Leaving ARG for medical emergency, need to renew my precaria

[Big Swifty]

I applied for my DNI a little over a year ago and I'm still waiting to receive the card. Every few months when it gets near the deadline I make the trip to Migraciones in Córdoba and they always tell me to wait another few months and then give me a new paper showing I'm in the system with a new expected date when I should receive my DNI. Used to be because of COVID but now I figure it's just the usual bureaucracy causing the delays. Bueno. I'm patient and up until now haven't had any major reason to be bothered by the inconvenience.

A close family member in the US has taken a sudden turn for the worse in the hospital and is likely in their final weeks, if not days. I need to fly back and might not have time to deal with Migraciones before leaving. My residency/DNI application more than likely will expire before I return. None of these delays with my DNI are my fault, but understanding bureaucracy, knowing govt. is set up so that no one ever has to take responsibility and that you can't fight City Hall, I'm wondering if I'm going to be screwed somehow or other.

Anyone have any idea if I'm going to have problems at the airport when I come back? Worse case scenario I can imagine is having to get a tourist visa and start all over again with the DNI process. But since it's already been over a year of waiting I don't want to have to go the end of the line and start from scratch. Should I (or do I need to) inform Migraciones before leaving so I can get some kind of permission to leave and come back without problems? The earliest I can get to Migraciones is this Weds., but I may have to leave for the US before then and considering the situation and all the travel time on top of that I'm not going to wait until this is taken care of if I have to suddenly go. Can I notify Migraciones online and ask for an extension?

 

[lunar]

I applied for my DNI a little over a year ago and I'm still waiting to receive the card.

As you're in the process of obtaining your DNI, you must already have your residency, correct? In that case, simply present your passport and residency certificate at the airport.

Worse case scenario I can imagine is having to get a tourist visa and start all over again with the DNI process.

I don't believe they will permit you to enter on a tourist visa if you are a resident, particularly if you'll be using the same passport that's already in the system.

My residency/DNI application more than likely will expire before I return.

Residency and DNI are granted by different agencies. Do you have a precaria (Cerficiado de la residencia precaria) that expires before you return?

 

[Alby]

I applied for my DNI a little over a year ago and I'm still waiting to receive the card. Every few months when it gets near the deadline I make the trip to Migraciones in Córdoba and they always tell me to wait another few months and then give me a new paper showing I'm in the system with a new expected date when I should receive my DNI. Used to be because of COVID but now I figure it's just the usual bureaucracy causing the delays. Bueno. I'm patient and up until now haven't had any major reason to be bothered by the inconvenience.

A close family member in the US has taken a sudden turn for the worse in the hospital and is likely in their final weeks, if not days. I need to fly back and might not have time to deal with Migraciones before leaving. My residency/DNI application more than likely will expire before I return. None of these delays with my DNI are my fault, but understanding bureaucracy, knowing govt. is set up so that no one ever has to take responsibility and that you can't fight City Hall, I'm wondering if I'm going to be screwed somehow or other.

Anyone have any idea if I'm going to have problems at the airport when I come back? Worse case scenario I can imagine is having to get a tourist visa and start all over again with the DNI process. But since it's already been over a year of waiting I don't want to have to go the end of the line and start from scratch. Should I (or do I need to) inform Migraciones before leaving so I can get some kind of permission to leave and come back without problems? The earliest I can get to Migraciones is this Weds., but I may have to leave for the US before then and considering the situation and all the travel time on top of that I'm not going to wait until this is taken care of if I have to suddenly go. Can I notify Migraciones online and ask for an extension?

I think what you mean is that you applied for residency, and it has not yet been approved. The residency application is the key issue here (not the DNI, which will come subsequently from another part of the bureaucracy if they ever get around to approving your residency). If you have a residency application in train but not yet finalized, that means they have issued you a Precaria, which is a document you find in the Migraciones system which you must apply to renew every 90 days. If everything I have written here is correct, you need to print out this Precaria document and present it at the immigration check on your way out, hold on to it, and present it again at the immigration check on your return. You shouldn't have any problems doing so (but see the caveat below). I found myself in this same situation several times during the nearly three years it took Migraciones to process my residency application (my Precaria was renewed nearly 11 or 12 times). They used to stamp the Precaria document when you left (either with a stamp also in your passport, or just on the Precaria), but I don't think they do so now--they just look at it.

However, you need to check the expiry date of your current Precaria (i.e., the next 90 day renewal). If that date falls while you are out of the country, you will be in trouble: your whole residency application could be annuled and you would have to start again from scratch with a new application. So be very careful. Check that expiry date and make sure you will be back in the country when it arrives.

 

[Big Swifty]

Thanks for the responses. Busy dealing with this family situation and a different medical situation on this end. I can't find the copy of the Precaria at the moment and I'm not positive on the expiration date, but I'm pretty sure it's the 12th of March. If not then, it's within a few days of the 12th.

Weds. morning we have to go to Córdoba to deal with the local medical situation and while there I'm going to go to Migraciones and figure that if I can't find the document between now and then I hopefully shouldn't have a problem just presenting my passport and then they can look me up in the system.

I'm 99% sure I'll be in the US at that time helping to care for this relative, making funeral arrangements, or dealing with the responsibilities that come with being the executor of the will so I don't see making it back before it expires. If I have to start from scratch so be it, but I'd rather not since it's already been over a year. Hopefully Migraciones can give me another 90 day extension starting tomorrow.

 

[Alby]

I forgot to mention that if you are going to be out of the country at the 90-day mark when your current Precaria expires, you can inform Migraciones and seek permission to leave the country prior to the date and then return without your application for residency lapsing at day 90 when the system detects you are out of the country with your precaria expired (and presumably concludes you've abandoned your attempt at residency and drop you off the system altogether so that you have to start again). I'm not sure of the details of this permission to be out of the country at the expiry date, but I imagine if you go and explain what you need to do, they will give you this workaround.

If you are managing your residency application on your own (rather than through a lawyer), you must have access to the Migraciones IT system and be following progress of your application here: https://www.migraciones.gov.ar/accesible/consultaTramitePrecaria/ConsultaUnificada.php

Go to that page now. You must have an expediente number somewhere on your paperwork. You enter it, plus your date of birth in the correct fields and the details of your case will appear. You scroll down to the bottom of the screen (the screen shows the various phases of the application process and where you sit currently). At the foot of the screen press the button that says Imprime tu precaria or disposition. The document precaria should appear on the screen and you can print it.

All of the above assumes that you really are still at the Precaria stage. But maybe you are not; maybe you have your residency already and all that is missing is the DNI. In that case, you have no problems whatsoever; just follow the advice above of Lunar. (It is not clear to me how you can not know all the above if you are still at the Precaria stage.)

 

[Big Swifty]

I told my wife about your waiting three years and having to renew your Precaria 11/12 times. She told me she got her residency within a year and that maybe they already came to deliver my DNI but no one answered so it got returned to Migraciones. Always the optimist where I'm the guy who thinks your story reinforces the idea of stereotypical typical govt. bureaucracy and figure I'm lucky if I'm at the half way point. Hope I'm wrong.

Thanks again for the advice and the link.

 

[Big Swifty]

Just found my Precaria.

22/02/2023:TRAMITE EN PROCESO DE SUPERVISION

Expires 7 March. Just did the online renewal. System says the same as above without noting that it was actually renewed (like the past 3 times). Maybe it doesn't renew automatically but someone has to process my request for renewal. Since we have to go to Córdoba anyway, might as well go to confirm the renewal and also to see what, if anything, needs to be done so that I can leave the country and come back without problems. I'll be back by June so hopefully it'll all be good.

 

[Alby]

Go and talk to them. They told me once that you can't apply to renew the Precaria more than 10 days before it expires, i.e. before Feb 25 in your case. So the system might not accept your renewal application even though you pressed that button. Also, even if it accepts it now, they might not action it and approve it before you leave the country. It's good that you've found everything in the system now and are pressing the right buttons. But you are not out of the woods yet. I think your whole process is at risk if you don't get this renewal process right before you leave the country. You need to go and see them and discuss the situation.

Supervision in trámite is good. It's the final step in the process. Mind you, mine was in supervision in trámite for most of the nearly three years I had to wait.

You're DNI will only become available once your application moves to the next step: final approval.

 

[Alby]

I think you will find you need to present a letter seeking pedido expedido de renovación de precaria, attaching your flight itinerary.

Definitely go and talk to them as soon as possible. Don't rely just on having pressed that renewal button. It's never that simple with Migraciónes and the timing of these dates is complicated in your case and puts the process in jeopardy.

 

[Big Swifty]

Went to Migraciones earlier. They're renovating the building and the part of the building they're currently using isn't being opened to let people in. At least when I was there and there were a ton of people waiting on the sidewalk and the only employee never went out past the half opened door.

Based on your advice I'm going to go back tomorrow since today there were no more appointments. Thanks for that 10 days before it expires info. I'll bring that up - assuming I get some help.

I don't have an itinerary yet and once I do likely won't have time to go back to Migraciones to present it to them since it's an hour and half by car and I don't drive - I go to Córdoba when someone else has to go. It's also probably going to be any day now as well. Hopefully I can fax it between now and when my current Precaria expires on the 7th.

I see on the website that there's a phone number for the Buenos Aires office. Got back too late to try that, but I'm being pessimistic and thinking that either no one will answer or they'll say it's something that can't be done over the phone. Also thought about getting to the airport early and if possible presenting any documents there, but I'm not sure if Migraciones at the airport only consists of the kiosks and it's near impossible to get back to talk to someone in an office.

Residence and a DNI would be nice and I'd prefer to not have this necessary trip out of ARG affect that, but if when I get back I have to go to the end of the line when I get I'm not going to be that concerned.