Expat Exchange
Free MembershipSign In

Argentina Expat Forum

Moving to AR

New Topic Newest First
yankee777
  8/28/2018 01:00 EST

I am moving to Argentina within the next year. My partner lives in La Plata and I will be looking to work in Buenos Aires. I wanted to see if someone could help me with where to obtain the necessary documents (police report "notarized" and translated) and also an "official" copy of birth certificate. Etc. I have been struggling to find step by step help outside of generic lists. Please Help! Thanks.

HHISCUS
  8/28/2018 09:21 EST

Hello yankee777. You will not need a police report or "criminal records" if you are a native Argentine returning to the country. An original copy of your birth certificate you can obtain at the"registro nacional de las personas" when you get here, assuming you were born in Argentina. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Allianz CareAllianz Care
Get Quote

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.
Get Quote

yankee777
  8/28/2018 09:35 EST

Hello HHISCUS! No I am not a native Argentine! I am from the US. I am attempting to move in with my partner and work in Buenos Aires. I have to move, for the first time. That is why I am asking about all of this. Hope this clarifies things. Thanks!

todikaios
  8/28/2018 12:09 EST

Hello Yankee 777.....Have you ever visited Argentina? If not, I suggest you make a trip and spend a month or so before making the decision for a permanent move. If you enter as a US tourist (no visa required) you can remain for 90 days. During this time you can NOT work legally....as you need a special visa to enter and work. This takes LOTS of time to secure. It is not an overnight thing. La Plata to Buenos Aires is a LONG commute, about 40 miles taking an hour or more. Argentina currently has a major economic crisis (coupled with a terrible corruption crisis). Unemployment is rising. The 200 or more Venezuelan people arriving daily are taking many of the semi-skilled positions that the Argentines look down on (waiters, technicians, semi-silled construction workers, etc.), and the large number of immigrants from Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru and Colombia are taking many of the available low-skilled positions (domestic workers, ditch diggers, etc.). How is your Spanish.? This is essential if you expect to work in a Spanish-speaking country. Again I strongly recommend you spend a month or more with your partner using your personal financial resources, as it won't be overnight that you'll be working (legally) in Argentina. It will cost you about $2000 in airfare and related costs (r/t) and then you can live on $20-$25/day if you have a free place to stay. Where do you live in the USA? Right now it's winter time, and I just came back from two weeks of 40-50 degree temps in Bs.As. If you are young, you can probably endure a lot of changes, but if your older, like me, it is a harder task to endure. HHISCUS who has Argentine roots can surely give you some additional "heads-up" info. Enjoy the Day and continue to give Thanks Always.

HHISCUS
  8/28/2018 12:22 EST

Hello yankee777!
Thank you for clearing that up. If you are not married with your partner, you can enter with a tourist visa which you'll have to renovate every three months. If you are married to an Argentine, then you may want to file for your Argentine Residency with the Argentine Consulate. Your "criminal records" you'll need to file directly with the FBI. You will need Federal and State records which will also have to be apostille. You'll have to contact the city of your birth state to request for an original birth certificate. That one will also need to be apostille. I can offer my services for the translation of all documents for the Argentine Consulate, as that's what I do for living. If you wish, I can send you the information of an extremely reliable company that does all the "criminal records" in the US, as it is not easy to do on your own. Send me your thoughts.

yankee777
  8/28/2018 12:37 EST

I am replying to both of you in this message. Thank you so much for the replies! First to Todikaois (I might have spelt that wrong), I lived in Buenos Aires for a month and a half when I studied abroad I lived with a host family. Additionally, my Spanish is mostly fluent, and my partner lives and is from La Plata. She just visited me in Minnesota here over a week ago. I am going down in November to visit her and be in and around Buenos Aires. I am relatively young, I graduated from the U of M and work in an entry level office job in sales for a corporation. Change does not bother me, and I know about the situation of inflation and plan on securing a job prior to arriving if possible.

Following up with the other response, I know I need to criminal check from the FBI and a birth certificate. I know it needs to be apostilled and translated, etc. It’s just I didn’t know where to go to request it (I believe I found a link to do it directly through the FBI, but I want to make sure it’s the right thing) additionally. Once it comes in the mail and once I get an original (like a true copy from the city?) bieth certificate, I have no idea what it means to apostil it and did not know where to be translating it. I was a little lost on this specific process and the order. So that’s why I am here. Thank you so much!!!

Allianz CareAllianz Care
Get Quote

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.
Get Quote

todikaios
  8/28/2018 13:24 EST

Hi Yankee777....though being from Minnesota you can't claim to be a Connecticut Yankee like me!! I spent about 3 years and about $3000 to get my Argentine residency (my DNI - Document of Identity Number card). You need to get an official Birth Certificate from the state where you were born, typically in the town/city where you were born. I had to then go to the County Clerk's Office (Suffolk County) of this town (Huntington, NY) and get an official stamped document stating that the birth certificate was genuine. Then I had to take this to the State of New York office in Albany, NY, to receive an Apostille which declares that the birth certificate and Country documentation was genuine and valid. Some of these steps could have been done by mail, but I was in a rush so I did a lot of driving over two days to get all of this accomplished. This was just for the birth certificate. I also had to provide a notarized police criminal check from my town of residence here in Connecticut. Then I had to take this document to the State of Connecticut's Secretary of State's office in Hartford, to receive an Apostille for this background check. This was another 2-3 days of frantic driving around. Since I am retired I had to provide a notarized copy of my pension benefits (showing I had some income), and again taking this to Hartford for an Apostille. Every state charges differently for an Apostille. Connecticut charges $40 per document. New York only charges $10. You'll have to query the Secretary of State of Minnesota for their charges. Once you have all the necessary documents, with Apostille's (which is just a big fancy gold seal stating that the document is valid and properly notarized, etc.), you can then submit it to a recognized (by Argentina) translator for a Spanish translation for all the pages of each document. In Buenos Aires there is an official school/organization which maintains a list of all authorized/licensed translators. If you have your documents translated by someone who is not licensed, then the Argentine immigration authorities may very likely reject them. So be sure whoever does the translation is recognized and licensed for Migraciones Argentina. I don't know who you have to go to for an Apostille for the FBI document as I did not need this. However, in addition to my birth certificate, proof of income, and police report, I had to have proof of Argentine residency - which is called a certificado de domicilio in Buenos Aires. I went to the local police station (the commisario) and paid 10 pesos (now worth about 30 cents) for someone to come to my residence the next morning to verify I was living where I said I was living. Then I received a small piece of paper that was valid for 30 days. I also had to have an local Argentine police check which cost another couple of hundred pesos, depending on how fast I wanted to receive it. This required going on line and getting "un turno" which was typically 5 or more days in the future. Likewise, when I had all the paperwork I also had to go on line and get a turn for an appointment at Migraciones Argentina. My partner (who is una Argentina) and I had a receive a certificado de convivencia - which required all the US documentation. This also took a few weeks to secure as nothing is done "on the spot." So, with my certicado de convivencia, my certificado domicilio, my local police back ground check, and lots of receipts that I had paid all the required fees, I showed up at Migracions Argentina, waited lots of hours, and spoke to several agents, and finally had all my papers accepted, and about 3 weeks later I received by DNI, good for 15 years.
Yes, it took over 3 years from when I first started the application process, and over $3000 for all the expenses.
When I enter/leave Argentina I need to show BOTH my US passport and my Argentina DNI. If I don't I would forfeit the DNI. Having the DNI allows me to legally work (if I wanted to) and of course gives me access to all the financial benefits of an Argentine citizen. I can't vote, but in just about every other instance, I have all the rights of an Argentine citizen. For instance I can go to Uruguay just using my DNI and I don't have to show my US passport. I would recommend you spend good amount of time on the Migraciones website (www.migraciones.gov.ar/) to learn all the necessary steps. You can google "getting argentine residency also" but sometimes the information is not complete and often is a form of infomercial. As you speak Spanish relatively fluently and you have already visited Buenos Aires, you should be able to complete all the necessary steps, as long as you have lots of patience for all the "trámites" you'll need to endure. Have fun!

yankee777
  8/28/2018 13:48 EST

Todikaios, thank you so much for your response! I really do appreciate it. That was very informative. It is nice to hear a personal account of going through this process. (From the US)I kepy finding generalized items and lists that were not as specific as what you layed out. What part of el trámite took the longest for you? Did you move down with all the documents, and then start the residency portion while living in Argentina? Or did you go down and turn in the information on a trip? Was there one item that was particularly complicated? Thanks again for being so prompt and replying to me. Muchas gracias a vos :)

hiechuck
  8/28/2018 14:32 EST

You can get most of the info at the New Youk, Argentine counsolate.

todikaios
  8/28/2018 17:23 EST

Perhaps due to my limited Spanish, and even though I visited the consulate a few times, my overall experience with the NYC consulate was full of surprises, limited personal attention, and even some incorrect info. I was able to receive my pensioner's visa which enabled me to apply and receive a one year DNI but there were too many restrictive conditions, that I was not informed about until AFTER I spent lots of time and $$. The Migraciones Argentina website was always correct and up to date, though not too easy to navigate. Even when I went to M.A. several times in Bs. As. I received contradictory counsel and guidance. I tend to think they finally took pity on me and granted me my DNI due to all the red tape (the continuous # of trámites) that I endured. I really haven't read of any USA citizen having a quick and easy process to get an Argentine DNI.

yankee777
  8/28/2018 18:05 EST

In response to the comment about the New York Consulate. I live in Minnesota and the closest one is in Chicago. I would prefer not to travel down there just to get information. I did email them, and they were not particularly helpful.

Allianz CareAllianz Care
Get Quote

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Allianz Care's plans ensure that you have access to quality healthcare whenever you need it. Our flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. You can submit your claims digitally and our helpline is available 24/7 to help you anytime.
Get Quote

yankee777
  8/29/2018 14:53 EST

HHISCUS where do you find the FBI background check?

Thanks

HHISCUS
  8/29/2018 15:24 EST

Hello yankee777,
Log into myfbireport.com and click on "order a copy" when you are there. It will cost you$39+ to which you'll have to add the cost of your preferred shipping choice. This will keep you busy for a while. In the meanwhile, I'll get the name of the company that did the apostille of the doc for me and send it to you separately later.

RobGood1634
  8/30/2018 18:49 EST

Dear Yankee,

I am a Minnesotan currently living in Baltimore. In Minnesota, historically, each county was responsible for birth records, marriages, deaths. Those records are now part of the Secretary of State. If you are in Twin Cities metro area you can follow up in person if the online does not workout for you. Do you know which hospital you were born in? I would get at least two notarized, official copies. Keep one copy of “everything” in a non residential secure place, like a bank. Report your DL lost and get a duplicate, save the duplicate in your document stash. Get a US passport card in addition to the full passport. Keep the card in your document stash. It will help you immensely if your passport is lost or stolen. Get an international driver’s license. Get international medical insurance and ensure the card is plastic or laminated. Bring copies of your IRS records for seven years and establish contact with a cpa or tax guy in Minnesota.who can handle calls from the IRS. Have him registered as your registered so he gets copies of mailings. If military get copies off DD 214.
Now for the criminal stuff. You will need to go to the state bureau to get a clearance letter saying there are no state level charges. The same thing at the FBI, since the overlap is not perfect. Make sure the state says there are no current proceedings in which you are a witness or have any expectation of being charged. An attorney can do this for you.
Now: the easy way to do all this. Apply, with a friends help, at a childcare facility. By federal law they will run an exhaustive background search. By federal law you get copies of the reports. Tomorrow, go online to Customs and Border Protection (.gov) and app,y for the Global Entry Trusted Traveller Program. This is a hassle, but is worth it. Not only will you enjoy facilitated travel in and out of America, you will also enjoy these privileges with other reciprocating countries. Lastly, you will see if there are any skeltons in your closet. The CBP will access just about all the databases that Argentina could. So if you get into Global Entry, you should be good.
Last comment: coming from Minnesota we tend to expect people are good until proven differently. That is not a valid assumption in other parts of the world or, even, in this country today. You want to be able to provide all documents to establish your bona fides.
Good luck. I’m going down there after Xmas.

RobGood1634
  8/30/2018 18:56 EST

Last comment. You need to have documentation of your degree from the main U. The registrar can provide sealed transcript copies and a letterhead attesting to your degree. But the prospective employers may not understand the context of your program. Class descriptions from the catalog show the program your were in and the syllabi from the courses are helpful in demonstrating what you studied.

elhombresinnombre
  8/30/2018 19:02 EST

Even if you move to Argentina in a years time it's likely that you will find the economy in turmoil and competition for not-very-well-paid-in US-terms work to be strong. Does your profession lend itself to remote working? If you could establish yourself as a remote worker while still in the USA you could find the transition to living in La Plata a good deal easier

yankee777
  8/30/2018 19:07 EST

Hello my good sir! I think my profession would lend itself to working remote. However, as far as obtaining to right to live in Argentina while being enployed ans paid by a foreign company. I am uncertain how that would work. Do you know? Thanks for the reply and the idea!

yankee777
  8/30/2018 19:08 EST

HHISCUS, are you still looking up that item? Thanks!

elhombresinnombre
  8/31/2018 06:12 EST

Argentina is a very complicated country and is just heading into an even more turbulent time which is unlikely to blow over within the year.

Staying here, legally as a tourist for up to 180days [1] [2] whilst still having an income stream might give you the breathing space to work out what the alternatives are and what's best for you.

The only downside I can see to that is the documents such as the criminal record check need to be fresh and up to date so you would need to make your application from Argentina or go home again to do it. I don't come from North America so I have no experience of the FBI check but I understand they won't send the certification overseas and if applying from Argentina you'd need to arrange for a friend or a courier in the USA to handle it for you.

[1]Renewable before your first 90 days expire by either going to Migraciones or crossing a national border
[2]Some people do this more than once but, even though DNU 70/2017 has been declared unconstitutional, some immigration officials still enforce it and there is anecdotal evidence of people being turned away at the border.

HHISCUS
  9/12/2018 17:33 EST

Hello yankee 777! Sorry for my silence these past days. I was away from Buenos Aires and from my computer for a much deserved vacation. If you still need this information, I can still get it for you. Please let me know if you still need it, or if you managed to find someone else to do the apostle for you, saving me time from looking it up. I'll wait for your kind response.

todikaios
  9/12/2018 21:11 EST

I believe I read that Yankee777 decided not to move to a small town in Entre Rios

todikaios
  9/12/2018 21:11 EST

I believe I read that Yankee777 decided not to move to a small town in Entre Rios

yankee777
  10/12/2018 20:26 EST

HHISCUS

Hello to you, and to all who have responded. You have all been very helpful and I sincerely appreciate it.

As an update, I am currently in interview processes with a few different companies and will most likely be taking a job down there. I have an official copy of my birth certificate, and I will be ordering by background check (from myFBIreport.com) shortly. Is there something else I should be looking into in order to make sure my ducks are in a row? Once again, thanks so much.

Allianz Care
Allianz Care

Flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. Use Promocode: LIFE10 and get 10% off your international health insurance for life!
Get Quote

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. Use Promocode: LIFE10 and get 10% off your international health insurance for life!
Get Quote

Living in Argentina GuideLiving in Argentina Guide

Expats in Argentina share tips for living in Argentina - from advice about inflation, employment contracts, finding a home and more.

Argentina Forum Argentina Forum
Join our Argentina forum to meet other expats and talk about living in Argentina.

Contribute to Argentina Network Contribute
Help other expats and newcomers by answering questions about the challenges and adventures of living in Argentina.

Best Places to Live in Argentina Best Places to Live in Argentina

If you're dreaming about living in Argentina, here are the 15 Best Places to Live in Argentina in 2023.

Expat Healthcare Advice in Argentina120 Expats Talk about Healthcare & Health Insurance in Argentina

Expats living in Argentina talk about their own experiences with healthcare, hospital visits, emergencies, finding a doctor, buying health insurance in Argentina and more.

Cost of Living in ArgentinaCost of Living in Argentina

Expats offer insight into the cost of living in Argentina.

Moving to ArgentinaMoving to Argentina Guide

Our guide to moving to Argentina with lots of advice from expats on the ground.

Real Estate in ArgentinaReal Estate in Argentina

Real estate listings in popular cities and towns in Argentina.

Pros Cons of Living in ArgentinaPros & Cons of Living in Argentina

Take off your rose-colored glasses and learn what expats have to say about the biggest challenges and the greatest rewards of living in Argentina.

Retiring in ArgentinaRetiring in Argentina

Advice for people retiring in Argentina.

10 Tips for Living in Argentina10 Tips for Living in Argentina

If you've recently arrived in Argentina, here are 10 tips for digital nomads living in Argentina.

Allianz Care
Allianz Care

Flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. Use Promocode: LIFE10 and get 10% off your international health insurance for life!
Get Quote

Allianz CareAllianz Care

Flexible solutions allow you to tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget. Use Promocode: LIFE10 and get 10% off your international health insurance for life!
Get Quote

Contribute to Argentina Network Contribute
Help others in Argentina by answering questions about the challenges and adventures of living in Argentina.

Universal Tax Professionals
Universal Tax Professionals

Copyright 1997-2024 Burlingame Interactive, Inc.

Privacy Policy Legal