Destination guide

Moving to Paraguay from New Zealand

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

Paraguay lets New Zealand 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. New Zealand 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
Time difference: 15 to 16 hours behind New Zealand

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 Work and Income says NZ Super may be paid in a country with no agreement. See Staying a year or longer

The essentials

What to know.

Not advice. Figures last checked 19 October 2026.

Visiting

New Zealand 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 New Zealand passport: a visa is required to extend a stay, apply for residence or do paid work. A Paraguayan consulate page says New Zealanders are granted a visa on arrival at Asunción airport for US$140. Whether that is the visa DNM's table asks for is unknown, so ask DNM.

The extension costs Gs. 585,385 in cash, about NZ$179, 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 NZ$215.
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 NZ$286.
Which Paraguayan embassy or consulate serves New Zealand is unknown: ask DNM.

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 New Zealand passport, and Paraguay is not in the table of working holiday schemes that the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade publishes.

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 NZ$895, plus Gs. 234,154 for the radication certificate. An extension of temporary residence costs Gs. 1,287,847, about NZ$394, 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 New Zealander the national record is a Criminal Record Check from the Ministry of Justice, and whether it can be apostilled is unknown. The process is in person.

The Ministry of Justice aims to answer within 20 working days, and about 90% of requests come back in under a week.
New Zealand Police vetting for a visa sends the result only to the visa authority, so it gives you no copy to hand in.
The Department of Internal Affairs charges NZ$37 for one apostille and says it processes an application within 15 working days; the urgent service adds NZ$120 and takes 5 working days.
A permanent card has no end date but is renewed every ten years for Gs. 468,308, about NZ$143.

More detail

Any document that must be notarised needs a New Zealand notary public, not a justice of the peace or a solicitor. The Department can arrange a translation, but whether Paraguay accepts it in place of a sworn translator registered in Paraguay is unknown.

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.

How long DNM takes to process any residence type is unknown.

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. New Zealand keeps its claim as well: while you are a New Zealand tax resident you pay New Zealand tax on worldwide income.

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 NZ$24,466, you file but pay nothing.
Capital income of Paraguayan source is taxed at 8%.
You stop being a New Zealand tax resident only if you have no permanent place of abode there and are away more than 325 days in a 12-month period.

More detail

Inland Revenue's treaty lists do not include Paraguay, and DNIT's list of conventions does not include New Zealand, so no tie-breaker applies if both countries treat you as resident.

Work and Income's list of social security agreements does not include Paraguay, so there is no agreement to combine contribution periods. IPS registers independent workers who hold a cédula and a RUC; which benefits that gives is unknown: ask IPS.

After a year living overseas (outside Australia) you can take most of your KiwiSaver savings. A student loan stops being interest-free if you spend 31 days or fewer in New Zealand in a 184-day period. If you are away from New Zealand more than 26 weeks, apply to keep NZ Super going at least 6 weeks before you leave.

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. New Zealand's reciprocal health agreements cover only Australia and the United Kingdom.

The cédula tariff is Gs. 8,500; confirm it at the counter.
SafeTravel says New Zealanders travelling or living in Paraguay should have medical and travel insurance that includes medical evacuation by air.
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; the route for exchanging a New Zealand 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. Paraguay is on UTC-3 all year, so it is 15 hours behind New Zealand in New Zealand's winter and 16 hours behind during daylight saving. SafeTravel gives Paraguay no advice level.

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.
If you keep New Zealand working hours you will be working through the Paraguayan evening and night.

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. 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 New Zealand

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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