91 days!

[STElmoFranco]

Hi,

I mistakingly booked my non-refundable/modifiable ferry ticket to Colonia 91 days after I last entered Argentina. Whenever I've done the Colonia run before they don't seem to really carefully calculate the number of days. Do you think they'll notice it's 91 days and make me pay the overstay fee?

 

[redeemer]

they may. when i went to extend my technical visa in migraciones, they charged 150 peso for 1 day overstay .

 

[Rich One]

Hi,

I mistakingly booked my non-refundable/modifiable ferry ticket to Colonia 91 days after I last entered Argentina. Whenever I've done the Colonia run before they don't seem to really carefully calculate the number of days. Do you think they'll notice it's 91 days and make me pay the overstay fee?

Si, each day counts , beter reschedule the ticket, fine is $300 for USA, Canadians and Aussies...?

 

[Crema Americana]

It'd be a gamble. Last time I went to Colonia I was at 88 or 89 days and the agent counted on her fingers. I'm not sure if she was counting months or days, but she took a while to stamp it. They're money hungry.

You may get lucky if they just look at the day of the month. If your last stamp was on the 17th and you travel on the 16th or 17th they might not count the 31st days of the month.

 

[Rich One]

The current system that scans your ID takes your pic and registers your thumbprint, is very accurate on dates and 31 day months. I traveled last Thursday. Just go if anything you pay the fine, cheaper than buying another ticket, if yours has no refund. Good luck.

 

[Ingrid]

I have always believed that they count them very carefully and take the days quite seriously, but when a friend of mine did the trip 2 weeks ago, she wasn't aware she has actually counted her days wrong, by 1 day as well until the Buquebus agent told her when she 'checked in'. She freaked because she thought she got it right and didn't bring enough money for the penalty, she called me for help. But then she decided to give it a shot anyway, by the time she called me back, she said the custom let her through and didn't even say a word!! I couldn't believe it and thought the Buquebus agent might be the one who had counted it wrong but afterwards she double checked herself and yup, she miscounted.

So, there you go! To this day, I still can't believe it but it happened! Things here never cease to surprise.

I have to say the 150 pesos penalty for the 1 day overstay was really creative. lol

 

[jontyjago]

I went through 4 days over at EZE and nothing was said. This was in 2009 however. Safer to have the money (300 pesos) just in case. As noted above, cheaper than buying a new ticket.

 

[sinagua980]

My wife and I went through Colonia at 94 days and they caught it. I said, "Cuántos días? No puede ser!" in a horrible accent. And she let us pass, but clearly annoyed. Like you we realized our mistake after purchasing the ferry tickets and just gambled. My guess is you can pull off one day. Good luck!

 

[Tera]

I'm way over my limit, like almost a year. I'm visiting home (US) in October. Does anyone have advice on what I should say when they ask me why I stayed so long. I'm also coming back in December, will they let me back in?

 

[ElQueso]

I'm way over my limit, like almost a year. I'm visiting home (US) in October. Does anyone have advice on what I should say when they ask me why I stayed so long. I'm also coming back in December, will they let me back in?

I doubt they'll ask you why you stayed so long. You have to go to a separate window to pay the fine, and I don't think they don't care there why you are doing it. When you get in line for immigrations, you'll already have the receipt for having paid the fine and they probably won't say anything to you there either.

If they ask, just say something like "I came for a couple of months and ended up staying for awhile." Don't let on that you speak Spanish (if you do) - play the tourist. You'll be fine.

I've never heard of anyone who paid the fine being denied entrance at a later date. Doesn't mean they won't start doing it at some point, but I doubt any time soon at any rate.

The only people I've ever heard of that couldn't get back into the country were people who had done the border crossing at Colonia (possibly other places as well, I don't know) and they found they had an immigrations case against them for previous violations (people who had done A LOT of border crossings to "renew" their visa, not those who paid the fine because they overstayed) and were denied as a result of a court hearing that most of them hadn't even known about.