Paraguay is attracting foreigners who are moving to Paraguay at an increasing rate, from a wide range of countries, according to Ariel Muñoz, senior partner at ParaguayResidencia.com.
“Typically, immigration issues around 2,500 residency permits per month,” he says, citing a source from the Paraguayan Immigration Office. “But it’s been more than that this year, and last month, around 4,500 residency permits were issued. They’ve been working hard.”
By the end of 2023, it was reported that around 40,000 residency applications had been made over the year, with around 30,000 of those being issued their residency permits to live, work, or study in Paraguay. Of the remaining 10,000, some were declined, whilst others were not completed by the end of the year, and rolled over into 2024’s figures.
“This year, 2024, the numbers will be much higher, for sure,”, says Ariel, noting that it appears to be a trend of continuous growth, rather than a one-off. We asked Ariel what trends he notices from his own clients, in terms of who is coming, and why they’re coming.
The people moving to Paraguay
“Paraguay has always attracted people from other South American countries”, he said. “For a variety of reasons – some come here for business, some to move wealth to a stable economy and currency, some because of the low tax rates. Those groups are still coming – you get little peaks when things change politically in nearby countries, but it’s very consistent.”
“There are now an increasing number of digital nomads coming to Paraguay, most of them come to get the residency or the tax residency, but a lot of them choose to stay, or spend more time here than they planned to. That group is growing a lot, we have digital nomads getting their residency with us constantly now.”
“I also get asked about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency a lot more often now, so I think there are growing numbers of people who are Bitcoin investors, or perhaps mining Bitcoin, I’m not sure. Some of them have helped us to be able to take payments in Bitcoin for other clients. There is a community for Bitcoin here now so I think that group is growing a lot also.”
“We are also seeing quite a lot of entrepreneurs moving to Paraguay, which is really good, and is something the government wants. Particularly ones that create good jobs for Paraguayans. I get asked a lot about creating companies, which is also something we do at our law firm.”
Nationalities moving to Paraguay
In terms of the nationalities moving to Paraguay, Ariel says it’s very diverse. “From all over the world! We’ve always had clients from every continent, but this year we’ve seen a lot more different nationalities in our offices, from all over the world.”
“The highest numbers of people are still from Argentina and Brazil, but that’s always been the way. We have a lot of people coming from Canada, and also the USA, more from Europe in total but not just one or two European countries, all of them. And from really far away, like Australia, South Africa, Taiwan, India, Malaysia, all over the world.”
Key reasons why people are moving to Paraguay
Ariel highlights Paraguay’s residency rules, which are relatively straightforward compared to other countries, both in terms of what is needed to obtain it, and also to retain it, as a key driver of immigration, as well as the low tax rates on offer.
“The number one reason people come here to get the residency is just in case something bad happens in the world, people want to have the option to come here, because it’s relatively safe and stable compared to other countries. But a lot of people then learn more about Paraguay, experience it – you know we say in Paraguay, ‘you have to feel it’. It’s true, Paraguay is like that! And then some of them decide to stay.”
“Second reason is for taxes – Paraguay has very low taxes, and also the taxes don’t really change. Some countries change them all the time, Paraguay doesn’t. For some types of companies, the tax rate is as low as 1%. And even on personal taxes, it is still low. For foreign people who earn money in another country, it’s 0%. That is obviously very attractive to people from other countries.”
“Also, lots of people talk about the opportunity to do things here – the entrepreneurs and investors – there are many things which are not yet done in Paraguay, and it is easy to start a business. We are a young country – no, we are an old country, but we have a lot of young people – and that means the economy continues to grow, there is always more demand than before, more children growing up than before. And Paraguayans like to see new things being built, new restaurants, new bars, new products, things like that. There is a lot of opportunity in Paraguay for entrepreneurs to make a successful business.”
“And also, Paraguayan people are very happy to have people from all over the world here. Paraguay is a very welcoming country, it is our culture, so I’m not surprised that people like it. People tell me this a lot. Great people, and great asado, that’s Paraguay!”
How to get residency in Paraguay
Ariel and his team offer a full end-to-end service to obtain Paraguayan residency. For more information visit ParaguayResidencia.com.
