How to move to Uruguay

Here’s what Migración asks for permanent residency (residencia legal permanente):

• A valid passport — the original.
• Criminal record certificates — from your home country and from every country where you lived for 6 months or more in the last 5 years.
• Birth certificate — if you apply together with family and need to prove the relationship (for example, for children).
• Marriage certificate — if you’re married; it must be no older than one year.
• Proof of income (medios de vida) — for example, a notarized income statement from your job, your business or your pension.
• Carné de salud — a health card, done in Uruguay at a clinic.
• Vaccination certificate — also done in Uruguay at a clinic.

Apostille and translation. Foreign documents need an apostille, and the Spanish translation must be done by a local sworn translator — a Traductor Público. Don’t translate documents at home: we did, and our translations were no use.

Documents from Ukraine — certificates, criminal records and others — I’ll order remotely, already apostilled and delivered to any country. To Uruguay, even to my address.

You can book the appointment yourself on the official website:

• Go to the “Residencia legal permanente” page on gub.uy and click “Iniciar trámite en línea”.
• You need a gub.uy account (or a digital ID).
• Upload your documents as PDFs and pay the fee.
• You’ll get an email with a link to choose the day, time and Migración office.

But free dates are often gone: regular appointments are now months ahead, and the system can be fussy. If it doesn’t work, there are no slots, or it’s urgent — I’ll book it for you. We know several ways to catch a slot, and if it’s urgent we can arrange an appointment within a month.

• Translations by a Traductor Público — for all foreign documents.
• Carné de salud and vaccination certificate — at a clinic: tests, check-up, vaccines.
• Filing at Migración on your appointment day — in person, with the originals of all documents.
• Cédula — Uruguay’s ID card, issued by DNIC: the first one after you file, the second once residency is granted.
• Registro Civil (the civil registry) — needed for some documents; free slots there go in minutes, and I can help with that booking too.

Until your residency is approved, you need a re-entry permit for every trip abroad — keep that in mind if you plan to travel.

Housing. Book your first nights in advance, especially with pets — hotels are reluctant to take dogs. For long-term rentals landlords usually ask for a deposit of up to six months, and an agency charges another month’s rent. I can help you find a good place in Piriápolis, Punta del Este and Maldonado.

School. Our kids started at a Uruguayan school with almost no Spanish. The first months are hard — language, new friends — but it passes. I’ll help choose a school and enrol your children.

Healthcare. At first we used the free public system, ASSE, but waits for specialists there are months long. Then we switched to a private clinic — about $200 a month for four. I’ll tell you which one to pick.