Crime doesn't pay

You can certainly move to Uruguay. Whether you will be able to get permanent residence is another issue. However, I know of people who don't leave often who have lived here for years, even started a business without getting a cédula (permanent residence). There's a fine of a few hundred pesos to pay for overstaying your visa when you do leave.

Your tourist visa is good for 90 days, at which point you can get it extended for 90 more. After that, you can leave the country and get another tourist visa when you return. In Fray Bentos or Paysandú, this can be as simple as checking out of Uruguay and into Argentina on the UY side of the bridge, then walking around to the other side of the building and checking out of Argentina and back into Uruguay with a new 90-day visa.

This assumes of course that you travel on a passport that allows you a 90-day tourist visa automatically.

Thank you very much! I hear it is about the same in Thailand. Can i buy land if I am a nonresident?

We bought two houses here before we had our permanent residency.

What about DUI ? As far as I know it is 50-50 percent chance to get the permanent residency.
I wonder if I can reapply after a denial, ?

I will be eligible for pardon in 2 years.

Kris5565 wrote:

What about DUI ? As far as I know it is 50-50 percent chance to get the permanent residency.
I wonder if I can reapply after a denial, ?

Again, it depends on your plans, and why you want permanent residency.

• Is permanent residency required for citizenship? Good question; my guess is no.

• How often do you plan to leave Uruguay? If you do the "my Canadian health care is sacred" thing, or want to travel (even to Buenos Aires, close by) so as to avoid staying in country more than 180 contiguous days, then you can spend your time here on a tourist visa. If you don't plan to travel at all, then just overstay your visa, and if you need to leave you pay a small fine.

Meanwhile, while your residency is "en tramite" (1-4 years), every time you leave you need to have permission to return ("Permiso de reingreso"), getting which can be from painless to total pain in the ass, depending on your resourcefulness.

Lack of residency here is not the big deal it is in North America (including Mexico). However, it would make opening a bank account and getting a local driver's license problematic (the latter not an issue if you can renew in Canada without appearing in person, or if you plan to return to renew in person).