Visa
Digital nomad visa in Uruguay
Uruguay's digital nomad permit is a provisional identity card for people working remotely for an entity abroad. It lasts 180 days and can be renewed once for 180 more. The first application asks for a sworn statement and no income figure; the fee is 55.71 UI.
- Official names
- Hoja de identidad provisoria (digital nomad variant); Provisional identity card for remote work (Decree 238/022)
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), IMPO. Checked 16 October 2026.
Who it’s for
- DNM says the provisional identity card is for people living and working in Uruguay for a limited time, and that it also applies to digital nomads.
- Decree 238/022 reworded article 8 of Decree 394/009 so that remote work from Uruguay for entities established abroad is covered, "in equal conditions" to the ordinary provisional card.
- Whether a freelancer with several clients qualifies is not known from the pages we read: the decree speaks of activity for entities established abroad, and DNM's page does not say. A private adviser (not official, undated) describes a sworn statement of means. Confirm with DNM.
- It is not for people who will work for an employer in Uruguay: DNM's temporary residence page asks workers for a letter from the employer stating the activity, the term and the monthly pay.
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), IMPO. Checked 16 October 2026.
Money tests
- Decree 238/022 requires no social security registration and sets no income minimum, and DNM's page prints no income figure for the nomad card.
- The first application asks for a sworn statement and a copy of an identity document; it lists no bank balance, savings amount or proof of earnings.
- DNM's residence hub says fees may be waived for insufficient resources; it does not say whether that covers the provisional identity card.
Sources: IMPO, Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM). Checked 16 October 2026.
Documents
- The first application asks for a photocopy of the identity document you entered, or will enter, Uruguay with, and a sworn statement whose signature matches that document and is handwritten.
- The ordinary (non-nomad) card also asks for a letter on the institution's letterhead with a notarial certificate valid for 180 days, stating the activity and its end date; the nomad variant lists no such letter.
- The renewal asks for a valid Uruguayan identity document, a sworn statement, a criminal record certificate and a vaccination scheme.
- The criminal record must be national in scope: state or provincial certificates are not accepted. It must be legalised or apostilled and translated, and cover each country where you lived for at least 6 months in the last 5 years; a consulate letter confirming no record is also accepted.
- The vaccination certificate must be issued by a vaccination centre in Uruguay under Decree 136/2018.
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM). Checked 16 October 2026.
Timing
- You can start online through DNM's "Iniciar Trámite en Línea" link with a gub.uy user or another electronic identification; after approval you get an email to go to the Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil to have the card issued.
- In person, apply at the Departamento de Residencias Temporarias, Mercedes 1004, Montevideo, Monday to Friday 09:00 to 15:00, or at a DNM inspectorate in the interior (Artigas, Melo, Maldonado, Paysandú and Rivera are listed).
- DNM's page states no processing time, so the wait is unknown.
- The fee cannot be paid from abroad, so the application is made after you arrive. As a non-resident visitor you get 90 days, renewable for 90 more, under Decree 394/009 (article 13).
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), IMPO. Checked 16 October 2026.
Fees
- The fee is 55.71 UI, about UYU 371 or US$9 at the UI value of UYU 6.6653 on 15 October 2026 and the central bank rate of UYU 40.236 per US dollar on 14 October 2026.
- DNM states no other fee for the card. The fee is set in UI, so its peso amount moves with the UI value that INE publishes for each month.
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE), Banco Central del Uruguay (BCU). Checked 16 October 2026.
How long it lasts and renewal
- The card covers 180 days and can be renewed once for 180 more, so 360 days at most (Decree 238/022).
- DNM's page does not state a validity period for the card itself; the 180 days come from the decree and from DNM's types page.
- After the renewal, the person may apply for the categories in articles 4 and 7 of Decree 394/009 as reworded.
Sources: IMPO, Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM). Checked 16 October 2026.
Path to permanent residence
- The card is not a step towards permanent residence by itself. DNM says a person who meets the requirements can request permanent residence directly, without holding temporary residence first.
- For permanent residence, an employee of a foreign company gives a notarial certificate of the link with the company, that it has no Uruguayan subsidiary, the income, and how the work is done from Uruguay.
- Whether time on the card counts towards the years of habitual residence for legal citizenship (three with family in Uruguay, five without) is not stated on the pages we read, so it is unknown.
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Uruguayan government procedures catalogue (gub.uy). Checked 16 October 2026.
Tax
- You are a Uruguayan tax resident if you spend more than 183 days in the calendar year there, or if the main base of your activities or economic or vital interests is there.
- DGI counts every day you are present, leaves out transit days, and counts absences of up to 30 calendar days as days in Uruguay unless you prove tax residence elsewhere with a certificate.
- A card renewed once can add up to 360 days, so a stay can pass 183 days within one calendar year.
- Residents are taxed on income from activities carried out in Uruguay and on capital income and gains from non-resident entities; we found no DGI ruling on pay for work done in Uruguay for a foreign employer, so how it is treated is unknown.
- New tax residents from 1 January 2026 can opt under article 24-bis to pay the non-resident tax on foreign capital income and gains for the year they become resident and the ten years after; it does not cover salary or freelance fees.
Sources: IMPO, Dirección General Impositiva (DGI), Uruguay XXI (investment promotion agency of the Government of Uruguay). Checked 15 October 2026.
Your passport
If you hold a US, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand passport
What differs for each passport, from the same sources. A line that says there is no difference means the sources we read name none.
United States passport
- Ordinary US passports are listed as needing no visa to enter, and the State Department says no visa is needed for stays under 90 days.
- The US taxes citizens on worldwide income wherever they live: the 2026 foreign earned income exclusion is up to $132,900, and an FBAR is due for foreign accounts above $10,000 together.
- For the renewal's criminal record, DNM's residence pages say a person born in the United States can have fingerprints taken at Interpol in Montevideo so that it requests the FBI certificate; ask DNM whether the card's renewal accepts the same route.
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), US Department of State, Internal Revenue Service, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Checked 16 October 2026.
Canada passport
- Ordinary Canadian passports need no visa to enter; Canada's travel advice says no tourist visa is needed for stays up to 90 days and that longer visitor stays are extended with the migration authorities in Uruguay.
- For the renewal's criminal record, the RCMP's certified check is a fingerprint-based national check taken at a local police service or an RCMP-accredited fingerprinting company; DNM does not name the Canadian document, so ask it to confirm.
- Canada has been party to the Apostille Convention since 11 January 2024, and Global Affairs Canada authenticates federal documents at no charge.
- Canada treats you as resident for tax while you keep significant ties there.
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Uruguay (MRREE), Government of Canada (travel.gc.ca), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Global Affairs Canada, Canada Revenue Agency. Checked 16 October 2026.
Australia passport
- Ordinary Australian passports need no visa to enter, and Smartraveller says Australians can enter for up to 90 days without one.
- The Australian Federal Police issue a National Police Check for A$57 online or A$114 with fingerprints, and DFAT puts an apostille on it for A$105 a document.
- Australia treats you as resident for tax if you go overseas temporarily and set up no permanent home elsewhere.
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Smartraveller), Australian Federal Police (AFP), DFAT (Smartraveller), Australian Taxation Office. Checked 15 October 2026.
New Zealand passport
- Ordinary New Zealand passports are listed as needing no visa to enter.
- For the renewal's criminal record, request a Criminal Record Check from the Ministry of Justice (New Zealand Police vetting sends its result straight to the visa authority); the Department of Internal Affairs charges NZ$37 per apostille certificate.
- New Zealand stops treating you as tax resident only with no permanent place of abode there and more than 325 days away in 12 months.
Sources: Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministry of Justice (New Zealand), New Zealand Police, New Zealand Government (govt.nz), Inland Revenue (New Zealand). Checked 15 October 2026.
Other visas
Other visas in Uruguay.
The country
More on Uruguay.
Questions about Digital nomad visa in Uruguay.
How long does Uruguay's digital nomad identity card last?
180 days, renewable once for another 180, so 360 days at most under Decree 238/022. The decree covers remote work from Uruguay for entities established abroad. DNM's page states no validity period for the card itself, so check the date on yours.
Does Uruguay's digital nomad permit have an income requirement?
No figure is stated. Decree 238/022 sets no income minimum, and DNM's page asks for a copy of the identity document you entered with and a sworn statement. A private adviser also describes a sworn statement with no minimum. Confirm with DNM.
What does Uruguay's digital nomad permit cost, and can you pay from abroad?
The fee is 55.71 UI, about UYU 371 (US$9) at the UI value of UYU 6.6653 on 15 October 2026. DNM says the procedure cannot be paid from abroad, so the application is made once you are in Uruguay.
What does Uruguay's digital nomad permit ask for at renewal?
A valid Uruguayan identity document, a sworn statement, a national-level criminal record from each country where you lived for 6 months or more in the last 5 years (apostilled and translated), and a vaccination certificate issued in Uruguay.
Do you become a Uruguayan tax resident on the digital nomad permit?
You can. Residence starts after more than 183 days in a calendar year, or if your main base of interests is there, and a card renewed once can pass 183 days. How pay from a foreign employer is taxed is unknown; ask a Uruguayan accountant.
Sources
Official sources we used.
Government and official pages only, each with the date we checked it.
- Régimen de visas de admisión (list of countries and passports), Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio del Interior. Checked 15 October 2026. Official list read on 15 October 2026: United States, ordinary passport, "No necesita Visa". The page does not give the length of stay. The Atlas Visa Map recorded the same visa-free status and a 90-day maximum stay (verified 27 May 2026) against the DNM home page.
- Uruguay: international travel information (country page and travel advisory), US Department of State (Internet Archive copy). Checked 15 October 2026.
- US citizens and residents abroad: filing requirements, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 15 October 2026.
- Figuring the foreign earned income exclusion, Internal Revenue Service. Checked 15 October 2026.
- Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Checked 15 October 2026.
- Residencia legal: permanent residence (requirements, costs, how to apply), Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio del Interior. Checked 16 October 2026. Read on 16 October 2026: general documents and means of support by category, 557.30 UI, 55.70 UI and 225.60 UI, online and in-person application. The page states no processing time.
- Régimen de visas de admisión (list of countries and passports), Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio del Interior. Checked 15 October 2026. Official list read on 15 October 2026: Canada, ordinary passport, "No necesita Visa" (diplomatic and service passports are marked as needing a visa). The page does not give the length of stay. The Atlas Visa Map (refreshed 13 May 2026) recorded Canadian passports as visa-free with a 90-day maximum stay (verified 27 May 2026) against the DNM home page.
- Visas for entry into Uruguay (Embassy of Uruguay in Canada), Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Uruguay (MRREE). Checked 15 October 2026. Official page read on 15 October 2026: holders of ordinary Canadian passports do not need a visa to enter Uruguay; holders of Canadian diplomatic and service passports, and of a Canadian refugee travel document, do.
- Uruguay travel advice and advisories, Government of Canada (travel.gc.ca). Checked 15 October 2026.
- Criminal record checks: where to go, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Checked 15 October 2026. Certified (fingerprint-based) criminal record checks, through a local police service or an RCMP-accredited fingerprinting company in Canada, or from outside Canada with a paper copy of your fingerprints; date modified 6 August 2024.
- Hoja de identidad provisoria, including the digital nomad variant, Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio del Interior. Checked 16 October 2026. Read on 16 October 2026: documents for the first application and the renewal of the digital nomad variant, fee of 55.71 UI which "cannot be paid from abroad", where and how to apply. The page states no processing time and no validity period for the sheet.
- Authentication of documents: frequently asked questions, Global Affairs Canada. Checked 15 October 2026. Date modified 26 August 2026: the Apostille Convention took effect in Canada on 11 January 2024; no fee is charged for authentication.
- Authentication of documents: requirements, Global Affairs Canada. Checked 15 October 2026. Date modified 26 August 2026: Global Affairs Canada authenticates documents issued by the Government of Canada; some provinces apostille their own documents.
- Determining your residency status, Canada Revenue Agency. Checked 15 October 2026.
- Régimen de visas de admisión (list of countries and passports), Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio del Interior. Checked 15 October 2026. Official list read on 15 October 2026: Australia, ordinary passport, "No necesita Visa" (diplomatic and service passports need one). The page does not give the length of stay; Smartraveller (V12) says up to 90 days. The Atlas Visa Map (refreshed 13 May 2026) recorded visa-free status and a 90-day maximum stay (verified 27 May 2026) against the DNM home page.
- Uruguay travel advice and advisories (Internet Archive copy), Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Smartraveller), Internet Archive copy. Checked 15 October 2026.
- Apply for a National Police Certificate, Australian Federal Police (AFP). Checked 15 October 2026. Read on 15 October 2026 (the older address afp.gov.au/what-we-do/national-police-checks leads here). A$57 online (digital certificate, most arrive within a few days); A$114 with fingerprints, which go by post and take 15 to 30 business days; a hard copy can be requested.
- Notarial services and fees (fee schedule from 1 January 2026), Australian Government, DFAT (Smartraveller), Internet Archive copy. Checked 15 October 2026. Internet Archive capture of 7 October 2026 (page updated 30 September 2026), read on 15 October 2026: apostille A$105 per document; payment in Australia by card only.
- Documents we can legalise, Australian Government, DFAT (Smartraveller), Internet Archive copy. Checked 15 October 2026. Internet Archive capture of 7 June 2026 (updated 4 March 2026), read on 15 October 2026: DFAT can legalise National Police Checks and birth certificates; a limited range of electronic official documents is accepted and assessed when lodged; scanned copies are not accepted.
- Australian resident for tax purposes, Australian Taxation Office (Internet Archive copy). Checked 15 October 2026.
- Régimen de visas de admisión (list of countries and passports), Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio del Interior. Checked 15 October 2026. Official list (page dated 19 August 2025) read on 15 October 2026: New Zealand, ordinary passport, "No necesita Visa". The page does not give the length of stay. The Atlas Visa Map recorded New Zealand as visa-free with a 90-day maximum stay (verified 27 May 2026) against the DNM home page, which does not itself print the 90 days; Decree 394/009 (V4) does, for the visitor categories.
- Criminal records: request your own Criminal Record Check, Ministry of Justice (New Zealand). Checked 15 October 2026. No update date shown. Online request; the Ministry aims to respond within 20 working days and says about 90% are answered in under a week. The page gives no cost and does not mention apostilles.
- Vetting process for visas, New Zealand Police. Checked 15 October 2026. No update date shown. Police vetting for a visa sends the result directly to the visa authority, not to you; if you must supply the result yourself you request a Criminal Record Check from the Ministry of Justice. Police can pass a result to the DIA Authentication Unit for an apostille, which you pay DIA for.
- Getting an apostille in New Zealand: fees and timing, New Zealand Government (govt.nz), Department of Internal Affairs Authentication Unit. Checked 15 October 2026. Page last updated 15 September 2026: NZ$37 per certificate, 15 working days, urgent service NZ$120 extra and 5 working days, form BDM460, a New Zealand notary public where notarisation is needed; courier is extra. It does not say whether a criminal record check from the Ministry of Justice can be apostilled.
- Tax residency status for individuals, Inland Revenue (New Zealand). Checked 15 October 2026.
- Decree 238/022: change to article 8 of Decree 394/009 for remote work, IMPO, the official legislation database of Uruguay. Checked 15 October 2026.
- Types of residencies in Uruguay (English), Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio del Interior. Checked 16 October 2026. Read on 16 October 2026: lists temporary, permanent, Mercosur, family-of-Uruguayans and provisional identity card routes. It gives no money amounts and does not mention investor residence.
- Decree 394/009 (regulation to the Migration Law 18,250), articles 8 and 13, as updated, IMPO, the official legislation database of Uruguay. Checked 15 October 2026.
- Residencia legal: temporary residence (requirements, costs, how to apply), Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio del Interior. Checked 16 October 2026. Read on 16 October 2026 (page updated 12 March 2026): temporary residence for workers, students and religious workers; minimum 6 months, maximum 2 years, renewable; 557.30 UI, 55.70 UI and 225.60 UI. The page states no processing time.
- Residencias en Uruguay (DNM hub page), Dirección Nacional de Migración (DNM), Ministerio del Interior. Checked 16 October 2026. Read on 16 October 2026: fees may be waived for Brazilian and Paraguayan nationals and for insufficient resources; the Residencias por Arraigo programme stopped receiving applications in November 2025.
- Unidad Indexada (UI) values, 6 October to 5 November 2026, Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE). Checked 15 October 2026. UYU 6.6653 per UI on 15 October 2026.
- Interbank US dollar rate, 14 October 2026, Banco Central del Uruguay (BCU). Checked 15 October 2026. UYU 40.236 per US dollar on 14 October 2026.
- Carta de ciudadanía (ciudadanía legal uruguaya), Uruguayan government procedures catalogue (gub.uy), citizenship procedure. Checked 16 October 2026. Read on 16 October 2026 (page updated 27 May 2026): three years of habitual residence with family constituted in Uruguay, five without; age 18; absences over six consecutive months restart the count; no cost.
- Title 7 (IRPF), article 2: who is resident, IMPO, the official legislation database of Uruguay (Texto Ordenado 2023). Checked 15 October 2026.
- Information on residency for tax purposes: Uruguay, Dirección General Impositiva (DGI), as published by the OECD. Checked 15 October 2026.
- Title 7 (IRPF), article 6: what is taxed, IMPO, the official legislation database of Uruguay (Texto Ordenado 2023). Checked 15 October 2026.
- Investor's guide: the Uruguayan tax system, Uruguay XXI (investment promotion agency of the Government of Uruguay). Checked 15 October 2026.
- Title 7 (IRPF), article 24-bis: new-resident option for capital income (from 2026), IMPO, the official legislation database of Uruguay (Texto Ordenado 2023). Checked 15 October 2026.
- Title 7 (IRPF), article 24: the earlier new-resident regime, IMPO, the official legislation database of Uruguay (Texto Ordenado 2023). Checked 15 October 2026.
- Law 20,446 (2025-2029 Budget Law), including article 3 (in force) and articles 190 to 192, IMPO, the official legislation database of Uruguay. Checked 15 October 2026.