We Introduce Marcela Ponce Menendez

We want to introduce you to our latest "find" here in Uruguay.

She is Marcela Ponce Menendez.

Marcela is experienced in obtaining legal residency for newcomers arriving in Uruguay. She can tell you what steps you need to take, help you with your medical exam, and guide you successfully through the process. She speaks both English and Spanish with proficiency.

She also offers another service that we consider helpful to newcomers with limited or non-existent Spanish-speaking skills. Often, along with being linguistically challenged, new residents are handicapped in negotiations because we don't understand the culture and how things work here. Add to this the fact that locals are often blinded by imaginary dollar signs when they hear an English accent and may attempt to adjust the prices accordingly.

That's why it can help to have a local translate and even negotiate for you when it comes to renting or even buying here or handling other business matters. We can recommend Marcela.

A native-born Argentine, she has lived in Uruguay for the past 20 years. She is a graduate of Enterprise Argentina University in Buenos Aires and her fees are very reasonable.

She will also teach you to speak Spanish, once you are here, having taught professionally in private schools.

You can contact her at marceponce099@hotmail.com.
Her office phone is 037-28902 and her cell phone is 095-317676
If calling from the US you will need to dial
011-00598-37-28902(line phone) 011-00598-95-317676 (cell phone)
Or she can be contacted on Skype at marceponce099.

© Arlean Kelley 11/21/2009 All rights reserved.

As with all of our contributions, we always appreciate your feedback. Please post your comments if our information has been helpful or if you have corrections or further information or experience to add.

How to Qualify for Residency or Citizenship in Uruguay

Some of the first questions we all ask are:

Must I be a legal resident before I can buy real estate?

How can I live in the country legally?

Are my property rights protected there?


You don´t need legal residency to buy real estate in Uruguay. You can just cross the border into Uruguay and buy real estate. The Uruguay government claims to protect the rights of Uruguay citizens and foreigners equally the same.

There are two ways that you can live in Uruguay without getting on the wrong side of the Uruguay immigration laws.

1. Take a bus, the hydrofoil, or the ferry across the river to Argentina every 90 days. Go shopping. Go out to dinner. Go to the opera. As you cross the border back into Uruguay, you automatically renew your tourist visa.

Or, if you choose to live on the Atlantic coast of Uruguay, and you are a U.S. citizen, get a visa for Brazil and take a mini-vacaton there every three months. Many non-U.S. citizens do not need a visa to enter Brazil from Uruguay, but U. S. citizens must obtain a visa to enter Brazil.

When I lived in Bariloche, Argentina, in the Andes near the border with Chile, I crossed a mountain pass into Chile every three months. In winter it was not unusual for the pass to have snow and ice. In Uruguay you don´t even have snow and ice to contend with.

But why even do that if you don´t have to? If you have $500 a month retirement or from another source, or you can find a job or a way to work in Uruguay, you´re in. Well, almost. You just need to jump through a few hoops.

You must provide documents to immigration as follows:

1. Your birth certificate

2. Your marriage certificate. If you are divorced or your spouse has died, just to be on the safe side, bring a copy of your divorce decree or the spouse's death certificate. This is just an overview. If you do decide to obtain legal residence, I suggest you check with an immigration attorney regarding your own circumstances.

3. Police record from your home country as well as anywhere else you have lived in the last five years. (For U.S. citizens, this is obtained at the Interpol office in Uruguay.)

4. Documented proof that you meet the income requirements. At present that requirement is $500 per month. This income can come from a pension, retirement fund, rental property either in Uruguay or elsewhere, income from a company you own, or a job contract in Uruguay. Really almost any income, if sufficient, will qualify you for residence.

These documents must be obtained before leaving your home country. They must be legalized at the Uruguay Consulate in your home country and legalized in Uruguay at the Foreign Ministry.

You must also provide a certified translation of all documents into spanish language.

My own immigration attorney suggests gathering the documents, having them authenticated, then sending them to him just to be sure everything is in order before leaving for Uruguay.

You then enter Uruguay as a tourist and present your papers to immigration. Once you have submitted the papers, and before you are approved, you are allowed to ship personal and household items into the country duty free. You do not have to wait until official approval. However, there is a process of posting the duty amount for the incoming goods just in case you do not follow through with your residency. But once you do, the deposited amount is returned to you.

It can take 8 months to a year and a half for temporary residency. It may well depend on whether you do it yourself, use an attorney or representative, and even what representative you use and the connections that person has with immigration. As you probably know, much of what happens in Latin America depends upon who you know.

There are also some medical requirements. Women are required to have a mammogram and all applicants must have a tetanus shot. I have no idea why tetanus. Living in Uruguay is not that much different from any other developed country--I am only reporting the current requirements.

After one year as a temporary resident, you may apply for permanent residence. In three to five years, you may apply for citizenship and a second passport.

Although I prefer to work with a knowledgeable attorney or representative, a number of expats here successfully obtained their residency without an attorney.

If anyone has had a different experience from what is reported here, your input is appreciated. As we all know, things change often in Latin America and your input could be important to someone just now taking this step.
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© Arlean Kelley 03/11/2009 All rights reserved.

Please feel free to send any questions. We will answer in the blog or write or call you directly. If you click on the "comments" below you can write comments for all to see, or just send us an email. Article contributions from other expats living in Latin America are encouraged. They are, of course, subject to editing. If you would like to subscribe to this blog, email us at newsfromlatinamerica@yahoo.com and we will add you to our mailing list. Likewise send us an email if you want to be removed from the list. We look forward to meeting you personally--in Latin America!