Penalty for overstaying 90 day visa

[Jackson]

Yo Sydo,

Just think, if you overstayed 6 months this would be equivalent to two Visa runs to Colonia. So your peso fine was less than the total costs of two trips to Colonia and far less painful.

Many thanks for running the gauntlet.

Jackpot

Except for the fact that he is now on record for having violated Argentina's immigration laws, which may or may not be an issue in the future.

I wonder how many guys would be so cavalier about this if they thought it might jeopardize their ability to return to Argentina? Imagine being denied entry into Argentina at the airport because your passport number was "red flagged" for previous visa violations?

Think it can't happen? The US Immigration Dept denies border entries and visas renewals all the time for exactly the same violation.

You guys think that this is just a matter of paying the fine, and it isn't. It's more like receiving your first speeding ticket. You pay the fine and forget about it, but then when you get the 2nd ticket, all of the sudden that first speeding violation has new implications.

Thanks,

Jackson

[Jackpot]

Yo Sydo,

Just think, if you overstayed 6 months this would be equivalent to two Visa runs to Colonia. So your peso fine was less than the total costs of two trips to Colonia and far less painful.

Many thanks for running the gauntlet.

Jackpot

[Facundo]

Because of a scheduling thing it would appear that I will not get out of here until day 94. This would be first time overstaying and of course do want to be coming back. Note the cmmts below on this and guess my inclination is to just pay the fine as long as it no more complicated than this. Guess if anybody done this recently and there any other steps to consider or if Jackson had anymore comments on possible repercussions of this it would be good to hear. Thx.

The consequenses are small, however, I think it's best to just go to the Department of Immigration in Retiro and pay a 100 pesos for a 90 day re-newal. Recently, while, having some documents processed, the person pulled up from the computer every entry / exit and every visa renewal I ever made in Argentina.

Jackson is right, maybe there aren't any consequences for over-staying one's visa, but one day the information collected could be used against you.

[Rioman]

Because of a scheduling thing it would appear that I will not get out of here until day 94. This would be first time overstaying and of course do want to be coming back. Note the cmmts below on this and guess my inclination is to just pay the fine as long as it no more complicated than this. Guess if anybody done this recently and there any other steps to consider or if Jackson had anymore comments on possible repercussions of this it would be good to hear. Thx.

[Jackson]

Greetings everyone,

I think that many of you are missing a major issue here.

The issue is not how small the fine is and / or how easy it is to pay it.

The issue is that you have now officially violated their immigration laws. Now, if you ever have a real immigration issue or if you wish to apply for permanent residency, they will see this on your record.

It's kind of like receiving speeding tickets. You pay the first one because it's easy, but then it really makes it difficult at a later date for your attorney to defend you against the 2nd ticket, which in combination with the first violation begins to present compound problems (license suspensions, increased insurance costs, restricted employment opportunities, etc)

And for the record, they don't need to keep a separate record of your violation, because it's already recorded in your passport.

In other words, I wouldn't be so cavalier as most of you about ignoring their immigration laws and overstaying your visa.

Thanks,

Jackson

[Facundo]

During my entire 1.5yr stay in Argentina, I usually took a trip out to Colonia for a same day in / out renewal of my 90day tourist visa a few days before it was due to expire.

However, my last time I was late and was on day 95 or 96, forgot which. I wondered what would happen when I took my flight out of EZE, and long story short - it was a 50 peso fine. And everyone there treated it as totally routine.

The details - when I showed up at EZE, the United initial check-in girl noted my visa had expired but otherwise did nothing and waved me to the counter line. Same thing when actually checking in and getting my boarding pass. However, after paying airport exit fee and going through the first security check to the immigration room, the guy there said my passport was out of order and I had to go downstairs to talk to the actual immigration office.

So I had to exit back out, only hassle there is the security check wants to see your boarding pass to leave as well as enter, then went downstairs, and with some direction from the Info kiosk, found the immigration office in one corner of the airport. Office is actually misleading - its a little open wall window with a little counter ledge in front of it.

No line when I got there and when I stepped up starting to try and explain why I was there, that I'd counted wrong on my days left, blah blah - the woman there didn't care and didn't even want to see my passport - so for all she knew, I was 5 days expired, or 5 months expired. She never looked. All she did once she heard I had been sent down because my 90day visa was expired was hand me a form that had 4 identical copies to be filled out.

All the info required was my name, that's it. I put down my passport number but no one seemed to care about that either. The immigration office lady told me to now go to the Banco Nacion just around the corner and present that to the bank for my penalty payment, then come back with the stamped copies they gave me. So I went to the bank, and again, the guy there didnt even want to see my passport - so again, far as he knew I was overstaying my tourist visa by years and that didnt seem to change the penalty cost - he just automatically stamped 50 - 50 - 50 -50 on all my copies and asked for 50 pesos. So I paid, and he stamped all four copies again as paid, kept 2 copies and gave me back the other 2.

I went back to the immigration office, the lady added an approval for exit stamp, kept one copy and gave me the last and final one, and told me to now go back to the regular immigration check upstairs.

So I went back up top, gave the immigration check guy my passport and my penalty paid form, and he stamped me out with the usual lack of attention and boredom as any other time I've exited Argentina.

Oh, before all that happened, none of the banks or cambio stations in the airport would exchange any of my pesos to dollars or any other currency because they said my passport was out of order and supposedly they are not allowed to process anything without a valid passport.

So my take away from all this is that the argentines are rabidly strict about the 90day limit (whereas in many other countries I've travelled to, I'd never paid a penalty and just got waved out with a don't do it again frown) - but as long as you go through their little bureaucracy they don't give a damn whether you overstayed days, months, or years.

Maybe there's some counter in their system that tracks how many times you've overstayed, but as far as this first one, no one in that entire chain of getting a stamp to exit bothered or even wanted to take my passport - it was just the form in quadruplicate, payment stamp, then exit stamp.

I don't believe they track how many times people overstay their 90 day visa. I once overstayed my 90 day visa by almost three months and twice by a week or so. They only made me pay the 50 peso fine once, the other two times they signed the form and told me the fine was on them.

[Esten]

Thanks for the detailed info. 50 pesos isn't much of a fine.

[Mpexy]

During my entire 1.5yr stay in Argentina, I usually took a trip out to Colonia for a same day in / out renewal of my 90day tourist visa a few days before it was due to expire.

However, my last time I was late and was on day 95 or 96, forgot which. I wondered what would happen when I took my flight out of EZE, and long story short - it was a 50 peso fine. And everyone there treated it as totally routine.

The details - when I showed up at EZE, the United initial check-in girl noted my visa had expired but otherwise did nothing and waved me to the counter line. Same thing when actually checking in and getting my boarding pass. However, after paying airport exit fee and going through the first security check to the immigration room, the guy there said my passport was out of order and I had to go downstairs to talk to the actual immigration office.

So I had to exit back out, only hassle there is the security check wants to see your boarding pass to leave as well as enter, then went downstairs, and with some direction from the Info kiosk, found the immigration office in one corner of the airport. Office is actually misleading - its a little open wall window with a little counter ledge in front of it.

No line when I got there and when I stepped up starting to try and explain why I was there, that I'd counted wrong on my days left, blah blah - the woman there didn't care and didn't even want to see my passport - so for all she knew, I was 5 days expired, or 5 months expired. She never looked. All she did once she heard I had been sent down because my 90day visa was expired was hand me a form that had 4 identical copies to be filled out.

All the info required was my name, that's it. I put down my passport number but no one seemed to care about that either. The immigration office lady told me to now go to the Banco Nacion just around the corner and present that to the bank for my penalty payment, then come back with the stamped copies they gave me. So I went to the bank, and again, the guy there didnt even want to see my passport - so again, far as he knew I was overstaying my tourist visa by years and that didnt seem to change the penalty cost - he just automatically stamped 50 - 50 - 50 -50 on all my copies and asked for 50 pesos. So I paid, and he stamped all four copies again as paid, kept 2 copies and gave me back the other 2.

I went back to the immigration office, the lady added an approval for exit stamp, kept one copy and gave me the last and final one, and told me to now go back to the regular immigration check upstairs.

So I went back up top, gave the immigration check guy my passport and my penalty paid form, and he stamped me out with the usual lack of attention and boredom as any other time I've exited Argentina.

Oh, before all that happened, none of the banks or cambio stations in the airport would exchange any of my pesos to dollars or any other currency because they said my passport was out of order and supposedly they are not allowed to process anything without a valid passport.

So my take away from all this is that the argentines are rabidly strict about the 90day limit (whereas in many other countries I've travelled to, I'd never paid a penalty and just got waved out with a don't do it again frown) - but as long as you go through their little bureaucracy they don't give a damn whether you overstayed days, months, or years.

Maybe there's some counter in their system that tracks how many times you've overstayed, but as far as this first one, no one in that entire chain of getting a stamp to exit bothered or even wanted to take my passport - it was just the form in quadruplicate, payment stamp, then exit stamp.