Is Argentina still banning Americans from entering the country?

[jblaze5779]

Even Bolivia is offering that right now, Uruguay is doing PCR + only a week quarantine (but still not allowing tourists). My guess is Argentina will allow tourists with a PCR (and a valid health insurance) at some point later this year, probably starting mid-November or December. But that's just a guess (hope).

AR doesn't even recognize PCR testing for essential workers keeping the country's lights on. They refuse to accept the validity of the test. All tests that we currently run are for our own internal record keeping and risk mitigation.

 

[dsp27]

Hopefully Argentina can follow suit... I have my doubts because it would require some actual coordination and planning

Not really. It's quite "simple". The reason they are not doing it is more political/ideological. While I understand why tourists are banned right now, Argentina is still basically using the old/outdated "rules" back from March. Meanwhile many countries are trying out new modalities such as a PCR certificate and/or a short 5-7 day isolation (the incubation period is on average 5 days). Currently, if you are a resident/citizen you can travel to Argentina and you stay in quarantine for 14 days then you can leave your house, no one tests you to confirm if you are not still contagious. So some cases could still slip through the cracks. In the PCR modality, there is a chance of a false negative due to the incubation period. But I don't think that chance is much greater than that of ongoing infection of someone asymptomatic past the 14 day quarantine. In any case, an alternative would be to require a PCR+ ask people to isolate for 5-7 days. This is the approach currently being discussed in Europe for opening their borders to third countries like Argentina, US, etc.

But as I said, the decisions here al always passed thru an ideological prism, anything that could be perceived as benefiting the "chetos" will not fly.

 

[antipodean]

Not really. It's quite "simple". The reason they are not doing it is more political/ideological. While I understand why tourists are banned right now, Argentina is still basically using the old/outdated "rules" back from March. Meanwhile many countries are trying out new modalities such as a PCR certificate and/or a short 5-7 day isolation (the incubation period is on average 5 days). Currently, if you are a resident/citizen you can travel to Argentina and you stay in quarantine for 14 days then you can leave your house, no one tests you to confirm if you are not still contagious. So some cases could still slip through the cracks. In the PCR modality, there is a chance of a false negative due to the incubation period. But I don't think that chance is much greater than that of ongoing infection of someone asymptomatic past the 14 day quarantine. In any case, an alternative would be to require a PCR+ ask people to isolate for 5-7 days. This is the approach currently being discussed in Europe for opening their borders to third countries like Argentina, US, etc.

But as I said, the decisions here al always passed thru an ideological prism, anything that could be perceived as benefiting the "chetos" will not fly.

If Argentine residents can't even travel to Bariloche, Mar del Plata or Iguazu from BA, what hope is there for foreign tourists...?
When/ if domestic flights reopen in October the Federal Government have already stressed the fact that these are for essential workers/ business, health and VFR motives only - they will not be open to tourists however each province will have its own entry policies.

You could not have said it better regarding the reasons behind it. The government have dug themselves into an impossible political situation built on obsolete policies which they now have no real control over other than optics... They allow the even more inept and petty governors of the provinces to have the final say about travel. Unless something big changes or they have the balls to say the "war" is lost, I think Argentine will be amongst the last countries in the world to "reopen" to foreigners - and consider that many more advanced countries like Australia are still saying it will be July 2021 when they might let foreigns in again.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

If Argentine residents can't even travel to Bariloche, Mar del Plata or Iguazu from BA, what hope is there for foreign tourists...?
When/ if domestic flights reopen in October the Federal Government have already stressed the fact that these are for essential workers/ business, health and VFR motives only - they will not be open to tourists however each province will have its own entry policies.

You could not have said it better regarding the reasons behind it. The government have dug themselves into an impossible political situation built on obsolete policies which they now have no real control over other than optics... They allow the even more inept and petty governors of the provinces to have the final say about travel. Unless something big changes or they have the balls to say the "war" is lost, I think Argentine will be amongst the last countries in the world to "reopen" to foreigners - and consider that many more advanced countries like Australia are still saying it will be July 2021 when they might let foreigns in again.

I am following all this quite closely, because I have travel plans for December. (I see them slipping away more and more each day.)

Given my time frame relative to today, I just don't see how enough can happen such that I am going anywhere this December.

Here is my thinking which is similar to previous posting:

Travel in Argentina is heavily restricted for people within it's borders. Going province to province simply isn't happening, let alone movement on a more local scale.

Up until now, with the exception of a few repatriation flights, there is no air traffic. It would be logical to assume domestic air travel will begin, followed by international air travel. And most likely the international air travel will be country specific in the beginning.

Unless someone is going somewhere long term (More than a month.), it just doesn't make a lot of sense to go anywhere right now with the need to quarantine.

I believe all is broken until sometime next year. It may hinge on a vaccine or it could be due to too long of an economic layoff. The need to work again is getting stronger every moment. You just can't idle people for a year and everything will be okay.

This (The quarantine and the idled economy) is getting old, and is becoming a serious global problem.

 

[dsp27]

If Argentine residents can't even travel to Bariloche, Mar del Plata or Iguazu from BA, what hope is there for foreign tourists...?
When/ if domestic flights reopen in October the Federal Government have already stressed the fact that these are for essential workers/ business, health and VFR motives only - they will not be open to tourists however each province will have its own entry policies.

You could not have said it better regarding the reasons behind it. The government have dug themselves into an impossible political situation built on obsolete policies which they now have no real control over other than optics... They allow the even more inept and petty governors of the provinces to have the final say about travel. Unless something big changes or they have the balls to say the "war" is lost, I think Argentine will be amongst the last countries in the world to "reopen" to foreigners - and consider that many more advanced countries like Australia are still saying it will be July 2021 when they might let foreigns in again.

I know I am preaching to the choir, but Australia and NZ have a totally different policy. Eradication of the virus. The genie is out of the bottle in Argentina and everywhere in South America. The correct policy should be containment/suppression. Socio-economic circumstances make strict quarantines here useless while damaging the economy even further. But as pointed out, it's all about the optics. They know really well at this point that their policy doesn't work but they will never admit it. When this last aislamento ends on 20 September, they will extend it by decree, calling it something else I guess, won't even bother to meet in Olivos or show up on camera.

Still I do think international travelers (non-residents that need to travel, not tourists per se) will be allowed after December. With a PCR and possibly a short 5 day isolation at the hotel or a full 14 day quarantine without one. Migraciones recently started an electronic DDJJ form (https://www.argentina.gob.ar/interior/migraciones/ddjj-migraciones) and it seems that it's been optimized not only for residents/citizens but for foreigners as well. My guess is that at some point foreigners will be allowed in after submitting the form ~48 hs before traveling, using the CUIDAR app daily while in Argentina and maybe provide a PCR test upon arrival and/or traveling from a country with low rate of cases. Again this could happen in December, or in January or in February. But that's just my guess. Since EZE will remain the only airport with international flights I guess all people flying to ARG will in reality travel to CABA/GBA. By December the cases in GBA will be down as summer kicks in and more people have had the virus and build immunity (for a few months at least). Fingers crossed.

 

[antipodean]

I know I am preaching to the choir, but Australia and NZ have a totally different policy. Eradication of the virus. The genie is out of the bottle in Argentina and everywhere in South America. The correct policy should be containment/suppression. Socio-economic circumstances make strict quarantines here useless while damaging the economy even further. But as pointed out, it's all about the optics. They know really well at this point that their policy doesn't work but they will never admit it. When this last aislamento ends on 20 September, they will extend it by decree, calling it something else I guess, won't even bother to meet in Olivos or show up on camera.

Still I do think international travelers (non-residents that need to travel, not tourists per se) will be allowed after December. With a PCR and possibly a short 5 day isolation at the hotel or a full 14 day quarantine without one. Migraciones recently started an electronic DDJJ form (https://www.argentina.gob.ar/interior/migraciones/ddjj-migraciones) and it seems that it's been optimized not only for residents/citizens but for foreigners as well. My guess is that at some point foreigners will be allowed in after submitting the form ~48 hs before traveling, using the CUIDAR app daily while in Argentina and maybe provide a PCR test upon arrival and/or traveling from a country with low rate of cases. Again this could happen in December, or in January or in February. But that's just my guess. Since EZE will remain the only airport with international flights I guess all people flying to ARG will in reality travel to CABA/GBA. By December the cases in GBA will be down as summer kicks in and more people have had the virus and build immunity (for a few months at least). Fingers crossed.

I agree it is the way it should be, to continue blanket travel restrictions for foreigners entering Argentina makes no sense since we have such a high circulation of the virus since we are well and truly in the top 10 globally with no downward trend in sight.

Would lifting these restrictions achieve much in practice? Nada. Argentines would still face restrictions abroad. Tourists would still need to spend 14 days in quarantine eating up precious annual leave (unless a big change towards testing based policies instead of blanket policies and not just for travel...) Tourists will find many things closed to them, including hotels and internal frontiers. Foreign travellers would need to feel comfortable coming to one of the most contagious zones on the planet while having all those travel selfies taken with masks on.

Hence this is a purely political equation and elections are coming soon.

The current "strategy" / wish of the national government is to survive the next 5-6 months until a miracle vaccines cures everything. This gives them the following options:

1. Open borders = Government needs to admit the failure that COVID is circulating out of control in Argentina despite its efforts and subject to future blame for acting irresponsibly. This effectively says the rest of the world is lower risk than Argentina and calling attention to the failure.
2. Open borders with smoke (e.g. Place so many limitations that travel in practice is not viable - e.g. continue limits on hotels accepting guests, allow restrictions on internal travel, insist on essential business and VFR travel only etc.) = Government can appease international critics while effectively keeping people out to be able to claim whatever is convenient at the time in the future. But given the IQ of most voters and various internal factions, the minute the first imported case arises some "blamer" will probably still say the government was irresponsible and murdered half of Argentina by allowing it and should face charges for crimes against humanity.
3. Close borders = Government avoids this being used against them in 6 months when Argentina is a train-wreck of COVID deaths etc, and if things go better than expected it can use it as ammo to say how responsible they were etc.

"Lowest risk" political option therefore is 3. International tourism is already f$%&! any which way, and voters from that sector are pretty much write-offs at this point in time already.

 

[EL_TIGRE_de_Tigre]

Antipodean,

You just nailed it!

Opening up to international travel will not happen until the internal borders are opened, free travel within the country is resumed, hotels, stores, and restaurants reopen ready to serve the needs of the public.

If the country is not open domestically, it will be a train wreck of a mess to let foreigners in.

 

[Ries]

I advice to stay put there. Its pretty bad here

Far worse up here in the USA. Currently running about 1000 deaths a day, infection rates are thru the roof, and that is underestimated, as we have NO national testing program, or national data collection. Infection rates are currently rising rapidly in ten states, which, combined, are more than the total argentine population.
And huge swaths of the population dont believe the virus exists, and are not wearing masks, not social distancing, and are spreading the disease with impunity.
We have no central government plan on anything, so extremist local authorities are pretending there is no disease.

Plus- economically- we are starting to see massive evicitions, of course, of the poorest people. In Argentina, its virtually impossible, as we all know, to forcibly evict someone without years of legal work. In the USA, it can happen with armed sheriffs evicting in two days from being notified, literally throwing possessions on the street. That is starting to happen, and will increase.
Hunger, and homelessness is starting to rise significantly too.
And we have 20 million people "officially" unemployed, and about another 20 million, who work "en negro" who are not allowed to be legally unemployed, but are not working. Thats about the entire population of Argentina, without jobs. And the extra unemployment payments just ended. And, here, when you are unemployed, you lose all medical coverage- which means going without dialysis, mental health treatments and drugs, and common conditions. I know, from experience, that if you have no insurance, a single visit to the emergency room to set a broken arm can cost $3000- thats, even in the blue, a LOT of pesos.

Expect to see the US economy getting progressively much worse, on the ground, as opposed to the stock market.
I know dozens of people who havent worked, or gotten paid, in 4 months, but who still have massive expenses- rents and utilities here are often double, triple, or more than in Argentina.

I am in pretty constant contact with many friends in BA- and everybody still has a house, and health care, and basic food. That is not the same here.

Argentina has much better infection rates, and death rates, and, more importantly, educated common sense among ordinary people, than the US. Its crazy here, with people having public, sometimes violent meltdowns when told they must wear a mask. Several employees at stores have been shot for asking.

The demonstrations, and "violence" by protesters, is way overblown by the right wing, but the police continue to beat, teargas, and shoot with impunity. Politically, the boiling point is approaching, daily. The tenseness over politics here far surpasses anything I have seen in Buenos Aires in the last 12 years. And here, there are a lot of guns. 66 (at least) incidents of right wingers driving cars into crowds of protesters, since May, with several deaths and many serious injuries, nationwide.

No, I would much rather be walking the streets of Buenos Aires, wearing a mask, especially when winter comes.

 

[dsp27]

I agree it is the way it should be, to continue blanket travel restrictions for foreigners entering Argentina makes no sense since we have such a high circulation of the virus since we are well and truly in the top 10 globally with no downward trend in sight.

Would lifting these restrictions achieve much in practice? Nada. Argentines would still face restrictions abroad. Tourists would still need to spend 14 days in quarantine eating up precious annual leave (unless a big change towards testing based policies instead of blanket policies and not just for travel...) Tourists will find many things closed to them, including hotels and internal frontiers. Foreign travellers would need to feel comfortable coming to one of the most contagious zones on the planet while having all those travel selfies taken with masks on.

Hence this is a purely political equation and elections are coming soon.

The current "strategy" / wish of the national government is to survive the next 5-6 months until a miracle vaccines cures everything. This gives them the following options:

1. Open borders = Government needs to admit the failure that COVID is circulating out of control in Argentina despite its efforts and subject to future blame for acting irresponsibly. This effectively says the rest of the world is lower risk than Argentina and calling attention to the failure.
2. Open borders with smoke (e.g. Place so many limitations that travel in practice is not viable - e.g. continue limits on hotels accepting guests, allow restrictions on internal travel, insist on essential business and VFR travel only etc.) = Government can appease international critics while effectively keeping people out to be able to claim whatever is convenient at the time in the future. But given the IQ of most voters and various internal factions, the minute the first imported case arises some "blamer" will probably still say the government was irresponsible and murdered half of Argentina by allowing it and should face charges for crimes against humanity.
3. Close borders = Government avoids this being used against them in 6 months when Argentina is a train-wreck of COVID deaths etc, and if things go better than expected it can use it as ammo to say how responsible they were etc.

"Lowest risk" political option therefore is 3. International tourism is already f$%&! any which way, and voters from that sector are pretty much write-offs at this point in time already.

What are you making out of this? I see 1 October as impossible but it's a good sign it's been mentioned. Fingers crossed for November.

Cabotaje e internacionales. El Gobierno confirmó que buscará reanudar los vuelos el 1 de octubre

Cabotaje e internacionales. El Gobierno confirmó que buscará reanudar los vuelos el 1 de octubre

www.lanacion.com.ar

 

[antipodean]

What are you making out of this? I see 1 October as impossible but it's a good sign it's been mentioned. Fingers crossed for November.

Cabotaje e internacionales. El Gobierno confirmó que buscará reanudar los vuelos el 1 de octubre

Cabotaje e internacionales. El Gobierno confirmó que buscará reanudar los vuelos el 1 de octubre

www.lanacion.com.ar

Smoke, unfortunately combined with a desire to reduce their current ATP tab. It doesn’t mean anything for foreigners as they already said. They also made it clear the flights are not intended for Argentines to enjoy tourism here or abroad. As governors have the last say and are currently busy taking their provinces back to phase 1 or introducing nighttime curfews, I see the government raising their hands to say “look! you’re free” while the governors are waiving their fingers saying “not in my province” so we effectively end up with all the flights to nowhere we could ever want.

As another real sign of the level of international activity to expect, LATAM announced it won’t be back at MDZ or ROS or other regional gateways on international routes to SCL, LIM and GRU until mid next year and August 2021.

UA will start I think 3 weekly “special” flights in October. Ethiopian 2 a week. So at least there will be more exit options from EZE...