Paraguay’s Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (DNM) granted 29,765 residencies between January and June 2026, an 81% increase on the 16,456 approved over the same months of 2025. Applications reached 33,243, up 62% from 20,567 a year earlier.
Temporary permits accounted for 23,833 of the grants, permanent permits for 5,932. Of the applications filed, 27,024 sought temporary status and 6,219 permanent.
Grants in the half exceeded the 28,464 issued across all of 2024 and reached 73% of the 40,600 recorded in 2025. Intake follows the same shape. The 33,243 applications passed the 29,126 filed in 2024 and stand at 70% of last year’s 47,687.
Brazilians account for three-quarters of the total
Brazilians received 22,628 residencies, or 76% of everything the DNM issued in the half. Argentina came second with 2,210, followed by Germany at 1,132 and Spain at 821.
Brazilian concentration has climbed steeply. Across the whole of 2025, Brazilians took 23,526 of 40,600 grants, a 58% share. Six months of 2026 have already delivered 96% of that full-year Brazilian figure.
The two quarters pull in opposite directions
The DNM published first-quarter figures in April and has not broken out the second. Subtracting one from the half-year totals gives the column below, IMI arithmetic on two published sets rather than a DNM figure.
Intake fell 16.0% quarter on quarter while output rose 8.5%. That decline sits almost entirely in temporary residency; applications for permanent status edged up.
Grants ran the other way. Temporary approvals climbed 15.4% and permanent approvals fell 15.3%.
The half also puts the year behind the pace its own director projected. National director Jorge Kronawetter cited a projection of 80,000 applications for 2026 when Paraguay launched its Investor Pass in April. Halfway through the year, the country stands at 33,243.
Permanent residency loses ground in what gets issued
Permanent permits were 22.5% of first-quarter grants and 17.6% of second-quarter grants. Across the whole of 2025, the share was 26.2%.
Demand for the status has not moved the same way. Requests for it made up 17.0% of first-quarter intake and 20.7% of the second. People are still asking for permanent residency at an undiminished rate while approvals of it slow.
Two rule changes bear on the permanent tier. Paraguay’s November 2025 migration law repealed the US$5,000 deposit route to immediate permanent residency, pushing solvency-based applicants into a two-year temporary permit first.
Resolution 407, signed May 28 and applied to filings from July 6, 2026, then tightened what counts as economic solvency at that same stage. Its effect falls entirely outside this reporting period.
Other documents processed
Precarious residence is the provisional document held by temporary applicants while their files move through the system under Law 6984/22. Volume there tracks the size of the queue rather than the number of people admitted.
Migraciones described the growth in applications as unprecedented. In response, it implemented a contingency plan extending working hours and adding shifts on non-working days, aimed at speeding up document verification and file processing.
A strong start to the year
Paraguay approved more residencies than it received applications for in the second quarter, which points to backlog clearance rather than accelerating demand. Headline growth measures how fast the DNM is working as much as how many people want in.
The permanent side is where the market’s attention belongs. Applications for that status held up through the half while approvals of it fell. One rule change removed a route that granted permanent status at entry; the other raised the test for converting into it.
Second-half data will carry the first read on Resolution 407. Filings from July 6 face the tighter solvency test, and the permanent approval count is the number to watch.
