Costa Rica or Paraguay
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| Costa Rica | Paraguay | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 7 years | 3 years |
| Partner can work | yes | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | no trouble | no trouble |
| Pet limit | no limit | 5 |
| Quarantine | no | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 1 244 · estimate | $ 687 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 42,6 | $ 22,9 |
| Life expectancy | 81 | 73.98 |
| Homicides/100k | 17.12 | 6.88 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 5.4 | 2.6 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Costa Rica — 56, Paraguay — 11. Types present in both: family and investment. Costa Rica adds: work, remote work, study, talent, repatriation and retirement.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Costa Rica: fees range from 50 to 200 USD. Routes stating an income threshold: 5; the lowest is 1,000 USD a month. Routes with a published decision deadline: 55; the shortest is 15 days. Paraguay: fees range from 585,385 to 2,926,925 PYG. Routes with no fee: 2.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: Costa Rica after 3 years, Paraguay after 2 years. Citizenship: Costa Rica after 7 years, Paraguay after 3 years. Costa Rica allows a second citizenship, Paraguay does not.
Costa Rica in brief
Residence in Costa Rica is granted through income-based categories — rentista (from $2,500 a month), pensionado (from $1,000 in pension income), and inversionista (from $150,000 in investment) — or through an employment contract, marriage to a Costa Rican citizen, or a separate remote-worker category (law No. 10008, income from $3,000 a month, up to $4,000 for a family application). Three years of continuous renewal of temporary residence opens the right to permanent residence; naturalisation requires seven years of residence for most citizenships and five for Spaniards and Ibero-Americans by birth, or two years of marriage to a Costa Rican citizen. Permanent residence carries the right to work in any paid activity, while temporary residence allows only the activity separately approved by the immigration service. The population is concentrated in the Central Valley around San José and Alajuela, while tourist flow goes to the coasts — Pacific Guanacaste and the Caribbean coast — where rent at popular resorts can exceed that of the capital. Bringing in dogs and cats requires no quarantine or antibody titre testing, provided vaccinations are current and a veterinary certificate is presented. The country lies in a seismically active region with active volcanoes and an elevated tsunami risk on the Pacific coast.
Paraguay in brief
Paraguay stands out for two things. The first is nature: earthquakes 0.1 out of 10, cyclones 0.0, an overall risk of 2.6 on the INFORM scale. That is one of the calmest profiles in this guide; what remains is river flooding and heat. The second is how residence is built: the temporary status under law No. 6984/2022 carries the right to work and study from the moment the application is filed, becomes permanent after two years, and three years after that opens the way to citizenship with no language exam. Count the whole chain, though: about five years from arrival, not three. The main constraint is that citizenship here replaces the old one rather than adding to it — multiple nationality is allowed only by international treaty, and a naturalised Paraguayan loses the passport on voluntarily acquiring another. Control of corruption at −1.02, among the worst in the region, also deserves weight.
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This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.