Permatourism and EZE

[Raymond]

85, 88, same difference. The point is that once you have stayed 90 days, you have to get an extension for another 90 days, for a maximum of 6 months out of the year. So, regardless of when exactly you left, if you're hoping for another 90 day stamp, you're counting on skirting around the requirements. My question is simply about whether they're strict at EZE.

In some ways, it sounds like it might be safer to just overstay, pay the fine and, according to Bajo_cero2, have your record "cleared" as a result.

Not that I´ve noticed. After 14 entries (15 really, but they didn´t stamp me out the first time..) and a handful of multas and twice overstaying more than 1+years. Nothing too dramatic, I still get butterflies though. I truely feel like a citizen of the universe here.

 

[Crema Americana]

I have 2 Colonia runs and have 2 previous overstays in my passport. I left Argentina on Oct. 12 and came back January 6th without any issue. I'm not sure what the minimum stay out of country is supposed to be, but they did look at my passport and say "oh, you left in October, you're alright." I was under 3 months, but I'm not sure how they'd feel if I was only gone for 2 weeks.

I don't think they're very strict at EZE... they seem to renew your stamp just as easily at the Colonia border. They ARE strict about overstays though, even at Colonia and you will have to pay the fine if you overstay. There's no leniency there, from my experience.

I'm done with the Colonia trips, I think next time I'll just overstay and see how it goes... it will be my third strike so we'll see what happens. By that time I will most likely have a new passport.

Of course policies could change at any time.

 

[AlexanderB]

I'm happy to pay all necessary fines, I just don't want to be turned back at the border, denied reentry, or something of that ilk.

 

[joemama]

From what I have read no one in the history of this board has ever been denied entry for overstaying their visa.

Going to Colonia to do a 'visa run' is basically a gigantic waste of time and money.

 

[steveinbsas]

From what I have read no one in the history of this board has ever been denied entry for overstaying their visa.

Only one person I know of experience "delayed" entry (about 24 hours).

Going to Colonia to do a 'visa run' is basically a gigantic waste of time and money.

What can I say except that I ADMIT THAT I NEVER DID IT!!!!!!

(But I did get a 90 day extension at migraciones and during that time I applied for and received temporary residency.)

 

[AlexanderB]

Yeah, I get it. A lot of you are eager to taunt us, "nah na-na-na nah, I qualify for some officially sanctioned residency status so I didn't have to slum it like you permatourists!" That's nice. Good for you. I'm not looking for advice on just how much more awesome you are.

 

[dennisr]

Maybe I am missing something, you have not overstayed your 90 day Tourist Visa? If that is the case, have done what you are suggesting more times than I am willing to admit: quick turn-around. Remember, 90 calendar days and the day you enter and exit are counted.

 

[jimdepalermo]

There seems to be some confusion between an original visa and a prórroga.

When you enter the country, whether via boat from Colonia or plane from Timbuktu, and whether you've been outside Argentina for 100 days or 100 minutes, you're granted a new 90-day tourist visa. By law this visa can be extended (prorrogado) one time for an additional 90 days. This extension can only be done by Migraciones, and you don't leave the country to do it. If you do leave the country, you're applying for a new visa, rather than an extension, when you re-enter Argentina.

Has anyone gone to Migraciones for an extension and gotten a passport stamp that didn't say "Prórroga Final"? I've only gone once, with a friend who's a performer and spends most of his down time here, where he owns real estate but has no official residence status. He's usually back and forth to Europe or North America 6 or 8 times a year.

Once, a couple years ago, he actually stayed 90 days and asked me to help him get an extension at Migraciones. We went through the drill and waited endlessly for them to call his name to get his passport. Finally a supervisor appeared with a long printout showing years of entries and exits. She asked him what was going on with all this. Before he could panic, I answered with the true story - performer who works around the world, loves Buenos Aires, and maintains a residence here that he likes to visit whenever he's not engaged elsewhere for work.

She smiled, stamped the prórroga in his passport, and handed it back to him. As we were leaving, he noticed the stamp said PRORROGA FINAL, and we went back in. I asked the supervisor why "Final," and she explained that only one extension is possible by law, so all prórrogas are final. He would have to leave before the extension elapsed.

"Will he have problems when he subsequently returns?" I asked. "No," she said, "It's just that he will have to leave the country within the next 90 days."

Sure enough, on his next entry at EZE the agent stared at the Final stamp for a while. But he then stamped a new 90-day tourist visa into the passport. And my friend has continued coming and going, without problems, for the last 2+ years.

 

[steveinbsas]

Yeah, I get it. A lot of you are eager to taunt us, "nah na-na-na nah, I qualify for some officially sanctioned residency status so I didn't have to slum it like you permatourists!" That's nice. Good for you. I'm not looking for advice on just how much more awesome you are.

I have never criticized permatourists and said so in previous posts.

They're just lucky that Argentina is (arguably) the best (if not the only) country in the world who doesn't take their own laws regarding "tourist visas" seriously.

At some point (sooner or later) that is likely to change.

Even if you don't have a "valid" tourist visa, if you are in Argentina, the chances of being deported are almoat zero and even if there ever is a "crackdown" on perma-tourists, the chances of being able to stay are high while the chances of being able to leave and reenter may not be as good.

 

[John.St]

... Has anyone gone to Migraciones for an extension and gotten a passport stamp that didn't say "Prórroga Final"?

Yes.

Mine (a full passport page stamp) did not say final, but later I was asked several times at reentry if I had residencia in Argentina, to which I answered no and that I was travelling between Europe, Argentina and Chile.

No actual problems, except an unpleasant feeling each time I was questioned, but I have always received a new tourist visa.