Moving to Paraguay with Family: Documents for Children, Custody and Solvency for Your Spouse

Are children exempt from proof of solvency?

Yes. According to the official DNM pages, minors from 0 to 17 are exempt from all economic proof of solvency. This exemption applies regardless of the new solvency rule (Resolution 407/2026), which since July 6, 2026 has unified the twelve solvency categories for permanent residency: those categories concern the adults, and from children the DNM requires neither their own income nor their own proof of assets. Instead, the legal representative, usually a parent, takes on the financial responsibility for the child.

In practice this means: not every family member has to meet their own solvency category. One parent proves income or assets in their category, the spouse goes through the dependent route (more on that below), and the children are attached to the parents. That reduces a family's document burden considerably, because the most demanding part, the proof of solvency, only applies to the adults.

From what age does a child need a criminal record certificate?

The threshold is 14 years. The DNM requires the criminal record certificate from the country of origin or residence, the Interpol report issued in Paraguay, and the Paraguayan police certificate explicitly only from age 14 ("Requerido a partir de los 14 años de edad"). For children under 14, each of these three certificates falls away.

That is more than a footnote: for a family with two small children, obtaining certificates is thereby reduced to the adults. Only from their 14th birthday does a child count like an adult for the criminal and police records and go through the same steps (criminal record certificate with apostille, Interpol and police certificate on site in Asunción).

Which documents does each child need?

For each child there is a small, separate set of documents. The core is the same for all children, regardless of age:

• →Apostilled birth certificate: it establishes the name, date of birth and the descent from the parents. The apostille runs under the Hague Convention, so an additional legalization is then unnecessary.
• →Valid passport of the child, the original with a certified copy.
• →Spanish translation of all foreign-language documents. The translation is done by a translator registered (sworn) in Paraguay.
• →From age 14 additionally: criminal record certificate with apostille, Interpol report and Paraguayan police certificate.

Who has to consent? The three custody scenarios

For minors, the DNM checks who holds custody and who consents to the departure and the residency. The official pages distinguish three cases. Place your family into one of them, and you will know which consent you need:

• →Both parents travel along: both sign. At least one parent must hold the same residency category, or apply for it at the same time, that the child is attached to.
• →Only one parent travels along: this requires the notarized consent of the absent parent to the departure and residency, or alternatively a court order on custody. If a parent has died, the death certificate takes its place.
• →A third party as guardian: if the child travels with someone other than the parents, it requires the consent of both parents, homologated (confirmed by the court) by the juvenile court, plus the guardianship document.

Spouse without their own income: the marriage certificate as the key

For a spouse without their own income there is the solvency category dependiente (dependent). Instead of their own solvency, the spouse proves their dependency on a person who meets their solvency. The key proof for this is the marriage certificate, apostilled and translated into Spanish, together with the ID of the solvent spouse.

The marriage certificate thus serves two functions at once. First, it is the general proof of civil status that married applicants submit anyway (for divorced applicants the divorce decree takes its place, for widowed applicants the death certificate of the spouse). Second, it is the actual door opener for the spouse route: without it, the dependency for the dependiente category cannot be established.

In practice, for a couple this means: one partner meets a solvency category (for example as an employee, self-employed person or retiree), the other goes through the marriage certificate as a dependent. That way not every adult has to prove their own income.

Does the whole family have to travel, and for how long?

Yes. The residency procedure is in person and on site, and that goes for each family member individually, children included. There is no remote-controlled family application in which one parent registers the others. That is why the whole family travels to Asunción together, and each child appears in person.

The certificates to be issued in Paraguay are obtained on site within a few days: the Interpol report is officially issued in roughly 24 to 48 hours, the police certificate in about a day, and filing with the DNM is possible the same day with a complete set of documents. Because these certificates only apply to family members from age 14, the on-site part is especially lean for small children.

For the total length of the stay in Asunción there is no official specification. From experience, agencies plan for about a week in Asunción per family. That is an experience value from practice, not an official deadline. After filing, the actual procedure runs at the authority, and the family does not have to stay in the country for it.

What you do NOT need for the children

A common misconception: school records, report cards or vaccination records for the children are not part of the residency application. They do not appear on the official DNM document list. For the residency itself, what counts are the birth certificate, the passport, the parents' consents and the IDs, not the school history.

That does not mean school records are unimportant. For later enrollment at a school in Paraguay you will of course need them, but then in relation to the school, not to the immigration authority. For the residency process, the children's checklist stays deliberately short: apostilled birth certificate, passport, translation, parents' consent, and from age 14 additionally the three criminal and police records.

A note about our own offer: with us a second adult gets 10% off within the same package, children under 14 are significantly reduced, and families receive an individual quote with one shared roadmap and one shared trip.