Got deported

fattyexpatty

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I’m an American citizen who has been living in Argentina with my Argentine national partner for the past 2.5 years. I returned to the states about every 5-6 months and paid the habilitación de salida every time.

The last time I left (about a month ago), I made the mistake of putting the paper/receipt confirming I paid the habilitación de salida into my check-in luggage. There was a bit of a hassle at migrations, but ultimately the supervisor looked at my record (and that I’d always paid the hds), was understanding that I was staying with my partner, and let me off with a warning that next time I needed to bring the papers (pretty much verbatim).

I’d read online that sometimes when returning to Argentina, migrations wouldn’t let you through if you hadn’t previously paid the hds. I wasn’t sure if the supervisor had just let me go or marked me as having paid, so I figured when I returned, I’d show them the papers just in case.

I’d also read - and maybe misunderstood this part - that it might be better to just be honest and tell migrations that you live here and are returning.

I flew into Argentina yesterday, gave my passport along with hds papers, and when asked if I was here for tourism, I said I live here with my partner. The officer took everything back to his supervisor (a different man), who came to me after some time and was indignant that the hds was supposed to be a one- or two-time occurrence and that what I was doing was illegal. He didn’t care that I lived with my partner and made it to be a whole separate thing as to why I was in Argentina for those periods of time. He left and came back to yell at me about all this again at least one more time.

I was there for about half an hour when they had me go into the office and wait another 10-15 min. The supervisor came and had me sign an Acta de Incidente that said “Sospecha fundada - falso turista,” which I just did since they still had my passport and I honestly wasn’t sure what my other options were. He said next time I come, I need to have a visa and then kicked me out, leaving me with an airline agent and another migrations officer. I asked them what the requirements were for my reentry, and they told me this was a 3 year ban and to re-enter during this period, I would need to go to Argentine embassy and get an appropriate visa.

So yeah, now I’m flying back to my family’s home, a little numb and still reeling over everything. This turned out contrary to everything I read up about people living here and the illegality of the irregular status of those paying habilitación de salida. Not sure if it’s because of the change in government or whether it was always like this.

My partner can’t easily come to the states, and all my belongings are in Argentina, where I am now apparently banned from lol. Not sure what I can do now, if anything, but it sucks. Writing this as a warning to others who might be doing the same, but if you have any advice, I’ll also gladly hear it.
 
Sorry that you ended up in this unpleasant situation.

Why didn't you just register your relationship with your Argentine partner (you can do it online at the CABA government website) and thus get legal residency here with Migraciones to avoid all this mess and risk from overstaying/ trying to fly under the radar? Unless you're trying to do something illegal or are a criminal who can't pass the residency application requirements or simply didn't have grounds to stay in Argentina, then I really can't understand what you'd have to gain by not doing things correctly.

Perhaps it is still an option for you to first register your relationship and then apply for the correct visa from the nearest Argentine consulate. Then when you arrive you should be able to get a temporary residence visa (DNI) that will become permanent after some years giving you the freedom to stay, come and go when you want.

Every country has rules and if you choose not to follow them then you choose to accept the consequences when and if discovered. It is always a little disappointing when foreigners from more "developed" countries think (or come to expect from online opinions or cultural bias) that Argentina (or any foreign country) is some wild wild west or banana republic where they can just do whatever they want by gaming or flouting the system. I would question if they also think about the foreign nationals being deported or facing lengthy procedures just to visit their country as tourists and treatment of those who game or flout their own immigration and border protection systems.
 
...they told me this was a 3 year ban and to re-enter during this period, I would need to go to Argentine embassy and get an appropriate visa.

This seems unclear. Are you banned for three years, or not?

(Perhaps they mean that for three years you cannot expect to be let in as a tourist if you simply buy a ticket and make it as far as Ezeiza, but, if on the other hand you had grounds to enter under another migration category, you could re-enter in under three years provided you applied for and were granted under that category at the embassy beforehand.)
 
this is crazy. at that point i probably wouldnt have demanded a lawyer and claimed some type of human rights.
I think it would have to be the lawyer who actually claims the rights.

Already having a lawyer that could be called in this situation might have been a good plan.


PS: This is not a new issue. I believe that "abuse of the tourist visa" was declared illegal in 2010 and I remember asking if the crackdown had begun in 2013:

 
I know a US citizen who received a deportation notice when migraciones discovered he was living on tourist stamps in his passport. That was a decade or so ago. The lawyer said that it would be hard to actually deport him. The process would take time. Not sure what the situation is now.
 
I know a US citizen who received a deportation notice when migraciones discovered he was living on tourist stamps in his passport. That was a decade or so ago. The lawyer said that it would be hard to actually deport him. The process would take time. Not sure what the situation is now.
It may indeed be "hard" to deport someone who is already living in Argentina, but in the OP's case, it appears to have been easy to make the "deportation" after denying entry to the country.

As previously indicated in posts in other threads by Bajo_cero2, a lawyer might have been able to thwart the deportation by getting a judge's order.
 
Every country has rules and if you choose not to follow them then you choose to accept the consequences when and if discovered. It is always a little disappointing when foreigners from more "developed" countries think (or come to expect from online opinions or cultural bias) that Argentina (or any foreign country) is some wild wild west or banana republic where they can just do whatever they want by gaming or flouting the system. I would question if they also think about the foreign nationals being deported or facing lengthy procedures just to visit their country as tourists and treatment of those who game or flout their own immigration and border protection systems.
Agree. There are numerous threads on this forum discussing potential and actual outcomes of sporadic and habitual overstaying that it's clear it can be a die roll - different agent, different day, maybe different outcome.

Actually legally the OP was NOT deported, but rather denied entry.
 
You could have called a lawyer and had them get an Amparo from a judge to let you in, would recommend registering your relationship and then applying for the DNI to not worry about this anymore
 
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