General information gathered from official sources on 15 October 2026, not legal advice. Requirements, deadlines and fees change: check with SEGIP and Migración before you go.
The cédula de extranjero, the resident’s ID
Under Ley 370, every foreigner with a temporary or permanent residence must obtain the cédula de identidad de extranjero, the CIE, and carry it. It is issued by SEGIP, the identity service, in its own step after Migración: the residence comes first, then the card. From then on it is the document banks, notaries and the tax office ask for.
In daily life people call any identity card a carnet, or CI, and a Bolivian’s card is a carnet too. The passport and the carnet de extranjero are two different documents, which an office may treat differently, so when a list says carnet, ask which one it means for you: “según mi caso”.
Sources: SEGIP, Ley 370 (Lexivox)
Getting it at SEGIP
For a first card SEGIP asks for your passport, original and copy, the residence document, Migración’s resolution and its notification record, and the pre-registration form filled in online at cie.segip.gob.bo. The deadline is 25 working days after Migración’s notification; after that, a fine of Bs 10 a day applies (as of 2026). For a renewal, bring the old card as well.
There is no online appointment: you go to a SEGIP office, where your fingerprints and a fotografía biométrica are taken on site. When your details are read back, check every letter and date: “¿Mis datos están correctos?”. For 2026, SEGIP announced that its offices also open on the first Saturday of each month, from 08:00 to 14:00 (SEGIP’s offices page, checked on 15 October 2026): check the current hours with SEGIP before you go. SEGIP’s offices abroad serve Bolivians and do not renew a foreigner’s card.
Sources: SEGIP, SEGIP, offices
Cost, validity and payment
As of 2026 the card costs Bs 600, Bs 300 for students and people with a disability, Bs 200 for a duplicate, and nothing for refugees: check the amount before you go. It is valid as long as your residence permit. Holders of a permanent residence renew it every five years, and over 60 with a permanent residence it no longer expires.
SEGIP says it does not answer for payments made through channels it has not certified. Pay only through the channels SEGIP lists on its own site, never through a go-between, and keep the comprobante.
Sources: SEGIP, SEGIP, payment, DS 4828 (Lexivox)
Police and judicial records: CUDAP, FELCC, REJAP
A residence file usually asks for a criminal record from your country of origin or from INTERPOL and, once you have lived in Bolivia six months or more, a Bolivian one too. Two Bolivian certificates are easy to mix up. The police certificate, the CUDAP, covers the FELCC, the FELCN and traffic in one document, valid for 30 days; it is requested online on the Ministerio de Gobierno’s portal with facial recognition and paid at Banco Unión or by QR.
The REJAP certificate is the judicial criminal record, issued by the Consejo de la Magistratura through its REJAP offices. Which of the two your file needs, how recent it must be, and whether it needs an apostille or an official translation are questions for the office: “¿Cuál de los dos antecedentes necesito?”. Antecedentes policiales are paperwork like any other: ask about them neutrally.
Sources: Migración, Ministerio de Gobierno, Tribunal Supremo de Justicia
The NIT, if you earn a living here
To run an economic activity, such as invoicing as a self-employed worker, running a business or renting out a property, you need a NIT, the tax number of Impuestos Nacionales (SIN). For foreigners the SIN asks for the cédula de extranjero and your tax, business and home addresses, so the CIE comes first. Businesses, sole traders included, also register with the SEPREC commerce registry. In shops, “¿NIT o carnet?” comes with almost every factura: without a NIT, ask which number they accept, or take the factura “sin nombre”.
Sources: Impuestos Nacionales
Building the file yourself
Read the requirements list one line at a time and turn each line into a question: does it apply to me, from which country, with an apostille or a translation, and how long does it stay valid, its vigencia. Bolivia has applied the Hague Apostille Convention since 7 May 2018, and the order of translation, apostille and legalización matters; a notaría or the cancillería may be one of the steps. The medical certificate may have to come from a centro autorizado: ask which ones count.
Before you go, review the file: complete, in order, with every copy, sometimes with an index at the front, and in the folder the office expects, often a folder amarillo. Migración states that the procedure is personal, with no intermediaries, and SEGIP lists its own payment channels: pay only through official channels, not through someone who offers to do it for you.
Sources: Migración, SEGIP, payment, HCCH
