Hiring A Non-Argentinean As "trabajador De Casa Particular"

[Noruega]

Hello again all-knowing forumites! I am asking for some Norwegian friends, they want to bring a girl from Norway here, sort of like an au pair. They want her to be here legally and not have to leave the country every three months. Some of my Argentinean friends say that it is possible to hire a foreign "domestic worker" legally. While a company, to hire foreign workers, needs to be registered in the Registro de Requirientes de Extranjeros before they can hire a foreigner, apparently individual people can hire a maid, gardener etc. without doing that. From what I understand, this mainly came about so that people could hire domestic staff from neighboring countries and have it be all in the white. There is a little bit of info on the AFIP page: http://www.afip.gob.ar/casasParticulares/#Sr

If this is correct, my friends should be able to do the same thing, right? Has anybody heard of this? Sounds almost too easy...

 

[ElQueso]

The process for the precaria and DNI that you link to sounds like it was meant for Mercosur residents, even though they did have a note of what it costs for non-Mercosur residents to apply. I saw that because the process seems the same for anyone who would get their residency, which is what you need to work legally here as a foreigner, no matter what class of work you do.

So my point would be, anyone from Mercosur countries can already get a DNI and they want Mercosur citizens who come here be residents and be paid in the white, and of course anyone else from other countries as well, but they don't seem to mention what program the non-Mercosur residents would be using the get their residency. I don't remember there being a program for domestic workers, for example, where there is rentista, spousal, work sponsored by local employers, etc. Maybe there is, but if not I don't think the au pair from Norway would have a way to get residency.

I could be wrong about this, obviously, but most Argentines who hire maids or aupairs here, for example, are unlikely to be hiring US citizens (or Norwegian, Canadian, etc) to make them residents but rather Paraguayans, Bolivians, Peruvians, etc (who, as nearly as I can tell from knowing many of these nationalities who works as live-in maids, for example). While anyone can apply for a precaria and onward to residency, I think they still have to have a specific program under which to qualify for residency and be successful at obtaining it.

I can understand your friends' concerns about bringing someone with them who may not be legal to stay and work here. Personally, it doesn't seem to be too problematic at this point in time, although that can change. But for anyone who comes here and stays without residency, I would NOT suggest that they leave specifically to "renew their visa" anyway (due to the multitude of conversations held on this subject). I think the person would be alright coming in and working with the family without a residency (and being paid in the black, of course), as long as they weren't planning to leave and return to Argentina frequently. But I can also see where they might not want to take that chance.

 

[Noruega]

El Queso, thanks so much for your answer! So even if the family was Argentine, there wouldn't be a way for them to hire a non-Mercosur as a domestic worker?

I could be wrong about this, obviously, but most Argentines who hire maids or aupairs here, for example, are unlikely to be hiring US citizens (or Norwegian, Canadian, etc) to make them residents but rather Paraguayans, Bolivians, Peruvians, etc (who, as nearly as I can tell from knowing many of these nationalities who works as live-in maids, for example). While anyone can apply for a precaria and onward to residency, I think they still have to have a specific program under which to qualify for residency and be successful at obtaining it.

I guess I am still a little unclear on the whole process - a domestic worker from any country would have to have a contract or something before applying for precaria and onward, no? I know that to hire foreign workers, a company needs to be registered etc. but from what I understand, a person can hire a domestic worker and thus initiate the residence process for the worker?

 

[ElQueso]

Well, the truth is, I only looked at the page you linked as far as what they are offering. It's possible that there may be some kind of leniency in ALL foreign workers and not just Mercosur workers when it comes to residency, I've just never heard of it.

I think what we may be seeing on that page is a sort of Argentine assumption that the domestic workers one would hire here are already qualified for residency because the vast majority would be coming from Mercosur countries. For those not from Mercosur countries they put the price for a non-Mercosur resident in the text, but then referred (Mercosur or non-Mercosur) to the standard residency process, which makes me think they would still have to qualify under a residency program (for which AFIP is not responsible).

And the Mercosur residents wouldn't have to have a contract at all. They don't get a work visa by contracting with a company, ever, to get residency, their "program" is being a Mercosur resident, whether they end up even working or not.

A worker from any non-Mercosur country would indeed have to have a contract and sponsorship from a company here that is set up to hire foreign workers and get them a work visa or temporary residency.

There are thousands and thousands of Mercosur immigrants who do not regularize themselves and the majority work as domestic workers or wash laundry or cut veggies in chinese (as they are called here, but any asian origin is what I refer to) restaurants or work in chinese supermarkets stocking shelves, or work in verdulerias, or as construction workers - all in black for the most part. Many simply don't bother to get residency. The government has been for years on the kick to register and put in the white specifically domestic laborers and I think that might be one reason AFIP itself has the page about how to get foreign domestic workers a DNI and CUIL, so they can be put in the white and pay taxes. But referring to the AFIP pages is a bit problematic since they aren't the immigration service.

I have a pretty good understanding of the requirements for Mercosur residents (we've gotten residency for some 12 Paraguayans over the last few years and are about to do one more). I have a lot of expat friends who want to get residency and there are only a couple of ways that it can be done normally and most of them don't qualify.

I have one friend, for example, that was even thinking about getting married (a gay marriage - he doesn't trust a woman here, he says, because of the results of the marriage laws on his possessions, but felt a guy would be easier to deal with and he knows someone who would have been willing). He looked into ways to get residency through work contracts (very difficult for his skill set at the least to find a company who would do it) and I would have thought that something like domestics would have come up in his research and discussion with the lawyer he was consulting with had their been something specific about domestic workers - we have a friend who would have hired him in such a capacity I'm sure.

My buddy ended up deciding to go the citizenship route and has hired a lawyer to proceed.

I could be 100% wrong on this - I have heard there are countries that allow families to bring in a domestic worker to accompany a family with visas (for tourism, not sure about residency though), for example. It's very possible there is a program I haven't heard of related to residency and non-Mercosur domestic workers here.

Maybe bajo_cero has a comment on this?

 

[Noruega]

ElQueso, thanks so much for another thorough and excellent answer! I understand it much better now! Interesting to learn how it all works. I think my friends' best option is to have the au pair come and then either overstay, exit and enter the country, or enroll in a Spanish program that would qualify for a student visa.

 

[ElQueso]

I think you've got it. It may be a mixture of all of that.

Also, if she overstays, when it comes time to apply for a visa or a residency program, I don't think the fact that she's overstayed is a problem, as far needing to leave and come back in. As I understand things (a lot of good stuff bajo_cero wrote and my experience), you're not "illegal" here when you've overstayed. you're "irregular". Obviously you can't work in the white, but you can go to school and do just about everything else without fear that you're going to be deported if caught doing something or not flying low enough on the radar. In fact, the most likely point of problem (aside from getting arrested - something criminal!) is leaving and entering the country on "visa runs" (even though that's very unlikely as well).

When it's time to apply for regularizing her status, immigrations doesn't seem to care if you've overstayed.