I have seen arrivals in Latin America in every variety. The relaxed one: after three months the flat is sorted, the residency application is filed, the bank account works, and the client writes to tell me that last weekend, for the first time, he simply sat by the river. And the other one: after three months nothing has been filed, the money is still sitting in the account back home, the flat is an overpriced Airbnb, and every office has asked for a different document that happened to be missing.
The difference between the two is almost never the country. It is the order. The first 90 days have an internal logic, because nearly every step depends on the one before it: no entry stamp, no residency; no residency, no cédula; no cédula, no proper bank account and no tax number. Respect the chain and you get through surprisingly fast. Ignore it and you run in circles for months.
Two things you set up on day 1, and I mean literally day 1: a document folder and a day-by-day calendar. Every piece of paper any office hands you goes into the folder, from the entry stamp to receipts to certified copies, because in Latin America yesterday's piece of paper is often what gets you through tomorrow's door. Every appointment and every deadline goes into the calendar. It sounds trivial. It is half the plan.
Week 1: Arrive, get connected, get moving
The first week is not a paperwork week. It has three jobs: a local phone number, a roof over your head for the first few weeks, and the ability to get around the city.
The local SIM matters more than it looks, because practically everything after it hangs on a local number: government portals, bank appointments, delivery services, the landlord who only communicates over WhatsApp. You can usually get a prepaid SIM with just your passport. In Paraguay, SIM registration has been mandatory since a 2017 law: the provider records your cédula or passport, along with a form from the regulator, Conatel. Have it registered in the shop rather than buying an anonymous chip somewhere, so the number is properly in your name and you can use it later for your bank and government portals.
Short-term accommodation should deliberately be booked for four to six weeks only, furnished, in the neighbourhood you are leaning towards. No longer. The biggest beginner's mistake is signing a one-year lease from abroad for a flat on a street you have never seen at night. The first weeks are your scouting phase: which neighbourhood do you really want to live in, how noisy is it, how far is the supermarket. You can roughly calibrate what the market costs beforehand on Numbeo; the negotiating happens on the ground.
The ride-hailing reality is good news: in the region's big cities you do not need a car in the first few months. In Asunción you have Bolt, Uber, inDrive and the local provider MUV; Bolt is usually the cheapest, MUV, as a Paraguayan company, issues proper invoices, Uber works most reliably with international credit cards, and most accept cash. Montevideo and Panama City look much the same. As a newcomer, you are better off not flagging down street taxis: without an app you pay the arrival surcharge, and you have no digital record of the ride. That is everyday practice in the expat communities and matches what our clients report.
Weeks 2 to 4: The paperwork block
Now the part you actually came for begins: building your legal status. Ideally you booked your appointments with the immigration authority before you entered the country, or had a gestor prepare them, because in many countries there is a window of several weeks between requesting an appointment and getting one.
The pattern is similar everywhere; the details differ. In Paraguay the application goes through the Dirección General de Migraciones: temporary residency (residencia temporal) under Migration Law 6984/2022 is valid for up to two years, is renewable and is the step before permanent residency; the government fee is currently just under 2.93 million guaraníes, and you appear in person with your passport, birth certificate and an apostilled police certificate. Then comes the second stage: the cédula is not issued by the immigration authority but by the Departamento de Identificaciones of the Policía Nacional, on presentation of your residency certificate, and it is valid for as long as your residency. In Uruguay the mechanics are friendlier than many expect: you get the cédula while your residency is still in process, with the corresponding certificate from the immigration authority, and the document is ready a few working days after the appointment. We have written up what this whole marathon looks like in detail, which documents are required in which certified form and where the classic pitfalls lie, in the cédula marathon through the paperwork.
In parallel you start the bank account push, and here you need realistic expectations. The Latin American banking system is not your enemy, but it is thorough. In Panama, banks typically ask for reference letters from your existing bank, proof of income and documentation of the source of funds, and weeks can pass between application and activation; without residency or a demonstrable economic tie to the country, some banks simply turn foreigners down. In Paraguay, on the other hand, the cédula opens almost every door; before it, often only a restricted basic account is available. So plan on two tracks: a local account for rent and everyday life as soon as your status allows it, and alongside it a proper international solution for your wealth. The regional overview is in our article on opening a bank account in Latin America.
Month 2: The flat that stays
With four to six weeks of local knowledge you are ready for a long-term lease. And this is where the problem nobody warns you about is waiting: the guarantee.
Across much of Latin America a landlord will not sign a lease without security, and the classic form is a local guarantor, the garantía in Uruguay, the garante in Paraguay, the aval elsewhere: a person or institution in the country who is liable for you. That is exactly what you, freshly arrived, do not have. This is not aimed at foreigners, since young Uruguayans face it just the same, but for you it is the hardest hurdle of the second month. How well developed the ways around it are varies by country. Uruguay is the most orderly here: instead of a guarantor, you can lodge a deposit with the state-owned Banco Hipotecario, up to five months' rent for residential property, payable within 15 days of signing the lease, and at the end you get the money back if there is no damage and no debt; private guarantee services and insurers exist as well. In Paraguay and Panama it is more informal: more months' rent up front, a higher depósito, or a landlord who is simply flexible with solvent foreigners. A rule of thumb from the forums and from our client work: offer six months' rent in advance and you will find a lease almost anywhere.
The second cost block of month two is furnishing. Long-term rentals in the region are often let unfurnished, and unfurnished frequently means truly empty: in Paraguay and Uruguay not uncommonly without kitchen appliances, sometimes without built-in wardrobes and light fittings. For a complete basic set-up of a two-bedroom flat, realistically budget a mid four-figure euro sum if you buy new; considerably less if you use the Facebook Marketplace route, where departing expats sell off entire households. We work out how this item fits into the overall cost of the move in what a move to Latin America costs.
Month 3: Tax, driving licence, doctors, people
The third month turns a stay into a life. Four jobs to tackle.
The tax number. As soon as your cédula is in hand, you register wherever it is relevant for you. In Paraguay that means the RUC, which is free and done online through the portal of the tax authority, DNIT, and for individuals with residency the RUC number is simply your cédula number; you need it as soon as you invoice locally, and in practice also as a building block if you later want a certificate of tax residence. PwC sums up the basics of Paraguay's territorial tax system neatly. In Uruguay the equivalent is the RUT with the DGI; in Panama, if you only earn income from abroad, the territorial system often means you need no active tax registration at first. What matters at this point is something else: registering in the new country is only half of the tax work. The other half is a clean break at home, and that should be handled by a professional. Moving abroad does not, on its own, end your tax residence where you come from; what your home country keeps taxing depends on where that is:
The driving licence. The 90-day mark is no coincidence here, because in several countries the grace period for your foreign licence ends around this point. Panama is the strictest example: as a tourist you may drive for 90 days on your foreign licence, but the moment you receive your residency that privilege lapses immediately, and you need the conversion through the licensing service provider Sertracen, for which your licence must first be certified by your embassy; in return the theory and practical tests are waived, leaving only an eye and hearing test. In Paraguay and Uruguay the situation is more relaxed, but the same principle applies: with residency, the local licence becomes a must, not an extra, and converting is almost everywhere easier than sitting the full test again.
The basic medical network. Do not wait for the first toothache to find out how your healthcare works. In month three you find a GP or a mutualista, a dentist and the nearest decent private clinic, and you do it before you need them. Private medicine in the region is priced so that many routine treatments are affordable out of pocket, but for a real emergency you need proper insurance; we lay out the options in the article on health insurance in Latin America.
The community. The most underestimated point. The emigrants who leave again after a year rarely fail because of bureaucracy; they fail because of loneliness. Month three is the moment you switch from getting-things-done mode into living mode: a language course, a sports club, the expat meetups that exist from Asunción to Montevideo, and deliberately local contacts too, not just the expat bubble. Anyone who has five numbers in their phone after 90 days that are not service providers tends to stay.
The plan at a glance
Not every week will go to plan: an appointment falls through, a document needs a second apostille, that comes with the territory. But keep the order and after 90 days you will have in place what others take eighteen months to achieve: status filed, flat moved into, account in progress, everyday life begun.
And you do not have to follow this plan alone. We guide clients through exactly these 90 days, from residency strategy to the appointments with the authorities to the tax side on both continents; what we offer specifically is on our services page. If you want to know what your personal plan looks like, with your destination country, your timeline and your numbers, talk to us.
👉 Book a consultation with Harley
Carpe Diem. Life is short and fleeting. One shot. Make it count.