Boarder crossing/visa advice

[clairedelalune]

Hi all

I'm currently living in BsAs and my visa is due for renewal soon. I'm traveling to Bariloche and El Caafarte this week for 10 days. I'm trying to find out about ways in which I can cross the boarder into Chile from either Bariloche or El Calafarte in 1 day. Has anyone done this or can suggest any routes or ways in which to cross in a day?

I'm due to fly back to the UK in November. I have my flight booked and paid for which I could print out and prove, if anyone thinks it would help..?

I'm flying both to and between Bariloche and El Calafarte. Does anyone know what the consequences would be if I don't manage to cross the boarder and renew my visa? E.g. pay a fine once back in BsAs, slapped wrists....be deported?!

Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated - thanks in advance.

 

[French jurist]

Claire,

As you'll be able to check in various threads on this forum, and as this will be confirmed to you by many here, there are no consequences if you leave on an expired visa (Although I wish I could be slapped on any part of my body by Maria del Lujan Telpuk / inside joke). You'll pay 300 pesos when you'll leave and that's it.

As for the routes to Chile from Bariloche/Calafate in 1 day, that's obviously doable I guess but useless if it's only to renew your visa. If you go to Chile, better spend more time, eat good seafood, go to Pablo Neruda's house and such...

 

[John.St]

There is a bus leaving Bariloche at 07:30 arriving 12:15 in Osorno, Chile and one returning from Osorno 16:30

It's a beautiful trip through the cold rain forest.

Find the buses here: http://www.plataforma10.com/

 

[clairedelalune]

Thank you both for your replies! We (being myself and my friend Erica who wrote this query as she can't seem to reset her password to get access via her accont) are aware that they just slap your wrists when you are actually leaving, the problem is she needs to use her passport as ID to fly from El Calafate to Buenos Aires, after the date when her visa expires, and we were told by some Argentines who work in tourism in the south that you need to have a current visa if it is checked by police at any point during your stay or risk being interned/deported. This hasn't been my personal experience, but I haven't used my passport with anyone more official than a building security guard or a bank teller since my own visa expired, and they are convinced that the police in the South are much stricter than in BA.

So we were wondering if there is a risk involved in showing a passport with an expired visa to the official channels when checking in at the domestic airport? Will they look at the visa at all, and if they do and they find it expired, will they just tell her that she is going to have to pay a fine when she does leave, or will there be some other kind of consequence?

In Chabut they seemed to think that there are very serious consequences for not having your passport on you when you go through police checks. They thought we were crazy for having traveled to Puerto Madryn with only photocopies of our passports as ID, and not even certified copies, partly because there was no way to prove we had valid visas (I declined to mention that I don't have one, don't think we'd have survived the drama they'd have made over it!)

Thank you!
Claire.