Legal Risks of Irregular Immigration Status

Stafford

Registered
Joined
May 7, 2009
Messages
205
Likes
235
I wanted to share something that came up during a casual conversation with a friend of mine who’s an attorney, working directly for Migraciones.

According to my friend, if someone is living in Argentina with an irregular status (for example, overstaying a tourist visa) and ends up detained or accused of a crime—even something minor—they could be required to fix their immigration status within a very short period of time. She said that in practice, the deadlines are often completely unrealistic and that it’s nearly impossible to regularize your status in the time given. If you don’t comply, Migraciones can initiate expulsion proceedings.

This authority comes from revisions to Ley 25.871, which allows the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (DNM) to enforce immigration rules quickly in these scenarios. While you can appeal an expulsion order and may be granted a temporary stay while it’s resolved, it’s not a pleasant process.

She specifically warned against being in Argentina with an irregular status—especially with a far-right government in power that could prioritize stricter enforcement.

The general consensus on this forum seems to be that it’s safe to overstay a tourist visa in Argentina. And in most cases, that does seem to be true—people usually just pay a fine when they leave and face no major issues.

In my years reading posts on this forum I haven't seen something like this happen in reality.

But it's a different perspective that I wasn't aware of and could be a good reason to seek legal immigration status, for anyone on the fence.
 
Last edited:
This reminded me of an old post in which a member who knew knew someone who worked at the office of migraciones indicated that the employees there laughed when they were told about expats who were worried about their (what then was often called) "illegal" status.

So I searched the words "migraciones" and "laughing" and found this:

Thread 'Overstaying 90-day limit' https://baexpats.org/threads/overstaying-90-day-limit.39638/

I think it's worth noting that, based on a post bt Bajo_cero2, that a DNI is required if an individual applies for citizenship without a lawyer. While it may be possible to obain citizenship after an ovestay of two years (as suggested/claimed recently in another thread), it would not be possible without legal representation costing thousands of dollars.
 
This reminded me of an old post
From before we had a far right president in power.

To add context, in a meeting of an NGO where I volunteer, we were discussing the legal ramifications that homeless / disadvantaged people could face if they were detained or suspected of having committed a crime. If one is "irregular", their situation is much different than someone with a DNI.

Expats were not part of our initial conversation. But I brought it up and she said, technically yes, the same rules would of course apply.

That being said, expats with dollars are not a target. But I brought it up because we have an unpredictable government and if anyone is on the fence about getting a DNI versus being "irregular", it may help with their decision.
 
Keep it mind that unless you are involved in a violent altercation (street fight, bar fight, domestic violence etc) the chances of being arrested or detained in the City of Buenos Aires are virtually zero. There are many good reasons to get temporary/permanent residency and/or citizenship but fear of arbitrary arrest/detention is not one of them.
 
Keep it mind that unless you are involved in a violent altercation (street fight, bar fight, domestic violence etc) the chances of being arrested or detained in the City of Buenos Aires are virtually zero.
That's reassuring
 
Not sure if this is the best thread to add this comment on, but this seems semi-relevant...

I have been told by an immigration lawyer that having an active 'irregular' immigration status (i.e. overstaying a visa) does not disqualify you from applying from other visas. The way it was explained to me is that making a visa application 'regularises' your immigration status - presumably this 'regularisation' lasts for as long as it takes for migraciones to make a decision, though it is not clear to me what happens if your application is ultimately denied.

This seems odd to me and it is definitely not what would happen in most other countries (though, as I am continually reminded, Argentina is not like "most" other countries). I cannot find any mention of what impacts being 'irregular' has on your life from the Argentina government website, apart from the section where it talks about needing to pay the habilitacion de salida. I don't have a good reason to disbelieve the lawyer's advice, but it still feels odd all the same.

I guess this somewhat gels with what your friend told you - it sounds like if an 'irregular' migrant is detained they will be given a period of time in which to 'regularise' themselves, albeit maybe an unrealistically short one.
 
Bajo and others might have different (and more correct take) than my own, but my layman's understanding is that migration irregularity is a civil issue, not a criminal one in Argentina, and this is something that's reaffirmed in various treaties Argentina has with neighboring countries (provisions explicitly call for mechanisms for which Mercosur citizens can regularize their migratory status).

Now, if you're here irregularly or on a tourist visa, and you commit what many of us would call a felony, that's a different story. I've seen cases recently in the news of Chilean thieves that traveled to Buenos Aires specifically to rob people/commit B&Es being arrested and express deported and banned from reentry. I might hate Milei and Bullrich, but this is just common sense, we don't need more people like that here; besides, Milei, Macri, and Cristina don't need any competition from foreigners to fleece Argentines of their hard earned money. ;)

Also, as Kiwi said, Migraciones at the end of the day just wants people to regularize their status here provided you're not a criminal. The days of visa runs to Colonia are over, so find a language school or something if you're dead set on living here, because being a permatourist is a pain in the ass anyways.
 
Back
Top