• Home
• All Posts
• Forum
• UY Blogs
• About Me
• FAQ
• UY Resources

Traveling to Brazil

Posted on May 30, 2007
Filed Under Expat Tips, Immigration | 12 Comments

If you move to Uruguay, sooner or later you will be tempted to travel to the big neighbors, Argentina and Brazil. If you come from Europe and North America, you’ll find going to Argentina easy and convenient. After all, Argentina is close and you won’t need a visa to enter as a tourist. Brazil however is quite another story. Depending on the country you come from, obtaining a tourist visa can be pricey and cumbersome.

If you have a passport from any country in South America, you don’t need a visa. For nationals from the Mercosur countries (plus a few other countries, like Chile) the national id (cédula de identidad) can be used instead of a passport. At the border entry point, you are issued a visa valid for a 90 day stay. Read more

Bribery

Posted on May 27, 2007
Filed Under Crime, Culture | 19 Comments

Uruguay is known as one of the least corrupt countries in Latin America, after Chile. This does not mean however that corruption does not exist there. In my travels in Uruguay, I’ve seen a number of instances of both solicitation and offers of bribes, most often in the context of highway patrols or border crossing.

The most recent of these was a run in with a corrupt trooper last December. We had been staying at a lovely cabaña in La Paloma, but after a few days we had explored all we could on bikes. When we inquired about renting a car, the owner of the cabaña, an Argentinean, offered to rent us his car at a very attractive price. The car of course had Argentinean license plates and was a bit old and run down, but all the papers seemed in order, so we agreed. Read more

Asset Tax

Posted on May 24, 2007
Filed Under Real Estate, Cost of Living, Taxes | 6 Comments

Many people that are now considering moving to Uruguay may not realize that they will be subject to a tax based on the total value of their Uruguayan assets. Since this type of tax exists in relatively few countries, most future expats will likely forget to take it into consideration. Even so the value of the tax is negligible for people with few assets, its steeply progressive scale penalizes ostentatious wealth as well as the ownership of non-producing assets. This tax is known as the Impuesto al Patrimonio (IP). Read more

Telenovelas

Posted on May 21, 2007
Filed Under Culture | 8 Comments

If you are moving to any place in Latin America, soon enough you’ll come to realize that telenovelas (soap operas) are an unavoidable part of the local culture. Telenovelas or novelas, as they are sometimes called, should not be confused with American daytime soap operas however. A typical prime time novela may have a long story line lasting 6 – 8 months, but it always has a beginning, middle and an end. And the overall plot is planned in detail well before shooting starts. The other crucial difference is that they use the best actors and the best scriptwriters available in the country in which it is produced. So it is more like having a daily (Mon-Sat) prime time TV show with tens of the best Hollywood actors, plus many more stars as supporting actors. Read more

Desperately Seeking Uruguay

Posted on May 18, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Have you noticed how hard it is to find information about Uruguay using search engines? It’s maddening! It has been said that searching for a piece of information contained somewhere in a US site is like trying to drink from a fire hose. If that’s the case, searching for information in Uruguayan sites is more like trying to drink from a clogged straw.

As you may know, Google uses the Page Rank (PR) algorithm to determine how “authoritative” or relevant a page is, based on how many pages link to it and how authoritative they are. If nobody links to a page, it will have a low PR. And in general, a page with a low PR will be displayed lower in the Google results list, although other factors are taken into consideration as well. Read more

For The Birds

Posted on May 15, 2007
Filed Under Nature | 2 Comments

I must admit that until recently flora or fauna had never been high on my list of interests when traveling. Actually I used to think bird watching was a peculiar and strange hobby, like listening to opera without subtitles. I think it may be an age thing, but I discovered I no longer find it strange. As a matter of fact I now think it is kind of entertaining, like watching puppies tumble.

Almost accidentally, we found ourselves observing many local birds during the last trip to Uruguay. As we drove away from the city, they were everywhere; although not quite like in the Hitchcock movie. All we needed to do was sit down with our mate in hand and pay attention to the surroundings - and what a treat. Read more

FAQ Announcement

Posted on May 12, 2007
Filed Under Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Since I started this blog, many readers have written me personal notes on a variety of subjects. Many of these notes contained personal questions about this mysterious Brazzie character. As you may have noticed, I have tried to keep the focus of this blog away from my person so as not to get in the way of the main subject matter: Uruguay. In an effort to satisfy any curiosity you may have about the person behind this blog, I created an FAQ page (on the top right of the Uruguay Dreaming header) in which I answer a few personal questions in a more public way.

Moving Up

Posted on May 10, 2007
Filed Under Montevideo, Services | 8 Comments

If you walk around Montevideo in areas with a lot of tall residential buildings, it is not uncommon to see furniture being hoisted from the outside with ropes. Last December while we were in Pocitos, we witnessed this curious event not once, but twice. At first, I thought it was just an odd way to move a couch into the third story of an apartment building. Especially given the crude equipment being used: rope and muscle. Read more

You Can’t Take It With You

Posted on May 7, 2007
Filed Under Real Estate, Expat Tips, Taxes | 8 Comments

Yesterday I read a post from another blogger on inheritance laws in Uruguay and was motivated to research the subject a bit more to see how it might affect me. The information was a surprise to me, and I thought it would be a good idea to organize it so readers planning to move to Uruguay can take this into account. Read more

Uruguayan Spanish

Posted on May 5, 2007
Filed Under Expat Tips, Vocabulary | 6 Comments

Uruguay is one of those countries where you’ll need to know Spanish to function and it will make your experience there much richer. Relatively few of the people you’ll interact with on a daily basis will know enough English to help you out. The good news is that if you learned Spanish in school you will be in fairly good shape, as Uruguayans will understand whatever flavor you happen to have learned, for the most part. Every Spanish speaking country has number of colloquialisms and local vocabulary that must be learned, but the number of new expressions is manageable. Read more

First Cédula

Posted on May 2, 2007
Filed Under Expat Tips, Immigration | 2 Comments

In a previous post, I discussed the steps required to apply for permanent residency in Uruguay and in this post I’ll cover what it takes to apply for a Uruguayan Nation ID (cédula de identidad). The cédula will be needed for many things in Uruguay, such as placing your children in public school, opening checking accounts, getting a local driver’s license etc. Don’t worry, compared to the permanent residency process, getting your cédula will be child’s play. You will be able to apply for one right after your visa status change request has been accepted and you have a Certificado de Llegada or a document proving you are in Trámite. Please note that you can only apply for a Uruguayan ID after your Certificates of Good Conduct (police or FBI reports) have cleared. So if you request these certificates through the Uruguayan Interpol office instead of in your home country, you won’t be able to apply for a cédula for several months. Read more