Good afternoon, all!
I am a U.S. citizen who has been overstaying a tourist visa in Buenos Aires since October of 2024. I moved here to live with my partner [for context, we are both men], and we recently decided to get married so that I can pursue regular status through the family reunification visa. I had some trouble finding information on this forum about what the requirements for marriage were in 2025, so I wanted to follow up and provide some information about my experience, having just gone through it successfully.
We were married on 12/15/2025 at the Civil Registry in Villa del Parque. We had to make the appointment about a month in advance. The appointment required my passport information, my partner's DNI, the DNIs of two witnesses [required to be Argentine nationals], and the information of a nationally registered interpreter, as I was not confident enough in my ability to speak/understand Spanish during a legal proceeding. It also asked for the names and document numbers of me and my partner's parents, as well as our occupations. If you do not submit all of this information within a week of requesting an appointment for marriage, your appointment will be cancelled. This happened to us, and we had to reschedule from December 1st to December 15th. The 2nd time we were able to get the information submitted within the timeframe, and our appointment was confirmed.
A few days before our appointment, we received an email with two documents we needed to print out and bring to our appointment. We printed these and also brought my original passport, my partner's DNI, and the DNIs of both witnesses, all of which we were required to give to the marriage officiant when we arrived for our appointment at the Civil Registry. Both of our witnesses were then taken to the room where the marriage proceeding would occur; they were not asked any questions about their relationship to me and my partner until the ceremony began. Prior to the ceremony, my partner and I were called up to a desk by the marriage officiant, where we had to sign a few forms and confirm/deny if we would be submitting a prenup [we were not], and whether we were opting to keep our marital assets separated [we were]. One of the forms we had printed and brought with us was not needed, as they already had the information from when we had submitted it along with our request for a marriage appointment - I would still recommend bringing both forms, just in case.
After this, they gave us back our documents [I think they needed to make scans of them], and we were led to the room where the marriage would occur. It was a small room with a desk at the front, and around 20 chairs facing the desk for any people you brought with. My partner and I were told we had to sit between the two witnesses to our left/right. The interpreter sat near the front of the room, parallel to the officiant. After the judge entered, she read some information to confirm who we were, and then asked my partner and I to explain a bit about how we met and started our relationship. She asked a few times to confirm that I had been/am currently living in Argentina with my partner, to which I said yes. After we explained, she asked us to explain why we had decided to get married, and we explained that it was appropriate for the progression of our relationship, and that it would make it easier for us to move together in the future, as we have plans to move to Europe together within the next few years. She asked if we had discussed the marriage beforehand, and we said yes.
She then read some information about what the requirements are for married couples in Argentina, mostly discussing intangible things like a duty to support your spouse financially and cooperate effectively as partners. We weren't required to answer any more questions at this stage. She then asked the witnesses to explain how they knew us. One of our witnesses was somebody I met only one year ago, when I moved here, and the other was a friend of my partner who I had met for the first time only a month prior to our marriage appointment. The first witness explained that he and the other witness met my partner in 2018 online, and that they became friends in person once my partner moved to Buenos Aires a few years ago. He explained that he met me when I moved here a year ago, and that we hang out regularly. The second witness said considerably less, with the judge basically just asking him if he had the same history with me and my partner as the first witness, to which he said "yeah, it's the same for me." The judge accepted this and the marriage proceeded. We were asked to stand facing each other at the front of the room, affirm that we wished to marry each other, given the option to present rings [we declined this], and asked to kiss each other. Then we and the witnesses had to sign/initial a few documents, and then we were given the documents and the red book containing information about our respective families.
Neither of us were required to provide a birth certificate, and I was never questioned as to my legal status in Argentina/whether my visa was active or not. I also did not need to have my passport translated/apostilled or anything. I will soon be applying for the temporary visa for family reunification using our marriage certificate, so I will be able to provide some additional information soon regarding this process, and if I will be issued a precaria/temporary visa despite being on irregular status - I have seen conflicting information about this online.
Please feel free to ask me any questions, and I will answer to the best of my ability. I hope this explanation is appreciated for those considering this process and who have doubts about any of the requirements.
I am a U.S. citizen who has been overstaying a tourist visa in Buenos Aires since October of 2024. I moved here to live with my partner [for context, we are both men], and we recently decided to get married so that I can pursue regular status through the family reunification visa. I had some trouble finding information on this forum about what the requirements for marriage were in 2025, so I wanted to follow up and provide some information about my experience, having just gone through it successfully.
We were married on 12/15/2025 at the Civil Registry in Villa del Parque. We had to make the appointment about a month in advance. The appointment required my passport information, my partner's DNI, the DNIs of two witnesses [required to be Argentine nationals], and the information of a nationally registered interpreter, as I was not confident enough in my ability to speak/understand Spanish during a legal proceeding. It also asked for the names and document numbers of me and my partner's parents, as well as our occupations. If you do not submit all of this information within a week of requesting an appointment for marriage, your appointment will be cancelled. This happened to us, and we had to reschedule from December 1st to December 15th. The 2nd time we were able to get the information submitted within the timeframe, and our appointment was confirmed.
A few days before our appointment, we received an email with two documents we needed to print out and bring to our appointment. We printed these and also brought my original passport, my partner's DNI, and the DNIs of both witnesses, all of which we were required to give to the marriage officiant when we arrived for our appointment at the Civil Registry. Both of our witnesses were then taken to the room where the marriage proceeding would occur; they were not asked any questions about their relationship to me and my partner until the ceremony began. Prior to the ceremony, my partner and I were called up to a desk by the marriage officiant, where we had to sign a few forms and confirm/deny if we would be submitting a prenup [we were not], and whether we were opting to keep our marital assets separated [we were]. One of the forms we had printed and brought with us was not needed, as they already had the information from when we had submitted it along with our request for a marriage appointment - I would still recommend bringing both forms, just in case.
After this, they gave us back our documents [I think they needed to make scans of them], and we were led to the room where the marriage would occur. It was a small room with a desk at the front, and around 20 chairs facing the desk for any people you brought with. My partner and I were told we had to sit between the two witnesses to our left/right. The interpreter sat near the front of the room, parallel to the officiant. After the judge entered, she read some information to confirm who we were, and then asked my partner and I to explain a bit about how we met and started our relationship. She asked a few times to confirm that I had been/am currently living in Argentina with my partner, to which I said yes. After we explained, she asked us to explain why we had decided to get married, and we explained that it was appropriate for the progression of our relationship, and that it would make it easier for us to move together in the future, as we have plans to move to Europe together within the next few years. She asked if we had discussed the marriage beforehand, and we said yes.
She then read some information about what the requirements are for married couples in Argentina, mostly discussing intangible things like a duty to support your spouse financially and cooperate effectively as partners. We weren't required to answer any more questions at this stage. She then asked the witnesses to explain how they knew us. One of our witnesses was somebody I met only one year ago, when I moved here, and the other was a friend of my partner who I had met for the first time only a month prior to our marriage appointment. The first witness explained that he and the other witness met my partner in 2018 online, and that they became friends in person once my partner moved to Buenos Aires a few years ago. He explained that he met me when I moved here a year ago, and that we hang out regularly. The second witness said considerably less, with the judge basically just asking him if he had the same history with me and my partner as the first witness, to which he said "yeah, it's the same for me." The judge accepted this and the marriage proceeded. We were asked to stand facing each other at the front of the room, affirm that we wished to marry each other, given the option to present rings [we declined this], and asked to kiss each other. Then we and the witnesses had to sign/initial a few documents, and then we were given the documents and the red book containing information about our respective families.
Neither of us were required to provide a birth certificate, and I was never questioned as to my legal status in Argentina/whether my visa was active or not. I also did not need to have my passport translated/apostilled or anything. I will soon be applying for the temporary visa for family reunification using our marriage certificate, so I will be able to provide some additional information soon regarding this process, and if I will be issued a precaria/temporary visa despite being on irregular status - I have seen conflicting information about this online.
Please feel free to ask me any questions, and I will answer to the best of my ability. I hope this explanation is appreciated for those considering this process and who have doubts about any of the requirements.
