Why Do Some Foreigners Leave Uruguay Within Two Years?

Short answer: nobody knows. Uruguay does not publish any statistic that would tell you what share of the foreigners who settle here leave before the two-year mark, and there is no official survey ranking the reasons why.

So when a number circulates with an air of precision — "40% go home" — there is no public source behind it.

What we can do is separate two very different things:

1. The official data that exists on immigration and population.
2. The mismatches we see repeat among people who arrived intending to stay and later reconsidered.

The first can be measured. The second is a reading based on our own experience with clients, and we present it as exactly that.

What the official numbers actually say

The 2023 census recorded total population growth of 86.815 personas — that is, 86,815 people — between 2011 and 2023. Over the same stretch, births minus deaths produced natural growth of 94.608 personas (94,608).

Demographic component	Result, 2011-2023
Total population growth	+86.815
Natural growth	+94.608
Implied net migration	−7.793

INE (Uruguay's national statistics institute) takes a gap of that size as consistent with a hypothesis of zero net migration for the period.

Two caveats matter here. First, this is an indirect measure: it comes from subtracting natural growth from the total, and it can be skewed by population adjustments or by differences in coverage between sources. Second, it covers the entire population: it says nothing about how many foreigners arrived, how many left, how many Uruguayans emigrated, or how many came back.

What about the 56,906 recent arrivals?

The 2023 census identified 56.906 personas born abroad who reported arriving between 2012 and 2023 — 56,906 people. INE contrasts that with the 24.5 thousand counted for the decade preceding the 2011 census: recent immigration has clearly risen.

But — and this is the part that almost never gets spelled out — those 56,906 people are not everyone who entered during the period. They are the ones still living here on census day who gave that year of arrival. Someone who landed in 2018 and went home in 2020 simply isn't in the count.

In other words: by construction, that figure cannot tell us how many people left.

The Dirección Nacional de Migración (the national immigration authority) publishes passenger movements and residency applications filed and granted, but that is not a person-by-person track from the day someone settles to the day they leave.

You can file a public-records request under Ley 18.381 (Uruguay's freedom-of-information law), with one important limit: the law grants access to what an agency already holds; it does not force it to produce a statistic that doesn't exist.

Five mismatches we see over and over

What follows is not a ranking and not a survey. These are recurring sticking points from conversations with foreign clients, and they are worth thinking through before you buy.

1. Expecting a pace Uruguay doesn't have

For some people, the country's scale is its single best feature: manageable distances, less crowding, an unhurried daily rhythm.

For others, that same scale eventually becomes a ceiling. Montevideo doesn't offer the volume of activities, business connections, live performance or sheer novelty of a major metropolis, and in smaller cities the contrast is sharper still.

The mismatch shows up when someone read "quiet" as a synonym for less stress without registering that it also means fewer options.

The useful question before you move isn't just whether you want a calmer life. It's how much urban stimulation you need once the novelty of the first few months wears off.

2. Building a budget on numbers that are too generic

Uruguay is not cheap, and monthly costs swing widely depending on housing, neighborhood, whether you keep a car, health coverage and lifestyle.

Electricity makes the point nicely. Under the Tarifa Residencial Simple (the standard residential electricity rate) in force in 2026:

Monthly consumption	Price per kWh (before VAT)
1 to 100 kWh	$ 6,744
101 to 600 kWh	$ 8,452
601 kWh and up	$ 10,539

On top of that come a fixed charge and a contracted-capacity charge, and there are two- and three-band time-of-use rates as well (UTE rate schedule).

Which is why multiplying an estimated consumption by a single rate won't get you there. For the specific home you're considering, ask for:

• Twelve months of UTE (the state power utility) bills.
• The actual amount of the building's common charges.
• Contribución Inmobiliaria and Impuesto de Primaria (the municipal property tax and the national school tax).
• The cost of running heating and hot water.
• A history of repairs or special assessments.
• A real quote for private health coverage.
• Transportation costs based on the routine you actually expect to have.

The full method is in is Uruguay cheap?.

3. Choosing a home you've never lived in through a winter

A mild outdoor temperature guarantees nothing about comfort indoors. Orientation, sun exposure, ventilation, damp, roof construction, windows and doors, and the heating setup can produce enormous differences between two houses on the same block.

There is no universal cost of heating a home in Uruguay: it depends on square footage, the thermal envelope, the equipment, the rate you're on and how many hours you run it.

Before you buy, check the orientation and how much winter sun the place gets; damp, condensation or freshly painted patches; the type of glazing and the condition of windows and doors; roof and wall insulation; the heating system installed; winter utility bills; and what it would cost to fix whatever is missing.

If something feels off, an independent inspection costs a tiny fraction of what it costs to discover the problem after closing. More on this in cold winters and uninsulated houses.

4. Counting on finding work right away

Moving without secured income puts pressure on every other decision you make, and that pressure is usually what cuts a stay short.

Uruguay's job market is small. How long it takes to find something suitable depends on whether your experience is recognized here, on local contacts, on language, and on where you stand with immigration paperwork.

None of which means a foreigner can't find work. It means you shouldn't build a financial plan on the assumption that within a few months you'll hold a job at the same level and salary you had before.

Whenever possible, arrive with at least one of these in place: remote work you can legally keep doing from here, a local contract already signed, sufficient passive income, savings that cover a long runway, or a plan B if the search drags.

And one thing worth settling in advance rather than after the fact: tax residency, how foreign income is taxed, and social-security coverage — with a professional. Immigration residency and tax residency are not the same thing. More in finding a job in Uruguay as a foreigner.

5. Assuming a social life will just materialize

Moving means leaving behind a network you spent years building. Here you have to build a new one, and that takes initiative.

Many people quickly find an international community, which during the adjustment period is worth a great deal: it helps with paperwork, shares hard-won experience, cuts the isolation.

The problem isn't spending time with other foreigners. It's relying on that circuit alone and never building any connection to local life — because when one of those friends moves away, part of your network goes with them.

Regular commitments work far better than occasional get-togethers: sports clubs, in-person classes, volunteering, choirs or workshops, your kids' school activities, professional associations, cultural or neighborhood spaces.

Language matters. You can get a lot done in English in certain circles, but speaking Spanish widens your options enormously — professionally, socially and practically. We cover this in is it hard to make friends in Montevideo?.

What it costs to buy and sell again

Buying and reselling soon after is expensive. But it isn't true that it's "9% on the way in and 9% on the way out": each side involves entirely different line items.

Buying: the agency commission as agreed, the escribano's (notary-lawyer's) fees, contributions, certificates and registry costs, ITP (the property transfer tax) at 2% of the updated official cadastral value, plus additional costs if there's a mortgage.

Selling: a commission if an agency is involved, ITP at 2% of the updated cadastral value, certificates and fees, mortgage discharge if applicable, and IRPF or IRNR (personal income tax for residents and nonresidents, respectively) on the taxable gain where there is one.

ITP is not calculated on the market price but on the updated Catastro (national cadastral registry) value. And for urban property acquired after July 1, 2007, IRPF on capital gains is 12% of the taxable gain — sale price minus the inflation-adjusted tax basis, the seller's ITP and documented improvements — not 12% of the nominal difference in dollars, and not 12% of the price.

A worked example

A property bought and resold at USD 200.000 (USD 200,000), with no change in price, using an agency on both ends at 3% plus VAT:

Item	Illustrative amount
Agency commission on purchase	USD 7.320
Notary fees (3% + VAT + Caja Notarial contribution, ~4.23% effective), on purchase	USD 8.460
Agency commission on sale	USD 7.320
Subtotal	USD 23.100

And to that you still have to add the buyer's ITP, the seller's ITP, contributions and notarial or registry costs, any mortgage-related costs, IRPF or IRNR if there's a taxable gain, and whatever gap opens up between the resale price you hoped for and the one you actually get.

This isn't a quote; it's an illustration. But it makes the point: without losing a single peso in value and without paying any capital-gains tax, an early exit already costs more than USD 20,000 on a USD 200,000 transaction. That is what the patience of renting for a year buys you.

Your escribano works out the exact figure before you buy, and updates it before you sell.

How to test-drive Uruguay before you commit

Rent before you buy

Two or three months works as a first pass. For a permanent move, six to twelve months gives you a far more honest trial, and it should ideally cover part of the winter and a stretch of ordinary routine — not a vacation.

Test daily life, not just the neighborhood

While you're here, do what you'd do if you lived here: work your normal hours, make the school or office run, shop where you'd actually shop, try the bus or time the drive, meet with doctors and price health plans, compare the neighborhood on a weekday versus a weekend, by day and by night, in season and out.

A scouting trip should look like a week of ordinary life, not a tourist visit.

Build three budgets, not one

1. The one you expect.
2. One with expenses 20% higher.
3. One in which your local or remote income stops for several months.

If only the first one works, the move has no margin for the first thing that goes wrong.

Assess every member of the family

One person can settle in beautifully while their partner or their kids don't. Go through it separately: each adult's work or daily activity, the kids' school and how they're adjusting, language, distance from family, elder care, medical needs, social activities, and whether you can travel as often as you'd want.

The decision shouldn't rest solely on whoever pushed for the move. In our experience, that is the single factor that most often determines whether a family stays.

Signs you should wait before buying

• You've never spent a full winter in Uruguay.
• You're counting on landing local work quickly.
• Your budget leaves out taxes, health care and maintenance.
• You still don't know which neighborhood you want to live in.
• Your partner or your kids aren't sold on it.
• You need a very intense cultural or nightlife scene.
• You don't speak Spanish and haven't worked out how you'll integrate.
• The move depends on a tax or immigration structure you haven't verified.
• Buying would eat up nearly all your available capital.
• Your plan assumes you can resell quickly and for free.

Waiting doesn't mean Uruguay isn't for you. It means you don't yet have enough information for a decision that's hard to undo.

Frequently asked questions

How many foreigners leave before the two-year mark?

There is no published official statistic that follows people who settle here and measures that proportion. There is data on the foreign-born population, year of arrival, residency permits and border crossings, but none of it amounts to a retention rate by cohort.

Was Uruguay's net migration really zero?

For 2011-2023, INE arrived at an implied balance of −7.793 people (−7,793) and judged that a gap of that size is consistent with a hypothesis of zero net migration. It's an indirect estimate for the country as a whole.

Why do some people leave?

There's no official statistic on causes. In our experience the weight falls on pace of life, budget, how comfortable the home is, work, language and building relationships. These are qualitative observations.

How long should I rent before buying?

There's no universal answer. Two or three months helps you get to know neighborhoods; six to twelve lets you evaluate winter, routine, costs and how the family adapts.

Does buying and reselling cost 18% of the price?

Not necessarily: buyer and seller face different line items, and ITP is calculated on the cadastral value. Even so, commissions, fees, taxes and any gap in price make an early resale expensive.

From INGAR

As a real-estate agency, closing deals is how we make our money. But a purchase was only a good one if it still makes sense once the initial excitement fades.

So we'd rather work in three stages: a realistic budget → testing neighborhoods and homes as a renter → buying once the financial, family, immigration and tax questions are settled.

If you're weighing a move, we can help you compare neighborhoods, pull the real running costs on each property, and estimate what it would cost to buy it, hold it and eventually sell it — before you commit to anything.

Getting the area right solves a good share of what makes a move work. Our services for foreign buyers include that analysis, and our property listings let you compare neighborhoods before you decide.

Keep reading

• Is Uruguay right for me?
• Is Uruguay cheap? What it really costs to live here
• The scouting trip: how to choose a neighborhood before you buy
• Is it hard to make friends in Montevideo?
• Cold winters and uninsulated houses
• Moving to Uruguay from abroad: a practical guide

Sources

• INE — 2023 census: estimated population, intercensal growth and structure
• Dirección Nacional de Migración — 2025 statistical yearbook
• DGI — ITP · IRPF on capital gains
• UTE — rate schedule in force since January 2026
• Asociación de Escribanos del Uruguay — real property
• Ley 18.381 — Right of Access to Public Information

The adjustment difficulties described here are qualitative observations by INGAR drawn from conversations with clients: they do not constitute a survey or a representative estimate of the foreign population. Information verified August 1, 2026.