Five people on a Paraguayan payroll are the real admission ticket to the cheapest Investor Pass category, more than the $70,000 everyone quotes. Pair them with a business plan approved in advance and a founder skips the two years of temporary residency and goes straight to permanent status. No category asks for less capital, and none brings more obligations.
It is still the busiest door by far: of the 140 investor certificates issued in the first half of 2026, roughly 122, about 87%, went this way, many of them still under the previous rule.
Whether the productive category works for you depends on details that short profiles of the program skip: which spending counts as investment, what the business plan must contain and what five jobs cost at the minimum wage. The other three categories appear here only in passing; for the full picture, read our Paraguay Investor Pass guide.
What the Investor Pass Asks of a Company in Paraguay
The route is set out in Resolución MIC N° 0283/2026 of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC), dated 21 April 2026. It rests on Article 46 of the migration law, Ley 6984/2022, which exempts investors from the temporary stage. The investment is proven by the Constancia de Inversionista Extranjero (CIE), issued by SUACE, the MIC directorate that handles opening and closing businesses. For the productive category, covering industry, trade and services, three conditions apply:
- ▹an investment of at least $70,000, or the guaraní equivalent at the official rate on the day you apply,
- ▹a business plan approved in advance,
- ▹at least five formal jobs written into that plan.
The investment need not be finished when you apply, as long as the economic commitment is documented. A formal job is one that complies with Paraguay's labor rules; registering the employees with the IPS social-security fund is not spelled out in the text, but it follows from social-security law anyway. Only individuals receive the certificate, so your company cannot apply for the Investor Pass, but you as its investor can.
What changed for Investor Pass founders in April 2026
Until April, Resolución MIC 1052/2025 applied. It knew only this single route: $70,000 and five jobs "a nivel profesional o técnico", with wages and administrative costs still counted as investment. The new resolution dropped both. The requirement for professional or technical positions is gone, but wages, rent, utilities and recurring administration no longer belong to the investment total. Plans built on older advice therefore tend to come out wrong. Applications filed under the old rule are decided under the new one where that is more favorable.
Founding a Company or Buying In: Two Ways Into the Productive Category
Many write-ups equate the productive category with founding a company. The resolution provides for two variants. For a new company, the application names the company type and the list of partners. For an existing company, you submit its statutes; if you do not yet appear in them as a partner, add the notice of share transfer or the beneficial-ownership certificate from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF). There is no duty to found anything.
Buying in can make sense if you have already found a business or partners in Paraguay. Everything else stays the same: an approved plan, five formal jobs in it and progress reports every six months. Where several investors join one project, each applicant must reach the minimum alone. Two partners putting in $35,000 each get no certificate; two partners with $70,000 each can both apply.
The legal form, whether an EAS, an SRL or an SA, is a separate decision. For the application, what counts first is that the type and the partners are fixed in the business plan. Liability, number of partners and running costs for each form are compared in our guide to company formation in Paraguay.
Which Expenses Count Toward the $70,000 Investment
The resolution lists precisely what may go into the $70,000 and, just as precisely, what stays out. The line runs between capital assets and running costs:
| Counts as investment | Does not count |
|---|---|
| Real estate | Rent |
| Machinery and equipment | Salaries and wages |
| Specialized tools | Utilities such as power and water |
| Vehicles used in the business | Recurring administrative costs |
| Technology and operating furniture | Other purely operating expenses |
| Civil works, fit-out and installations |
For your budget, that means the $70,000 is capital spending. Payroll, rent and bookkeeping run on top and add nothing to the minimum. Service businesses that consist mostly of people and a rented office feel this most: the furniture, the computers and the fit-out count, the monthly rent on the office does not.
The Investor Pass Business Plan: Contents, Timeline and Proof of Funds
The business plan carries the application. The MIC's Dirección de Inversiones y Regímenes Especiales reviews it together with the other documents and records the result in a technical report. At a minimum, the resolution asks for:
- ▹the company's details,
- ▹the location, owned or rented, or a temporary administrative office if you are still searching,
- ▹the CIIU code, the activity classification under the UN's international standard,
- ▹a table of the planned investments,
- ▹an implementation timeline.
The resolution sets no date by which the investment and the jobs must be in place; it speaks only of an approximate period. The MIC's business-plan guide is more concrete: the timeline may cover at most 24 months. The SUACE information sheet from the era of the previous rule also gave 24 months for investment and jobs. Plan for both to be in place within two years.
The plan also needs proof that you can fund it. The resolution accepts bank statements for the last three months, from a personal account or from a company in which you hold shares, in the second case with its deed of incorporation. Securities such as savings certificates, bonds, shares or fund units work as well. The third option is assets: a property with title, a registry certificate no older than six months and an updated valuation, or vehicles and machinery.
Five Formal Jobs in Paraguay: What the Payroll Costs per Year
The five jobs appear in no investment table, because wages are not credited to the $70,000. The calculation below uses the statutory minimum wage of PYG 3,044,000 a month, in force since 1 July 2026 (Decreto 6225/2026), the employer's IPS contribution of 16.5% and the aguinaldo, the statutory thirteenth-month salary. Dollars are converted at the end-of-September 2026 rate of about PYG 5,870.
| Item | Per job per year | Five jobs per year |
|---|---|---|
| 12 monthly wages of PYG 3,044,000 | PYG 36,528,000 | PYG 182,640,000 |
| Employer IPS share (16.5% of monthly wages) | PYG 6,027,120 | PYG 30,135,600 |
| Aguinaldo (one monthly wage) | PYG 3,044,000 | PYG 15,220,000 |
| Total in guaraníes | PYG 45,599,120 | PYG 227,995,600 |
| Total in USD (÷ 5,870) | about $7,770 | about $38,840 |
That is a floor, because skilled staff usually earn more than the minimum. Each month, five jobs cost PYG 17,731,300 in wages and IPS, a little over $3,000. Whether the aguinaldo also attracts contributions is a question for your payroll provider; if it does, the year comes to about PYG 230.5 million, or $39,270.
Over the 24 months of a typical timeline, five filled positions cost about $77,700 even at the minimum wage, more than the investment minimum itself. For a business that needs those people anyway, that is ordinary operating cost. For someone mainly after residency, it means financing jobs the venture does not support, and the Investor Pass vs standard residency comparison is the better starting point.
Whether the five jobs must go to Paraguayan nationals is unresolved. The resolution is silent, while a MIC guide from May 2025 and the law firm Fragomen speak of positions "para ciudadanos paraguayos". The cautious plan staffs them with Paraguayans from the start.
Building a company in Paraguay and want permanent residency through it? We coordinate the business plan, the documents and the SUACE certificate with our partners on the ground and stay with you through to the cédula. How that works is on our Investor Pass page, and the company itself runs through our company formation service.
Tourism Investment as a Side Note: No Jobs Requirement
If your project is in tourism, there is a second category built on a business plan. It requires at least $150,000 in assets, infrastructure or services tied directly to tourism, and it imposes no jobs. That does not make it passive. You still need a pre-approved plan with a CIIU code, a tourism-provider classification from the competent authority, an investment list with the same exclusions as above, a timeline, half-yearly reports and proof of solvency.
In effect you trade $80,000 more capital for dropping the jobs requirement. If you would rather not run a business at all, the alternative is the real-estate route to residency: no business plan, but from $200,000 and never for a home you live in yourself. It, too, leads straight to permanent residency.
How the Investor Pass Runs for Founders: SUACE, Migraciones, Cédula
You cannot do this without traveling to Paraguay, however digital the authorities describe it. The order is:
- ▹Entry. Proven by the entry slip, the passport stamp or a Migraciones certificate of your border crossings. While in the country, you obtain the criminal-record certificate from INTERPOL Paraguay.
- ▹Documents. Passport, an apostilled national-level police record from your home country, a sworn declaration on the origin of the funds (checked under the rules of SEPRELAD, the anti-money-laundering secretariat), the business plan and the proof of solvency. Foreign documents are apostilled and translated into Spanish.
- ▹Application to SUACE through its online form, which legally counts as a sworn declaration. A gestor can file it for you as your representative.
- ▹CIE within at most five business days of a complete file. The clock stops while SUACE raises queries, and missing documents can lead to a rejection.
- ▹Permanent residency at Migraciones in the inversionista category, with the CIE and through SUACE. There is no statutory processing deadline. Fees have been PYG 3,161,079 since 1 July 2026, residency and certificado de radicación together.
- ▹Cédula at the Departamento de Identificaciones of the Policía Nacional, in person.
The MIC's guide for foreign investors holds a detail worth knowing: there, the company is formed through SUACE only after the cédula, an EAS digitally in about 72 working hours. The certificate does not presuppose a registered company. For a new venture, naming the company type and the partners in the business plan is enough.
Duties and Taxes for Your Company After the Certificate
The cédula does not close the file on the productive category. You report every six months on how far the investment and the hiring have progressed, while SUACE checks monthly and reports the certificates it has issued to Migraciones. Whether an older duty to notify the MIC within 90 days still applies is unclear.
The resolution itself does not say what happens if you fall short. According to a SUACE information sheet from the previous rule's era, the MIC can report a breach of the sworn declaration to Migraciones with a view to revoking the residency under Article 55 of Ley 6984/2022.
A rule along the lines of "jobs unfilled, residency gone" appears neither in the resolution nor in the law, but the half-yearly reports make any gap visible. Separately, every permanent resident loses the status after more than three years abroad without a justified reason (Article 54 of the same law).
The resolution contains no tax rule. Your company pays 10% IRE on its net profit like any other (Article 21, Ley 6380/2019), and distributions cost 8% IDU for Paraguayan tax residents and 15% for non-residents. The 8% is the general resident rate, not a perk of the program, even though the ministry presented it that way at the launch. Residency on its own does not make you tax-resident in any case; that rests on an active RUC with current filings.
For your own work, the place where it is done decides. Services you perform from Paraguay are taxable there, wherever the client sits: inside the company's profit at 10% IRE, or as personal income at 8 to 10% IRP. Only income that is foreign-source in substance stays outside the net. The territorial principle as a whole is explained in our overview of the Paraguay tax system, and our partner tax advisers in Paraguay assess individual structures.
US founders: a Paraguayan company does not shelter a US citizen or green-card holder from US tax. The IRS taxes worldwide income regardless of residency, and a US person's stake in a foreign company can bring Form 5471 reporting and the controlled-foreign-corporation rules into play. Plan the structure with a US-qualified adviser before you invest.
What Is Still Open for Businesses Using the Investor Pass
Some questions have no binding answer from the resolution or any official body. We go through them with our partners on the ground before any investment, because each answer changes the numbers:
- ▹Deadline: by when the five jobs must exist. The 24 months come from the guide and the older information sheet, not from the resolution.
- ▹Staff: whether Paraguayan nationals are required and how the jobs are evidenced, for example through IPS payroll lists.
- ▹Sanctions: what a deviation from the plan concretely leads to.
- ▹Solvency proof: whether Migraciones also asks CIE holders for the evidence under Resolución DNM 407/2026; statements on this conflict.
- ▹Family: whether spouses and children become permanent residents directly or need temporary residency first, since the certificate covers only you.
How We Support Founders Using the Investor Pass
We are a support service, not a law firm and not a tax adviser. For the Investor Pass, we work out with you whether the productive category fits your project, coordinate the business plan and documents with our partners (lawyers, an escribano and partner tax advisers in Paraguay) and accompany you from the SUACE certificate to the cédula. We form the EAS, SRL or SA through our company formation service, with bookkeeping set up on request.
If you own a company in your home country, start the planning there. What leaving does to your shares and to where the company is managed should be settled before capital moves to Paraguay, and our guide on how to break tax residency sets out the order of steps. That home-country side belongs with an adviser who knows departures in your jurisdiction.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Investor Pass With a Company
Do I have to found a company in Paraguay for the Investor Pass?
No. Resolución MIC 0283/2026 allows a stake in an existing company as well as a new one. You then submit its statutes and, if you are not yet listed as a partner, the notice of share transfer or the beneficial-ownership certificate. The business plan and the five formal jobs are required either way.
Do wages and office rent count toward the Investor Pass minimum investment?
No. Since April 2026, wages, rent, utilities and recurring administrative costs are expressly excluded. Capital assets count: real estate, machinery, business vehicles, technology, furniture, building work and installations. Payroll therefore comes on top of the $70,000.
What do five jobs at the minimum wage cost per year in Paraguay?
With the PYG 3,044,000 minimum wage, the 16.5% employer IPS share and the aguinaldo, about PYG 228 million a year. That is roughly $38,840 at the end-of-September 2026 rate. Skilled staff above the minimum wage push the figure up.
Does a company have to exist before applying for the Paraguay Investor Pass?
No. For a new venture, the business plan names the company type and the partners. The MIC's guide for foreign investors places the formation through SUACE after the cédula, an EAS digitally in about 72 working hours.
Can two business partners apply for the Investor Pass through one company?
Yes, but each needs the full minimum. With several investors in one project, every applicant must meet the $70,000 individually, so two certificates require at least $140,000 between them.
What happens if a company misses its Investor Pass business plan?
The resolution sets no explicit sanction. Under an older SUACE information sheet, the MIC can report a breach of the sworn declaration to Migraciones with a view to revoking the residency under Article 55 of Ley 6984/2022.
Planning a business in Paraguay and wondering whether the Investor Pass fits it? Tell us about your project and we will go through the investment list, the staffing plan and the timeline with you before any capital is committed.
Disclaimer: This article reflects the position in October 2026. It summarizes Resolución MIC 0283/2026 and the related information sheets and is general information, not individual legal, tax or investment advice. MIC and SUACE issue the certificate and Migraciones grants the residency. Minimum amounts, evidence rules, fees and the minimum wage can change; dollar conversions are guide values at the end-of-September 2026 rate.
About the author
Yannick Schroth
Founder · Paraguay relocation advisor
Lives in Asunción and guides international nomads, entrepreneurs and investors through residency, the cédula and the RUC paperwork in Paraguay.
Note: this article reflects the position at the time of publication. Laws, prices and deadlines can change, so individual details may since be out of date. Check the current rules before you act on them: we answer questions about residency and our services, while the tax treatment of your own case belongs with a qualified tax adviser.
