Moving to Paraguay from Russia

Step 1

The documents a Russian citizen assembles

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

• Your international passport — the zagranpasport (заграничный паспорт), the foreign-travel passport, not the internal Russian passport, which cannot be used abroad. Check the expiry date now; biometric passports run ten years, older ones five.
• Your MVD criminal-record certificate — the справка о наличии (отсутствии) судимости, the certificate of presence or absence of a criminal record. It is issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), through its Main Information and Analytical Centre or a territorial division, and can be requested on the Gosuslugi portal, in person, or by a representative holding a power of attorney. This is the police record Paraguay expects from Russian citizens.
• Your birth certificate, and your marriage certificate if you are married and applying as a couple — issued by the civil registry office (ZAGS).
• Every one of these documents must then be apostilled — see Step 2 — and later translated into Spanish by a sworn translator in Paraguay.

Step 2

Apostilles — and why this step is harder from Russia now

Russia belongs to the Hague Apostille Convention, so Paraguay accepts an apostille and you skip consular legalization entirely. The catch: Russia has no single apostille office, and which authority handles each document depends on who issued it — getting this wrong, or being unable to reach the office at all, is the most common delay for Russian applicants.

• The MVD criminal-record certificate is apostilled by the MVD itself — its information centres place the apostille on police records.
• Birth and marriage certificates are apostilled by the territorial civil registry (ZAGS) of the region that issued them — a Moscow certificate goes to a Moscow ZAGS, not a federal office.
• Honest context: since 2022 this is harder if you are already outside Russia. Couriers like DHL no longer serve Russia, and sanctions make paying Russian offices or services with a foreign card difficult. The practical workaround is a notarized power of attorney — obtainable at a Russian consulate or a foreign notary — so a trusted relative or a document-retrieval service inside Russia can order, apostille, and send your papers. Plan this early; it is the slowest part of the move.
• Sworn translation into Spanish happens after apostille, by a translator matriculated with Paraguay's Supreme Court. It is done in Asunción, and getting it right the first time matters.

Be honest with yourself

Russian tax and your money do not sort themselves out

This is the section most relocation marketing quietly skips. Russia taxes by residence, not citizenship — so the real task is the 183-day rule, not your passport. You are a Russian tax resident in any rolling 12-month period in which you spend 183 days or more in Russia; spend less, and Russia generally taxes only your Russian-source income. Becoming a Paraguay resident does not, by itself, change your Russian status — only your actual days do, and you should plan them deliberately. The harder problem is money. Capital controls and sanctions mean moving funds out of Russia is slow and restricted: most major Russian banks are cut off from SWIFT, Russian cards do not work abroad, and currency-control rules govern foreign accounts and transfers. Russian currency residents who spend over 183 days a year abroad get some relief from account-reporting duties, but the routes for actually moving capital are narrow and change often. The honest summary: Paraguay can genuinely cut your cost of living and give you a stable second residency, but it does not erase Russian tax exposure or make your money portable on its own. Speak to a cross-border accountant who handles Russian residents before any tax- or transfer-driven decision.

Getting there

Flights, timeline, and your first weeks

A realistic picture of the move itself:

• There are no direct flights from Russia to Asunción, and since 2022 there are no direct flights between Russia and most of the Americas at all. The realistic routing connects through a hub still served from Russia — typically Istanbul or Dubai — then onward to São Paulo or Buenos Aires, and a short final leg into Asunción. Budget two long travel days and price the whole chain, not just one ticket.
• Document preparation is the long pole — ordering records, apostilles at two or three different Russian authorities, and courier or proxy time under sanctions friction. Budget generously, often two to four months, and start before you book anything.
• You do not need a visa to enter Paraguay as a Russian tourist — entry is visa-free for stays of up to 90 days. You begin the residency process in person, after you arrive, at the DNM.
• Confirm the current location and hours of the nearest Paraguayan consulate before you fly, in case you need a document checked or a question answered in advance.

FAQ

Moving to Paraguay from Russia — FAQ