Detailed, Step by Step description of the Naturalisation Process, which is the way of acquiring Paraguayan citizenship.
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STEPS BEFORE SUBMITTING A NATURALIZATION REQUEST:
- Permanent Residency obtained at least 3 years prior
- Create ties to the country (company, real estate assets, business, good local credit, investment on duly created and active company, job)
- Obtaining a tax payer number (mandatory, as it is one requirement)
FROM THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
- Request a Criminal background report.
- Request Copy of Birth Certificate
- Updated CV
Obs.: All documents must be Apostilled or legalized.
Once all these documents are obtained and ready, the applicant is ready to come to Paraguay for the
following steps:
- Request Residency Certificate – Migrations Directorate (Ready in 5 days)
- Health Certificate –
a) First Doctor’s Appointment to request lab orders
b) Lab analysis: Blood, heart, STDs.
c) Bring results to the Doctor for him/her to issue the Health Certificate d) Legalize the Health Certificate with the Ministry of Health
Total time for this 5-7 days. - Request Criminal Record (Local) 1 day
- Request Certificate of Police record . 1 day
- Request Certificate of Police record for Foreigners – 1 day.
- Interpol Certificate – 48 hours
- Life and Residency Certificate – 48 hours
- Translation of all documents from country of Origin + legalization of all translations. – 7 days.
10. Write the request with the sponsoring lawyer – 1 day.
11. Make copies of all documents
12. Count all pages for all documents to be presented.
13. Initiate the Naturalization request online. Pay fee (online) . Confirm payment to obtain a case number. (Steps 10, 11, 12 and 13: 1 day)
Once all these has been done, the applicant is ready to appear personally, along with the lawyer, before Supreme Court to request naturalization. After this is done (one morning), the following steps are expected:
1. Taking a test about Paraguay History, Geography, Laws and National Symbols.
After this test is approved, the SC issues orders to various Government offices to request information about the applicant, including a visit to the declared address on the request by a Peace Judge, where the applicant must be present for said inspection. This usually happens 7-10 days after the test was taken.
2. Once all requests of information are responded and sent back to SC, (I usually collect said orders and process them all using a PoA my clients grant me. It usually takes me 5-7 days), SC sends the files to the DA for them to review and ‘recommend’ the applicant as a citizen, or not. (20-30 days)
Observation: The good thing about this is that the applicant will know they were accepted, for sure, at this early stage.
3. Once the files are back to SC, the collecting of signatures starts (9 total, one for each Supreme Court Justice). During this time, I visit the SC building once a week to check on the case status. Collecting these signatures, though, is the longest part, it roughly takes between 2 and 5 years, depending on how ‘strong’ the case is. The process concludes when all 9 signatures are collected, that takes us to our next stage:
AFTER ALL 9 SIGNATURES ARE COLLECTED:
1. SC issues a letter accepting the applicant as a citizen and giving dates (about 4 different dates, one date a month), for the applicant to come and swear as a citizen.
2. The lawyer has to sign an acceptance letter with a date of the applicant’s choosing, no longer than 2 weeks after the letter was issued.
3. Once the date to swear as a citizen arrives, the new citizen will have to swear among other new citizens, too. Formal dressing is expected. The Naturalization letter is handed at the ceremony.
4. After swearing in, the new citizen waits for the SC’s different orders (10-15 days) to be registered as a citizen:
a) To the People’s civil registry office, to be registered as Paraguayan (12-15 days)
b) Police’s Identification Office (5-10 days)
c) Migrations Directorate (14-20 days)
d) Ministry of Justice (2 days) – – – – – – – – – -(END OF PROCESS WITH SUPREME COURT)
Once all these government offices issue orders to the Identifications department of National Police, the new citizen can update its cedula to “Paraguayan”. Once the new cédula is issued (7-10 days), the new citizen can request a passport after 30 days.