Married to Argentine and my Federal Taxes

[NYKate]

Well, there may be some difference between Canada and the USA with this marriage recognition, but if you want to have a wedding here in Argentina with the full registro civil etc you may find you will have to get married here in BA FIRST and then in the USA.

I speak from experience. -->

We got married in Canada last year, never told anyone here because we thought we'd be doing the whole thing over again here, and we knew his mum etc would be so upset that we had done it without them.

So few weeks before our BA wedding we go down to the registro civil to get our appointment -- and they tell us no, they cannot legally marry us because we are already married elsewhere. The only thing they can do is a tramite administrativo where they put a stamp on our certificate and legalise it here in Argentina. But they can't do a proper ceremony and they can't give us a libreta.

Of course my husband just goes grey. What are we going to do? it's been 10 months since we got married, it's not exactly the type of news you want to break to your family after so long.... After a bit of debate we decided that 1) there's just too many people we'd have to break it to and 2) the Argentine family was so looking forward to the wedding of their eldest son that we couldn't possibly rob them of that experience.

So I shit you not -- we hired an actor. We told everyone that we had paid an extra fee to have a Judge come to us and marry us at the quinta instead of us going to the Registro Civil. So our actor studied up did the whole ceremony based on her sister's video of her own civil ceremony, added a few words of her own, and it all went off perfectly and the Argentine family all had the emotional experience they deserved.

5 years from now we'll probably break it to the family and we can all have a good laugh about it.

Icing on the cake.... (pun intended) .... we got married on April 1st, so I guess you could say we really did fool them all.

OMG thats awesome!
And really sweet that you did that for his family!!

We are having the full shebang in NY with his family (flying in for it) and my family. I just didn't want to be worried that we'd have to do it again down there otherwise it wouldn't be legal. But you answered my question beautifully! THANKS!! (and happy anniversary)

 

[emilyr]

That story was AMAZING! Does anyone have experience legalizing their marriage abroad here?

I am trying to decide where and how to do a ceremony, legal marriage etc. And syngirl, could you have gotten away with marrying in Argentina had you not mentioned that you were already married in the States? How else could they know if you don't inform them or delcare it? Maybe technically some day if they found out, your marriage could be annulled here, but if it is about property rights or other legal matters, by that time if you'd been living here, you should have rights as concubinatos, no?

I talked to a friend and three years after their US marriage, and they still haven't finished up the process legalizing their marriage for here because the transmites are such a pain, especially after already the US process. I'd like to hear other opinions!

 

[allcraz]

Emilyr and others, I am from the States and just got married to an Argentine here in Argentina in March. Since ours plans always included living here in BsAs, we didn't think much about the other options. I would naturally move on to permanent residency tramites now, but my FBI report has still not arrived to Buenos Aires. (Finally arrived to my parents' house in the States after over 4 months but is somewhere between Texas and me now.) Someone was originally asking about taxes, but I don't file in the States because I have no income there. I have heard mixed opinions on that, too. Some say I am supposed to file even if it's zero income.

 

[argsteve]

Well, there may be some difference between Canada and the USA with this marriage recognition, but if you want to have a wedding here in Argentina with the full registro civil etc you may find you will have to get married here in BA FIRST and then in the USA.

I speak from experience. -->

We got married in Canada last year, never told anyone here because we thought we'd be doing the whole thing over again here, and we knew his mum etc would be so upset that we had done it without them.

So few weeks before our BA wedding we go down to the registro civil to get our appointment -- and they tell us no, they cannot legally marry us because we are already married elsewhere. The only thing they can do is a tramite administrativo where they put a stamp on our certificate and legalise it here in Argentina. But they can't do a proper ceremony and they can't give us a libreta.

Of course my husband just goes grey. What are we going to do? it's been 10 months since we got married, it's not exactly the type of news you want to break to your family after so long.... After a bit of debate we decided that 1) there's just too many people we'd have to break it to and 2) the Argentine family was so looking forward to the wedding of their eldest son that we couldn't possibly rob them of that experience.

So I shit you not -- we hired an actor. We told everyone that we had paid an extra fee to have a Judge come to us and marry us at the quinta instead of us going to the Registro Civil. So our actor studied up did the whole ceremony based on her sister's video of her own civil ceremony, added a few words of her own, and it all went off perfectly and the Argentine family all had the emotional experience they deserved.

5 years from now we'll probably break it to the family and we can all have a good laugh about it.

Icing on the cake.... (pun intended) .... we got married on April 1st, so I guess you could say we really did fool them all.

That is a classic..that sounds like a great movie script!!!!!!!!
write it up and send it to Hollywood!!!!!

 

[gouchobob]

Emilyr and others, I am from the States and just got married to an Argentine here in Argentina in March. Since ours plans always included living here in BsAs, we didn't think much about the other options. I would naturally move on to permanent residency tramites now, but my FBI report has still not arrived to Buenos Aires. (Finally arrived to my parents' house in the States after over 4 months but is somewhere between Texas and me now.) Someone was originally asking about taxes, but I don't file in the States because I have no income there. I have heard mixed opinions on that, too. Some say I am supposed to file even if it's zero income.

If you truly have no income for the year you don't have to file assuming you meet some tests you can view at any tax site(who must file). However, as a U.S. citizen you are suppose to pay taxes on your worldwide income, i.e. if you had a job here you could still owe taxes back in the states (although there's a big exemption for foreign earned income).

 

[gunt86]

If you truly have no income for the year you don't have to file assuming you meet some tests you can view at any tax site(who must file). However, as a U.S. citizen you are suppose to pay taxes on your worldwide income, i.e. if you had a job here you could still owe taxes back in the states (although there's a big exemption for foreign earned income).

Even though you may not have to file a 1040 with the IRS every year IF you meet certain criterion (principally having world-wide income of less than $9,350), it is prudent to file anyways. Even if you have zero income from all source in 2009, I would still recommend filing a 1040. The reason is that perhaps a few years down the road you do have income of a certain level and you file a 1040 hoping to get a tax refund. There is a good chance the IRS will not give you a tax refund as they will claim that they need to know what your income was in the years you didn't file taxes! I have seen this more than a few times.

 

[sesamosinsal]

I will be doing something similar in June : Argentine Fiance comes here with a tourist visa, we get married and then go to Argentina - I checked with the State Dept and they said that was the best way to do it.
Will Argentina recognize our marriage?


Also, I was advised by my CPA that I should wait until next year to find out whether filing jointly or having me file separately would be best in terms of refunds. So I am assuming that you can file jointly.

Hm, not sure who you were talking to at the U.S. State Department; clearly not anyone at consular affairs. They will not issue your fiancé a tourist visa to come to the United States for marriage. He would have to apply for the K-1 fiancé visa.

 

[va2ba]

I am not a CPA, but I did marry an Argentine. I am assuming you are a US citizen and your wife is Argentine. If you married in the USA in 2008 you can claim her as a dependant/spouse/joint (if she truely is). If you married in Argentina and NOT in the USA I don't think you can b/c (i am told) the US (and Argentina) does not recongize US/Argentine marriages. I legally married in both places. I suggest you consult a CPA. Good luck!

The US doesn´t recongize US/Argentine marriages?? Where have you heard this. I am planning to marry an Argentina in the next year and a half and it sounds like I need to know this.

 

[gunt86]

The US doesn´t recongize US/Argentine marriages?? Where have you heard this. I am planning to marry an Argentina in the next year and a half and it sounds like I need to know this.

I have not been through this experience personally, but i have done some research on the issue. It appears that SOME US states do not recognize foreign marriage certificates for the purpose of say acquiring some other state document. Most states allow you to take your appostilled foreign marriage certificate to a county clerk and get the marriage registered in that county. I am not sure of all the states that are problematic on the issue, but it seems North Carolina is one of them. New York seems to be fine about registering the marriage. Marriage & divorce laws are different from state to state in the US - check the state relevant to you.

 

[NYKate]

Hm, not sure who you were talking to at the U.S. State Department; clearly not anyone at consular affairs. They will not issue your fiancé a tourist visa to come to the United States for marriage. He would have to apply for the K-1 fiancé visa.

He already has a tourist visa. The state dept. explained that it made no sense to apply for a K-1 because we will not be living in the U.S. We plan on living in BsAs. Which leads me to get all of my paperwork together - FBI background check etc- probably after I'm married as I will have to have it done with my married name.