Good afternoon,
This is a follow-up of my previous post detailing my experiences marrying an Argentine national in 2025. I am now pursuing a temporary residency visa via family reunification. There has been little insight on this forum and elsewhere as to how irregular status [e.g. overstaying a tourist visa] impacts one's ability to obtain regular status through a temporary or permanent visa, or whether it impacts your ability to be issued a precaria. I can happily say that today I was issued a precaria while living in Argentina on irregular status for one year and two months. Below is a more thorough detailing of my experience.
After receiving our marriage certificate, I immediately began the visa application process via RADEX. The first issue we encountered was needing to provide a Certificate of Domicile [Certificado de Domicilio]. While anecdotal reports on this forum suggested that we could visit a local police station to request this certificate, we were told by every station we visited that this process is now handled 100% online, and foreigners must schedule an appointment to have the certificate issued in person. This was frustrating to me, as this would require me to schedule and hire another certified public interpreter. My partner, however, suggested that I try to apply for a Certificado de Domicilio using the website that automatically issues them to Argentine nationals. This required creating a miBA account [but does not require any level of verification in the app]. I did this, and was able to successfully obtain a digital Certificado de Domicilio, albeit with a "temporary" DNI associated wth my miBA account that does not match any number on any of my documents. I am concerned that this may cause issues later on in the visa process, and that they may eventually require us to obtain the Certificado de Domicilio through the "appropriate" channel [e.g. making an in-person appointment]. I will have to wait and see how this develops.
I had luckily already obtained my Apostilled FBI Background Check and certified translation prior to beginning this process. I was eager to begin this process, as the 90-day validity of my FBI Background Check was due to expire on January 7th. I am not sure if the background check will still be considered "valid" by the time it is reviewed or "approved" by whatever committee or individual reviews my visa application and documentation. This is yet another "wait-and-see" aspect of my application.
After submitting digital copies of all required documents, I had to make three payments: one for the visa application, one as a preemptive fee for obtaining a DNI [which I will not be issued until my visa application is approved], and one for the Argentine Background Check [Certificado de Antecedentes Penales]. In the past, it was required to schedule an appointment to obtain the Argentine background check, but this process has since been integrated into the RADEX system. Frustratingly, the only method of payment accepted for the Certificado de Antecedentes Penales was cash. I received an email from RADEX with a receipt for the payment. The two options provided were to either pay via ProvinciaNET or in person at a Correo Argentino office. We were unable to pay via ProvinciaNET. We brought a physical copy of the receipt to a Correo Argentino office, and were told that they no longer accepted payments for the Certificadode Antecedentes Penales. They said that now only Rapipago handles these payments physically. We visited a grocery store with a Rapipago, provided them the receipt, and were thankfully able to pay [cash required].
Additionally, in the payment receipt I was emailed for the Antecedentes Penales, the system had automatically generated my information with an error that I was unable to fix. I was born in Germany, but I am a U.S. Citizen, and have no German citizenship. I entered the data on my application to reflect this complexity: I was physically born in Germany, but my nationality is American. On my Antecedentes Penales certificate, however, my nationality is listed as German. I assume there must be some error with their internal forms that erroneously reports the country of birth as the applicant's nationality. I think this is a rather rare case unlikely to be relevant to most applicants, but for me this is frustrating, as there was no clear way for me to fix or remedy this error. I will again have to wait and see if this causes any issues later in the process.
After paying for all three fees, I was finally automatically issued a date for my appointment to physically present my documents at Migrations. I submitted my application on a Friday at 9pm, and was given a date for Monday at 1pm. I was not expecting to be issued an appointment so quickly, so I was unable to attend this assigned appointment. After going back and forth with a few different entities, we found out that we could request a new appointment up to 2 times only after the original appointment had expired/passed, and we had 90 days to do so. I refrained from submitting my request for a new appointment until I had assured availability within the next 2-3 days of my submission. I submitted my next appointment request on 12/30 and received an appointment for 1/2 at 9am.
Today my partner and I appeared at Migrations for our appointment. I was anxious to be at the appointment without a certified public interpreter, as I feared that I would not be able to individually communicate effectively if it was required of me. We were testing the waters, so to speak, about whether or not Migrations was strict with enforcing interpreters for foreigners who only have a dubious grasp of Spanish [legally it appears that it is a requirement for non-Spanish speaking foreigners to bring a legal interpreter, but we didn't know in practice if this is enforced]. The Migrations officer we had our appointment with was very kind. She asked us to both present our IDs, me my passport and my partner his DNI. She then asked for all of the physical documents we had submitted. We presented them and she took some time to enter information on the computer. I was then asked to write down the places I had been living for the past 3 years, and how long I had been there. She instructed me to write "Argentina" on the 2nd line, and confirmed verbally how long I had been staying in Argentina [14 months].
There were a few other forms I had to sign or initial, one of which asked me to confirm that I was not a refugee, that I had brought all required documents, and that I did not require an interpreter. I was never quizzed or pressed about my knowledge of Spanish, and I understood about 75% of what she was saying, though she addressed most of her questions and statements to my Argentine partner instead of me [much appreciated]. I was able to ask my partner for confirmation of some things I had not heard or understood, and no issue was raised with this. They then took my picture and took all of my fingerprints digitally. After all of this, she scanned all of the documents we had brought, and then provided us an instructional sheet of paper on how I could receive my precaria digitally. She told us that it could take a full business day for the precaria to be available, but I was able to access and download it on the same day as my appointment. That was the end of the appointment.
To my understanding, I now just have to wait for whatever immigration authority to review the documentation I've submitted and await further requests for information or appointments. I believe there will eventually be an appointment where my partner and I are brought in to answer questions in separate rooms, about our relationship and my residency here, and I will likely hire a public interpreter for this. I am also anxious about the errors or uncertainties in some of the documentation I have submitted, and whether these will present issues in my appointment. But my most important question as to whether an individual on irregular status will be granted a precaria has been answered: the Migration official we spoke to was clearly aware of when I had entered the country, did not inquire or check if my tourist visa was active, and my irregular status did not prevent me from being issued a precaria. As to my understanding, the precaria has now "regularized" my immigration status for the remaining duration of the process, meaning that my visa overstay will no longer be a factor in my visa application, as I am now entering the visa process on regular immigration standing.
Please feel free to ask me any questions, whether here in the comments or via PM. Additionally, if any of your experiences are different from what I have described, please provide your own insight so that we can better understand this process together, or help others who are looking for information in the future.
This is a follow-up of my previous post detailing my experiences marrying an Argentine national in 2025. I am now pursuing a temporary residency visa via family reunification. There has been little insight on this forum and elsewhere as to how irregular status [e.g. overstaying a tourist visa] impacts one's ability to obtain regular status through a temporary or permanent visa, or whether it impacts your ability to be issued a precaria. I can happily say that today I was issued a precaria while living in Argentina on irregular status for one year and two months. Below is a more thorough detailing of my experience.
After receiving our marriage certificate, I immediately began the visa application process via RADEX. The first issue we encountered was needing to provide a Certificate of Domicile [Certificado de Domicilio]. While anecdotal reports on this forum suggested that we could visit a local police station to request this certificate, we were told by every station we visited that this process is now handled 100% online, and foreigners must schedule an appointment to have the certificate issued in person. This was frustrating to me, as this would require me to schedule and hire another certified public interpreter. My partner, however, suggested that I try to apply for a Certificado de Domicilio using the website that automatically issues them to Argentine nationals. This required creating a miBA account [but does not require any level of verification in the app]. I did this, and was able to successfully obtain a digital Certificado de Domicilio, albeit with a "temporary" DNI associated wth my miBA account that does not match any number on any of my documents. I am concerned that this may cause issues later on in the visa process, and that they may eventually require us to obtain the Certificado de Domicilio through the "appropriate" channel [e.g. making an in-person appointment]. I will have to wait and see how this develops.
I had luckily already obtained my Apostilled FBI Background Check and certified translation prior to beginning this process. I was eager to begin this process, as the 90-day validity of my FBI Background Check was due to expire on January 7th. I am not sure if the background check will still be considered "valid" by the time it is reviewed or "approved" by whatever committee or individual reviews my visa application and documentation. This is yet another "wait-and-see" aspect of my application.
After submitting digital copies of all required documents, I had to make three payments: one for the visa application, one as a preemptive fee for obtaining a DNI [which I will not be issued until my visa application is approved], and one for the Argentine Background Check [Certificado de Antecedentes Penales]. In the past, it was required to schedule an appointment to obtain the Argentine background check, but this process has since been integrated into the RADEX system. Frustratingly, the only method of payment accepted for the Certificado de Antecedentes Penales was cash. I received an email from RADEX with a receipt for the payment. The two options provided were to either pay via ProvinciaNET or in person at a Correo Argentino office. We were unable to pay via ProvinciaNET. We brought a physical copy of the receipt to a Correo Argentino office, and were told that they no longer accepted payments for the Certificadode Antecedentes Penales. They said that now only Rapipago handles these payments physically. We visited a grocery store with a Rapipago, provided them the receipt, and were thankfully able to pay [cash required].
Additionally, in the payment receipt I was emailed for the Antecedentes Penales, the system had automatically generated my information with an error that I was unable to fix. I was born in Germany, but I am a U.S. Citizen, and have no German citizenship. I entered the data on my application to reflect this complexity: I was physically born in Germany, but my nationality is American. On my Antecedentes Penales certificate, however, my nationality is listed as German. I assume there must be some error with their internal forms that erroneously reports the country of birth as the applicant's nationality. I think this is a rather rare case unlikely to be relevant to most applicants, but for me this is frustrating, as there was no clear way for me to fix or remedy this error. I will again have to wait and see if this causes any issues later in the process.
After paying for all three fees, I was finally automatically issued a date for my appointment to physically present my documents at Migrations. I submitted my application on a Friday at 9pm, and was given a date for Monday at 1pm. I was not expecting to be issued an appointment so quickly, so I was unable to attend this assigned appointment. After going back and forth with a few different entities, we found out that we could request a new appointment up to 2 times only after the original appointment had expired/passed, and we had 90 days to do so. I refrained from submitting my request for a new appointment until I had assured availability within the next 2-3 days of my submission. I submitted my next appointment request on 12/30 and received an appointment for 1/2 at 9am.
Today my partner and I appeared at Migrations for our appointment. I was anxious to be at the appointment without a certified public interpreter, as I feared that I would not be able to individually communicate effectively if it was required of me. We were testing the waters, so to speak, about whether or not Migrations was strict with enforcing interpreters for foreigners who only have a dubious grasp of Spanish [legally it appears that it is a requirement for non-Spanish speaking foreigners to bring a legal interpreter, but we didn't know in practice if this is enforced]. The Migrations officer we had our appointment with was very kind. She asked us to both present our IDs, me my passport and my partner his DNI. She then asked for all of the physical documents we had submitted. We presented them and she took some time to enter information on the computer. I was then asked to write down the places I had been living for the past 3 years, and how long I had been there. She instructed me to write "Argentina" on the 2nd line, and confirmed verbally how long I had been staying in Argentina [14 months].
There were a few other forms I had to sign or initial, one of which asked me to confirm that I was not a refugee, that I had brought all required documents, and that I did not require an interpreter. I was never quizzed or pressed about my knowledge of Spanish, and I understood about 75% of what she was saying, though she addressed most of her questions and statements to my Argentine partner instead of me [much appreciated]. I was able to ask my partner for confirmation of some things I had not heard or understood, and no issue was raised with this. They then took my picture and took all of my fingerprints digitally. After all of this, she scanned all of the documents we had brought, and then provided us an instructional sheet of paper on how I could receive my precaria digitally. She told us that it could take a full business day for the precaria to be available, but I was able to access and download it on the same day as my appointment. That was the end of the appointment.
To my understanding, I now just have to wait for whatever immigration authority to review the documentation I've submitted and await further requests for information or appointments. I believe there will eventually be an appointment where my partner and I are brought in to answer questions in separate rooms, about our relationship and my residency here, and I will likely hire a public interpreter for this. I am also anxious about the errors or uncertainties in some of the documentation I have submitted, and whether these will present issues in my appointment. But my most important question as to whether an individual on irregular status will be granted a precaria has been answered: the Migration official we spoke to was clearly aware of when I had entered the country, did not inquire or check if my tourist visa was active, and my irregular status did not prevent me from being issued a precaria. As to my understanding, the precaria has now "regularized" my immigration status for the remaining duration of the process, meaning that my visa overstay will no longer be a factor in my visa application, as I am now entering the visa process on regular immigration standing.
Please feel free to ask me any questions, whether here in the comments or via PM. Additionally, if any of your experiences are different from what I have described, please provide your own insight so that we can better understand this process together, or help others who are looking for information in the future.