Practical advise needed - on EVERYTHING

Hello metamorfoza,

While I'm not really up to speed on real estate in Uruguay, I can tell you from 13 years experience here in Brazil that you should stay as far as possible from purchasing any property such as apartment or condominium townhouse, detached home in development in the pre-construction phase ANYWHERE in South America. There are constantly horror stories in the news about home buyers being left with nowhere to live because of outrageous construction delays.

Traditionally courts in South American countries do little if anything to punish those who blatantly disregard contractual delivery dates or compensate those who have been victimized. Like the old saying goes, if it looks too good to be true that's because it is too good to be true. While you may pay a bit extra for a dwelling that is already completed you will avoid the risk of losing your lifesavings and still have no place to lay your head.

Here in Brazil, for example, there are many cases where buyers are forced to make mortgage payments to the banks for years, while they duke it out in the courts to get the homes they purchased turned over to them. It's ridiculous, really!

Cheers,
James           Expat-blog Experts Team

@metamorfoza -

If you're going to Uruguay in June, at that time you should very carefully investigate the available options for your health care needs. Do this first before anything else. Dig deeply.

I think you may find yourself disappointed at the dearth of affordable options, if indeed you find any any options at all.

And before departing, start looking into health care in Uruguay for foreigner expats over 60, to give you an idea of what is available to you. Hint: you won't find much information. Reason: Uruguay is not a health care friendly country for foreign seniors over 60.

Good luck with your plans.

There are several different English speaking groups in MVD.  I don't go as it is an hour and a half drive from Atlantida.

You can see some of them on Total Uruguay website.

The other is organized by a very nice German lady called Marita.  She has a good newsletter you should subscribe to called the Uruguay Info Exchange  [email protected].

See also http://www.explore-uruguay.com/uruguay- … LpRWCg72Ts
at the bottom are past Bulletins by Marita

The Facebook group generally answer very specific questions but no one wants to keep giving the same reply over and over to general questions that people should research on their own.

I disagree about Healthcare.  It is definitely organized differently here. Most locals sign up for life or through their jobs. If you are unemployed or very poor , you can get free care but it is probably of a more basic kind than you would expect in the US.

We signed up with our passports, (we were not even temporary residents at the time) with Medica Uruguaya.  No real exam except for a very cursory doctor's exam and a few questions.  My husband was over 65 at the time.

We have since switched to Asociacion Espanola.No real reason except for ease of making appointments online!  Initially they said No in Atlantida as my husband was over 70 at the time but we asked again in MVD and they signed us up, no questions at all.  I needed a repeat test for a longstanding problem and there were no issues with pre- existing conditions, on the contrary, the doctor was anxious for me to get the test repeated and reminded me to have it done again in a few years.

We pay around $80.00 US a month with small charges for meds if needed or special tests.  I have a friend who unfortunately just died after 42 days in hospital, mostly in ICU in an induced coma. She and her husband are from the USA.  He was extremely happy with her care and had no out of pocket expenses. ( Medica Uruguaya )
The British Hospital does not take people over I think 50 so it is worth checking out the different options. There are also Emergency services fairly cheaply that pay for medical services in an emergency including ambulances. They have booths to sign up at our local street market so I don't think they are all that fussy about your age or nationality.

Thank you James for the most valuable advice ! I booked my trip to Montevideo for coming June and I will be reading everything on this blog. Every bit means a lot for me. thank you,
Galina

thank you very much, I appreciate your information. I will be even more careful now in gathering info. Cheers,
Galina

Thank you very much. One clarification, if I may ask for your additional time. You mentioned you pay around 80 US monthly for medication. How much do you pay for your private insurance, I mean medical insurance - Doctors visits, lab, etc.? Who IS eligible for a government medical coverage. If I am an "investor" - buying property in Montevideo and being over 60 - am I eligible for becoming a citizen? What are the benefits? Will I have to continue paying income taxes in the USA if I move to UY? Thanks again,
Galina

The $80.00 US per month is for the monthly charge to belong to our mutualista not for meds - I don't take any.  There are small charges for certain tests and also if you have more visits per month than they allow etc.  Some mutualistas charge a few dollars more a month but have no extra charges.

This is the website for Medica Uruguaya   http://www.medicauruguaya.com.uy/  most have similar.

If you get a prescription from a doctor, it is cheaper to fill it at the clinic rather than going to a regular farmacia.

Theoretically free healthcare is available but our lawyer told us that to qualify for residency you have to show "Sufficient income to support your way of life."  As the public healthcare is supposed to be only for the poor and unemployed then by definition you do not qualify.  The public hospitals are overcrowded, poorly staffed and have had a lot of bad press recently with many nurses calling in sick, people dying waiting for a bed and lack of equipment.  Personally it seems selfish to use the public system when I can afford to pay for my own care.

Buying property has no bearing on your residency. This program ended a number of years ago. Your age is of no importance either.  If you apply for residency and after a number of months or years you get it, then you can think about citizenship.  It takes a few more years and some further requirements to qualify. You then are required to pay taxes here, vote etc. Some who have lived here almost all their lives do not have citizenship as they do not see any benefits and prefer to live here with Swiss, Spanish, Italian etc. passports but are permanent residents.

Unless you renounce your US citizenship, you will always have to fill out tax forms in the US.  You may have little tax due though if you are a non resident.  I do not know the laws about this in the US.

Morell:
Thank you, you provided me with a lot of wonderful info. I hope that with everybody's help here, I will be more prepared for my investigative visit in June :-))
Best, enjoy your summer !

morell wrote:

Unless you renounce your US citizenship, you will always have to fill out tax forms in the US.  You may have little tax due though if you are a non resident.  I do not know the laws about this in the US.

The always-have-to-fill-out-tax-forms advice is a common misconception.

Resident or not, you may be exempt under IRS income thresholds for filing.

A lot of U.S. residents and passport-holders file anyway even though they don't have to, sometimes on a just-in-case basis.

source:  Investopedia

Check irs.gov if you want to see whether you may be exempt from filing.

cccmedia, Quito, Ecuador

That is true  I am sure with a very low income.  This article says under $9000 US.
https://americansabroad.org/issues/taxa … broad-faq/

This also mentions FBAR and form 8938 that are required by US citizens abroad.

Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR Requirements