Moving to Uruguay from Canada

More than UYU 26,000 a month: For temporary residence as a worker, DNM asks for a letter stating your monthly pay, which must be at least one national minimum wage. From 1 July 2026 the minimum wage is a set monthly amount (Decree 319/025). To be safe, have more than UYU 26,000 a month. For permanent residence DNM asks for a monthly income "sufficient for support", shown by a notary's or accountant's certificate, and prints no figure. The provisional identity card for remote workers asks for no income figure at all, only a sworn statement. The minimum wage is reset by decree, so check the figure for your filing date.

Law 19,254, which is sometimes cited as a consular route, covers permanent residence for relatives of Mercosur nationals and does not apply to you. Uruguay's embassy and consulates in Canada (Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, and an honorary consul in Vancouver) cannot arrange residence or work permits, so the file is made with DNM in Uruguay. For temporary residence as a worker, DNM asks for a letter on letterhead from the employer stating the activity, the term and a monthly pay of at least one national minimum wage, a set monthly amount from 1 July 2026 (to be safe, have more than UYU 26,000 a month), with a notary's certificate or a social security work history. For permanent residence, DNM asks for a monthly nominal income "sufficient for support" and gives no number. An employee of a foreign company shows it with a notary's certificate of the link with the company, that it has no branch in Uruguay, the amount paid, how it is paid and how the work is done from Uruguay. A self-employed person gives a notary's or accountant's certificate of income, and a person living on investment income or a pension gives a notary's certificate of the monthly amount and how it reaches Uruguay. Either file costs 557.30 UI, about UYU 3,715 or CA$132 at the 15 October UI value, plus 55.70 UI (about UYU 371 or CA$13) for the migration certificate for the ID card. If your application is pending, each trip out of the country needs a re-entry permit of 225.60 UI, about UYU 1,504 or CA$53. For an activity of less than 180 days DNM points you to the provisional card instead.

DNM does not name the Canadian document. The RCMP's certified criminal record check is a fingerprint-based national check, taken at a local police service or an RCMP-accredited fingerprinting company, so ask DNM to confirm it accepts that one. Canada has been party to the Apostille Convention since 11 January 2024: Global Affairs Canada authenticates documents issued by the Government of Canada at no charge (on 15 October it was processing requests received 25 business days earlier, plus 5 to 10 business days of mailing), and some provinces apostille their own documents. You also need a Uruguayan health card and a vaccination certificate issued by providers in Uruguay, a passport photograph on the day of the appointment, a marriage certificate under a year old if you need to show a marriage link, and an interpreter if you do not speak Spanish. Documents issued electronically that can be verified online do not need an apostille. DNM says there is no stipulated time frame for permanent residence and depends on the case. You start the file online, DNM reviews the documents, and only then opens the appointment booking and the payment; you attend the appointment in person with the original documents, one appointment for each family member, and missing documents are received in a single instance. A paid appointment you miss is not refunded. After you apply for permanent residence, DNM says a digital certificate lets you get a Uruguayan ID card showing "resident in process", valid for two years the first time. We found no processing time for temporary residence or for the provisional card, so those are unknown. Allow for the apostille: Canadian processing was about 25 business days plus mailing on 15 October 2026.

DGI counts every day you are present, leaves out days in transit, and counts absences of up to 30 calendar days as days in Uruguay unless you prove tax residence elsewhere with a certificate from that country's tax authority. A remote-worker card renewed once can add up to well over 183 days in one calendar year. Residents pay on Uruguayan-source income, which includes income from activities carried out in Uruguay, and on capital income and gains from foreign entities. Uruguay's investment agency describes the system as a source system. We found no DGI ruling on how pay for work you do in Uruguay for a foreign employer is treated, so that is unknown: ask a Uruguayan accountant before you rely on the description of Uruguay as territorial. Canada has no treaty with Uruguay to settle which country has the first claim if you are resident in both.

Capital income is taxed at 12% for most income and 7% for some, such as certain dividends. Non-residents pay the non-resident tax (IRNR) only on Uruguayan-source income, at rates from 3% to 12% according to a government agency's summary. This describes the mechanism, not your bill.

If you are resident because you were present more than 183 days, you need no investment; the other routes ask for large property or fund investments. You cannot use it if you were a Uruguayan tax resident in either of the two previous years. It does not cover your salary or freelance fees, and a separate skilled-worker programme in articles 190 to 192 is for employment contracts with companies active in Uruguay. People already using the 2020 regime keep it for its term and then have only the later options in article 24-bis. Decree 188/026 (published 19 August 2026) sets the detailed rules; we could read only a list of the articles it changes, so how to claim the option is unknown.

If you keep significant ties you are usually still a factual resident of Canada, taxed on worldwide income, and you can claim a foreign tax credit for Uruguayan tax on income you report on your Canadian return. You usually become a non-resident on the latest of leaving, your spouse or dependants leaving, or becoming resident in your new country. The deemed non-resident rule depends on a tax treaty, and there is none with Uruguay; Form NR73 asks the CRA for its opinion. If you emigrate, you are treated as having sold most property at fair market value on the day you leave; Canadian real estate, RRSPs, RRIFs, TFSAs and pensions are among the exceptions. Form T1161 applies if your property is worth more than CA$25,000, and Form T1244 lets you defer the tax until you sell, with security needed if the federal tax owing is more than CA$16,500. As a non-resident you pay Canadian tax only on Canadian-source income, and Part XIII tax on items such as dividends, rent, pensions, OAS, CPP and RRSP or RRIF payments is usually 25% unless a treaty reduces it. This describes the mechanism, not your bill.

The Canada–Uruguay social security agreement has been in force since 1 January 2002. It covers the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security and Uruguay's contributory retirement schemes, and lets you combine periods in both countries for old age, disability and survivor benefits. Its coverage rule is that an employee is subject only to the legislation of the country where they work, except an employee sent by the employer to work in the other country, who stays in the home system for up to 36 months, extendable by 24 with both countries' consent. The text has no rule for self-employed people, and whether a remote employee working from Uruguay for a Canadian employer counts as sent there is not stated, so both are unknown. The CRA says a Canadian employer must deduct CPP for an employee abroad who usually reports to its Canadian workplace or who is a Canadian resident paid from it, and that agreements can change that; forms CPT8 or CPT20 may apply. CPP is payable abroad; OAS abroad needs 20 years in Canada after age 18. The remote-worker card does not require social security registration in Uruguay.

A remote-worker card holder is not registered with social security, so plan for private cover during the card period. Your Canadian provincial plan depends on your province: Ontario can keep OHIP for up to two years away if Ontario stays your primary home, with emergency payments abroad capped (up to CA$400 a day for intensive care), while British Columbia ends MSP at the end of the month you leave Canada. We found no health-care agreement between Canada and Uruguay, so do not count on provincial cover in Uruguay. Residence files need a Uruguayan health card and a vaccination certificate from providers in Uruguay.

A person with a pending file pays a re-entry permit of 225.60 UI on each trip out of the country.