I Was Denied Entry At Ezeiza

[ajoknoblauch]

If you really want to get in the country there must be ways like going to Paraguay and smuggling yourself across the border.

If you fly from the Falklands to Río Gallegos, immigration will probably say nothing because they'll consider you were already in the country.

 

[cbonanni]

Get your DNI !! I had been in and out for years. Always under the 90 days . Never paid an overstay. Now I hand over my DNI to migraciones , with all my many stamps , and they just do their thing. Same with leaving. How cool is that ? Just write down my dni # and no worries !

Argentina is not some third world country. They have , uh , computers. They know......... entries and exits.

Do not be so stupid.

 

[Somewhereinba]

Get your DNI !! I had been in and out for years. Always under the 90 days . Never paid an overstay. Now I hand over my DNI to migraciones , with all my many stamps , and they just do their thing. Same with leaving. How cool is that ? Just write down my dni # and no worries !

Argentina is not some third world country. They have , uh , computers. They know......... entries and exits.

Do not be so stupid.

This could turn into another thread but it seems getting a DNI is not possible for a lot of people because they are not in the country long enough. I understand you need a continuous time spent in Argentina with only minimal time outside?

 

[sleslie23]

Get your DNI !! I had been in and out for years. Always under the 90 days . Never paid an overstay. Now I hand over my DNI to migraciones , with all my many stamps , and they just do their thing. Same with leaving. How cool is that ? Just write down my dni # and no worries !

Argentina is not some third world country. They have , uh , computers. They know......... entries and exits.

Do not be so stupid.

They don't just hand them out. You have to qualify for a DNI. Granted Argentina is one of the easiest countries in the world to immigrate to legally, but they don't just hand out residency just by asking.

 

[steveinbsas]

This could turn into another thread but it seems getting a DNI is not possible for a lot of people because they are not in the country long enough. I understand you need a continuous time spent in Argentina with only minimal time outside?

As you no doubt know, a DNI is just an ID card that is issued after temporary residency has been granted. Temporary residency requires staying in the country more than six months per year.

Anyone who is in the country for less than six months per year simply does not need a DNI and never has to go to Colonia to get a "new' visa. A 90 day extension can be obtained at migraciones for $300 pesos.

 

[khairyexpat]

They don't just hand them out. You have to qualify for a DNI. Granted Argentina is one of the easiest countries in the world to immigrate to legally, but they don't just hand out residency just by asking.

Important that you mentioned and explained: .. one does NOT apply for (or get) DNI, before successful completion of either Immigration or Citizenship process.

Here AT A GLANCE you get the big picture, an overview of the different paths to legal residence and DNI.

 

[Somewhereinba]

As you no doubt know, a DNI is just an ID card that is issued after temporary residency has been granted. Temporary residency requires staying in the country more than six months per year.

Anyone who is in the country for less than six months per year simply does not need a DNI and never has to go to Colonia to get a "new' visa. A 90 day extension can be obtained at migraciones for $300 pesos.

I spend only 4-5 months a year in Argentina so I wouldn't qualify - but I still have a lot of stamps from the years I have been travelling and holidaying. I would hope if I ever got grief purely because of stamps they would be intelligent enough to see how much time I have actually spent in Argentina and not just assume that stamps = permatourist.

 

[ElQueso]

If you really want to get in the country there must be ways like going to Paraguay and smuggling yourself across the border.

I would never, ever propose that someone use this, however, in the interest of interesting stuff and knowing what goes on at the borders...

A couple or so years ago, we drove back to Paraguay for summer vacation. We were bringing my wife's sister home to the folks and were going to take a couple of weeks at the family spread ourselves before heading back to BA. The young lady in question was a minor, she had a DNI, but she didn't have an Exit letter signed by both her parents and every pertinent government agency on both sides of the border. In fact, it was not a requirement previously, for her to return to her native country, even while she had the DNI - Argentina had passed a law about two weeks before we left that made it mandatory that all minors with DNIs must have permission to both enter AND exit Argentina. We'd done this a number of times previously with only the permission to leave Paraguay/enter Argentina.

We were just a bit surprised when the immigration official at the border informed us that the young lady would not be able to cross because she lacked that letter.

So we were in a bit of a pickle. It was quite a drive from Buenos Aires and I drove it in one long, extended drive (with some stops to eat and plenty of Red Bull and navigational assistance from my beautiful wife). We were tired and frustrated and weren't sure what to do. My wife and I returned to the car where not only the young lady was waiting, but also her older brother who we'd brought with us. We sat for a few minutes, fumed, thought silently, saw the inevitable answer and began thinking about calling her parents to come to Asuncion and then the border.

I was sitting in the car with the driver's side door open, stopped short of the row of buildings that encompassed aduana, migraciones, AFIP, etc., where people were queuing up to go through the border process (a bus had just arrived about half an hour before, while we were arguing our case with the immigrations official. People were a bit ticked off at us as the began piling up behind us, and the officer had to take us aside and bring us into the office, while someone else took his place at the window, so he could talk to us. Yeehaw).

I see a guy coming towards me from the immigrations windows, which are at the end of the buildings we're facing. He approaches the car with a grin, says his saludos and asks me if I had a problem with immigrations. He had a badge on a chain around his neck, but I realized it was a civilian "facilitator" badge of some sort - he was sort of allowed to be there to help people sort through their issues but wasn't employed by either side's border folk. There were a few of these guys walking around, and they seemed to have access to border officials.

I told him yes and explained the problem. He then proceeded to explain to me that for $200 USD I could smuggle the young lady across the border. They had cars that were made for getting her across (supposedly people on both sides of the border knew what these cars were - they had dark-tinted rear windows and they were let pass with only the drivers going through the immigrations rigamarole - all of this according to my new "friend"), and I could go with her to ensure her safety. It would just be the driver in the car and he would drop us off out of site on the other side and continue on his way while we waited for the rest of the family to catch up.

I was actually quite stunned. There was basically no preamble, no long, torturous spiral of conversation that got us to the topic to be discussed, but right to the point!

Of course, there were so many things wrong with this, that I didn't go through with it, I didn't even seriously consider it. I did talk to the guy a bit just to see how much information I could get, but it was all fairly vague. However, I had the sense that it was legitimate in that there were apparently a LOT of people affected by this law that had been passed suddenly. Including a number of mothers who work in Argentina and their young kids live with them and they're going home to visit family for the summer and Christmas and the Three Kings and all. I saw tens of mothers and kids and a couple or so fathers who didn't have the kids' mother, off to the side waiting around despondently with an occasional mother talking to an official, waving around papers and on the verge of crying. I think they came with the bus that arrived about the time we got our news, plus there had to have been some from at least one other bus earlier.

The "facilitator" was Paraguayo. I think he'd be helping his country folk get across the border, if they could pay enough. Some of them probably did after trying everything else, losing a goodly portion of the money they were bringing home. Others waited for the fathers or mothers to get to the border and get the kids across. I got rid of the guy by saying sorry, not only is it illegal, but I can imagine some scenario where even if we were successful, you'd have holler at a cop friend that someone just crossed the border without the immigrations paper and I'll get shaken down by that - at best! He tried to convince me that wouldn't happen, and I even half believed him, but stuck to my guns. Hehe.

Our family was so far away that it would take them about 6 hours to get there if they left the minute they heard from us. Only problem was it had gotten late, there were some 9 kids to be dealt with and the father was in Pedro Juan and wouldn't be back until after midnight. They couldn't come together until the following day (takes both parents to get the kid across) which meant getting to Asuncion somewhere around 1:00 in the afternoon the following day, earliest. They still had to sort the kids out and all, make sure everything was alright before they left and someone was watching them (oldest was about 13 - youngest 3), so realistically maybe 3 hours. And not enough room for everyone in the car for the return trip, so they would be returning to their own house via bus. All complete and total joyness.

The next day (we spent the night in the best hotel in Chlorinda. I'd rate it a two-and-a-half star, but it was very clean and actually had decent beds) we got up pretty much at the crack of dawn, before my wife's parents would leave to come get us, and had one more try at the border, to see if we could "figure something out." Let's just say we did manage to get the young lady across, with her DNI recorded as having left the country legally, and leave it at that...

Sorry for hijacking the thread a bit... [sheepish grin]

 

[Bajo_cero2]

I was actually here to get married, and indeed did. However, I had no proof of that at all and the only reason I could ever see it being a legitimate tactic to use is because whoever you are talking to may think that you are in the process of doing something official. I don't know

yoy did well. When you overstay it is Ok, you are honest. The visa run is seen by immigration agent like you treat them like they are stupid, specially when you say that you are a tourist.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

That is very interesting. So it is a lottery, and the results are based on the whim of one person (who may have missed a mate break)?

And now all perma-tourists can live, or more precisely leave in fear of not being able to return.

I have been advicing for 4 years about that the best is to overstay because to live into illegality is a lottery.

Immigrants can live legally here applying for a residency ir citizenship.