Marriage In Buenos Aires (Preferably Not In Capital)

[Mari Yagami]

Hi, I am finally de-lurking myself on this forum to ask a question that has been addressed before, but that I find myself needing more specifics of.

I am an Argentine citizen and my bf is a US citizen who has been living here for a while. We have been doing the Colonia-BsAs deal to renew his 90day permit, but now we are planning to get married.

My question is, his 90 days expire here in 2 weeks, will we have problems if we start the process once that is expired? (we don't mind paying a fine if needed, just want to know if this will keep us from being able to do it). Also, I am from Lanus (zona sur) which makes me think that we would have to go to the Registro Civil here and not one in Capital Federal, but I am not sure and it is almost impossible to get in touch with them via phone (so far, no luck! same for migrations...)

Also, does anyone know if when trying to get him a residency (or DNI?) they check to see if he is within those 90 days? Or is the 90 day period not an issue once married to an Argentinian but before you are a resident?

Thank you all for helping me figure out my own country's laws...

 

[Crema Americana]

I did a Colonia trip right before starting the whole process because from what I've heard, they do require the passport to have a valid tourist stamp. They do check it. I suppose you could also try to get an extension at migraciones - not sure which way is best these days.

And yes, you have to go to your local registro civil. You shouldn't need anything other than the passport. My local registro wanted a document proving I was single, but no such thing exists in the US, nor is it a requirement by law. So we went to the neighboring registro, explained our situation, and they were kind enough to marry us there without any hassle. Everything is best done in person, since they seem to be pretty terrible at helping over the phone.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

When I did this in Olavarría, in 1981, the staff at the Registro Civil wondered whether I understood what I was agreeing to. My Spanish was good enough then, though it's much better now.

 

[Ashley]

He will need to have a valid tourist stamp when he starts this process. You have to go to your local registro civil and book it a month in advance.

 

[EricLovesBA]

As I recall, when we got married we were told that it wouldn't matter if my tourist visa expired, as long as I entered the country legally. However that was at the registro civil by word of the clerk, so who knows what the actual law is.

 

[Mari Yagami]

Thank you all for the responses.

If you are found with an expired tourist visa, tho, all you have to do is pay the fine, right? no leaving the country or anything of the sort...

 

[sesamosinsal]

I married in CF in 2011, so I can't be too helpful. However, re: the visa, the woman at the registro civil (Uriburu and Cordoba) didn't even look for a visa.

This could probably be like a lot of things in Argentina--dependent upon who you get that day.

 

[sivan]

I married my argentine husband in Lanus in 2006. I needed to have a up to date tourist visa. We went to the registry office one month before the date to book. At that time if you didn't speak Spanish they made you get a translator but we were lucky because the judge spoke English so he said not to worry about it. Really lovely guy. Like almost everything in this country I would forget about trying to call and just go there in person.

 

[rebcast]

They do not check, you will be fine showing up after the 90 days. There may or may not be a penalty, depends who you see that day and what type of mood they are in. This happened to me.

 

[gmcasper]

I just went today to do the marriage stuff in zona norte. The judge refused to allow us to get married because my tourist visa is expired. She said she will only allow us if we get a letter from the supervisor of my file in migrations. Unfortunately the supervisor said he can't write a letter like that so our only options are to

1. Go back to the judge and beg her to let us get married.
2. Change the address on my fiance's DNI so that we can try in another area (more delays and paperwork).
3. Write some letter to the supervisor at migrations explaining whats happened to us and why I'm here illegally (long and horrible story, a lot of really unfair and terrible things have happened to us) and he said he will try to do something with it.

Oh and we only have 3 days to get this resolved or we have to change our marriage date and try again later. So moral of the story, make sure your legal situation is spotless and always watch your back because despite the fact that there are illegal people everywhere in this country you will be persecuted, especially if you're non-mercosur. (The most ironic part of my troubles is that they all started when i *tried* to do a working visa in this country last year. Before when i was illegal I had no troubles whatsoever. Obviously persecuting people that are trying to follow the law is the Argentine philosophy.)