Garcia was born in the city of San Juan, part of the conurbation of Metropolitan Manila, Philippines in 1965.[3][4] He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines, and also attended the Academy of American and International Law in Texas in the United States of America. He was a barrister before entering parliament. In the Philippines, where he practised for ten years, his focus was commercial law, particularly as it applied to foreign and multinational companies operating in that country.[4][5] After moving to New Zealand, he practised immigration law with a focus on investor migration.[5] After initially working for McLeod & Associates and Corban Revell Lawyers, he established his own firm, Garcia Law.[5]
Paulo Garcia was appointed honorary consul of the Philippines in Auckland in 2012, and was also involved in establishing the New Zealand Philippines Business Council.[4][6]
In the 2017 election Garcia stood for National in the New Lynn electorate and was placed 50 on their party list.[7] He came second to Deborah Russell with 38.55% of the vote and was not ranked high enough on National's party list to be allocated a seat in Parliament.
In February 2018 Garcia and several other "next in line" list candidates attended National's parliamentary caucus meeting to help ease their transition into parliament should they enter during the course of the parliamentary term.[8] Garcia later entered Parliament in 2019 upon the resignation of National MP Nuk Korako.[9] He was declared elected on 16 May 2019.[10] He became New Zealand's first MP of Filipino descent.[4] He is the first person born in the Philippines who has been elected to the national legislature of another country.[11] In 2020 he was briefly deputy chairperson of the Parliamentary committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade and a National Party associate spokesperson on foreign affairs and justice.[12]
In February 2020 the National Party board decided that Garcia would be a list-only candidate in the 2020 general election.[13] National polled poorly at the election and Garcia lost his seat in Parliament.[14]
Ahead of the 2023 New Zealand general election, Garcia was selected as the National Party candidate for New Lynn again.[15] He defeated incumbent Deborah Russell with a final majority of 1,013 votes.[16]
