Is it true that Mercosur residency rights only kick in after 5 years of naturalization?

No! The only country that applies this mechanism in the bloc is Argentina 🇦🇷.

It is indeed the weirdest of all countries, because they give residency rights to:
- Native citizens of all Mercosur migration treaty countries (fair)
- PLUS native citizens of Venezuela, Guyana or Suriname (not part of the treaty, shouldn't have the right!)

But they deny the right to:
- Naturalized citizens of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia. They can only get it after 5 years.
- Naturalized citizens of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. They can't get it at all (they should, these countries are part of the treaty!)

So Argentina extends residency rights to people that shouldn't have them, and doesn't give rights to people that should (naturalized Colombians, for instance).

Go to the official requirements page for Mercosur residency in ANY of the other countries part of the migration treaty and you will not find this 5 year requirement.

So to sum up, can naturalized Mercosur citizens get residency in the country?

🇦🇷 Argentina: NO ❌, only after 5 years & Colombia, Ecuador and Peru not included
🇧🇴 Bolivia: Yes ✅
🇧🇷 Brazil: Yes ✅
🇨🇱 Chile: Yes ✅
🇨🇴 Colombia: Yes ✅
🇪🇨 Ecuador: Yes ✅
🇵🇾 Paraguay: Yes ✅
🇵🇪 Peru: Yes ✅
🇺🇾 Uruguay: Yes ✅

Fun fact: If you are from Guyana 🇬🇾, Suriname 🇸🇷 or Venezuela 🇻🇪

Even though your country is NOT a part of the Mercosur immigration treaty

Argentina 🇦🇷 and Uruguay 🇺🇾 will give you Mercosur residency👍

That's the best and easiest way to move to these countries