Paraguay · Visa required
Emigrating to Paraguay
You travel to Paraguay without a visa. The residence permit you then apply for in Paraguay itself, in person, at the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones. You start with a residencia temporal of at most two years, and then switch to the permanente. The migration service names no income threshold. The treaties each turn out differently: there's no tax treaty, so the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW and your pension, but Paraguay only taxes income from Paraguay. And through a 2005 treaty even whoever goes alone keeps the full AOW. Only for healthcare is there no treaty: a policy of your own instead of the CAK.
€ 399 one-off · 38 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- In without a visa, the residencia temporal in person at the DNM in Paraguay, after two years the permanente
- The clock
- 90 days as a visitor; the temporal is valid for at most two years; the switch in the three months before the end
- Note
- No tax treaty: the Netherlands keeps taxing, Paraguay only taxes income from Paraguay. But the full AOW, even for a single person, and no CAK
Last updated: 15 October 2026
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Five phases, from the file in the Netherlands to the permanente in Paraguay
This journey turns on two applications and three treaties. You make both applications in Paraguay, in person at the migration service: first the residencia temporal, within your 90 days as a visitor, and two years later the permanente. Only at the second do you show your means, and the service names no fixed amount. The treaties each turn out differently. There's no tax treaty, but Paraguay only taxes income from Paraguay. There is a treaty on the AOW, since 2008: the full AOW goes along. And there's no healthcare treaty.
- Orientation
No visa, no threshold, and three treaties that each turn out differently
In this phase you learn how living in Paraguay works, and what it does to your income and your healthcare. You enter without a visa, and apply in Paraguay for a residencia temporal: at most two years, and required before the permanente. For the temporal the migration service names no proof of means, for the permanente it does, but without a fixed amount. There's no tax treaty: the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW and pension. Paraguay only taxes income from Paraguay, so not your Dutch pension. Through a 2005 treaty even a single person keeps the full AOW. And there's no CAK.Read more
- Your visa
Choosing a route, and a file with apostille and translation
In this phase you prepare your file. There's no visa in advance: you apply in Paraguay. You choose your route: pension, work or a business of your own, remote work, an investment through the SUACE, or a Paraguayan partner. The last two give the permanente straight away. Your birth certificate, marriage certificate and certificate of conduct get an apostille and a Spanish translation. The residencia temporal costs 2,926,925 guaraníes, about 457 euros, and during the application you may already work.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
No tax treaty, but the full AOW, and no CAK
In this phase you work through the familiar list for closing down in the Netherlands. Without a tax treaty the Netherlands keeps taxing your AOW, your government pension, your occupational pension and your annuity, and you get no tax credit. Paraguay doesn't tax that pension: the IRP only taxes income from Paraguay. Through the 2005 treaty even whoever goes alone keeps the AOW for a single person. There's no CAK: your policy has to be accepted before you deregister. And whoever leaves before the AOW age can insure themselves voluntarily within one year.Read more
- The move
Household goods without duties, and a car at most ten years old
In this phase you move the household goods, the car and the pet. After more than a year abroad you may bring furniture, household goods and tools free of customs duties, as a temporary import until your permanente is there. A used car may not be older than ten years; the levies we didn't find at an official source, so ask a customs agent before you ship. The pet travels with a certificate from the NVWA, a rabies vaccination, deworming within fifteen days and an examination within ten days before the certificate.Read more
- Arrival in Paraguay
The application at the DNM, your cédula, your healthcare, and two years later the permanente
In this phase you arrange your residencia, your numbers, your healthcare and your bank after landing. You get two certificates in Paraguay and file your application in person at the DNM. Then you get your cédula at the Policía Nacional. Your healthcare is a policy of your own, or the IPS if you work as an employee. Your Dutch driving licence is valid for at most three months. And in the three months before your temporal expires, you apply for the permanente, with the proof of your means.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Paraguay journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 3.4 of your plan
Deregister and tell the SVB: in Paraguay you keep the full AOW
- Lead time
- deregistering is possible from 5 days before leaving; the whole takes 4-8 weeks
- Costs
- limited — cancellation costs per contract
In this step you deregister from your municipality and pass on your new address. If you'll live outside the Netherlands for more than eight months a year, you must deregister. That's possible from five days before you leave up to the day itself.
The municipality passes your new address to Dienst Toeslagen. But an allowance you're no longer entitled to, such as rent allowance, you stop yourself in Mijn toeslagen.
Tell the SVB too that you're leaving. Here Paraguay turns out favourably, and few people know it. The General Old Age Pensions Act gives whoever lives outside the Netherlands the AOW for married people. But the Netherlands and Paraguay concluded a treaty in 2005 on the export of benefits, in force since 1 March 2008. Article 4 sets that restriction aside. Paraguay is among the 36 countries to which the Netherlands sends the full AOW.
- For a couple nothing changes.
- Whoever goes alone keeps the AOW for a single person, also in Paraguay.
- If a partner dies, the other gets the AOW for a single person.
The treaty also has the SVB and the Paraguayan bodies exchange data to check your entitlement. So keep your address up to date with the SVB.
If you leave before your AOW age, your AOW build-up stops. Whoever goes to live outside the Netherlands is usually no longer insured for the AOW and the Anw. The treaty changes nothing about that. Every year you're not insured, you later get 2 percent less AOW. You can close the gap with a voluntary insurance with the SVB. For that you have one year from the moment you're no longer insured. If you go together, this applies to each of you separately.
What this step rests on
- NederlandWereldwijd — when must I deregister from a Dutch municipality
- NederlandWereldwijd — how do I deregister when I move abroad
- General Old Age Pensions Act, article 9a — whoever doesn't live in the Netherlands gets the AOW for married people
- Wetten.overheid.nl — the treaty with Paraguay on the export and enforcement of social security benefits, article 4: no restriction because you live in the other country
- Answers to parliamentary questions 2024Z02891 — Paraguay among the 36 treaty countries, with full AOW export
- SVB — you're going to live outside the Netherlands: 2 percent less AOW per uninsured year, and one year to insure yourself voluntarily
- Dienst Toeslagen — I'm moving abroad, what do I report?
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Paraguay.
This is step 3.4 of 38. The other 37 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 38 steps for ParaguayEvery step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Paraguay: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Paraguay change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, and now and then we send one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
What will your move to Paraguay cost? Work it out →Also want to know whether your departure date is feasible? Take the departure scan: seven questions, and you see your whole plan in miniature →
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Paraguay? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Paraguay starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
In December we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Paraguay
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- Healthcare in Paraguay: no CAK, IPS for employees and your own policy for the restParaguay is not on the list of countries with which the Netherlands has healthcare agreements, so you do not stay insured through the CAK. If you work as an employee in Paraguay, you fall under the IPS, for which you pay 9 % of your wage; as a self-employed person you can insure yourself voluntarily. Public care from the Ministry of Health is free. Anyone who does not work arranges a policy with a medicina prepaga or an international insurer.
- Residence routes to Paraguay: temporary first, permanent after two yearsAs a Dutch citizen you need no visa for Paraguay, not even to apply for a residence permit. You apply for the residencia temporal at the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones in Paraguay itself. It is valid for up to two years. After that you move on to the residencia permanente. Only then do you show what you live on, and the agency names no fixed minimum amount.
- Working in Paraguay: no work visa needed, but a residencia, IPS and recognised diplomasIn Paraguay you need no separate work permit: as soon as your application for the residencia temporal is running, you may work. Since 1 July 2026 the minimum wage is 3,044,000 guaraní a month. As an employee you pay 9 % to the IPS, and income tax only above 80,000,000 guaraní a year. You have a foreign diploma recognised by the CONES.
- AOW, pension and tax in Paraguay: full AOW, no tax treatyFor the AOW Paraguay is a treaty country: even a single person receives the full AOW there. There is no tax treaty, so the Netherlands simply keeps taxing your AOW, your pension and your annuity, usually without tax credits. Paraguay only taxes income from Paraguay, and a Dutch pension does not fall under that.
- Car and driving licence in Paraguay: ten years old is the limit, your licence lasts three monthsA used car may only enter Paraguay if it is no older than ten years, counted from the year it was built. It does not fall under the exemption for your household goods. Your Dutch driving licence is valid for three months after arrival. After that you need a licence from your municipality; the traffic agency mentions no exchange agreement with the Netherlands.
- Pets to Paraguay: rabies, deworming and a certificate valid for 60 daysA dog or cat may enter Paraguay with an international veterinary certificate from the NVWA, under the rules the MERCOSUR countries adopted in 2024. The animal is vaccinated against rabies, has been dewormed in the 15 days before the certificate and examined by a vet in the 10 days before it. The certificate is valid for 60 days.
All 13 articles about Paraguay
- Household goods to Paraguay: free of import duties, but only final with a permanent residencia
- Banking and payments in Paraguay: AOW in euros, interest untaxed, declare cash from 10,000 dollars
- The first weeks in Paraguay: the residencia before your 90 days are up, the rest follows
- Buying a house in Paraguay: free for Dutch buyers, with the notary as gatekeeper
- Renting in Paraguay: what the Código Civil says, from five years to forty days
- Registration and numbers in Paraguay: carnet, cédula and RUC, in that order
- School in Paraguay: twelve years of education, free at public schools, in Spanish and Guaraní
Also applies to your move
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The step-by-step plan for Paraguay: 38 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.