- Routes
- Citizen by descent (Law 19.362)
- Dual citizenship
- Kept on every open route
The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.
On this page›
- 01Who qualifies
- 02Dates that matter
- 03Mothers’ lines
- 04Keeping your citizenship
- 05The routes and the law
- 06The documents
- 07What it takes
- 08Where the records live
- 09Law changes
- 10Other doors
- 11Sources
01Who qualifies
Who qualifies, generation by generation
LIKELY
Can you claim Uruguayan citizenship through a parent?
Citizen by descent (Law 19.362)
Uruguayan nationality passes to children and grandchildren of Uruguayan nationals born abroad, on registration at the consulate or civil registry. Uruguay distinguishes nationality from citizenship; descendants hold nationality and register for a cédula.
LIKELY
Can you claim Uruguayan citizenship through a grandparent?
Citizen by descent (Law 19.362)
Uruguayan nationality passes to children and grandchildren of Uruguayan nationals born abroad, on registration at the consulate or civil registry. Uruguay distinguishes nationality from citizenship; descendants hold nationality and register for a cédula.
UNLIKELY
Can you claim Uruguayan citizenship through a great-grandparent?
Citizen by descent, generation by generation
Uruguayan descent stops at grandchildren of a person born in Uruguay: the law reaches the children of the Uruguay-born and their children, and no further.
What would settle itWhether your parent or grandparent was born in Uruguay; the count starts from the last person born there.
02Dates that matter
The dates that matter
- 2015
03Mothers’ lines
How mothers’ lines were treated
Uruguay’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.
04Keeping your citizenship
Dual citizenship with your home country
You keep your citizenship.
On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.
05The routes
Every route, and the law behind it
The law
- UNLIKELY
Through a great-grandparentUruguayan descent stops at grandchildren of a person born in Uruguay: the law reaches the children of the Uruguay-born and their children, and no further.
The law
What would settle an unsure case
- Whether your parent or grandparent was born in Uruguay; the count starts from the last person born there.
06The documents
The documents, as the rule lists them
Citizen by descent (Law 19.362)
Through a parent or grandparent
- Your ancestor’s Uruguayan birth certificate
- Birth and marriage records for each generation to you, apostilled and translated
- The result is a Uruguayan cédula and passport
Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.
07What it takes
What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides
Citizen by descent (Law 19.362)
- Time
- A few months at the consulate or Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil to register and receive a cédula; a passport follows once you hold it.
- Cost
- About $200–400: apostilled and translated U.S. records and the cédula fee. The registration itself is inexpensive.
- The hard part
- Uruguay separates nationality from citizenship. The paperwork proves your ancestor’s Uruguayan nationality by birth in Uruguay; the deliverable is a cédula, and a passport is a separate later step.
- Who decides
- The Uruguayan consulate for your address, or the Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil in Montevideo.
- The first record
- Your ancestor’s Uruguayan birth certificate, from The Dirección General del Registro del Estado Civil. Order the certified copy online or through the consulate with the name and approximate birthdate; a few weeks. gub.uy ↗
How it’s filed
- Where
- The Uruguayan consulate that covers the place of birth (Montreal, for example, takes births in Quebec and the Maritimes), in person after an email pre-check. unverified: the U.S. posts' jurisdiction split (Uruguay has an embassy consular section in Washington and consulates general in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and elsewhere). Washington: 1913 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20006 (embassy consular section), found via Yelp/embassypages.com, not fetched directly; confidence: secondary, verified 2026-09-25; unconfirmed this is the right post for a U.S. applicant given UY files by place of birth. The inscription can also be done in Montevideo (Inscripción de partidas extranjeras). office list ↗
- How
- In person; you appear in person
- Fee
- About $18
- Decision
- 2–9 months
What goes in the file (7)›
- The completed inscription form
- The applicant's birth certificate, apostilled (a recent issue; Madrid asks for one under 90 days old), with a Spanish translation
- Copy of the applicant's identity document
- The Uruguayan parent's birth certificate; for a grandchild, the Uruguay-born grandparent's Uruguayan birth certificate and the parent's birth certificate (apostilled and translated if foreign) to show the line
- The parents' marriage certificate, apostilled (lets one married parent attend alone for a minor)
- Two adult witnesses of any nationality with valid ID (not the parents)
- Fee, about USD 18 (CAD 25 in Montreal, set monthly from the USD rate)
What goes wrong (5)›
- The consular inscription produces a Uruguayan-format birth record. That record lets you apply for the DNI (cédula) and then the passport, but the first DNI for a grandchild is issued only at DNIC offices in Uruguay (Colón, Belloni, Ciudad del Plata), in person, UYU 456 (July 2026), from 5 business days up to 90 days. Plan a trip to Montevideo.
- Law 19.362 makes grandchildren of a Uruguay-born person natural citizens when their parent is a Uruguayan national by descent (Law 16.021 Art. 2). It does not reach great-grandchildren.
- Uruguay separates nationality from citizenship; a person under 16.021/19.362 must also register with the Electoral Court to exercise citizenship, which needs at least two of the Law 16.021 Art. 4 ties to Uruguay (unverified: which ties apply in practice).
- From AR: the Uruguayan consulates in Argentina (Buenos Aires and others) take the inscription the same way; Spanish documents need only the apostille. From BR: the consulates in Brazil (e.g. São Paulo); Portuguese documents need a Spanish translation. From CA: Montreal (Quebec and Maritimes) or the Ottawa and Toronto posts by place of birth. From GB, AU, NZ, ZA: the embassy for your residence.
- The Uruguayan ancestor's own naturalization abroad does not affect the claim: Constitution Art. 81 keeps a Uruguayan's nationality even after naturalizing abroad — only active 'ciudadanía' rights, not nationality itself, are affected — so no proof of non-naturalization is needed (Art. 81 text read via a WebSearch snippet of es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nacionalidad_uruguaya and academic mirrors, not fetched directly; confidence: snippet, verified 2026-09-25).
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.
08Where the records live
Where each record lives, and how to ask for it
birth1879–2026
Dirección General del Registro de Estado Civil (Ministerio de Educación y Cultura)
Search by name, date and department of birth. Consulates and the DNIC want the Uruguayan ancestor's birth certificate recently issued (the DNIC asks for one issued within 30 days).
- Takes
- 1–6 weeks
Good to know (3)›
- unverified: the online ordering route and fee for a certified Uruguayan birth certificate from abroad; the cited page covers inscribing foreign certificates. A relative in Uruguay, or the consulate, can order it.
- Civil registration began in 1879 (unverified); earlier births are in Catholic parish registers (unverified holder).
- Order a fresh copy close to the filing date: the DNIC wants the grandparent's certificate issued within the last 30 days.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
birth
Registro de Estado Civil, sección de extranjeros: foreign births of Uruguayans' children and grandchildren inscribed through a consulate or in Montevideo (Inscripción de partidas extranjeras)
The applicant's own inscribed birth record (testimonio de partida inscripta en la sección de extranjeros) is what the DNIC asks for; it results from the application below.
- Takes
- 1–6 months
Good to know (1)›
- unverified: how long the Registro takes to return the inscribed record after a consular inscription.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
Translations
- Into
- Spanish
- Who may translate
- Any certified translator
- About
- $25–$60 a page
Foreign birth certificates must be apostilled (or legalized) and translated into Spanish; the DNIC asks for the parent's foreign birth certificate apostilled and translated. unverified: whether a translation made abroad is accepted in Montevideo or must be redone by a Uruguayan traductor público; the consulates' pages do not specify.
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
The passport
- Where
- After the first DNI, in Uruguay (DNIC offices; Montevideo urgent service in 2–5 working days, interior 15 working days common). Common first passport UYU 5,455 plus a UYU 175 judicial-records certificate (July 2026). Renewals can later be done from abroad through consulates.
- Fee
- About $140
- Time
- 1–9 weeks
Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗
09Law changes
Recent and pending changes
The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for Uruguay.
The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.
10Other doors
If descent doesn’t reach you
3 residence programs lead to Uruguay without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.
- Income or savingsResidencia por Medios de Vida Propios (Rentista)
Foreign-source passive income, pension, dividends, interest, rent, or annuities, qualifies directly for Uruguayan permanent residence, no temporary phase first.
- Income or savingsTax Holiday for New Tax Residents
New Uruguayan tax residents can elect an 11-year exemption on foreign-source passive income and capital gains, rather than Uruguay's ordinary tax treatment.
- Family tiesFast-Track Naturalisation (Article 75)
Uruguay runs one of the fastest naturalisations in Latin America: 3 years of legal residence with a spouse or child in the country, or 5 years single, on top of any legal residence category.