Trials and tribulations of getting permanent residency in Argentina
This article explains what’s required to “tramitar” residence in Argentina, for those who get married to an Argentinian citizen and presents some real experiences on typical hold-ups.
If at all possible, I recommend using an immigration agency or a lawyer to help you with the Argentinian immigration process - the marginal cost incurred will likely save you many hours of wasted time!
If you go-it-alone, this is what you’ll need (subject to change - check with migraciones for current requirements):
- original marriage certificate
- current passport
- original birth certificate
- police reports (criminal records) from your country of birth plus all countries you’ve lived in within the last five years.
- police report (antecedentes)from Argentina
Note: All of the above documents (except the passport) that were not issued in Argentina will require an Apostille (apostilla) from an office in your home country. An Apostille is not merely a “verified copy” - it is a seal and signature issued by a special office in your home country that conforms to an international convention of the Hague. Some countries are not parties to this convention - if you’re from such a country then contact the Argentinian embassy in your country for further details.
Note: Your country’s embassy in Argentina cannot normally issue Apostilles, so, if you’re already in Argentina, then you’ll have to send the documents back to your home country to get them apostilled.
Note: Any of the above documents that are not in Spanish (including your passport) will require a Spanish translation performed by a translator registered in Argentina and verified by the colegio de traductores.
It seems crazy to need an Argentinian police report if you’ve never lived in Argentina before but unfortunately that’s just the way it is. You can get your antecedentes certificate (as it’s called) at the immigration office or at the Registro de Antecedentes but for much of this year there were huge queues at both places and only a limited number of applicants were accomodated each day - meaning that if you didn’t queue from around 6 o’clock in the morning, you’d miss out and have to try again another day.
Once you have all of the documents (originals, Apostilles and official translations), then photocopy them all and take them and the photocopies along to the immigration office. Ask the information desk where you need to go, then take a number and wait (1 hour on a good day or 2-3 hours on an average day). Despite there being about 4-5 tellers to serve the crowd, the workers mostly seem to be content to chat to each other, take long breaks and pretend to be busy with something else. Once your number is called, one of the public servants will look over your documents and most likely tell you that something is missing or incorrect. Your only option is to go away, fix the problem and try again another day (join the queue…) If you get lucky on the first day then congratulations - you’ve made a new record!
One day when your documents are eventually accepted you’ll be allowed to pass through to the coveted “other room” where you’ll have to pay a couple of hundred pesos, sign some documents and have your photo and thumbprint taken. Well done - the hardest part is over. You’ll be given a residencia precaria and told to come back again in 1-2 months time.
Assuming that nothing dodgy is found with your application, in a couple of months time you’ll be the proud new owner of an Argentinian permanent residence certificate, which you can then use to apply for a DNI (national identity document) which will take about another 3 months.
