© 2026 NZeTA - New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority. All Rights Reserved.
Republic of Paraguay → Aotearoa New Zealand
The only country with a different design on each side of its flag.
Paraguay is on New Zealand’s visa-waiver list. Apply for the NZeTA online from Asunción — no embassy, no appointment. Approved within 72 hours, valid 2 years.
The Republic of Paraguay is a landlocked nation in central South America, bordered by Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia. With a population of approximately 7.5 million and a land area of 406,752 km², Paraguay sits in the heart of the South American continent, bisected by the Río Paraguay which divides the country into two distinct regions: the Oriental (eastern region, home to 97% of the population, with fertile subtropical forests and the capital Asunción) and the Occidental or Chaco (western region, an immense Gran Chaco plain comprising semi-arid scrubland and dry forest that extends into Bolivia and Argentina). Paraguay is one of only two landlocked countries in South America — alongside Bolivia — but its river system, especially the Paraguay and Paraná rivers, provides access to the Atlantic Ocean through Argentina via the Río de la Plata.
Paraguay is the only country in the world with a flag that has a different design on each face — the obverse shows the national coat of arms (a yellow star surrounded by a green olive branch and palm frond with the words “República del Paraguay”) while the reverse shows the treasury seal (a yellow lion beneath a red Phrygian liberty cap with the inscription “Paz y Justicia”). Paraguay is also South America’s most bilingual nation: approximately 90% of the population speaks both Spanish and Guaraní (the indigenous Tupí-Guaraní language of the original inhabitants), and Guaraní holds co-official status alongside Spanish — making Paraguay the only country in the Americas where an indigenous language is genuinely spoken by the majority of the non-indigenous population as a first or equal language.
Paraguay is home to the Itaipú Dam — the world’s largest generator of clean hydroelectric energy for a single dam — shared with Brazil on the Paraná River. Paraguay uses the Guaraní (PYG) and Paraguayan citizens are on New Zealand’s visa-waiver list, requiring an approved NZeTA before travelling.
Four documents required to complete the NZeTA application. PYG international cards accepted for payment.
Your Paraguayan passport must be biometric and valid for at least 3 months beyond your planned departure date from New Zealand. The passport number entered in the NZeTA application must exactly match your physical document. If you renew or replace your passport after receiving NZeTA approval, a new NZeTA application linked to the new passport number is required before travelling.
A clear digital photograph taken against a plain white or light-coloured background within the past 6 months. Your full face must be visible, eyes open and looking at the camera, no glasses or hat. Uploaded during the online application. Photo non-compliance is the leading cause of processing delays and requires resubmission before your application can be assessed.
An active email address to receive your NZeTA approval notification. The NZeTA is entirely electronic — no physical stamp or document is issued. Airlines verify it at check-in against the Immigration New Zealand database using your passport number. Apply from Asunción well in advance of your travel dates.
A credit or debit card to pay the NZeTA service fee and the mandatory New Zealand International Visitor Levy (IVL) in a single secure online transaction. Paraguay uses the Guaraní (PYG), but international Visa and Mastercard denominated in PYG or other major currencies are accepted for NZeTA payment.
Four steps to complete your NZeTA application entirely online from Asunción or anywhere.
Enter your full name exactly as printed on your Paraguayan passport, passport number and expiry date, date of birth, and intended travel dates to New Zealand. All information must precisely match your physical travel document. Both Spanish and Guaraní names on the Paraguayan passport should be entered as they appear in Roman script.
Upload a clear digital face photograph meeting New Zealand's biometric standards: plain white or light background, full face visible, eyes open, no glasses or hat, taken within the past 6 months. Photo quality is the most common cause of NZeTA processing delays. A non-compliant photo requires resubmission before your application proceeds.
Review all entered information carefully. Pay the NZeTA service fee and the mandatory New Zealand International Visitor Levy (IVL) together in a single secure online payment. International Visa and Mastercard accepted. Application is submitted automatically on payment confirmation. No modifications possible after submission.
NZeTA approval arrives by email within 72 hours. No physical document required — the NZeTA is electronically linked to your Paraguayan passport number. Present your passport at check-in at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport (ASU) and at Auckland border control. Valid 2 years, multiple entries, up to 90 days per stay.
Activities permitted and not permitted under the NZeTA for Paraguayan passport holders.
No direct flights from Paraguay to New Zealand. All routes connect via major South American hubs. LATAM Airlines is the primary carrier for the onward GRU–AKL or SCL–AKL segments.
Tip: LATAM operates direct GRU–AKL service. Book the ASU–GRU–AKL itinerary as a single LATAM ticket where possible to protect against connection delays.
LATAM’s SCL–AKL is the only direct South America to New Zealand service. Allow at least 3 hours for the EZE–SCL international connection.
Four defining characteristics of Paraguay in dialogue with Aotearoa New Zealand.
Paraguay has no access to the sea, yet its identity is profoundly shaped by water. The Río Paraguay bisects the country, and the Paraná River — the second-longest in South America — forms its eastern border with Brazil and Argentina. The Paraguay-Paraná waterway system provides 3,442 km of navigable river commerce, connecting Asunción to the Atlantic via the Río de la Plata. Paraguay’s river barges carry soybeans, cattle, and minerals south; Paraguay is the world’s fourth-largest soy exporter despite having no port on an ocean. Traditional Paraguayan culture retains a deep river heritage: the botero river boatmen, the riverside arribeño communities, and the yerba-mate culture grown in the humid eastern provinces are all river-anchored. Asunción was founded in 1537 as a river fortress.
NZ parallel: New Zealand’s Waikato and Whanganui rivers — though NZ has 15,000 km of coastline, Māori culture developed equally around major river systems as highways of transport, trade, and identity. The Whanganui River’s legal personhood (Te Awa Tupua Act 2017) reflects a relationship with freshwater that resonates with Paraguay’s river-dependent national character.
Guaraní is one of the world’s most remarkable linguistic survival stories. Unlike most of Latin America, where Spanish and Portuguese overwhelmed indigenous languages within a few generations of colonisation, Guaraní was adopted by the Jesuit missions of the 17th–18th centuries as the primary language of instruction, worship, and literature. This Jesuit decision — creating a literate Guaraní tradition and producing the first Guaraní grammar and dictionary — gave the language an institutional foundation that survived after the Jesuits were expelled in 1767. Today, approximately 90% of Paraguayans speak Guaraní and the language is used in politics, music, literature, and daily conversation. Paraguayan Guaraní contains thousands of words with no Spanish equivalent, especially for ecological, spiritual, and social concepts rooted in Amazonian and Chaco forest knowledge systems.
NZ parallel: Te Reo Māori — New Zealand’s language revitalisation programme (kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa Māori, Māori Television) parallels Paraguay’s effort to sustain Guaraní. Both nations are exceptional in the Western Hemisphere and Pacific for the vitality of their indigenous languages, and both have passed legislation recognising indigenous language as an official tongue of the state.
The Itaipú Hydroelectric Dam, shared between Paraguay and Brazil on the Paraná River, held the record for the world’s largest electricity-generating plant by annual output from 1984 to 2012 and remains one of the largest clean-energy installations on Earth, generating approximately 103 billion kWh in its record year of 2016. For Paraguay alone, Itaipú generates approximately 90% of national electricity demand — and Paraguay exports the majority of its Itaipú share to Brazil, making electricity its largest export product. The Yacyretá Dam, a joint Paraguay-Argentina project on the Paraná, adds additional generating capacity. Paraguay is one of the world’s largest per-capita producers of clean hydroelectric energy and one of the few nations where electricity generation is essentially 100% renewable.
NZ parallel: New Zealand generates approximately 85% of its electricity from renewable sources, predominantly hydroelectric (Waitaki River system, Manapouri power station) and geothermal (Waikato). Both Paraguay and New Zealand are among the world’s cleanest electricity grids and both anchor their energy identity in water-based renewable generation.
Paraguay’s Gran Chaco region contains one of the world’s last documented groups of indigenous people living in voluntary isolation: members of the Ayoreo people, who have avoided contact with the outside world and whose territories in the northern Chaco are protected under Paraguayan law and the advocacy of Survival International. The Ayoreo and related Chaco indigenous groups (Nivaclé, Enlhet, Angaité, and others) maintain traditions dating back thousands of years in one of South America’s most biodiverse and least-studied ecosystems. The Gran Chaco also hosts the Mennonite colonies — communities of Germanic-origin Anabaptist settlers who arrived from Russia and Canada in the 1920s and 1930s and now form a major economic bloc in Paraguayan agriculture, operating the country’s largest dairy and beef industries.
NZ parallel: New Zealand’s Chatham Islands Moriori community — the Moriori, like the Ayoreo, represent a people who developed a distinctive cultural tradition (including the “Nunuku’s Law” of non-violence) in relative isolation from larger surrounding populations, and whose survival and rights recognition has been a modern priority for both the NZ state and indigenous advocates.
100% online from Asunción or anywhere. Approved within 72 hours. Valid 2 years with multiple entries.
Start NZeTA Application — Paraguayan Passport© 2026 NZeTA - New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority. All Rights Reserved.