A Paraguayan citizen renewing an expired cédula at Identificaciones brings the expired card. The citizen page prints a fee of Gs. 8,500 and 20 business days at the central office. A foreign permanent resident does not get that counter.
Identificaciones keeps a separate foreigner list. Migraciones makes you renew the 10-year carnet de admisión permanente before that police file can move. People treat the two cards as one object because both run on a ten-year cycle. They are two offices, two fees, and two checklists. The citizen line is the wrong line.
Citizenship is the only way onto the short list, and the judgment has to exist before the cards expire. A three-year residency clock is not a finished naturalization. If the court file is still open, Identificaciones still treats you as a foreign resident.
This is the ten-year permanent-resident cédula. If you still hold temporary residency, stop here. Paraguay residency renewal is the temporary-to-permanent conversion. A temporary cédula tracks the temporary grant. Article 27 of the foreigner renewal list asks for a permanent admission card, and a temporary card does not satisfy it.
Want this filed? Paraguay cédula renewal is the service. Book a call. This article is the document list.
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Table of Contents
Two cards, two offices
The cédula de identidad is issued by the Departamento de Identificaciones of the Policía Nacional, not by Migraciones. The central office is at Denis Roa and Avenida Boggiani in Asunción. Foreigner renewal is published as Artículo 27 and cites Resolución N° 717/26 of the Comandancia.
The carnet de admisión permanente is the Migraciones residence card. The current Migraciones page says that card is renewed every ten years so that you can request renewal of the Paraguayan cédula, under Ley N° 6984/22. The published tariff on that page is Gs. 468,308 for the renewal and Gs. 234,154 if you are also changing personal information.
On files we handle, the wasted trip is almost never the Identificaciones cashier. It is a client who flew in with the old cédula, stood in the citizen queue, and learned at the window that the permanent carnet was expired and the foreigner packet was not in the folder.
What a citizen files
The Identificaciones page for Paraguayans, titled renewal for expiry, loss, theft, or robbery, is short on purpose. These are the published requirements:
| Case | What you bring |
|---|---|
| Photo or signature update | The current cédula |
| Expiry | The expired cédula |
| Loss, theft, or robbery | The original police report, filed at the jurisdictional station or with police in the country where you live |
| Change of name, surname, or date of birth | Civil-registry certificate with the marginal note, plus the authenticated registry and court or administrative copies the page lists |
The same page prints the tariff: Gs. 8,500. Delivery: 20 business days for applications at the central office. Minors must be accompanied by a parent, or by a relative within the fourth degree if the parents’ absence is documented. That is the whole citizen expiry renewal. No INTERPOL report. No vida y residencia. No notary copies of a residence card.
What a permanent resident files
Artículo 27, on the foreigner renewal page, is the list that controls. A government services blurb for the same procedure still floats an older short checklist and does not match this page. Follow Identificaciones. Confirm the cashier amount when you file, because Artículo 27 itself does not print a fee. The citizen page and the services listing both show Gs. 8,500. That is a government tariff, not our fee, and it is separate from notary, INTERPOL, and antecedentes charges.
| Artículo 27 item | What Identificaciones actually asks for |
|---|---|
| Expired cédula, or a police-report transcript if it was lost or stolen | The card itself, or the report. Not a notarized photocopy of the old cédula. |
| Permanent admission card from Migraciones | A copy authenticated by an escribano público |
| INTERPOL criminal-record report | Authenticated by the Dirección General de Talento Humano and legalized by the Comandancia de la Policía Nacional |
| Certificado de vida y residencia | Issued by the Juzgado de Paz or the jurisdictional comisaría, signed by the chief or deputy, then the same Talento Humano and Comandancia chain |
| Current home-country identity document | Notarized copy. Passport or national ID. Migraciones, on the carnet side, also accepts a MERCOSUR cédula or DNI. |
| Carnet de registro de extranjeros | Current card from the police foreigner-registry department, notarized copy. This is a third card. It is not the Migraciones carnet and it is not the cédula. |
| Police antecedentes from Identificaciones | Required from age 14. If you have a record or an open case, the file goes to the department’s legal office after you apply. |
Two habits get copies rejected even when the list is complete. Bring the originals the notary saw, so the window can compare them. Keep photocopies full page and uncut. A cropped phone scan or a half sheet is how a complete packet becomes a second appointment. Migraciones is explicit on its own renewal page that originals come back only when the notarized copies are in the file. Identificaciones compares the same way.
The foreigner page does not print a delivery time. The citizen figure of 20 business days does not transfer. A government services listing for foreigner cédula renewal shows a 15 to 45 day window. Treat that as a range, not a flight plan. The week you lose is usually the certificates before you receive a contraseña.
Delivery of an electronic chip card is stricter than people expect. The department’s own delivery rules say a chip cédula is collected by the holder. A family member with a photo of the receipt does not clear that rule. Keep the original contraseña.
Renew the carnet first
If the permanent admission card is expired, Identificaciones is the second building. Migraciones publishes the carnet renewal as the step you take in order to request the cédula renewal. The current general requirements on that page are:
| Migraciones item | Form |
|---|---|
| Home-country identity document | Original plus a notarized copy. Cédula, national ID, or passport. |
| Expired residence card | Notarized copy, or a theft or loss report |
| Paraguayan cédula, if you have one | Notarized copy, or a theft or loss report |
| Changed personal data | Documents that actually prove the new data |
| Changed profession | A document that supports the new profession |
Foreign documents have to be apostilled or legalized, and translated into Spanish by a traductor público matriculado in Paraguay, or by a foreign sworn translator whose translation is itself apostilled or legalized. That is the same logic as a first residency file. Apostille requirements for Paraguay residency is the walkthrough if the home-country passport or civil document is what you are refreshing.
Two Migraciones notes change the bill. Declared profession “ama de casa” is rewritten to “Dependiente” with no extra fee. A real change of personal data, address, or profession can add the Gs. 234,154 information-change tariff on top of the Gs. 468,308 renewal. Handing in papers at the mesa is not approval. The directorate can ask for more.
Do not rebuild a first-time cédula file for this visit. First issuance for a foreign resident with temporary or permanent status sits in Articles 24 and 25 of the same resolution and asks for the residence certificate, birth record, and civil-status documents. Renewal does not, unless the window tells you a specific gap. Bringing a fresh apostilled birth certificate “just in case” does not replace an expired carnet.
Vida y residencia is where paper residency stalls
The life-and-residence certificate has to come from the peace court or the police station of your jurisdiction, signed by the chief or deputy. Then it is authenticated by Talento Humano and legalized by the Comandancia. A letter from a comisaría that never went up that chain is not the document in Artículo 27. The INTERPOL report takes the same authentication path. They are two certificates, two windows, and neither one is optional.
This is the item that catches people who hold permanent residence and do not actually live at a Paraguayan address. The station chief is certifying life and residence in that jurisdiction. A hotel booking does not produce the certificate. If you do not have a real local address, fix that before you book the police day. Paraguay residential address is the setup we use when the file needs a jurisdiction, not a mailbox story.
Police antecedentes are issued by Identificaciones itself, from age 14. An open case does not get waived at the photo booth. Artículo 27 says the file goes to the legal office for study. That is a stopped clock, not a slower queue. If you already know there is a record, say so before anyone pays for translations.
How the filing day runs
The order that avoids a second trip is boring, and it is the order we use:
1. Read the expiry dates on three documents: the Migraciones carnet, the cédula, and the registro de extranjeros card. If the police registration card is expired, renew that before the cédula appointment. Artículo 27 asks for a current notarized copy.
2. If the permanent carnet is expired, or close enough that the window will reject it, file at Migraciones first. Budget the Gs. 468,308 tariff, plus the information-change tariff if any data moved.
3. Notarize the copies Migraciones and Identificaciones each want. Full pages. Originals stay with you for inspection.
4. Vida y residencia at the jurisdictional station or peace court, then Talento Humano and the Comandancia. Same chain for the INTERPOL report. Antecedentes at Identificaciones.
5. File the cédula renewal at Identificaciones with the originals. Central office: Denis Roa and Avenida Boggiani. The department publishes weekday hours at central from 06:00 to 18:00 for every procedure. Confirm that morning. Identificaciones posts schedule changes on its own site, and a regional office does not inherit the central delivery time.
6. Keep the contraseña. If the new card is electronic, come back yourself.
None of that is a same-morning errand. It is a day of running between a notary, a comisaría, INTERPOL, Migraciones if the carnet slipped, and Identificaciones, and then a return weeks later. The government fee at the cédula window is the small number. The time is the cost.
Need the ten-year cards sorted before you fly?
Book a consultation. We will tell you whether this is a permanent-resident cédula renewal, a temporary-to-permanent conversion, or a citizenship file that should have started earlier.
Citizenship changes the next card
After naturalization, the next cédula renewal is the citizen list: the expired card, Gs. 8,500, and 20 business days at the central office. That is the practical reason to finish citizenship while you are in the country, before the decade cards expire. It is not a reason to start a court case the month the plastic expires.
Eligibility on the residency-to-citizenship path is three years, and time in temporary or permanent status counts toward that clock. You still return to file, and you still need basic conversational Spanish. The court calendar is longer than the statute sentence. An unfinished case does not change what Artículo 27 asks for. People who stay on permanent residence, and do not naturalize, repeat the Migraciones carnet plus the foreigner packet every ten years.
Read the presence and document detail on Paraguay naturalization requirements and the path overview on residency to citizenship. If you want the filing handled, Paraguay citizenship assistance is the service page. Paraguay restricts dual nationality. Do not assume you keep the other passport on autopilot. That question belongs in the citizenship file, not at the cédula window.
If you do not have permanent residence yet, none of this packet applies. Start with Paraguay cédula renewal · Paraguay residency. Investor routes that land directly on permanent status still end at the same Identificaciones card later. The ten-year renewal does not care which residency category got you the first carnet.
What this process is not
Not temporary-to-permanent conversion. Paraguay residency renewal is for someone who already holds temporary residency and needs the permanent file, including the current solvency rules. That service does not replace Artículo 27, and this article is not that conversion.
Not a first cédula. First issuance uses the residence certificate and the civil documents in the first-time foreigner list. The video above is that process. Come back to this page when the card is on its ten-year cycle.
Not a lost-card shortcut around the foreigner list. A police report replaces the expired cédula. It does not replace the carnet, INTERPOL, vida y residencia, home-country ID, registro de extranjeros card, or antecedentes.
Not the child filing. Migraciones publishes a separate track for carnet renewal of children and adolescents, including a parent who already holds residence, or a court or notarial authorization when a third party appears. This article is the adult permanent resident.
For what the card is in the rest of the region, what a cédula is is the general explainer. Paraguay’s version is a police identity card. Your RUC, bank KYC, and driver’s license all ask for it, which is why an expired foreigner card is not a paperwork hobby. The Paraguay driver’s license and RUC assistance both assume the identity document is current.
FAQ
How do I renew a Paraguay cédula as a permanent resident?
Renew the permanent admission card at Migraciones if it is expired, then file Artículo 27 at Identificaciones: the expired cédula or a police report, a notarized copy of the permanent carnet, an INTERPOL report and a vida y residencia certificate each legalized through Talento Humano and the Comandancia, a notarized copy of your current home-country ID, a notarized copy of the current registro de extranjeros card, and police antecedentes from Identificaciones. Bring the originals.
Is permanent resident cédula renewal the same as a citizen renewal?
No. A citizen renewing for expiry presents the expired cédula. Identificaciones prints Gs. 8,500 and 20 business days at the central office for that filing. A foreign permanent resident uses Artículo 27, which adds the residence card, police certificates, and notarized copies.
Do I have to renew the permanent residence card before the cédula?
Yes if the carnet de admisión permanente is expired. Migraciones describes that ten-year renewal as the step you take in order to request cédula renewal. The published carnet fee is Gs. 468,308, plus Gs. 234,154 if personal information changes.
How long does a foreigner cédula renewal take in Paraguay?
Artículo 27 does not print a day count. A government services listing shows 15 to 45 days for foreigner cédula renewal. The citizen central-office figure of 20 business days is a different procedure. Certificate appointments before the filing often take longer than the printed window. Chip cards are collected by the holder.
Does Paraguay citizenship replace the foreigner cédula packet?
Only after naturalization is finished. The next renewal then follows the citizen list. An open citizenship case does not. The residency clock can be three years. The judgment is a separate calendar. See the naturalization requirements before you plan around the card expiry.
What if my Paraguay cédula was lost or stolen?
Artículo 27 accepts a transcript of the police report in place of the expired card. The rest of the foreigner list still applies, including a current permanent admission card.
Related: Paraguay residency · Temporary to permanent residency · Residency to citizenship · Naturalization requirements · Residential address
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