Destination guide

Moving to Paraguay from Canada

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

Paraguay lets Canadian 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. Canada 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 CPP can be paid in Paraguay, though Canada withholds 25% on CPP and OAS paid abroad when no treaty reduces it. See Staying a year or longer

The essentials

What to know.

Not advice. Figures last checked 18 October 2026.

Visiting

Canadian 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. DNM's table adds a catch for a Canadian passport: a visa is required to extend a stay, apply for residence or do paid work. How a Canadian citizen gets that visa and what it costs are unknown: ask the Paraguayan consulate or DNM.

The extension costs Gs. 585,385 in cash, about CA$143, and can be asked for online or in person before the first period ends.
Staying past the date costs a fine of Gs. 702,462, about CA$172.
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 CA$230.

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 a Canadian 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 CA$717, plus Gs. 234,154 for the radication certificate. An extension of temporary residence costs Gs. 1,287,847, about CA$316, 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 a Canadian citizen the national record is the RCMP's certified criminal record check, and DNM does not name the Canadian document, so ask it to confirm.

Canada has been party to the Apostille Convention since 11 January 2024. Global Affairs Canada apostilles federal documents at no charge, and five provinces apostille their own.
A permanent card has no end date but is renewed every ten years for Gs. 468,308, about CA$115.
How long DNM takes to process any residence type is unknown.
DNM 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. Canada keeps its claim as well while you keep significant residential ties, and leaving is a tax event.

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 CA$19,603, you file but pay nothing.
Capital income of Paraguayan source is taxed at 8%.
Significant ties to Canada (a home, a spouse or partner, dependants) can keep you a Canadian tax resident taxed on worldwide income; Form NR73 asks the CRA for its opinion.

More detail

Finance Canada's list of treaties in force does not include Paraguay, and DNIT's list of conventions does not include Canada, so nothing settles a double claim or reduces the usual 25% Canadian Part XIII tax on pensions, OAS, CPP and RRSP or RRIF payments to non-residents.

On leaving you are treated as having sold most property at fair market value; Canadian real estate and most registered plans are excepted. Form T1161 applies above CA$25,000 and a deferral on Form T1244 needs security above CA$16,500 of federal tax.

Service Canada's list of 65 social security agreements does not include Paraguay, so there is no agreement to combine contribution periods. CPP can be paid abroad; OAS abroad needs 20 years of residence in Canada after age 18. IPS registers independent workers who hold a cédula and a RUC; which benefits that gives is unknown: ask IPS.

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. Provincial health insurance does not follow you on a permanent move, so plan private cover.

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.
A licence issued abroad is valid for no more than three months from entry and Canada says to carry an international driving permit; the route for exchanging a Canadian 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. The Government of Canada tells travellers to exercise a high degree of caution in Paraguay because of increasing crime, and says crime rates are higher in Asunción and its greater-Asunción neighbourhoods.

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.
Armed muggings by motorcyclists can happen day or night, and robbers sometimes dress as service people to get into homes.

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. Itapúa and Encarnación are not among the higher-crime areas in the Government of Canada's 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 Canada

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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