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.
