It is going to be a great week. Got back in with my stuff on a bribe

[steveinbsas]

When the Argentine Embassy told you you would be allowed to bring in your stuff (duty free) they were talking about shipping household goods, not about brining stuff with you on an airplane. The shipping costs alone could have been prohibitive.

As a resident you can bring in almost as much used stuff on a plane as you are willing to pay the excess baggage fees. As you know, the custom's exemption on new items is $300 USD and they aren't going to allow TV's or an excess amount of electronics without charging something. They obviously know that there are always individuals who would rather pay a bribe if it is lower than the customs fee.


Three years ago I paid $750 USD to bring five suitcases of used goods into Argentina. I had (and declared) just under $300 in new curtains. Everything else was used and it was ALL purchased at Goodwill or The Salvation Army (including the curtains). If I had any additional new items I would have had to pay duty, but they let me bring everything in without asking me to pay anything. I already had temporary residency for two years.

 

[Gringoboy]

My wife who is Argentine, was stopped by the police and about to be fined or towed away for not having a valid inspection doc.
She didn't offer him a bribe, he asked for one!

 

[jayjane]

Yeah, figures. They asked at the airport with us too. They basically said we can do it this way or, you can give us something.

@Steve-We were talking with the embassy about both shipping a container and about bringing stuff in just to know our options. We never really considered a container though. We don´t have enough valuable stuff to make it worth it. It could be that what they told us was wrong. Wouldn´t surprise me at all. It feels like so much just depends on luck.

Although this forum was really helpful for me during my residency process, the worst thing I did was worry about everything being done exactly the way the rules say. I stressed too much about the fine print. Maybe a trait of growing up in the U.S. You just don´t know what is going to happen. Worrying about gathering everything exactly the way they said it was needed was a waste of time and money. I think I paid for more than I needed. Extra docs or, new ones if they had expired etc. It was a learning experience for me. In the end my residency went fine without some of the requirements people mentioned were needed such as the documents being within 60 days. I applied right before I left for this trip and on the way back in the lady told me my residency has already been made official.