Who Must Register a Birth Certificate in Uruguay
If you are applying for permanent residency, your Birth Certificate must be registered in Uruguayan format by the Civic Registry so that the ID office (DNIC) can issue your full permanent resident ID card after Immigration grants your permanent residency.
Once permanent residency is granted, if your Birth Certificate has not yet been registered, you will receive a provisional 1-year cédula with up to two renewals instead of the full 3-year cédula. This gives you three years to register your documents.
Who Must Register Marriage, Divorce, Adoption, and Name Change Certificates in Uruguay
People with name changes must also register the applicable records to prevent any issues with DNIC (cédula office).
Gather any of these applicable documents:
Birth certificates or records.
Death certificates or records.
Marriage certificates or records.
Name changes.
Adoption judgments.
Divorce judgments.
Obtain Your Certified Documents
Obtain a certified, long-form birth certificate from the state where you were born. You might want to request at least two copies.
If applicable, obtain other applicable Marriage, Divorce, Adoption, Death, and Name Change documents.
Apostille Your Documents
Have the certified documents apostilled by the state where the document was issued. For example, the state where you were born must issue your birth certificate and provide the apostille.
Translation of the Certificates
Have the documents translated by a Uruguayan certified translator.
The fees are standardized.
Uruguayan Notary Certificate
In order for the original document to be returned to you, it will be necessary to present testimony by exhibition [1] made by a notary public (escribano) in Uruguay.
Register the Certificates in Uruguay
Register your Birth Certificate and any other applicable documents here
The holder may submit up to 4 additional documents of civil acts abroad of spouse and children exclusively.
Certificate Registration Process
- Schedule an appointment here
- The reservation will be held for 48 hours pending payment; after that period, it will expire if payment has not been made.
- Pay the fee online or at Abitab.
- If you pay at Abitab, please note that the payment ticket is issued only once, so take the precaution of taking a screenshot or similar.
- You will receive an email with the data uploaded and instructions.
- Appear at the National Directorate of the Civil Registry (Uruguay 933) in Montevideo at the date and time of your appointment.
- Bring to your appointment
- Payment receipt
- Your translated documents to be registered (birth certificate, etc.)
- Passport
- Cédula, if you have one
Appointments can be difficult to obtain. It is recommended that you check several times with your spouse and/or family as part of your routine and stay in touch with other expats to let each other know when it opens. That will greatly increase the chances of scheduling the registration appointment you’ll need and of becoming aware of its availability.