Montevideo, September 17 (PL-RHC) -- President José Mujica has enacted a law that facilitates obtaining Uruguayan residency for those born in member-states of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) and for Uruguayan relatives born abroad.

Lourdes Bone, director and Bonding and Consular Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, stressed the importance of the measure, covering 60 percent of applications for permanent residence.

She reported that the initiative is part of the work on immigration policy from a rights perspective and an integrationist spirit.

Those individuals who meet the requirements will have direct access to permanent residence in the country, from a 'very agile and non-bureaucratic' process, which will be processed within no more than 30 days, Bone said. She said they are working on the decree and that the law will be in force beginning in early October.

The measure also extends to spouses, domestic partners with judicial proceedings conducted in Uruguay, siblings, parents and grandchildren of Uruguayan citizens.