Marriage, Visas And Things To Consider

[ElQueso]

Have been informed we will need legal support to register an overseas wedding, wedding ertificate must be presented to court and validity assessed. Anyone any experience ? An expensive tramite?

Thanks

My wife and I got married in Paraguay. We did use a lawyer for our process, which I would recommend. I don't think you HAVE to use a lawyer. For example, you have to get your marriage certificate "legalized" (apostiled in home country, legalized in the Argentine consulate in home country, etc) as part of the tramites you do for the residency. If everything goes smoothly and they accept your certificate, the paperwork does eventually go before a judge at some point, but immigrations presents it as part of their process. The problems arise if the judge, for whatever reason, puts your residency request itself up for further review, not necessarily for the marriage certificate - there could be any range of reasons.

For example, 30 years ago, I had a stupid kid prank that I got arrested for and was supposed to have gotten the incident expunged from my criminal record through community service, etc. I never had a problem in my adult life over this issue - I thought it had been expunged. It was listed in my FBI criminal report when I applied for residency. The judge is supposed to only look at the last five years (at least at the time) of history to make a determination. My lawyer advised me that it could be a problem when it got to that point, even though the event was 30 years in the past. He told me I may need to present the judge with a "gift" (my lawyer explicitly mentioned a $1000 peso gift certificate from Falabella as a probable solution) if he decided to make a case of it. Turned out that it went through without problems from THAT.

However, we had other issues related to my wife being Paraguayan and single when she got her DNI. We had to change the status on her DNI which took almost a year(!!!), but the lawyer handled everything (without raising the price!). There were many issues that he handled. He went to every meeting I had to show up for in person to ensure that the process went smoothly.

I'm not saying you'll have problems. I am saying there's a decent chance you will. In my opinion, a lawyer who specializes in this and can get you through the process with a minimum of fuss, to me is priceless - as long as you can afford it . My lawyer fees were $600 USD (about 2.5 years ago). I know people at the time that were paying $2000+ USD, so it can be a crap shoot, admittedly, to find a good lawyer who doesn't overcharge and has contacts in immigrations.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Thanks, that is really useful info. Luckily my slate is clear and my wife is Argentine. I definetly will get a lawyer, would you recommend yours and still have the contact details, assuming he is in BA.

Thanks again.

 

[ElQueso]

I used Hector Celano and Associates, celano.com.ar. Best bet is to contact him through his website.

It's been more than a year since I had any contact with him related to my stuff, although he has helped us with a couple of things related to my sister-in-law since, but not really residency stuff. Someone mentioned to me recently that he only takes corporate clients now, which is odd because his model started off completely differently. His website mentions international clients and businesses, but it's always said that as far as I can remember. Doesn't hurt to send him a query though.

He and the two other of his associates that I dealt with were completely, 100%, honest and forthcoming with everything. I never had the slightest doubt that he knew what he was doing.

 

[citygirl]

I don't know anyone who used a lawyer to get their stuff done here - it's definitely not required. But I would venture to say it can't hurt and if your Spanish isn't fluent, it can definitely help.

 

[ElQueso]

I don't know anyone who used a lawyer to get their stuff done here - it's definitely not required. But I would venture to say it can't hurt and if your Spanish isn't fluent, it can definitely help.

Yeah absolutely the residency process does not require a lawyer. When I was mentioning about not knowing if a lawyer was necessary, I meant the part about complications arising in front of a judge.

In a clear-cut case, there's probably no need for a lawyer at all. In fact, there are gestores out there (I believe Steve has recommended one a couple of times) who will help get through the process, probably a lot cheaper than a lawyer. The lawyer becomes necessary only when there is an actual legal issue during the process, so that the lawyer can appear before the judge that is in charge of the case. Of course, if there is no lawyer, the only thing that may happen is that the petition for residency gets thrown out by the judge uncontested. Immigrations certainly won't go to bat for you in court.

As to whether to use anyone (gestor or lawyer), it depends on what kind of money you have and what value you place on your time in relation. I know people who have gone three or more times to start their residency and each time immigrations rejected their application because of one item - only to find next time there was another item that was incorrect. Some of these things can be as simple as a slight misspelling of someone's name (or different spelling - like a middle initial on one document and a full middle name on another) on some document. Immigrations is NOT there to help one through the process, for sure.

 

[Huxley1234]

Sorry I can't answer your question... but I was wondering, how many times did you renew your visa before you got the ultimatum?

So..not sure if this was answered. How many times did you renew before receiving the ultimo notice?

I am wondering what my best option is... I am here right now on my first entry. And I want to stay here for a year. Should I go to migraciones, or go back and forth to Brazil, Uruguay, or a mix of both?

 

[Huxley1234]

So..not sure if this was answered. How many times did you renew before receiving the ultimo notice?

I am wondering what my best option is... I am here right now on my first entry. And I want to stay here for a year. Should I go to migraciones, or go back and forth to Brazil, Uruguay, or a mix of both?

Still.. no.... answer..........????/ zzzzzzz

 

[citygirl]

Still.. no.... answer..........????/ zzzzzzz

Do it in any way you want - a year is not an issue. You can renew it once at migraciones, go to Uruguay the next and do another trip after that. If you ant to travel (and why wouldn't you), just plan your trips around the 90 days. Or many people simply overstay and pay the 300 peso fine when leaving, also not a major issue.

As for the rest - I know people who have been here for 6 years as tourists sin problemas. That's not a guarantee, just my N1 sample.

 

[trennod]

Citygirl is right, its up to you. If I was you (I am here on a work visa), I would make use of it to get out of the country for a few days or say. If you want to be here for a year, that would mean you need to make 3 "runs" @ 3 months, 6 & 9. Colonia is pretty (when the weather is good), why not a cpl of days there? (a w/e is plenty). Perhaps @ 6 you could go up the coast, see Punta del Este and check out some of the nicer secluded beaches. Then at 9, go in to Brazil, have you been to Iguazu yet? (depending on which country you are from you may need a visa).

Or...you can just stay in Argentina and pay the fine on exit.