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🇺🇾  Retiring in Uruguay from Canada

What Canadians need to know: the visa, how your pensions are taxed, what to do before you leave and every year after.

By the retireacross editorial team · Last reviewed

Visa for Canadians

You can visit Uruguay without a visa for 90 days (up to 90 days per visit): enough for a trial stay before you apply. To live there you need a residence route:

  • Permanent legal residence. Official page
  • Retiree benefit (Law 16.340): income from 1,500 USD a month and a home or investment from 100,000 USD. Official page

Check your figures in the visa checker

Sources: Gobierno de Uruguay: permanent legal residence (Dirección Nacional de Migración, updated Feb 2026) (checked 2026-10-22) · Gobierno de Uruguay: benefit for foreign retirees with permanent residence (Law 16.340) (checked 2026-10-22) · UK travel advice: Uruguay, entry requirements (checked 2026-10-22)

How your pensions are taxed

Service Canada lists no reduced rate for Uruguay: OAS, CPP/QPP and other Canadian pensions keep the 25% non-resident tax as Canada has no tax treaty with Uruguay: an NR5 or a section 217 return is the only way to reduce it. Uruguay itself does not tax most foreign pensions.

  • OAS and CPP/QPP: 25% withheld in Canada.
  • Company pensions: the treaty's pension article where there is one, otherwise 25%. Public-service pensions (such as a teachers' or RREGOP pension): the treaty's government-service article, often taxable only in Canada.

Sources: Service Canada: lived or living outside Canada, taxes (rates by country) (checked 2026-10-26) · Finance Canada: tax treaties in force (checked 2026-10-26)

Canada: As a non-resident, Canada withholds 25% on OAS, CPP and other Canadian pensions (company or public-service plans such as a teachers' pension), and on Canadian interest and dividends, unless a tax treaty with your new country lowers it; without a treaty, form NR5 (or a section 217 return) is the way to reduce it. OAS abroad needs 20 years in Canada after 18. Official page

Uruguay's own rules: Uruguay taxes mainly Uruguayan-source income: pensions from abroad are generally not taxed. The exception is foreign investment income (interest, dividends and, since 2026, foreign rents and capital gains), taxed at 12%. New residents can choose a tax holiday on that income (11 years, or a reduced 7% rate); the 2026 budget law changed its terms. Net wealth tax applies only to assets located in Uruguay above about US$160,000; there is no inheritance tax.

Before you leave Canada

  1. Check your OAS and GIS abroad (Canada): OAS continues abroad only if you lived in Canada at least 20 years after 18 (or 20 years combined with a social security agreement country); the GIS stops after 6 months away. Count your years before you choose where to live. Official page
  2. Check the tax Canada will withhold on your pensions: As a non-resident, OAS, CPP/QPP and Canadian company or public-service pensions are taxed at 25% at source unless a treaty with your new country lowers it (Service Canada lists the reduced OAS and CPP rates by country). Without a treaty, file form NR5 by 31 October so a lower rate applies from January. Official page
  3. Your departure-year tax return (Canada): File a final return for the part of the year you were resident, with your departure date. You are treated as selling most investments outside registered plans at market value (the "departure tax"); list your property on form T1161 if it is worth more than $25,000. Tell your banks and pension payers you are a non-resident: Canadian pensions, interest and dividends then have non-resident tax withheld. Official page
  4. Your provincial health cover ends: Provincial plans such as Ontario's OHIP cover people who make the province their primary home: once you move abroad for good, you are no longer covered. Arrange cover in your new country from the day you arrive (private insurance, or the public scheme where residents must join), especially if you need regular follow-up. In Québec, RAMQ eligibility ends on your departure date, and you file a Québec return for the months you were resident; your QPP is paid by Retraite Québec. Official page
  5. Tell Service Canada before you leave: Contact Service Canada before leaving for more than 6 months, and give them your new address and bank details: it avoids overpayments you would have to repay. Official page (from age band 65-74)

Every year, from abroad

  • File your OAS Return of Income (before 30 April): If you get Old Age Security and live outside Canada, file the OAS Return of Income (OASRI) before 30 April each year: it decides whether you repay part of your OAS (the recovery tax, for net incomes over $93,454 in 2025). Residents of some treaty countries are exempt.
  • Renew your NR5 (if you filed one) (every 5 years, by 31 October): An approved NR5 lowers the tax withheld on your Canadian pensions for 5 years, unless your income changes. File the next one by 31 October of its last year, so the reduced rate continues the following January.

More for Canadians

Rules and figures change and we can make mistakes: confirm with the official source or a licensed advisor before acting.