From UruguayWiki

Contents 1 Residency Process for Dummies 1.1 General Prerequisites 1.2 Overall Procedure 1.3 Total Costs 1.4 Dirección Nacional de Migracion 1.5 Interpol 1.6 Authentication of Documents in Uruguay 1.7 Translators 1.8 Civil Registry for Birth/Marriage Certificates 1.9 Fotos Carné 1.10 Carné de Salud 1.11 Applying for your Cédula Provisoria (at Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC)) 1.12 Other notes

[edit] Residency Process for Dummies

This section will attempt to document, in reasonable detail, all of the steps involved with obtaining Uruguayan residency. Many English-language sites have posted summaries of the process, but many are short on exactly where to go and what to do.

You may also want to look at the overall Immigration section for references to other sources that provide a more narrative description of the residency process.

[edit] General Prerequisites

The following are high-level requirements taken from the Direccion Nacional de Migración (DNM) residency handout:

• two "fotos carne" (photographs)
• proof of income
• carné de salud
• documentation of entry date into country
• past police records
• copy of relevant passport pages
• birth certificate
• marriage certificate
• for minors, express permission from the minor's parents to apply for residency

[edit] Overall Procedure

1. Request and assemble your documents before you leave home
2. Have your documents stamped by the Uruguayan consulate/embassy in their country of origin
3. Get your fingerprints taken by Interpol (if you did not already request police reports from your country(ies) of origin and/or countries where you have recently lived)
4. Request a date with Dirección Nacional de Migracion (DNM)
5. Get your documents legalized by MREE in Montevideo
6. Get your documents translated into Spanish by an official translator
7. Deliver your translated documents to the Uruguayan civil registry and have them generate Uruguayan versions of the documents
8. Get your photographs taken (fotos carne)
9. Get a Carne de Salud
10. Get your escribano to write a letter verifying your means of living
11. On your official DNM date, present your documents and receive your residency-in-process status
12. Take your Certificado de Llegada to the Direccion Nacional de Identification Civil to apply for a temporary cedula (identification card).
13. Check back at the DNM (get a number and wait) at the interval suggested by the staff there (approximately every 6 weeks)

[edit] Total Costs

The following is an example of the costs associated with applying for residency for a single person, as of April 2010. Note that document-based costs are quoted on a per-document basis, so you will need to know how many documents (birth/marriage/divorce/police records/whatever) you need to process to get an accurate quote. The costs for obtaining documents in your home country will obviously vary from those listed here.

Cumulative total for one person as of April 2010: US$380

We are not quite done with the residency process as of this writing, and although there are probably a few tramites (processing steps) yet, this should represent the bulk of the costs.

The breakdown of these costs is given below:

Document/Process	Cost (UYU)	Equivalent Cost ($USD)
certified copy of each document (birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc.) from your own state/provincial recorder	n/a	15
authentication of each document at Uruguay Embassy in home country	n/a	42
courier fee to/from Uruguayan embassy, round trip (obviously, if you get all of your documents ready and have them legalized in one batch, you only need to pay this once)	n/a	25
legalization of each document in Uruguay at the MRREE	150	8
translation of each legalized document in Uruguay	438	23
filing of each birth, marriage or divorce certificate in civil registry	326	17
receipt of official Uruguayan copy of each birth, marriage or divorce certificate	35	2
police record check, done at Interpol in Montevideo (including check-processing fee)	n/a	26
courier fee to send Uruguayan Interpol police record check from Montevideo to FBI in Washington, via FedEx	n/a	38
Escribano letter documenting certification of income (depending on how you plan to qualify for residency, this may or may not be required)	n/a	70
Fotos carne, for a pack of 6-8 photos (which should be sufficient for both your cedula and carne de salud)	80	4
Carne de salud	570	30
Residency processing fee paid to Dirección Nacional de Migraciones	968	50
Permiso de Reingreso (payable every time you want to leave the country during the 6-8 months it takes to process your application)	392	19
Ceritifcado de Llegada (arrival certificate; documentation of your status, and used to obtain a temporary cedula)	97	5
Requesting a cédula at Direccion Nacional de Identification Civil	120	6

Note that you only need one escribano income certification per family. If you are married, you will need to include a copy of your marriage certificate in the proceedings (which requires another certified source document, authentication, legalization and translation).

[edit] Dirección Nacional de Migracion

• Address: Misiones 1513 esq. Cerrito, in Ciudad Vieja
• phone numbers 2915-1438 and 2916-0471
• Appointment #1: Request a date for residency initiation
  • best to request a date sooner rather than later, since you may have to wait a while for it to come up. You need to have your paperwork ready by the time your appointment comes up, although if your police check was submitted through Interpol, it is apparently OK to go to your migraciones appointment even if the results have not yet come back. some have also suggested that it's good to bring baby wipes, since they'll take your prints and give you a rather ineffective alcohol swab for trying to remove the ink.
  • you can arrive any time between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm in order to request a number to initiate the residency process (although migraciones tends to get backed up later in the day)
  • skip the main reception desk, go directly to the back right area of the hall, and take a number from the wall in the "Residencial" section. Take a seat and wait for your number to be called. When it is your turn, tell them that you are there to start the trámite del residencia process. In this particular office, bringing children won't help you skip to the front of the queue, since everyone else seemingly has their kids there too.
  • you should bring the passports of the people who require the appointment(s), although if you are applying for multiple people in your family, those other people need not actually be present for this date-requesting appointment.
  • migraciones will usually let you select your own date and time, although your residency appointment will always be in the afternoon for appointments after April 1, 2012.
  • you do not need to pay in order to receive a date
• Appointment #1.5: Check your documents
  • if you have questions about your documents and wish to have them checked (in advance of your actual residency appointment), you can show up in the same residency area (at any time they are open) and take a number. they will be happy to verify whether or not your documents meet all of the requirements. it can be helpful to do this, since if you show up at your official appointment and your documents are incomplete or incorrect, they will make you request another appointment (which can set you back a month or more, depending on how backlogged their appointments are).
• Appointment #2: Initiation of the residency process
  • make sure that you bring photocopies of all of the documents that you bring with you (especially of your birth/marriage/etc. certificates). migraciones sometimes wants to see the originals, but they may want to leave you with the original (to be processed by DNI, for example) and take a copy. if you happen to forget, there is a photocopy service on the corner of the block in a "Hoy Juega" store
  • for your second appointment, go to the same residency area of the hall, but do not take a number. they will call your name at the appointed time.
  • you need to bring all of the needed documents, and the staff will review them. they may ask you a few questions about where you have lived for the past few years, and ask you to confirm the details in your passports and certificates. if everything is OK, they will print out some forms. they will give you a slip so you can walk over to the caja and pay.
  • the cost for filing the initial residency application was UYU 968 per person (as of 2010-04). The DNM website should also provide the current cost.
  • after your slip is stamped at the caja, you proceed back to the same residency desk where they will be waiting for you. they will take your fingerprints, fill out a few more forms, and then start your file.
  • if you have sufficient documentation, they may also authorize you to receive a (temporary) cedula provisoria. the requirements for receiving the temporary cedula are that you supposedly need to have all of your police checks received by the time you start the application process. however, this does not seem to be a hard-and-fast rule based on our first-hand experience.
  • they will give you an expediente (file) number, which you should hold on to so that you can direct them to your file in the future. if they don't offer this number to you, you should definitely ask for it.
  • if you are planning to leave the country within the 6-8 months that it will take to process your residency application, you should also request "permiso de reingreso" at this time. these are good for only one reentry, so if you are planning to leave the country more than once in that period, you can request multiple permisos at this time (but note the cost of at least 350 pesos per reingreso!).
  • they will finalize your file, stamp some documents, and if you qualify for a temporary cedula, they will give you a slip to be used to obtain your Certificado de Llegada. If you requested the permiso de reingreso, they will then give you a slip for this too.
  • take those slips to the main/central desk in the same hall and ask for a number. (if there is a long line at the central desk, you can try cutting to the front of the line and waving your slips at the attendant. unlike the other types of processing, they don't need to check any documents--they just need to give you a number.)
  • when your number is called in the left-hand area of the hall, they will ask to see the above-mentioned slips and your passports. they will generate the official immigration forms, stamp your slips, and ask you to take them to the caja. at the caja, you will pay UYU 97 for each Certificado de Llegada and UYU 392 for each Permiso de Reingreso (both prices as of 2010-04). they will take your slips, stamp them, and then direct you to a desk in the back of the hall where you wait for your name to be called.
  • once your name is called, they will give you your official documents for Permiso de Reingreso or your Certificado de Llegada.
  • your residency process has been officially started! make sure to store the permiso de reingreso with your passport and take it with you if you leave the country.
  • the certificado de llegada can be used to obtain a cedula provisoria as described in the next section.

[edit] Interpol

• • Address: Maldonado 1109 esq. Paraguay (note new address!)
  • police check required for all adults
  • must call them first between 9 and noon at 2900-5921 or 2903-1007 to make an appointment.
  • before going, must have passport and money order for processing fee. It's best to get the money order at least the day before your appointment.
  • US$18 fee per record for requesting police check from the US, and must be presented as a US$ bank draft payable to the US Treasury. go to a casa de cambio to get a "cheque internacional", although note that not all casas de cambio provide this service. (Cambio Gales at 21 de Setiembre esq. Ellauri will do this for you., for example. The casas de cambio will charge you US$8 for issuing an international check)
  • at time of your appointment, be on time. Bring your passport and your check, and make sure that you know your social security number.
  • takes two months to run check and get records returned
  • they will take your prints and package them up for you in an envelope
  • it is then up to you to send the closed envelope to the FBI (at the address provided by migraciones). best secured bet for this is probably FedEx (on Juncal esq. Plaza Independencia) which will cost US$40 or so for 2-day service
  • the FBI will process the request and return it directly to Interpol.
  • make careful note of the day that you visited Interpol to have your prints taken. if you need to call them to check on the status of your application, you will need your application date as well as your name.
  • we have heard an unsubstantiated rumor that the Interpol check can be sped up if you have your fingerprints sent to the US via diplomatic courier, rather than by a common carrier/courier. This is (supposedly) possible through the MREE.

[edit] Authentication of Documents in Uruguay

• Once your documents have been stamped by the consulate in their country of origin, they also need to be legalized in Uruguay at the Ministry of Foreign Relations (MRREE) in Montevideo at Cuareim 1384 esq. Colonia, 2908-9142 or 2903-2065. Hours for processing are Monday through Friday from 10:00 am to 2:30 pm.

• Once you enter, you'll need to take a ticket from the wall and wait for your number to be called. When you get called, you'll need to provide your address and phone number when you supply the documents to be processed. Once they've been accepted, you go to the back of the office to pay at the caja, and then wait for your name to be called at the front desk when your documents are ready.

• The per-document processing fee is UYU 150 (as of 2010-02). I notice that the price listed in the MREE website currently lists UYU 190 per document, so the information on their website is incorrect in at least this case and it should be treated with a grain of salt.

• If you have a small child, it is to your benefit to bring him/her with you (or borrow one!) when you go to the MRREE. When showing up with a child in a backpack carrier, the security guard quickly whisked me to the front of the line and I did not have to wait at all.

• See also the TotalUruguay guide for suggestions on the best order for legalizing documents.

[edit] Translators

• As of 2010-03, the prices quoted by translators for translating documents ranged from UYU 438 to UYU 688 per document. These prices include the professional stamp (timbre) which is required for official translations to be presented to immigration. Some translators charge a flat rate, while others may apply different charges based on the type of document (or they may wish to see the originals first), so be sure to shop around. The prices quoted above represent the range of prices quoted between the worst and best cases.

[edit] Civil Registry for Birth/Marriage Certificates

Note that the total process for processing your birth/marriage certificates can take 13 WORKING DAYS (almost three calendar weeks, or even more if there are holidays). Keep this timing in mind when you submit your documents. Although you can have your residency appointment with DNM before this civil registry piece is complete, you can speed the process if this civil registry piece is finished before you go to DNM.

Effective 1/1/2011, the DNM will only accept official marriage certificates from the Civil Registry, and they will no longer accept libretas de matrimonio. If you follow the procedure below, you should be fine. It's unclear if you need the official marriage certificate to even start your residency process with Migraciones, or if you can still supply one of the intermediate documents (such as the receipt from the civil registry) to get your residency going.

• You will need to file your birth and marriage certificates (as appropriate) in the Civil Registry (El General Registro Civil Uruguayo). This is located at Uruguay 933 (esq. Río Branco).
• The current fee for each certificate ("partida") is UYU 326 (as of 2010-03).
• Once you file your certificates there, it will take ten working days for them to process the data and be able to generate official certificates for you. Note that to begin your residency application, immigration will require either the original documents or the "testimony of their inscription in the Civil Registry". It is unclear as to what happens if your residency appointment is during the 10-day period between when you submit your documents to the Civil Registry and when they are able to produce a certified copy.

• To begin the process, you need to take your documents (already certified by your home consulate, legalized at the MREE, and translated by a public translator) and MAKE A PHOTOCOPY of each one. You need to bring the photocopy with you to the registry.
• When you arrive at the Civil Registry, go to the very back of the hall (and around to the right) to the counter labeled Reguladora de Tramites. Take a number and wait for your name to be called. They will staple some forms to your documents (one to the original and one to the photocopy), and ask you to fill them out.
• Next, you'll need to go to the caja (closer to the front of the office). They will be calling numbers, but the numbering system seems to be dedicated to people who are requesting copies of their own certificates, and there is seemingly no way to get a number. I was able to motion to the cashier and eventually get her attention.
• Once you've paid at the caja, you need to take the receipts and originals back to the Reguladora de Tramites section and take another number. When you are called, they will take your documents, carefully review the originals to ensure that they confirm to specifications. If all is well, they will give you your receipt (which will be stapled to the photocopies that are returned to you) which includes your expediente (file) number, and inform you that you can come back in 10 working days to get the details of your document's filing in the registry.
• After the 10 working days have elapsed, go to the back of the hall, where you will find the Reguladora de Tramites. Take a ticket from there, and while you're at it, take a ticket from the neighboring desk (ficheros). Go up to whichever desk calls you first, and present them with the card that they stapled to your original documents. They will look them up in the computer and write the año/libro/acta (file number) on your card.
• Next, go back to the main part of the hall and pick up four blue forms (partida requests for extranjero documents). Fill in one form for each document. Next, get in line at either Tramite Comun or Tramite Urgente, depending on how quickly you need the documents. For Urgente, they will produce the documents while you wait, whereas Tramite Común has a 2-business-day wait and you have to come back. The Común fee is UYU 35 per document, whereas Urgente is approximately UYU 150.
• After you submit your request forms and get a stamped card with file numbers, take that card to the caja and pay for the documents. If you selected Común, the card should tell you when to come back to pick up the documents. For Común processing, you can do your pick-up between 9:15 am and 5:00 pm on the date stamped on your card.
• Once the appointed day/time has arrived (or once you've been called for Urgente processing), go up one flight of stairs in the little staircase in the middle of the hall, and proceed to the Sección Notarial / Registro de Extranjeros. Present your stamped card (with stapled receipts from the caja) at the window. They will go find your partidas and present them to you.
• After you receive your partidas upstairs, you MUST go back downstairs to the main "Entregas" counter and present the partidas to the clerks working there. They will take the partidas and finally sign the back of the form, which is required for the documents to be legal.
• You are done! You now have an official Uruguayan version of your documents.

[edit] Fotos Carné

• Most of the general camera/photo stores should be able to take your pictures to produce photographs. A number of kioscos and/or locutorios also provide this service.
  • For example, we used AGFAPhoto at José Ellauri 500 (2710-4183). The cost of UYU 80 each for a pack of 6 photographs.

[edit] Carné de Salud

• Per DNM, you must request a special legend on the carné de salud ("apto para radicación" or "residencia legal en el pais")
• For example, the following businesses are supposedly able to generate these types of carnés de salud. You should call to see if you need to make an appointment before you go. Since you will need to fast beforehand, you probably want an early morning appointment:
  • Biotec, Avda Uruguay 1929, 2400-2969 or 2408-8171
  • Laboratorio Hygea, Ava Italia 2549, 2481-1409 or 2484-8619
  • Medilab, Br. Artigas 2180, 2480-3734, Nueva Palmira/M Garcia
  • SUAT, 21 de Setiembre 2570, 2710-3272
  • UCM, Mazzini, José 2957, 2487-3333
  • the public agency "Ministerio de Salud Pública" can also perform this service (Durazno 1242 esq. Quijano)

The following are the requirements for processing your Carné de Salud at Medilab. Requirements for other providers may vary:

1. you must fast (do not eat or drink) for four hours before the test
2. passport
3. one carné photograph (foto carné)
4. a urine sample (which must be your first of the day)
5. vaccination card showing your historical vaccination records (a tetanus vaccination within the last 10 years is mandatory in Uruguay; if you do not have vaccination records or your tetanus shot is out of date, you will be given one at your appointment)

Requirements 1-4 do not apply to children under 12. Note also that women will be expected to undergo a pap smear.

To collect your first urine sample on the day of the test, you should go to a pharmacy the day before and buy a "frasco esteril" (sterile jar). It may be helpful to request an early appointment since you cannot eat or drink before the test!

Notes about Medilab:

• The cost quoted by Medilab as of February 2010 was UYU 570 per person.
• Medilab can produce your Carne de Salud within one hour of your appointment (which was actually only five minutes for us), so it makes excellent one-stop shopping.
• Medilab does not actually perform the pap examination for women. They will direct you to a nearby lab (Fertilab, 402-0041, Canelones 2291 esq. Cassinoni, cost as-of-yet unknown) and attempt to issue you a temporary carne de salud until that exam is done. In this case, we were able to talk our way out of the temporary card (on the grounds that migraciones wouldn't like it) and get a full-duration carne de salud, with us only needing to promise that we would come back and provide evidence of the pap smear having been done within six months of the date of issuance of the carnés de salud. As an alternative, you may also bring proof of a prior pap examination having been performed from outside of Uruguay, no more than 3 months old, which will also be acceptable.

[edit] Applying for your Cédula Provisoria (at Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC))

Once you have received your Certificado de Llegada from migraciones, you are eligible to apply for a temporary cedula. The process for obtaining it is as follows:

• Address: Rincon 665, esquina Bartolome Mitre. Telephone: 2916-1535
• First appointment:
  • once you have obtained a Certificado de Llegada from migraciones, you can take this certificate to DNIC to obtain a temporary cedula.
  • to start the process, you need to obtain an appointment date. there are two ways to do this:
  • Method #1:
    • go to Rincon 665 and get in line at the caja (the entry at the CORNER of the building, not the middle). present a copy of your Certificado de Lleaga, along with your official Uruguay birth certificate obtained from the General Registro Civil Uruguayo (see below). they will check your documents and staple these together, along with a receipt.
    • they will let you select a date for your appointment at a cost of 0.26 adjustable units (which works out to a cost of UYU 120 as of 2010-04)
  • Method #2:
    • according to the DNIC website, you are also supposedly able to request a date online at their website. You can also apparently request this processing in your local Abitab, Redpagos or post office.
• Second appointment:
  • You need to show up with your stapled receipt/birth certificate/certificado de llegada from your previous visit to the building, as well as your passports. If your Uruguayan birth certificates do not list your country of birth (which is likely if your birth certificate was issued in the United States), you will also need to bring a photocopy of the information page of your passport. It may also be helpful to take some baby wipes to this appointment, since they will take your fingerprints here yet again.
  • The appointment with the DNIC was remarkably efficient, at least in comparison to other public offices in the country. They have a number of desks where different people will be working on various parts of your application simultaneously.
  • Go to the same building, but this time, enter by the door in the middle of the building, where you will find a small waiting room with a bunch of chairs and a television monitor. When your appointment time is shown on the display, they will usher you into the other room, and someone at the front desk will check your documents and put them in a colorful file folder. (If you have small children with you, you can generally can skip the line and proceed to the front of the queue to get to this desk.)
  • After this processing, take a seat and wait for your name to be displayed on the overhead monitors. The system will helpfully chime in with a Windows 95-esque error sound every time a new name is called. (People who are there to renew their cedulas will have their number displayed on the pager screen, but since you do not already have a cedula, your name will be displayed instead. When your name is displayed, go to the appropriate desk.
  • All of the first-time applicants are processed at windows 5A and 5B. They do not have a concept of "families" here, so if you are processing multiple new cedulas at the same time, you may find your names being called simultaneously at both 5A and 5B.
  • They will take your documents and ask you some basic questions (where do you live, occupation, phone number) and take your photograph.
  • They will also ask you if you want to have two last names (your mother maiden name and your father's last name, Uruguayo style) on your cedula, or if you just want to have one (Western style). The option is yours, but the ramifications of the choice is currently unclear. We opted to have both names, just to be on the safe side.
  • A subset of your fingerprints will be taken three times: once by the person at windows 5 as you are being processed, and twice by a worker in one of the middle desks.
  • When all is said and done, the workers in window 5 will print out a copy of your information, give it to you for your review, and ask you to sign it.
  • After this, they will direct you to wait on the other side of the hall for your name to be called. For minors, your cedula will be printed and presented to you immediately. When they call an adult, they will give your original ticket/receipt back to you, which you need to use on your next visit to obtain your cedula. Adults need to wait one week (5 working days) before they can come back and pick up their completed cedulas.
  • To pick up your completed cedula after one week, go back to the same building and enter the smaller waiting room with all of the chairs. Instead of waiting for your time to be called on the monitor, instead go to the "Informes" desk that is right by the entrance and provide the ticket that was returned to you at the end of your last visit. They will look through a box of completed cedulas and provide yours to you.

[edit] Other notes

• • Note that the "passive income" requirement is apparently US$500/month for residents, which (according to one person at migraciones in Feb 2010) is apparently per-family and not per person. However, an escribano I spoke with had a differing opinion and he seemed to think that it needed to be US$500 per adult. It's best to double-check these figures once you get close to applying for residency.