The cédula is the national ID card of Paraguay. It unlocks your bank account, contracts, property purchases, and simplifies your entire life on the ground. We guide you from residency to the cédula.
The Cédula de Identidad is the ID card issued by the Paraguayan authorities. It's required to open a bank account, sign contracts, buy property, and ease your integration.
It's obtained after temporary residency, through several precise administrative steps. Nothing insurmountable, but every document matters and one mistake delays the whole file.
The cédula comes after temporary residency. Here's the process.
We first obtain your temporary residency (apostilled birth certificate, criminal record, presence on the ground).
Collecting your administrative documents, then filing your case with "Identificaciones".
Count on about 60 days after filing. We collect your cédula and hand it over to you.
Since 2023, Paraguay has issued an electronic cédula in a bank-card format, made of polycarbonate, fitted with a chip that holds your biometric data (photo and fingerprints). This is the version you receive today.
It shows your name, nationality, civil status, issue date, an identification number (IC), a barcode and the optical reading strip at the bottom of the card. A Paraguayan flag with an optical effect changes shade when the card is tilted: it's one of several anti-forgery features.
Illustration: the front and back of the electronic cédula with chip (specimen with fictitious data, for illustration purposes).
Getting the cédula takes precision: the right documents, the right order, the right offices. Our French-speaking team, on site in Asunción, builds your file and follows the process through to the handover of your card. You don't need to understand the Paraguayan administration.
Yes, it's required to file your permanent residency application. Beyond that, it's essential day to day anyway: without it, opening an account, signing contracts or buying property becomes much more complicated.
Yes. The cédula is obtained after getting temporary residency.
About 60 days after filing the complete file.
Not necessarily. We can collect your cédula through a power of attorney and hand it over to you.
The same documents as for the temporary residency. We check their validity, but generally you won't need any additional documents for the cédula.
A first conversation, free and with no obligation. We explain the exact process for your situation and what we take care of.
