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Residence Visa Questions
Forgive my ignorance if this seems too simple, but I have some questions about the residence visa that perhaps some of you could answer:
A. Mechanically, how does it work?
1. You retain US citzenship, passport, and residency, I believe?
2. Do you receive a special visa stamp in your US passport, or a separate document? Is there an effect on loss of passport, especially while waiting for the DNI?
3. To cross into another Mercosur country, do you need your passport, or only your DNI, or both? Do you receive stamps in your passport?
4. Do you receive stamps in your passport on exit / entry to travel to the (a) US or (be) Other non Mercosur countries as usual?
5. Does your residency and DNI have an effect on the Paraguay visa requirement for Americans, or the Bolivia 30 day visa period, or the maximum of 180 days / year in Brasil, since you are a Mercosur resident?
6. In studying residence visas a few years ago, I saw something nasty about travel restrictions to a third country during some qualification period that seemed prohibitive for me. Was this Argentina? Does it ring a bell?
B. For US citizens, normally there is a state residency requirement in order to drive, vote, have auto and health insurance. Many applications don't work without a phone number. States are also hungry to tax pensions and interest, for example. The last time I looked you were legally a resident of the state where you last resided until you ACTIVELY made efforts to change it: residence, drivers license, voting, bank accounts, insurance. The idea is you can't just change your address to your sister's house and have it be legal. How are US / US state residency requirements affected by the foreign residency in general? State taxes? Inheritance and wills?
C. Has anyone renewed their passport thru the US Embassy instead of returning to the US to renew it?
Thanks
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Lexton,
I can answer some of your questions as I currently have a "work visa" in Argentina. It was originally issued for 1 year and I have now renewed it twice. Next year I am eligible to apply for a "permanent residency" visa. I'll go in order:
1. Yes, you retain US residency, passport, etc.
2. Yes, you receive a visa stamp in your passport. Can't answer your question on the DNI because I don't have one. I will get one once I am permanent. Usually I am only missing my passport for a few hours while my guy goes to immigration to do all the work for me.
3. Yes, you need your passport. Yes, you get stamps.
4. More stamps again.
5. Not a clue.
6. The only travel restrictions I received when I first applied for the work visa was to not travel to Asia because of bird flu.
6B. Too vague. Check with an attorney on specifics.
6C. I haven't, but heard it isn't a big deal.
Suerte,
Trader. (Shit, I almost signed my real name)
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"To cross into another Mercosur country, do you need your passport, or only your DNI, or both? Do you receive stamps in your passport?"
[QUOTE=Trader]3. Yes, you need your passport. Yes, you get stamps.[/QUOTE]Not necessarily true. You can travel to other Mercosur countries without a passport, you only need your DNI and they don't stamp it. However, if you are travelling to a country that requires a visa for your nationality, such as an American travelling to Brasil, then you need your US passport regardless of your residence status in Argentina. The foreigner's DNI lists your nationality, of course.
It's nice being able to travel on the DNI alone if you travel often within Mercosur. Otherwise, the entry/exit stamps will fill up your passport very quickly.
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Residence Visa Questions
Thanks for the info.
To clarify my question regarding the visa stamp, if you lose your passport, can you get the new one stamped easily, especially if you don't have a DNI yet?
On the state residency issue, I know it isn't simple. I am thinking a little of changing my residency to Nevada, but without ongoing active help of some resident there, it isn't easy. Does your foreign residence in a non-USA possession have any effect whatsoever on the residency requirements of the USA that might help or change the whole situation?
I am a little surprised at the stamps to return to the US, but on thinking about it, this is probably a US requirement more than an Argentinian one.
It sounds like one help of the DNI would be the ablility to travel frequently to Bolivia and Uruguay. Paraguay and Brasil would not change, based on what Moore is saying?
Thanks again.
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[QUOTE=Moore]Going by experience, be very careful with changing your temporary residence status / category until you get the permanent one. It used to be (not so long ago) that if you changed a temporary status / category, you lost the visa and had to apply for a new temporary visa all over again (and restart the 3 year permanent waiting period) As long as you have the same kind of documents to present, the annual renewals are quite simple. But even the slightest change - lets say the payor name on your pension statement changes next year - can cause big probs. Or lets say you have to show the last 6 months pension payments for each renewal but are missing one. They want to see exact continuity.[/QUOTE]Very enlightening comment. May I ask you to expand a little?
For my first rentista visa, I have some US retirement accounts (IRA, Keogh) which I'm planning to put into income-producing investments (T-bills, bonds, etc.) to demonstrate the required 2,500 pesos / month income. I don't have a regular pension, just self-managed investments. But after getting that first visa, I was hoping to reallocate the funds elsewhere (for example, to invest for capital gains instead of income).
Are you saying that at each annual renewal of the rentista visa, I will again have to submit evidence of income -- complete with notarized letter and apostille from the US? And is another fresh US police report required too, even if I stayed in BA all year?
What if the funds are moved to a bank in Colonia -- would it be inadvisable to let the Argentine immigration authorities know that one has an account there? Or a final idea -- what about generating 2,500 pesos a month from money in an Argentine bank, for example with the inflation-indexed peso bonds? Not that I want to do that, but it is feasible.
If the above understanding is correct, would it be more advisable to get a business entrepreneur visa instead, since I have an established company with a 10-year-plus history? Just wondering if that would ease the visa renewals, by means of simpler and / or more local (Argentine) documentation. Having already been through some of the time-consuming document collection / notarization / apostille process at the US end, I want to avoid having to fly back each year and do it all over again.
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Visa renewal
Has anyone tried just re-newing every 90 days their visa at the Department of Immigration, and thus avoiding having to go to Colonia? I used them once, paid AR$100 and they renewed my visa for 90 days after having been here for 90 days. Is it possible that they won't renew the visa if the person has been here more than 6 months per year? In other words, is this department strict about adhering to the no more than six months per year rule that all other officials don't seem to care about?
Thanks.
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I just renewed my visa downtown last week, posted under another thread. No problems. 100p. Bring your passport, a photocopy of the information page of your passport and a photocopy of the passport page listing your last renewal. I have been here almost a year, with previous renewals done via Colonia. Get downtown by 8 am and you should be out by 10 at the latest.
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Dogboy, thanks for the information on renewing my visa at the Department of Immigration in Retiro. I'm going there tomorrow morning and I'll post soon after my experience.
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David Ross.
I, too, renewed downtown. I entered Migraciones on a Friday morning at 11:38 and left 12 minutes later with a renewal. Yes, 12 minutes. My only wait was at the cashiers window for about 3 minutes. At the day and hour of my visit there were employees clamoring to help me as there was a dearth of applicants. The cashier window closes at 2 p. M, be advised. For really fast in / out service bring copies as I did and as Doggboy advises and avoid the line at the photocopy.
It is my understanding that renewals can be done downtown every other time and that the 'other time' means a trip out of Argentina. Now, if one is over the 90 day limit a different scenario may / probably come into play.
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12 minutes! That's got to be a record. You must have charmed some beauracrat Hound.
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Renewed my visa yesterday at the "Dirección Nacional de Migraciones" and it took a total of 70 minutes. It would have been a lot faster if it had not been for three people ahead of me that had all sorts of problems renewing their visas. Also, the workers at the visa renewal section stoped working for about 15 minutes to smoke, at their respective desks, in a building that has signs clearly marked that smoking is not allowed. I reported the fuckers to their jefe and I called a Clarin reporter that I happen to know. He said he will try and hangout there this week and do a story and take photos.
However, in spite of a few problems, the visa renewal is pretty easy and it beats going to one of the most boring places in the world, Colonia, Uruguay.
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DR: Are you calling the Clarin to report violations of prostitution laws as well?
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Thomaso, I will report you, only if I see you hanging out in front of my apartment building dressed in a free flowing gown, fishnet stockings, stileto heals, lips painted in deep red lipstick, and screaming that the woman deep inside of you is screaming to get out. Espero que tengas un bello día.
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Who cares if people are smoking in a building. It is Argentina, not USA and if you want rules like that then stay in the USA. I do not think you should make Argentina be more like USA and start complaining about everything. You are in Argentina, feel the vibe, and enjoy it, laugh a little and leave it at that.
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Well said!
[QUOTE=Ampfofu]Who cares if people are smoking in a building. It is Argentina, not USA and if you want rules like that then stay in the USA. I do not think you should make Argentina be more like USA and start complaining about everything. You are in Argentina, feel the vibe, and enjoy it, laugh a little and leave it at that.[/QUOTE]Amen!
I couldn't agree more!
David