Job Discussion Forums

[matttheboy]

Well it appears to be at least. A decree (decreto 1169/2004) issued last year states that if you have an Argentine stamp in your passport from before June 30th 2004 you can apply for temporary residency (2 years, access to health care, DNI etc) which, if you marry an Argie or have a child with an Argie will automatically be changed to permanent residency. If not, when the 2 years are up you simply reapply.

I've just started the process-you need your passport with the stamp in it (it doesn't matter how many times you've left the country since the 1st stamp), a legalised and translated copy of your criminal record from your home country, criminal record for your time in argieland, 440 pesos, copies of everything and the ability to get to immigration at 7am to avoid waiting for hours in the queue. A bit of flirting also appears to help. It apparently takes around 2-3 months and you don't have to leave the country to finalise everything like you do for a work visa.

go to www.migraciones.gov.ar for more info.

Good luck,

Matt

[amy1982]

sounds great matt, thanks for the info!!

just to clarify... i have a stamp in my passport from 2003. haven't been there since but plan to be there this year. could i really use that 2003 stamp to apply for residency??? (or is it saying that you have to have been there before and including june 2004?)

[matttheboy]

Well, i don't see why not. I have been in and out of the country about 20 times in the past year and all they wanted to see was an intial entry stamp in my passport. Whether there's a cut off start date i don't know. ie if they've had a similar amnesty in the past and your initial entry stamp corresponded to that amnesty you might have problems but it's worth going to migraciones and asking...it appear to be incerdibly simple-no need for a legalised and translated birth certificate and no medical exams to do...i'm hoping it really is so simple...

I think part of it has to do with the serious brain and labour drain that occured after the crisis when hundreds of thousands of argies fled the country and took their money with them. Encouraging immigration by an amnesty such as this means more tax being paid and potentially more people who can actually help the country.

I have to say that i was treated with a bit more respect at immigration than some people applying. They were even slightly surprised that i was there as most applicants are from China, Korea and also other south american countries. Argentines think they're better than these countries so have less respect for their peoples....Seeing a European face was, i think, a pleasant surprise to them...

[nomadamericana]

That would be wonderful... I hope it will work with all my previous passport stamps from Argentina from 2000 to 2003.

Thanks for the info. Mattheboy! I'm also interested what this mystery business of yours is... update us when you can divuldge some info.

~NA

[Marcethebest]

You are right in what you said about getting a residence. I am argentine ( I don�t like calling myself "argie", sorry) and my husband is American, he arrived in April 2003, and we had to go to the Migrations Office every 3months, before that period finished we got married, and last year we had a baby, so we had all those papers ready, then he started with his permanent residence. It took him almost a year to get it, and now he started everything to have his own DNI as a foreign resident. He didn�t have to pay $440 that you said, he just paid $100 when he got the second visa stamp in his passport. And it�s true, bring copies of your birth certificate and a sort of police record, everything needs to have what is called Apostille from Haya, he had to do it in his country. Here he was asked to get a police record in the province where we live and in the Federal Police, and contrary to what Matt is saying, my husband did have to take that medical exam.
If I can help someone with this, I �ll be glad. My husband spoke zero spanish so I had to do all his papers myself, so I know how we did it.
Marcela

[matttheboy]

Wow, Marcela, you've been busy!! The Decreto 1169/2004 is a different way of gettiing residency than what your husband went through. Under this decree all you need is to have in your passport a stamp from before 30th June 2004, a copy of your criminal record from your home country and one from Argentina. There's no need for the medical tests and you don't even need to show your birth certificate, both of which you need if applying for a visa or any other kind of residency here. It's an amnesty rather a than a normal form of getting residency and for that reason there's an admin charge of $400 plus $40 to get your criminal record from argentina.

If you've changed/lost your passport then any documentation from AFIP will suffice, or a marriage certificate (doesn't have to be to an argentine resident), or a birth certificate of a child (again doesn't have to be with an argie resident) born in the country.

And don't worry about the word 'Argie', it's a term of endearment, like when we call the french 'froggies' and they call us ' les rosbifs', 'Aussies' call us 'Poms'...these terms only become offensive when you put adjectives like 'dirty' or 'fcuking' in front of them and this only happens when we play each other at football And that only lasts 90 minutes!

BTW, what's santa fe like? I've never been nor met anyone from there...

[Marcethebest]

Thanks for replying so fast, Matt!!!
May be I had to do all this because I am not in BA, my husband arrived in BA in April, 2003, since then we started all this messy papers
Papers for him, though, were easy because we got married, they only took time! May be if you do it directly in BA it might be faster...who knows!? I was told at Oficina de Migraciones here in Santa Fe, that everything might be faster if it is done in BA, but we decided to make it here, even when it took more time, because I was pregnant.
You asked what Santa Fe is like?... HOT!!!! VERY HOT..., do you know where it is in the map? it is 450km northwards from BA, it�s above Rosario. People say that Santa Fe has the most beautiful women of Argentina If you ever happen to watch some Formula 1 car races, you might remember Carlos Reutemann, he is from here and he was our governor. By the way, may I ask your age?? I am 40 proud years old
If you want to ask me about anything else, just feel free to drop some lines at [email protected] , or at my yahoo messenger.
Thanks for replying, Matt!
Hope you have a good day!!! (Are you now in Argentina??? )

[matttheboy]

Just thought i'd give a very quick update (i'm off to chile in an hour for a few days).

Just been to Migraciones to show my passport, Argentine criminal record, British criminal record and that's it. On the 1st June i'll have a shiny new residency to call my own.

So in total it takes about 4 months from start to finish to sort everthing out.

I asked the guy why they were having this amnesty and he told me that when Argentina signed a massive trade deal last year with China part of the deal was that all Chinese citizens already in Argentina would be able to normalise their illegal situation. Under international law it would've been illegal to only include Chinese so anyone from outside the Mercosur countries is eligible.

I don't know how long the amnesty will last as it's already been extended once (supposed to end in December 2004 according to the form i've got) so hurry up...and good luck.

Matt

[matttheboy]

Well, just to bring you up to date:

I went to immigration today and have been handed temporary residence for 2 years, extendable for a further 2 years if i can show i've been of benefit to the country in some way. This means i'll get a DNI and be legally allowed to stay in the country, work etc

Anyway, the decreto is no longer going, the cut off date was March 20th so if you haven't applied already you won't be able to...sorry...

For those who did apply then remember to take a book with you next time you go...2 hours of sitting in a plastic chair with nothing to do is not much fun...

Cheers,

Matt