Household goods to Uruguay: duty-free, but with a guarantee until you are permanent

Anyone moving to Uruguay may bring their household goods free of import duties. For a foreigner settling in the country, the Dirección Nacional de Aduanas lists: clothing and personal belongings, books, furniture and other household goods, and the tools for your profession. The shipment must arrive between three months before and six months after your arrival. There is one condition that surprises many people: as long as you do not have a permanent residence permit, your goods come in as a temporary import, and you provide a guarantee for the taxes, the tributos, that may be due on them.

Scheme	For whom	What goes in free	Period and condition
Baggage travelling with you	everyone	clothing, personal belongings, books; also up to US$ 500 of other goods on arrival by plane or ship	once a month
Baggage arriving separately	foreigner settling in the country	also furniture, household items and professional tools	3 months before to 6 months after your arrival; guarantee until you are permanent
Scheme for retirees (Ley 16.340)	retiree with US$ 1,500 a month from abroad and a home worth US$ 100,000	household goods and one car	within 6 months of permanent residence, once
Car, motorcycle, boat or camper		not covered by the baggage scheme

What do you hand in at customs?

For baggage arriving separately, as freight, customs asks for:

• a declaración jurada, a sworn statement, about the goods you import;
• a copy of your valid passport;
• a list of the goods, stamped by the Uruguayan consulate (the embassy in The Hague);
• a certificate from the migration service about your arrival and your travel;
• proof that your residence application is under way, the constancia de residencia en trámite;
• a copy of the transport contract in your name, the bill of lading.

For your professional tools, customs first asks for proof of your work, with a work statement stamped by the consulate.

So your residence application must be under way before you get the shipment released. How to start it is explained in the residence routes.

The guarantee is money you must be able to do without. Customs asks it as long as you have no permanent residence, for the tributos that may be due on your goods, and returns it once you have shown the residencia definitiva. Ask beforehand how customs sets the value, and have your mover make a list of values you can back up.

What applies to retirees?

Since 1992 Uruguay has a separate scheme for foreigners who retired abroad and come to live in Uruguay permanently: Ley 16.340, implemented in Decreto 119/004. You prove to the migration service that you are retired and that you regularly receive at least US$ 1,500 a month from a pension or other income from abroad. In addition you buy a home in Uruguay worth at least US$ 100,000, which you may not sell for ten years, or Uruguayan government bonds of that amount held in custody at the state bank BROU for ten years.

In return you may import once, free of duties, within six months of being granted permanent residence: your furniture and household goods, in quantities suited to your needs, and one car. You may not transfer that car for four years, and you insure it before taking it on the road.

The proof of your income is translated where necessary and endorsed by the Uruguayan consulate in the country of issue. You also have the list of your goods endorsed by the consulate.

Whether the car under this scheme may be used is not clear: since 2005 a ban on importing used cars applies, and customs does not list retirees among the exceptions to it. See car and driving licence and ask in writing before you ship.