Uruguay

Fast-Track Naturalisation (Article 75). Uruguay runs one of the fastest naturalisations in Latin America: 3 years of legal residence with a spouse or child in the country, or 5 years single, on top of any legal residence category.

Free, with the law behind every answer

Fast-Track Naturalisation (Article 75)

Uruguayan citizenship by naturalisation.

Who qualifies

Hold legal residence in Uruguay, in any category, for 3 years if married or with a dependent child, or 5 years if single.
Guru’Guay, Uruguay Citizenship
Maintain physical presence of at least 183 days a year during the qualifying period; an absence over 6 continuous months resets the clock.
LegalClarity, Uruguay Citizenship Requirements
Conversational Spanish, a clean criminal record, and stable lawful income, shown at an interview with the Electoral Court.
LibertyMundo, Uruguay Fast-Track Naturalisation

Whether you keep your U.S. citizenship depends on the option you choose later.

It could fit.

Uruguay runs one of the fastest naturalisations in Latin America: 3 years of legal residence with a spouse or child in the country, or 5 years single, on top of any legal residence category.

Every option that fits your family

Not legal advice.

What it takes.

Time: 3–5 years of legal residence, plus processing and interview.
Cost: A few hundred dollars in filing fees, plus $1,500–3,000 in typical legal assistance.
The hard part: The 183-day presence rule and the 6-month-absence clock reset are the most commonly overlooked traps for part-time residents.

Citizens by 2031.

If your first permit is issued in 2027 and you keep living there, this is the road.

2027
Residence begins
No permit term of its own; the clock runs on legal residence.
2030
Apply for citizenship
With a language test.
2031
Citizenship

Language: You must understand and speak Spanish; the Corte Electoral will not process the case otherwise. There is no formal test; it is checked at the hearing.
Time away: Habitual residence counted from arrival: no absence may exceed 6 months in a row, or the count restarts from zero on return. You must prove with dated documents (migration records, social-security history, bank, school or medical records) that you lived in Uruguay on specific days, months and years, and bring two witnesses who have known you for the whole period.
Two passports: Yes. You keep your U.S. citizenship.

Not a permit: 3 years of habitual residence with family in Uruguay (5 if single), then a letter of legal citizenship from the Corte Electoral; it gives citizenship and a Uruguayan passport, but not Uruguayan nationality.
How long the decision takes isn’t published; we allow a year.

The law behind these dates

Living there.

Time you must spend there: 183 days a year; a 6-month continuous absence resets the clock.
Tax: Citizenship itself has no tax status. A valid tax-holiday election runs for the arrival year plus the following 10 years.

We never file a tax return. We tell you what applies and brief the professional who does.

Start today.

File an initial legal-residency application; the filing date starts the citizenship clock.Open gub.uy ↗

Postern can’t run this for you yet.

The official application forms, submission and recovery specification are not complete. Postern cannot run this application yet.

Options open to you today →

ISSUED TO

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