives is unknown: ask IPS.

If you stop being an Australian tax resident you are taken to have sold your capital gains tax assets, other than taxable Australian property, at market value at that time. Study and training loans must still be repaid from overseas.

Setting up

Residents get the Paraguayan cédula from the National Police on the DNM radication certificate, and the RUC tax number needs the cédula. Public health services run by the Ministry are free by law; whether that covers foreigners is unknown, so ask the Ministry. The price of private cover is unknown. Services Australia says Medicare does not cover you while you are overseas.

The cédula tariff is Gs. 8,500; confirm it at the counter.
What a Paraguayan bank asks of a foreign resident to open an account is unknown: ask the bank.
Smartraveller says you will need an international driving permit; a licence issued abroad is valid for no more than three months from entry, and the route for exchanging an Australian licence is unknown.
Rents and lease rules are unknown here.

Living in Asunción

At the airport weather station the 1991 to 2020 average is 27.8°C in January and 17.5°C in July, with 1,462.3 mm of rain a year and the wettest months from October to December. The 2022 census counted 442,841 usual residents in Asunción, 4.4% of them international migrants. Smartraveller asks Australians to exercise a high degree of caution in Paraguay because of violent crime, which it says occurs in Asunción as well as in tourist areas.

The January average daily maximum is 34.0°C.
The municipality runs free guided circuits of the old town, the Palacio de Gobierno and the Cementerio de la Recoleta.
Smartraveller says thieves on motorbikes sometimes steal from pedestrians or threaten them with weapons, and advises against walking after dark.

Other places to compare

Encarnación is a river city in Itapúa department. In the 2022 census 3.9% of its residents were international migrants. The 1991 to 2020 average there is 26.4°C in January and 15.6°C in July, with 1,804.3 mm of rain a year. Encarnación and Itapúa are not among the places of concern in Smartraveller's Paraguay advice. Rents there are unknown.

The city's tourism map describes a 27 km avenue along the Paraná River and a beach inside the urban area.

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Moving to Paraguay from Australia

What to know.

Visiting

Staying a year or longer

Documents, fees and timing

Tax

Setting up

Living in Asunción

Other places to compare

More on Paraguay.

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