If you are debating getting your residency in Uruguay I am here to tell you another benefit of being a resident: if you are working for a Uruguayan company and paying into BPS (social security) then you are entitled to receive health insurance via the government sponsored Health Insurance Plans.

Many who come to Uruguay, work for a Uruguayan company, and have their residency benefit from these plans. The health care is reliable, the insurance actually covers a good deal, and I think you’ll find you are way better taken care of than with some of the health insurance providers in the States.

The only issue with the arrangement of this health insurance is that the directors of Uruguayan corporations are not entitled to receive coverage from the health insurance plans through BPS. Directors, although they pay into BPS for themselves and their employees, must pay for private coverage.

The *sneaky* way out of this is my setting up your Uruguayan business and then hire nominee corporate directors from outside of Uruguay. They then give you total power of attorney so that you can operate the company, and since you are technically just an employee, you receive health insurance benefits via BPS.

Your other option is to set up a unipersonal, sole proprietorship, but that is another set of struggles in its own right.