Practical guide
Staying in Bolivia: visas and residence
How a stay in Bolivia works, from the tourist entry to temporary and permanent residence, and how a visit to Migración goes, from the law, Migración’s own pages and the Bolivia notes of our chapters.
General information gathered from official sources on 15 October 2026, not legal advice. Rules, requirements and fees change, and what applies depends on your nationality and your case: check with Migración before you go.
Three kinds of stay
Bolivian law (Ley 370 of 2013) and the Migración office, officially the Dirección General de Migración or DIGEMIG, distinguish three kinds of permanencia, the permitted stay. The permanencia transitoria covers up to 180 days. The permanencia temporal, the residencia temporal people talk about, lasts up to three years: a one-year residence can be renewed twice, a two-year one once, a three-year one not at all. The permanencia definitiva, or residencia permanente, normally comes after three years of stay.
Which one fits you is not yours to decide alone. At the counter you describe your entry and your plans in one clear sentence, and the official says which trámite corresponds to your case; the same list can ask for different things depending on nationality, visa type or office. Phrase it as a question and let the office confirm.
Sources: Migración, Ley 370 (Lexivox)
Arriving as a visitor
Bolivia sorts nationalities into three groups: Group I needs no visa, Group II needs one, Group III needs one after prior consultation with Migración. A tourist entry gives 30 days, which can be extended by up to 60 more, 90 days in all. The extension is an ampliación: ask about it before your days run out, because staying past them leads to fines. Officials read your entry date from the sello de entrada in your passport, and counting your days is their call: ask them to confirm the dates.
Decreto Supremo 5497 of 1 December 2025 removed the visa requirement for several nationalities, the United States, Israel and South Korea among them. Migración’s own list had not caught up when we checked, so confirm your case with the Bolivian consulate in your country before you travel.
Sources: Migración, DS 4828 (Lexivox), DS 5497 (Infoleyes), Los Tiempos
Temporary residence: on what grounds
Migración lists the grounds for a temporary residence: work (for an employer, on your own account, under a state or private agreement, or religious work), family, study and health, each for one, two or three years. The work residence covers paid work whether you are employed or not; working on your own account is “sin relación de dependencia”. The family residence rests on kinship, adoption, economic dependence or marriage.
Two cases differ. The student residence can be renewed until your studies end but does not lead to permanent residence; it usually starts from a student visa issued by a Bolivian consulate. Nationals of the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay) and of the Andean Community (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) get a two-year temporary residence, then the permanent one.
Sources: Migración
What a residence file usually holds
For a work residence, Migración’s list runs like this: its sworn form, a declaración jurada; your passport with the entry stamp or visa; proof of the activity, such as an employment contract approved by the Ministry of Labour; a criminal record from your country of origin or from INTERPOL, plus a Bolivian REJAP certificate if you have lived in Bolivia six months or more; proof of means; a medical certificate; a 4x4 photo on a white background; and the payment. The list depends on the grounds and on your nationality, so go through it line by line: “¿Este requisito aplica a mi caso?”.
Foreign documents are translated if they are not in Spanish, and legalised. Bolivia has applied the Hague Apostille Convention since 7 May 2018, so most documents need an apostille from the country that issued them, and the order of the steps matters: the Residency File chapter on translation practises it. People carry the lot in a folder, originals on one side and copies on the other; the copy shops a few blocks from the offices sell them.
Sources: Migración, HCCH
At Migración: the visit, the payment, the follow-up
Procedures are done at Migración offices, and some start online on its Ventanilla Virtual. Migración states that the procedure is personal, with no intermediaries: pay only through official channels and keep every receipt. Many public offices hand out a ficha at the door, and people come early to get one; you are then called to a ventanilla, and papers are formally received at the mesa de partes against a cargo, the stamped copy that proves you handed them in.
Fees are often paid as a bank deposit rather than at the office, Banco Unión being a common bank for state procedures: confirm where to pay, the exact amount and the account, then bring the comprobante back. Fees change, so we give none here. A follow-up asks about the state of your file, which may stay en trámite a while, until the resolución de residencia is ready. In October 2026 Migración suspended certifications and legalisations for about two weeks from 5 October while its archive moved: check before you go.
Sources: Migración, Migración, Ventanilla Virtual, Red Uno
Once you hold it: address, absences, cédula
Residents declare their address in a sworn statement on Migración’s SIGEMIG system and report a change within 48 hours, or face a fine. Absences count too: a temporary residence is cancelled if you are away more than 90 days a year, a permanent one after more than two years away in a row.
Then comes a separate step at SEGIP, the ID office, not at Migración: the cédula de identidad de extranjero, the foreigner’s ID card that every temporary or permanent resident must obtain and carry. It is applied for within 25 working days of Migración’s notification; the last chapter of this situation practises the visit, and the guide on the Residency File page has the details.
Sources: Migración, SIGEMIG, Ley 370 (Lexivox), DS 4828 (Lexivox)
