Ola Uruguay Real Estate and Investments

Here’s our quick guide to temporary visas for Uruguay, how to obtain residency, and how to go about becoming a Uruguayan citizen. The rules could change at anytime though so make sure you do your research or get the advice of a professional before making your application.

Visas

Uruguay does not require an entry visa for citizens of any OECD country (the U.S., Canada, Japan, Europe, Australia and New Zealand) or from a South American country.

Upon entering Uruguay, you will be granted a tourist permit, to stay for 90 days (this period can be extended for another 90 days through a written request to the immigration authority).

Residency

Uruguayan residency is easy to obtain and the key requirements are: your birth certificate (stamped by the Uruguayan consulate in the country of birth), a clean police record from the country of origin and from those countries where you resided in the past five years, and proof that you can support yourself throughout the residency process (the “income requirement”).

The income requirement is fulfilled by proving that you have a yearly income of at least US$6,000. This can be demonstrated in a number of ways: a pension, a mutual fund, lease income from an asset inside or outside Uruguay, dividends of any nature, or a wage, to name some common examples. Uruguay’s immigration authorities scrutinize this requirement thoroughly, so the key is to prove it correctly, leaving no doubt to the authenticity and permanent or semi-permanent nature of the income source.

It’s important to note that Uruguay does not require that you own property or have investments in the country, in order to grant residency. On the other hand, owning property does not eliminate the income requirement.

To file for residency, after gathering the necessary documents, you enter Uruguay as a tourist and file the request on a pre-appointed date, at the immigration authority (“DNM”). From the moment you apply for residency, you may stay in Uruguay indefinitely, and even request a national identification, which allows you to travel passport-less to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay. You may also, from day one, bring household goods into the country, duty free. Household goods do not include a car.

Citizenship

After five years of having filed for residency (three in the case of families) you can apply for citizenship. This is done at Uruguay’s “Electoral Court”, and the requirement is that you have Uruguayan residency and a permanent connection with the country with no absence for more than six straight months, for three/five years (this is proved with documents and witnesses). The citizenship application process is quick, and usually citizenship is granted within three months of your request.

The key benefit of citizenship is a Uruguayan passport, which allows for visa-free travel to all of Latin America and several European countries.

Uruguay allows multiple citizenship.

Citizenship for retirees

A special law that applies to retirees with a government pension of over US$18,000 per year guarantees a Uruguayan passport more rapidly. For those who apply for residency under this law, a passport is granted after a year to eighteen months (the time the process usually takes). But the hurdles and requirements are higher: besides the fact that your income must be from official pension, and at least US$18,000 per year, you must also own a property in Uruguay valued at US$100,000 or more. This law also allows you to bring a car tax free, but this is not recommended, since bureaucratic delays can make the process very expensive.