Moving to Paraguay from South Africa

Step 1

The documents a South African assembles

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

• A South African passport valid well beyond your planned travel — check the expiry date now, not at the airport.
• Your unabridged birth certificate from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). The unabridged version, which names both parents, is the one accepted abroad — not the old abridged extract.
• A SAPS Police Clearance Certificate — the criminal-record check issued by the South African Police Service's Criminal Record and Crime Scene Management division in Pretoria. It is issued from a full set of your fingerprints. This is the police record Paraguay expects from South Africans. Order it early: it commonly takes several weeks, and longer if you request it from outside the country.
• Your unabridged marriage certificate from the DHA, if you are married and applying as a couple — again the unabridged version, not the abridged one.
• 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 — DIRCO, the High Court, and the queue

South Africa belongs to the Hague Apostille Convention, so Paraguay accepts an apostille and you skip consular legalization entirely. South Africa has two competent authorities, and which one handles a document depends on who issued it — getting this wrong is the most common delay for South African applicants.

• Documents issued by a government department — your SAPS Police Clearance Certificate and your DHA birth and marriage certificates — are apostilled by DIRCO, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, in Pretoria. This is the only office in the country that can do it.
• The High Court apostilles documents from the courts and anything notarised by a South African notary — affidavits, powers of attorney, notarised copies. A High Court apostille is typically fast, often a day or two.
• Be realistic about the DIRCO queue. Standard processing has run to roughly six to eight weeks, and DIRCO has moved to an appointment-and-courier system rather than walk-ins — check the current turnaround and book early. Registered agents can shorten the wait but charge for it.
• 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

Leaving SARS is a real process, not a formality

This is the section most relocation marketing quietly skips. South Africa taxes by residence, not citizenship — so unlike an American, you can genuinely stop being a South African taxpayer. But you have to do it properly, and it is not free. South Africa taxes its residents on worldwide income; once you have correctly ceased tax residency, SARS taxes you only on South African-source income. The catch is the exit charge. Under Section 9H of the Income Tax Act, ceasing tax residency triggers a deemed disposal: SARS treats you as having sold your worldwide assets — your investments and similar holdings, though not South African immovable property — at market value the day before you cease, and any resulting capital gain is taxable then. This once-off CGT event is the real cost of leaving. Separately, the old SARB "financial emigration" route was phased out in 2021; the South African Reserve Bank no longer runs an emigration process, and SARS now oversees residency status directly. If you intend to move larger sums out of South Africa — above the annual discretionary allowance, a threshold SARS revises periodically — you will need an Approval for International Transfer from SARS, which requires your tax affairs to be in order. None of this is automatic — the onus is on you to prove to SARS that you no longer meet the residence tests, and to file correctly in your year of departure. The honest summary: Paraguay can genuinely lower your cost of living and end your South African tax residency, but the exit itself is a substantial, taxable process. Speak to a cross-border accountant who handles South African expatriation before you make any tax-driven decision.

• Section 9H exit charge — a deemed disposal of your worldwide assets at market value, the day before you cease tax residency, with capital gains tax on the gain.
• South African immovable property is excluded from the deemed disposal — it stays inside the South African tax net.
• "Financial emigration" no longer exists — SARB phased it out in 2021, and SARS now confirms residency status and reviews large transfers.
• An Approval for International Transfer from SARS is needed to move sums above the annual discretionary allowance abroad — a threshold SARS revises periodically — and it depends on a clean tax record.

Getting there

Flights, timeline, and your first weeks

A realistic picture of the move itself:

• There are no direct flights from South Africa to Asunción. The usual routing connects through São Paulo — a long-haul leg from Johannesburg, then a short onward flight to Asunción with LATAM or Gol. Budget a full travel day each way.
• Document preparation — ordering DHA certificates, the SAPS clearance, and the DIRCO apostilles — typically runs from one to three months, paced almost entirely by the DIRCO queue. Start with the SAPS certificate and the apostilles as early as possible.
• You do not need a visa to enter Paraguay as a South African tourist — entry is visa-free for a stay of up to 90 days. You begin the residency process in person, after you arrive, at the DNM.
• Carry proof of onward travel and make sure your passport has at least six months' validity beyond your arrival — both are standard expectations at the border.

FAQ

Moving to Paraguay from South Africa — FAQ