Uruguay's Immigration Data: What's Published, What's Missing, and How to Request It
INGAR · · Analysis
The short answer: Uruguay publishes considerably more immigration data than people tend to assume.
INE (Uruguay's national statistics institute) makes it possible to study how many foreign-born people live in the country. The Dirección Nacional de Migración (the national immigration directorate, or DNM) publishes residency applications filed and granted, categories, nationalities, and entry and exit movements.
What's missing isn't "the whole migration picture." It's a handful of specific things: processing times, pending or shelved case files, cohort tracking, permanent emigration, and tax-residency certificates broken down by the criterion used.
When a figure hasn't been published, anyone can request existing information under Ley 18.381, Uruguay's freedom-of-information law. With one important limit: the agency has to hand over what it already holds; it isn't required to produce a new study for you.
Stock, case files, and movements are three different things
Nearly all the public confusion comes from blending three distinct units of measurement:
| Concept | What it measures | What it can't tell you |
|---|---|---|
| Immigrant stock | Foreign-born people living in the country on a given date | How many residency applications were processed that year |
| Residency applications filed or granted | Administrative case files | How many of those people are still living here |
| Border entries and exits | Passenger border crossings | Unique individuals; tourists vs. residents; permanent emigration |
A single person may cross in and out several times in one year, obtain residency and then move away, or live here while their application sits unresolved for that entire period.
That's why saying "immigration grew 50%" on the strength of a rise in residency numbers is misleading. The accurate statement is that residency grants rose — unless there's another source measuring the immigrant population directly.
What INE publishes
The 2023 Census portal holds a total estimated population of 3.499.451 people as of May 31, 2023.
The Census supports analysis by country of birth, previous place of residence, year of arrival, department and locality, age, sex, education, employment, and household composition.
Watch out for which version of the Census you're citing
The first release of results reported 107.578 foreign-born people, distributed by year of arrival as follows:
| Reported year of arrival | People |
|---|---|
| Before 2000 | 29.228 |
| 2000 to 2011 | 13.106 |
| 2012 to 2023 | 56.906 |
| Year not reported | 8.338 |
| Total | 107.578 |
The report warned that roughly 8% of year-of-arrival records and 2% of country-of-birth records were missing that data point.
In May 2026, INE released a weighted version of the 2023 Census, which applies weighting factors to account for the population the count missed directly — an undercount estimated at 10,3%.
The national total of 3.499.451 didn't change, but estimates of specific attributes can — country of birth, housing, socioeconomic status.
The practical upshot for anyone writing or citing: the 107.578 and ~3,07% figures belong to the earlier version. Current analysis should draw on the visualization tool or the weighted microdata, and note the date the data was pulled. And there's a third number circulating — 122.151 foreign-born residents identified by combining questionnaires with administrative records — which we unpack in how many foreigners actually live in Uruguay?.
Three different numbers, three different universes. None of them is wrong; the wrong thing is the coverage that mixes them together.
What the Dirección Nacional de Migración publishes
The DNM 2025 Statistical Yearbook, released on April 28, 2026, covers residency applications filed and granted, nationality, sex and age bracket, residency type, passenger entries and exits, visas, and other procedures.
Residency applications filed and granted
| Year | Applications filed | Applications granted |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5.498 | 6.074 |
| 2022 | 6.692 | 6.310 |
| 2023 | 11.897 | 9.689 |
| 2024 | 17.402 | 16.870 |
| 2025 | 20.986 | 18.458 |
Don't subtract one column from the other to estimate the backlog. An application filed in December may be resolved the following year, and one granted in 2025 may stem from a much earlier filing. Measuring delays would require tracking cohorts of case files or knowing the pending stock at each year-end — and that isn't published.
The series isn't fully comparable
DNM itself flags two changes that matter:
- As of February 17, 2023, Mercosur permanent residencies and permanent residencies based on family ties to a Uruguayan citizen moved under its authority.
- As of October 2024, new categories were added for employment-based settlement, family reunification, and training or study.
Part of the increase between 2022 and 2025 is probably real; another part reflects shifts in jurisdiction and statistical coverage. Comparing percentages without mentioning that produces bad headlines.
Categories and nationalities
The yearbook distinguishes permanent residency, permanent residency by family ties, Mercosur permanent residency, employment-based settlement, family reunification, temporary residency, Mercosur temporary residency, settlement for training or study, and border residency — each broken out by nationality, sex, age, and month.
In other words: the claim that Uruguay doesn't publish residency data by country or category is simply false. It does.
What it publishes on entries and exits
Over the course of 2025, DNM recorded:
| Foreign passenger movements | Count |
|---|---|
| Entries | 3.353.558 |
| Exits | 3.312.808 |
| Total movements | 6.666.366 |
Broken down by month and nationality in the chapter on foreign passengers in 2025.
Those 3.3 million exits do not mean 3.3 million foreigners left to live abroad. They're border-crossing events, and one person can show up dozens of times.
The data is useful for studying cross-border mobility, tourism, and seasonality. It's useless for figuring out how many residents left for good.
What's still missing
We went through the 2025 DNM Yearbook, the Ministerio del Interior (Uruguay's interior ministry) portal, INE, and the official procedures available as of August 1, 2026. We found no regular, complete publication covering:
| Information | Agency that might hold it | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Case files pending at each year-end | DNM | Needed to measure backlog buildup and processing capacity |
| Applications denied, withdrawn, or shelved | DNM | Not clearly consolidated anywhere |
| Median or average days to resolution | DNM | May not exist as a pre-built indicator |
| Processing time by category and cohort | DNM | Requires filing and resolution dates |
| Unique individuals who entered and left | DNM | The published tables count movements |
| Residents who emigrated permanently | DNM, INE, or others | A border exit doesn't prove emigration |
| Tax-residency certificates by criterion | DGI or MEF | Not something to request from DNM |
| Tax residency established through real-estate investment | DGI or MEF | We found no public series |
| Harmonized historical series under consistent coverage | DNM and MRREE | Jurisdiction changes make comparison difficult |
One necessary caveat: "we couldn't find a publication" doesn't mean the data exists somewhere, ready to hand over. It may sit in scattered records, never be compiled as a statistic, or require processing the agency has no obligation to perform.
Legal residency and tax residency: different agencies
Legal residency is an immigration status; its procedures and statistics fall mainly to DNM, though the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Uruguay's foreign ministry) held significant authority in earlier periods.
Tax residency determines how you're treated under the tax system; certificates and criteria fall to DGI (Uruguay's tax authority) and MEF (the finance ministry).
So:
- Legal residencies, categories, and border movements → Ministerio del Interior / DNM.
- Tax-residency certificates and criteria → DGI / MEF.
- Historical case files from when certain residencies fell under the foreign ministry → MRREE.
Sending your request to the wrong agency buys you nothing but delays and incomplete answers.
What Ley 18.381 lets you request
Ley 18.381 guarantees access to information held by public agencies.
Anyone can file. Article 3 draws no distinction based on nationality or the requester's status. You don't need to be a Uruguayan citizen, live here, explain what you plan to do with the data, or demonstrate a personal interest.
The request has to be specific. Per Article 13: requester identification, address and preferred means of contact, a clear description of the information, any details that help locate it, and — optionally — your preferred format. The Ministerio del Interior has an online form.
The agency doesn't have to build you a new study. Article 14 says so explicitly: a request doesn't obligate an agency to produce information it doesn't hold, or to carry out special evaluations or analysis. It does clarify that gathering or compiling existing information, even when scattered, doesn't count as creating information.
That's why you get far more mileage out of requesting an anonymized dataset with filing and resolution dates, totals the system can already export, the stock of case files by status, or variable dictionaries. Asking an agency to "calculate the impact of immigration" or "assess how efficiently applications are processed" almost certainly exceeds what the right of access covers.
Deadline: Article 15 sets 20 business days, extendable by another 20 under exceptional circumstances, with written notice stating the reasons.
No fees: Article 17 establishes free access; the only permissible charge is the cost of reproducing physical copies.
Constructive approval: Article 18 provides that once the deadline passes with no explicit response and no extension in force, the requester acquires the right of access. A subsequent refusal by an official may constitute serious misconduct. That doesn't make the information materialize on its own: you may still need to press the claim or go to court.
Exceptions: information classified as secret by law, restricted under the legal criteria, confidential, or protected personal data. In immigration statistics, the standard workaround is releasing aggregated or anonymized information.
Sample request to DNM
[Place and date] Ministerio del Interior – Dirección Nacional de Migración [Full name], residing at [address] and reachable at [email], pursuant to Ley N.º 18.381 on the Right of Access to Public Information, requests access to the following information for the period [years]: 1. Number of residency applications filed, granted, denied, withdrawn, and shelved, broken down by year of filing, year of resolution, and residency category. 2. Number of case files pending as of December 31 of each year, broken down by category and year of filing. 3. If pre-built statistics exist, the median and average number of days between filing and resolution, by category and year. 4. If no such statistics have been compiled, an anonymized dataset with filing date, resolution date, final status, and category, excluding names, ID numbers, and any identifying information. 5. Methodological notes, variable dictionary, and any changes in jurisdiction or coverage affecting year-over-year comparison. I ask that the information, where available, be delivered in a reusable digital format (CSV or spreadsheet). This format preference is stated pursuant to subsection C of Article 13 and imposes no additional obligation on the agency. Should any of this data not exist or not be held by the agency, I ask that this be stated expressly pursuant to Article 14. Sincerely, [Name and signature]
Short template for tax residency (DGI or MEF)
I request the annual number of individual tax-residency certificates issued during the period [years], broken down by the statutory criterion used to establish residency. Specifically, and if the information exists, the count corresponding to criteria based on real-estate investment, business investment, or other assets, excluding any data that would allow taxpayers to be identified. I also request the methodological notes needed to interpret the information and to determine whether a single person may be counted under more than one criterion.
How to file a request that actually works
- Check what's already published. Saves you from requesting something that's sitting in a yearbook.
- Define the unit. People, case files, or border movements produce completely different answers.
- Specify the period. "From 2020 through 2025" beats "in recent years."
- Ask for specific statuses. Filed, granted, denied, shelved, withdrawn, and pending are not interchangeable.
- Ask for anonymized data. It heads off data-protection objections.
- Ask for the methodological notes. Without them, a jurisdiction change looks like an immigration boom.
- Keep your receipt. The filing date is what starts the 20-business-day clock.
- Don't demand new analysis. Ask for existing records or indicators.
What to do if they don't respond
- Check whether they sent notice of a justified extension.
- Hold on to your receipt and count business days from the filing date.
- Restate in writing that the constructive approval under Article 18 has taken effect.
- File a complaint with the Unidad de Acceso a la Información Pública (Uruguay's public-information access authority).
- There's also the judicial access action set out in Articles 22 through 30.
The UAIP can step in over a failure to respond, an incomplete release, or a refusal that doesn't meet the legal requirements.
The conclusion that matters
Uruguay is not short on immigration statistics. It publishes censuses, microdata, residency applications filed and granted, categories, nationalities, and millions of border movements.
The problem is a different one:
- the information is spread across agencies;
- some series change coverage midstream;
- several files aren't comparable with one another;
- a border movement is not a person;
- a residency granted is not resident population;
- there are no indicators for processing delays, pending case files, permanent emigration, or tax residency by criterion.
The rule for using this data is simple: before repeating a figure, work out what it counts, who produced it, what period it covers, and what changed in the methodology.
And when the answer hasn't been published, Ley 18.381 lets you go ask for it.
Frequently asked questions
Does Uruguay publish immigration data?
Yes — considerably more than people tend to assume. INE makes it possible to study how many foreign-born people live in the country, and the Dirección Nacional de Migración publishes residency applications filed and granted, categories, nationalities, and entry and exit movements.
What's the difference between stock, case files, and movements?
They're three different units. Stock measures foreign-born people living in the country on a given date; case files measure residency applications; and movements measure border crossings, not people.
How many foreign passenger movements did Uruguay record in 2025?
DNM recorded 3.353.558 entries and 3.312.808 exits of foreign passengers — 6.666.366 total movements, broken down by month and nationality.
What immigration data is missing?
It isn't migration flows in general, but more specific figures: processing times, pending or shelved case files, cohort tracking, and permanent emigration.
Can I request data that hasn't been published?
Yes. Ley 18.381 guarantees access to information held by public agencies, and its Article 3 draws no distinction based on nationality or the requester's status.
What if the agency doesn't respond to my request?
Check whether they sent notice of a justified extension, keep your receipt, and count business days from the filing date. Once the deadline passes, restate in writing that the constructive approval provided for by the law has taken effect.
Aggregate data is what you use to understand the context; the actual decision comes down to prices and neighborhoods. Our property listings and services for foreign buyers are the logical next step if you're weighing a move.
Keep reading
- How many foreigners actually live in Uruguay?
- Where do the people moving to Uruguay come from?
- How much income you need to prove for legal residency
- Legal residency, tax residency, and citizenship are not the same thing
- Does buying property get you residency in Uruguay?
Sources
- Ley N.º 18.381 — Right of Access to Public Information (Articles 2, 3, 8 through 10, 13 through 18, and 22 through 30)
- INE — 2023 Census · Weighted 2023 Census (May 14, 2026)
- Ministerio del Interior — DNM 2025 Statistical Yearbook
- DNM — Residency applications filed, 2025 · Residency applications granted, 2025 · Foreign passengers, 2025
- Ministerio del Interior — Public information access request
- Unidad de Acceso a la Información Pública
Information and links verified as of August 1, 2026.