The neverending story of the new passport

armin31 Contributor

Member since 19 September 2022

armin31Contributor30 July 2025 12:22:55

125

It is a really sad thing: What started as a step to truly improve the life / status of immigrants to Uruguay has been totally bungled by the new government, either out of negligence or in trying to serve political correctness.

As has been reported in the media the government will revert back to the old passports instead of the much improved version initiated by the previous government, meaning that immigrants will again be shown as being nationals of their previous country of citizenship instead of as Uruguayos even when granted citizenship, making the Uruguayan passport worth nothing for this group of "citizens" (citizens ins name only).

One can only hope that the new government will come to its senses and continue this seemingly never ending story for at least one more chapter and make the immigrants that apply for citizenship because they want to be a true part of this wonderful country by implementing a new passport that recognizes them as true citizens and nationals of Uruguay like the government of Lacalle Pou has started.

Meanwhile the faulty passports issued so far will be re-issued free of charge, over 15,000 of them, inorder that they will at least cause no problems for those that were born in Uruguay or have Uruguayan roots.

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Expat91364 Member

Member since 20 April 2025

Expat91364Member01 August 2025 12:52:20

Not the govt’s fault. If other countries won’t accept your passport it is useless!

remember for many countries you can’t simply get a new passport, you are always considered a citizen of you Birth nation and there is no way to renounce it….

armin31 Contributor

Member since 19 September 2022

armin31Contributor02 August 2025 12:30:45

125

Sorry and with all due respect, this is not true as stated.

Yes, you will retain the citizenship of your country in many cases, although there are also quite a few countries that will automatically take your citizenship away if you accept a new one (become a naturalized citizen of another country). This is something Uruguay has no influence on.

But this was not the problem with the new passport. The problem here was that the new government went beyond the good change that the old government had initiated (declaring the naturalized citizen to be both of Uruguayan citizenship and nationality – which Uruguay was one of very few countries to differentiate on hitherto) by removing the place of birth which is in any other country`s passport. The government referenced an NGO as supporting their stance and claimed to have consulted with all other countries instead of just doing it the secure because by every other government accepted way. They obviously did not have the agreement of all the other countries and now they take the progress that could have made away while correcting their mistake.

As I wrote above I hope that they only took the progress away that cpould have been made to have a quick fix (hand out a usable passport to those born in Uruguay) and will do the right thing soon after (of giving a useful passport not only to the native Uruguyans but also to those that have been naturalized.)