Multi-year Spanish School; Citizenship

[Brian_is_here]

If i wanted to do this and had time and money on my side,,

I'd come to Buenos Aires as a tourist, enroll in some immersion schools for up to 6 months (90 days + renew it once) and do the ferry to Uruguay to reset to keep going.

Once you get good enough, matriculate to UBA or one of the for-profit schools for a student visa.

My understanding is that you can apply to citizenship to Argentina after 2 years of living in Argentina regardless of residency status. But that way is a bit more ... troublesome. This part might facilitate a need for a lawyer.

 

[SecretShopper]

If i wanted to do this and had time and money on my side,,

I'd come to Buenos Aires as a tourist, enroll in some immersion schools for up to 6 months (90 days + renew it once) and do the ferry to Uruguay to reset to keep going.

Once you get good enough, matriculate to UBA or one of the for-profit schools for a student visa.

My understanding is that you can apply to citizenship to Argentina after 2 years of living in Argentina regardless of residency status. But that way is a bit more ... troublesome. This part might facilitate a need for a lawyer.

In order to get accepted to a private university in BA I had to do a 2 part Spanish test. One part was a 30 minute conversation and the other was written.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Nowadays you cannot even come into the country.
Once you are here, nobody cares.
You can apply for citizenship without legal residency.

 

[cuando_volverá]

Well, that's not an even remotely helpful response, moreover, it has nothing to do with my question. If I wanted to apply for a multi-year school, I'd need to find a school in advance (you know, plan ahead?).

It's probably the best advice you've gotten in this thread. You realize that it's practically impossible to even get into Argentina right now, right? That's unlikely to change this year. Even if Argentine consulates and embassies abroad are processing visas, there will be such an immense backlog of people processing their immigration documents in Argentina that it could take many, many months to process your student visa. The system is slow on a good day.

The second best advice you've received in this thread is from bajo_cero2. You don't need to use a student visa as a front to get into Argentina and become a resident. You can enter as a tourist and go from there. Like all things in Argentina, it's a bureaucratic process, but doable. But tourism isn't happening any time soon.

 

[BAHibs]

If citizenship is the only goal I'd follow the route of tourist visa - citizenship with a lawyer like Bajo_Cero and concentrate on some online freelance work if that is a possibility for you.

I've been here for a year and a half on a tourist visa without a DNI, I've lived without issues (even receiving the vaccine) so I'd say it is doable during the time needed to wait for citizenship.

I was going to go that route also but I'll be getting married later this year / early next year which will open the doors to citizenship, if you are here 2+ years that might happen for you also..

 

[chrab]

If citizenship is the only goal I'd follow the route of tourist visa - citizenship with a lawyer like Bajo_Cero and concentrate on some online freelance work if that is a possibility for you.

I've been here for a year and a half on a tourist visa without a DNI, I've lived without issues (even receiving the vaccine) so I'd say it is doable during the time needed to wait for citizenship.

I was going to go that route also but I'll be getting married later this year / early next year which will open the doors to citizenship, if you are here 2+ years that might happen for you also..

Thanks, yeah, I was pretty set on the idea of going the direct citizenship application route, but I wanted to at least intellectually explore the idea of the student visa to make sure my citizenship approval chances were as high as possible. Thus, I wanted to find a multi-year Spanish school, as I don't think I could muster the drive to show up at any other type of degree or form of study. Sounds like it doesn't exist. No biggie.

Good to know that living without the DNI isn't too much of a hassle. If I end up getting married though I'd question what went wrong with future me

 

[Pierre Smith]

You should consult with another attorney about the direct citizenship route. Bajo is great, but very optimistic and lawyerly. What this means is that while he may have the law right, going that route can mean a lot of reversals and appeals along the way, as someone who went through the process with Bajo posted on here a year or so ago. Basically, if you plan to live in Argentina for 2-2.5 years and leave with citizenship, you should maybe consider revising that timeline to something like more realistic.

 

[chrab]

You should consult with another attorney about the direct citizenship route. Bajo is great, but very optimistic and lawyerly. What this means is that while he may have the law right, going that route can mean a lot of reversals and appeals along the way, as someone who went through the process with Bajo posted on here a year or so ago. Basically, if you plan to live in Argentina for 2-2.5 years and leave with citizenship, you should maybe consider revising that timeline to something like more realistic.

I think consulting with multiple lawyers is sound advice in general. And no, I didn't think I'd be walking out 2 years later with a citizenship (especially given the average 18 month process). But from what I did read was that after you have acquired the 2 years and your application is submitted and being processed/denied/appealed, it isn't necessary to continue to maintain residency in Argentina. Please let me know if my understanding on this last part is a bit off, I've only seen it mentioned once. I know it's wading into grey areas, but so is the whole tourist visa to direct citizenship route.

 

[FrankPintor]

Without a DNI you're supposed to carry your passport around with you all the time, which is a hassle and a risk I think. Plus, you're excluded from a lot of things, including not just a local bank account (which is actually useful sometimes), but also Mercadopago, probably Mercadolibre as well, and various supermarket and shop customer cards that give you discounts. Also, anything you buy with a foreign card will be at the official exchange rate, and remember that things we do now like getting cash muled in, or having WU giving you a good rate can change without much warning.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Since DNU 70/2017 was abolished, there are not many appeals and the Covid improved a lot the system because they developed the reports request by DEOX (intra net), accepted reports withou finger prints when they cannot be taken and, because the lack or employeds, they accepted that I take control of the release of the report requests that used to be the tool used to freeze the cases by some judges.
Convenio Policial that used to take 7 months to be answer, now it takes 1/3 weeks.
If you abandon the country after you have the 2 years your case has 50% chances of being rejected because of that.