Job Discussion Forums

[smilesalot]

Hopefully someone will have some answers that will help me. I'm moving to Argentina in May 2008 (I posted earlier about this and I won't be working until late July or early August). I know it is possible to find work while on a tourist visa and it's not a big deal/I won't get in much trouble if I'm caught, but I need a real work visa. I'd like to be able to apply for residency in a few years (I'm planning on staying in Argentina for a very long time, and I'd like to be legal). Ok, so here are the questions...

I'll be able to get all the required documents while I'm home (I'm in Korea right now), other than a birth certificate and criminal background check (both in Spanish) is there anything else I need to bring?

Will I have to go back to the States for an interview with the consulate or can I take care of that in Argentina?

I'll be leaving Argentina during July to go on vacation in Spain, can I get my visa there?

Sorry this is such a long (and possibly confusing) post. Any help is greatly appreciated. I hope everyone is having a wonderful new year.

[Stevie-G]

I am in a different situation then you but I can tell you my experience.

I live in Argentina and my father is Argentino.

I had to go to Migraciones office (in the province that you live, for me Rosario). I had to give Birth Certificate (not hospital copy, a copy from your�states office of vital statistics,) FBI criminal Record Check (Inter-Pol if you are from europe, the FBI record expires 6 mos. from date of issue), Argentina Criminal Record check (even if you never have been here before, you can get it in one day in BA and it expires in 6 mos.) Photo copy of your complete Passport (including blank pages, and your�tourist visa can not be expired)

For me I had to also provide my father�s birth certificate and DNI (original).

All documents from outside of Argentina have to be have an Apostle (each state in the US does this for a fee..it is similiar to a notary). All documents in English must be translated by a certifeid translator and then recieve a stamp from the "College of Translators" here.

I had alot of people tell me to hire a lawyer and that I had to do it from the states. I received my resident paperwork in an hour from Migraciones (on the third trip there...each time they wanted another piece of paper work). I also received a "numero de CUIL", which is anothe ID number here, from a different office. I am currently waiting on my DNI. Of course I am a different case because my father was born here...

I am not sure how hard it would be to receive a work visa. You should go to Migraciones in person and talk with them. The Argentina consulate in the states told me things that were completely wrong!

The bottom line here is alot of people will tell you things that are not facts. A friend of my family, who is a judge in Argentina, told me my situation was imposible. After I showed him my Resident paper work he still says its a mistake on the part of Migraciones and doesn�t know how I got the paper work.

I hope that helps a little..

Suerte!

Steve

[smilesalot]

Steve-thanks a million! I, sadly, have no family of Argentine origin, so I can't go that route. I'm going to be in Bahia Blanca, so I'll have my significant other (who is Argentine) find out where I should go.

If my state (OR) provides a copy of of my birth certificate in Spanish will that work, or do I still need to have the English one translated? I should be good on the Apostle (everyone in Korea is freaking out about it because we 'suddenly' have to get one on everything to get a visa here, so I've read up on that).

I'm going to be good and not work until I can get a work visa, I'm just a little worried that they'll wonder why I came without one. I've looked at the consulate page, but the visa forms (except the work one) are all in Spanish, so I don't know if there is a different visa I can apply for (yes, I know I should be able to speak and read Spanish, but I don't, yet).

Sorry I have so many questions, I'm just used to how easy it is in Korea to get a visa, so I'm freaking out a little about getting one for Argentina because it seems so much harder. Thanks again for your help.

[Insubordination]

Maybe try asking on some blogs of people who have been there, done that

http://suitcaseonwheels.blogspot.com/

http://expat-argentina.blogspot.com/2006/04/getting-work-visa.html

[Stevie-G]

To be honest I would just work with a tourist visa. The easist thing to do is work on your�tourist visa and take a day trip out of the country every three months. No one here is going to care and it will give you time to see if Argentina is for you...

Migraciones is very slow and i�m not sure how easy it will be to get a work visa...

Just my three cents...

Steve

[smilesalot]

Thanks for your responses Steve and Insubordination. I think I'll get all the paperwork together before I go, then see what happens when I get there. I'll have two months to look for work, so hopefully something good will come along. Thanks again for all your help!

[Insubordination]

If you happen to be a Kiwi and under 30, you can get a working holiday visa.

[smilesalot]

I'm from the US, so no dice there, but thank you for the suggestion. My significant other is talking to some of his friends who work in immigration to find out what we should do. I'm not leaving until May and I'm not starting to work until July, so we should be able to get it figured out before then. I'll make sure to update this with what happens when I get there; I'm glad I know what paperwork to bring, at least I won't have to have my parents take care of more things for me. Thanks again guys!

[misteradventure]

if you plan on working for a public university, you might want to get your degree apostilled also. I think I read about it here.

Your uni registrar's office should have someone who does it. In the US, I found someons who would do it for 3 bucks. In Poland, it involves (almost) an act of parliament.

[bretth71]

what does it mean to get your degree or papers apostilled?

[JimRoss]

The Apostille is a part of the Hague Convention for the legal authentication of documents. It can be applied to degrees, certificates diplomas etc. as well so that the government authority knows that the qualification (or other type of document you need authenticated) comes from an official organisation.

A brief description is:

Diplomas within the framework of the Apostille Convention - some general remarks

The Apostille Convention only applies to public documents. Thus, traditionally the following distinction is being made with respect to diplomas:

(i) diplomas issued by public institutions may be apostillised directly (i.e., the Apostille relates to the diploma itself and is placed on the document itself or on an allonge);

(ii) diplomas issued by private institutions may not be apostillised directly; however, if a 'private' diploma bears a certificate issued by a Notary, Solicitor, Agency or any other person or authority competent under the law of the State of origin of the certificate, an Apostille may be issued to authenticate the certificate on the diploma - in other words, the Apostille does not relate to the diploma itself and only certifies the authenticity of the official certificate on the diploma.

There is a full description of what the apostille is all about here:

http://www.hcch.net/upload/quest_diplomas_e.pdf

There are a lot of legal services world-wide that will do the authentication for you, hit google and type in apostille degree + your country/state.

[misteradventure]

For Americans, the apostile is fairly straightforward.

The document is notarized (any Notary Public can do this- many banks have a notary on staff who will do it for customers). Since a Notary Public is an officer of the Court, this makes it a Court document, which is a 'public document'.

[If it is already a public document (e.g. issued by government body or agency), then it doesn't need to be notarized.]

The document is then sent to the Secretary of State in the State which issued it (i.e. Massachusetts if you went to Boston College) or to the US Dept of State in the case of Washington DC or degrees awarded by the military, for example (i.e. the Naval Academy.)

The Apostille is usually less than ten dollars per document.

The easiest way is to order new documents (copy of official transcripts and duplicate degree certificate) and see if the school Registrar's office will process it for you- they will want the fee, of course, but they know how to do it in many cases.) The reason is that foreign students need this to be done so their degrees will be recognized in their home countries.

Hope this helps.