Moving to Paraguay from Germany

Step 1

The documents a German citizen assembles

Paraguay's Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (DNM) expects a specific, modest set of documents. As a German you gather these at home, before you fly:

• A German passport (Reisepass) valid well beyond your planned travel — check the expiry date now, not at the airport.
• Your birth certificate (Geburtsurkunde) — a current copy from the Standesamt that registered the birth, not an old one from a drawer.
• A Führungszeugnis — the certificate of conduct from the Federal Office of Justice (Bundesamt für Justiz), drawn from the Federal Central Criminal Register. This is the national-level police record Paraguay expects. Apply through your local residents' registration office (Bürgeramt) or directly from the BfJ, and request the version intended for use by an authority abroad (zur Vorlage bei einer Behörde). EU and UK nationals can be issued the Europäisches Führungszeugnis, which also pulls entries from the home country's register — for a German citizen the standard Führungszeugnis is what applies.
• Your marriage certificate (Heiratsurkunde) from the Standesamt, if you are married and applying as a couple.
• Every one of these documents must then be apostilled — see Step 2 — and translated into Spanish by a sworn translator matriculated in Paraguay.

Step 2

Apostilles — and Germany has no single office

Germany belongs to the Hague Apostille Convention, so Paraguay accepts an apostille and you skip consular legalization entirely. The catch: Germany is a federal state, and which authority apostilles a document depends on who issued it. Getting this wrong is the most common delay for German applicants.

• Your Führungszeugnis is a federal document. It is first pre-certified by the Bundesamt für Justiz, then apostilled by the Federal Office for Foreign Affairs (Bundesamt für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten, BfAA) in Brandenburg an der Havel — the authority that took over federal apostilles from the Federal Foreign Office.
• Your birth and marriage certificates are regional documents. They are apostilled by the competent authority in the Bundesland where the Standesamt sits — often a Regierungspräsidium, Bezirksregierung, or a state administrative authority. Jurisdiction is not uniform across the Länder, so confirm the right office with the Standesamt that issued the certificate.
• Send a Führungszeugnis to a regional office, or a birth certificate to the BfAA, and it comes back unprocessed — weeks lost.
• Sworn translation into Spanish happens after apostille, by a translator matriculated with Paraguay's Supreme Court. It is normally done in Asunción, and getting it right the first time matters.

Be honest with yourself

Leaving Germany's tax system is a task, not a flight

Germany taxes on residence, not citizenship — so unlike a US citizen, you can genuinely end your German tax liability by leaving. But it is something you do, not something that happens automatically when you land in Asunción. Two things matter. First, the Abmeldung: you formally de-register your German residence at the Einwohnermeldeamt, and you must be able to show you have genuinely given up your home and habitual abode in Germany — keeping an available apartment can keep you tax-resident. Second, the Wegzugsbesteuerung — Germany's exit tax under § 6 of the Außensteuergesetz. If you hold at least 1% of a corporation (a GmbH stake, for many founders) and have been tax-resident in Germany for at least seven of the last twelve years, departure is treated as a deemed sale of those shares, taxing the unrealised gain. Since 2025 it can also reach significant holdings in investment funds and ETFs. There is no special interest-free deferral to rely on here — since 2022 Germany treats moves to EU/EEA and non-EU countries alike, and the relief that exists is a multi-year instalment plan that generally requires security — so plan for this before you go. The honest summary: Paraguay can genuinely lower both your cost of living and, done correctly, your tax — but the exit itself needs to be planned. Speak to a German cross-border tax adviser (Steuerberater) before any tax-driven decision.

Getting there

Flights, timeline, and your first weeks

A realistic picture of the move itself:

• There are no direct flights from Germany to Asunción. Common routings connect through São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Madrid, or Panama City — budget a full travel day, often more, each way.
• Document preparation — ordering certificates, federal and regional apostilles, courier time, sworn translation — typically runs 6 to 12 weeks from Germany, paced by your slowest apostille office.
• You do not need a visa to enter Paraguay as a German tourist — German citizens are granted a 90-day stay on arrival. You begin the residency process in person, after you arrive, at the DNM.
• Paraguay keeps an embassy in Berlin and consular representation in Germany if you need a document checked or a question answered before you fly.

FAQ

Moving to Paraguay from Germany — FAQ