The president of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez, enacted this Thursday a law that establishes a new migration regime in the South American country, intending to modernize the national migration management and to hierarchize the institution in charge of its application.
The new regulation is governed following the recommendations of competent international organizations in the matter of the effective enforcement of public policies in migration.
The official report of the Paraguayan Government states that from now on, the General Directorate of Migration will be renamed as the National Directorate of Migration under the Executive Power.
It is the institution in charge of the country’s integral migration regime, with autonomy to dictate its rules and the autarchy that allows it to generate, manage and invest its resources.
One of the main advantages introduced is that temporary residents will now obtain a Paraguayan identity card with a duration equal to that of their residence card.
Under the previous law, only permanent residents could access such documents. Still, from now on, temporary residents will be able to carry out procedures and access public services upon presentation of the identity card.
On the other hand, temporary residents will be granted a term of up to two years of stay in the country, when under the previous law, they were granted up to one year.
In addition, a new subcategory of residence called spontaneous or occasional is incorporated, aimed at foreigners who enter the country intending to carry out occasional lawful activities in a period of up to 90 days, extendable for the same period.
The other categories of residence that remain in force are temporary and permanent residence, the former being an initial mandatory step to obtain permanent residence at the end of the brief stay.
Exempted from this provision are foreign relatives of Paraguayans, such as children, spouses, and grandchildren up to 18 years of age, and foreigners who can reliably prove that they have made investments in the country.
The permanent residence card will be renewed every ten years to request the renewal of the Paraguayan identity card.
Finally, the document clarifies that all the procedures established under the regulations of the Mercosur Residence Agreement and the General Law on Refugees will remain in force.
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