Immigration to Bolivia for US citizenship

A special purpose visa (visa de objeto determinado) is obtained at the Bolivian consulate in your country of origin before arriving in Bolivia. You cannot apply for accommodation if you are arriving on a tourist visa. A special purpose visa is required for the specific purpose of applying for a residence permit. It is valid for 30 days. Within 30 days of entering Bolivia, you must meet all your residence requirements and submit your completed residence application to the Immigration Service. Officials will provide you with a list of requirements ("lista de requisitos") that you must meet (documents that you must obtain from other institutions) before completing your residence application.

1. You can request a one-year or two-year residence visa when you first apply. After that, you can renew your visa for 2, five years or permanent residence. Each stay has a list of requirements, and each has a different cost. 

2. International Criminal Background Check Interpol will conduct an International Criminal Background Check to make sure that you have not committed any crimes in your country or other countries. This is called the "certificado de antecedentes penale".

Note: this procedure takes longer than others. Start with Interpol and then continue with the rest. Check Interpol every few days to see if your form is ready for receipt. 

3. National Review of Bolivia's criminal past. Bolivian officials will conduct a National Criminal Background Check to make sure that you have not previously committed any crimes in Bolivia during previous visits. It is also called "certificado de antecedentes penale", but at the national level.

4. Register your address in Bolivia. Be prepared to show proof of your new address in Bolivia (by presenting a water or electricity bill). Officials can visit your new home or apartment in Bolivia to check your address. This form is called "registro domiciliario".

5. A general medical certificate. The doctor should fill out a standardized form, indicating your current state of health. A general medical examination will be performed, which may include blood tests and X-rays, and/or other tests to make sure that you do not have infectious diseases or HIV/AIDS.

6. Marriage/divorce / birth certificate. If you are applying for residence as a family or as a parent with a child, you must provide proof that the children belong to you or that you have proper custody of them (in the case of a divorced or single parent). All marriage, divorce and birth certificates must be translated into Spanish and notarized at the Bolivian consulate in your country before arriving in Bolivia.

7. Work contract/registration documents. If you have moved to Bolivia for work and have a contract with a local or international company in Bolivia, you will attach a copy. If you are planning to start your own company, you will need to provide documents confirming that you have started the process of starting your own company, such as constituent documents and/or an initial balance sheet, or registration of your company with the tax service.

8. Proof of financial stability/solvency. You will be asked to provide proof that you are financially stable. If you are retiring in Bolivia and don’t plan to work, you must confirm the sources of income from which you will support yourself. If you are going to start your own business, you may be asked to open a bank account, deposit a certain amount of money, and provide a copy of your newly created company's initial balance statement.

9. Notarized letter of accommodation. After you have collected all the documents that you must submit to the Immigration Service, the notary and/or lawyer must write a letter on your behalf indicating your intention to apply for accommodation. This letter is called a "memorial".

10. Official folder with applications for immigration residence. After you have collected all the necessary documents, you must contact Extranjeria again at the immigration office. This time, you will request an application form for actual residence, which will be provided to you in the folder. You must attach all other documents to this folder, pay the amount corresponding to the desired time of stay, and leave all this, including your passport, to the Immigration Service. You have to pay in cash, in boliviano. Foreign currency and credit cards are not accepted.

This is a general procedure for applying for residence; however, each case is handled individually by the Bolivian immigration authorities, who may or may not require you to provide additional documents. In addition, your immigration application process may vary slightly depending on the specific purpose of your immigration.

Foreigners can apply for Bolivian citizenship only after meeting certain requirements and prerequisites, as well as after initially staying in Bolivia for a certain period of time as a resident. There are four sets of requirements that allow you to apply for Bolivian citizenship:

1. You have lived as a legal resident of Bolivia for at least 3 (three) continuous years. https://www.boliviabella.com/support-files/bolivian_citizenship_by_three_years_residency.pdf
2. You are married to a Bolivian citizen and have lived in Bolivia as a legal resident for at least 2 (two) continuous years. https://www.boliviabella.com/support-files/bolivian_citizenship_by_marriage_to_a_bolivian.pdf
3. You have a child born in Bolivia (even if you and/or your spouse are foreigners), and you have lived as a legal resident of Bolivia for at least 2 (two) continuous years. https://www.boliviabella.com/support-files/bolivian_citizenship_by_child_born_in_bolivia.pdf
4. You served in the Bolivian army and lived as a legal resident of Bolivia for at least 2 (two) consecutive years. https://www.boliviabella.com/support-files/bolivian_citizenship_by_military_service.pdf

Once you have determined that you are eligible to apply for citizenship and have completed all the steps required by the Bolivian immigration service, you will eventually have to pass the Bolivian citizenship test.

To apply for citizenship, you must provide the following documents:

• international passport;
• certificate of absence of criminal records;
• photos (here you will need not only standard photos, but also right and left profile photos, they are taken in La Paz, the capital of the state);
• fingerprints of both hands.

When applying for citizenship, a person (or an entire family) must be on the territory of Bolivia. The registration procedure as a whole can last from 6 to 9 months. All documents must be translated into Spanish and notarized.

Dual citizenship

Supreme Decree 27698, issued on August 24, 2004, established that dual citizenship is acceptable in Bolivia.

Loss of Bolivian citizenship. There is no wording in the 2009 Constitution regarding how a person loses citizenship. It states that citizenship cannot be lost due to marriage with a foreigner or obtaining another citizenship.