Registration and numbers in Uruguay: your birth certificate first, then the identity card
In Uruguay registration revolves around one card: the Documento Nacional de Identidad, formerly the cédula, which you get from the DNIC once your residence application is under way or granted. It costs 456 pesos. For the permanent route you first register your Dutch birth certificate in the Uruguayan register. Without a business, you register for free with the tax office DGI as a tax resident.
5 min read
Written and checked by Auke on , against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.
In Uruguay you mainly need one number: that of your Documento Nacional de Identidad, the identity card that until recently was called the cédula de identidad and is still called that everywhere. You get it from the Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC). If you apply for the residencia permanente, you can do this while your application is still running. With a residencia temporaria you wait until it has been granted. A first card costs 456 pesos since 1 July 2026.
The step people skip comes before it: for the permanent route the DNIC wants to see your birth certificate as it stands in the Uruguayan register. You arrange that registration at the Registro de Estado Civil.
| What | Where | Cost | What you bring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registering your birth certificate | Registro de Estado Civil, Montevideo | 1,436 pesos | the original certificate with apostille, plus a copy |
| Certificado migratorio | Dirección Nacional de Migración | 55.70 UI | runs through your residence application |
| Documento Nacional de Identidad | DNIC | 456 pesos | your birth certificate and the DNM certificate |
| Constancia de domicilio | your local police station | free | your identity document |
| Registration with the DGI, without a business | DGI | free | form 0301 and your passport |
Why your birth certificate first?
For a foreigner with a residencia en trámite or definitiva, the DNIC asks for two documents: an extract of the birth certificate registered in the foreigners' section of the Uruguayan Registro Civil, and a certificate from the migration service. With a residencia temporaria the Dutch certificate itself is enough, with an apostille and translated into Spanish.
You do the registration at the Dirección Nacional del Registro de Estado Civil, at calle Uruguay 933 in Montevideo. You book online, pay and come to the appointment with the original certificate with apostille. A certificate in a language other than Spanish is translated by a Uruguayan traductor público or by the Uruguayan consulate. In one application you can include up to four certificates of your partner and children, such as a marriage certificate.
The Registro keeps the original certificate. If you want it back, you must have a testimonio por exhibición made by a Uruguayan notary. So have a second extract with apostille made in the Netherlands, in case another office also wants to see the original.
If you have not completed the registration yet, the DNIC can issue a provisional document. For that you bring the certificate from the migration service and your birth certificate, translated and with apostille, or a statement from the consulate.
How do you get the card?
You request an appointment with the DNIC online or at the counter. At the counter you pay in cash or by debit card, in pesos; through Abitab, Redpagos or the Correo Uruguayo extra costs apply. You must go in person. Children up to 9 get their card the same day. From 10 years old you pick it up from five working days after the appointment, and within 90 days at the latest.
In Uruguay everyone has such a document from the age of 45 days. Children under 14 go with an adult who has a valid document themselves.
The certificate from the migration service costs 55.70 UI, a unit of account that moves with inflation. How the residence application itself works is explained in the residence routes.
Do you need a tax number?
Your identity card is your main number. Besides that, Uruguay has the RUT, the register of the tax office DGI. For those without a business there is a separate registration as a persona física residente sin actividad empresarial: a tax resident without a business. It costs nothing. You fill in form 0301 and show your passport; as proof you get form 6301.
Whether you are a tax resident does not depend on your residence permit. The DGI counts your days, among other things: more than 183 in a calendar year, and an absence of up to 30 days counts towards them. A partner and minor children living in Uruguay also make you a resident. What that means for your pension and your investments is explained in AOW, pension and tax.
If you start working or set up a sole proprietorship, you register with the DGI and with the BPS, the social insurance bank. See working in Uruguay.
How do you prove your address?
With a constancia de domicilio, which you get from the police station (seccional policial) of your area. You start online or at the counter, and within 24 hours you sign the statement on the spot and take it with you. It is a sworn statement and costs nothing. For trámites with the central government, a statement of your own on a form of that office is also enough under Decreto 286/990.
And your government account?
Almost everything above starts on gub.uy. For that you need a usuario gub.uy or a digital identity, such as the one from Abitab or TuID from Antel. With your new identity card and a card reader you can also use that card.
What else you arrange with the card, such as a bank account and your healthcare, is in bank and payments and the first weeks in Uruguay. The order of all the steps is in the route to Uruguay.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.3: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Uruguay or go straight to step 5.3 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- DNIC — the Documento Nacional de Identidad for those with a residencia in trámite or definitiva — gub.uy
- DNIC — the Documento Nacional de Identidad with a residencia temporaria — gub.uy
- Registro de Estado Civil — registering foreign certificates — gub.uy
- Dirección Nacional de Migración — the certificado migratorio and the residence application — gub.uy
- DGI — registering as a tax resident without a business — gub.uy
- Ministerio del Interior — the constancia de domicilio from the police — gub.uy
- DGI — when you are a tax resident — gub.uy
Read on
- UruguayAankomst in Uruguay4 min
Bank and payments in Uruguay: two identity documents, proof of address and limits on cash
For a bank account in Uruguay, a bank such as the state bank BROU asks for two identity documents with a photo, proof of your address and proof of your income. Cash is restricted: at the border you declare more than 10,000 dollars, and large purchases are paid through the bank. Your AOW arrives in euros.
Updated 15 October 2026
- UruguayAankomst in Uruguay4 min
The first weeks in Uruguay: first the residence application, then the identity card, then the rest
You enter Uruguay as a visitor, with 90 days you can extend once. In that time you start your residence application online, get the medical check and the vaccination certificate, and have your birth certificate registered. Then comes the identity card, and with that card the bank, healthcare, the driving licence and school. Your household goods may arrive up to six months after you.
Updated 15 October 2026
- UruguayAankomst in Uruguay4 min
School in Uruguay: free public education, compulsory from age four
In Uruguay education is compulsory from age four through upper secondary school, and public education is free. A child of foreign parents has the same access as a Uruguayan child. For primary school you enrol your child online; for secondary school you first have the Dutch school reports recognised, with apostille and translation.
Updated 15 October 2026