Precaria Vs Driving, Driver's License And Travel Questions

[Patagone]

Hello everybody,

I am quite confused about the current situation I am in (aren't we all?) and wondered if anybody could shed some light.

I applied a few weeks ago for my permanent residency as I am married to an Argentine citizen. When on the way to the appointment we got checked at a police control who wanted to see my (European) driver's license and passport, both valid for another 9+ years. Last entry into Argentina before this moment was 3 weeks before, so I still had over 2 months or tourist visa to go with my driver's license.

The police man told me I needed to get an Argentinean driver's license when I got my DNI as I cannot drive with a foreign license if my tourist visa has expired.

Migraciones gave me a precaria on the spot. A few weeks later the website to check progress of the application still does not show anything.

Questions:

1) Do I need to (can I?) get a local driver's license right now, with the precaria? Or do I need to wait until I get the actual DNI?

My Tourist visa will expire in 6 weeks, the precaria in 10 weeks. Likely the DNI will not arrive until many moons later.

2) Do I need to get a local license before the tourist visa expires in order to drive legally? Is there a moment that my Euro driver's license is no longer valid as I have a precaria now?

It is easy to cross over to Chile and back from here, we do that often anyway.

3) Do I need to exit with my precaria or can I use my passport and get a new 90 days visa?

4) Is it really not allowed to drive with a foreign license in combination with a valid (current or renewed) precaria?

5) How long until the status of the DNI tramitye starts showing up on the website? Any recent experience with actual DNI time?

Many thanks for any answers and input you can provide.
Cheers

 

[citygirl]

Technically once you are a resident, you need to get a local license. (I still haven't done it and ma driving with my US license- oops). When I called for info on getting a local license, they told me I would need to bring my DNI with me so you should be fine driving with your European license until you get your DNI. As far as timing, it depends but normally it's pretty quick if you apply as spouse/parent of Argentine. Under 90 days to receive residency/DNI.

As far as exiting - I believe you need to show them your precaria when you leave/enter but yes, you will obviously have to have your passport with you as well.

 

[r2d2]

1) Do I need to (can I?) get a local driver's license right now, with the precaria? Or do I need to wait until I get the actual DNI?

Yes, you can get a drivers license with a precaria. But the license will only be valid for 10 weeks in your case (because your precaria expires in 10 weeks). Back when I got my precaria I went to local the drivers license office to ask. The police officer told me I could get one with my precaria but he recommended me to wait for my DNI because it would otherwise expire soon. And I would have to reapply for another one.

3) Do I need to exit with my precaria or can I use my passport and get a new 90 days visa?

You now need to present the precaria together with your passport every time you leave/enter the country.

 

[ElQueso]

Careful with leaving the country with your car and a precaria if you own the car. It may well depend on the border crossing and the officials there as to whether or not you can do it, but I wrote a couple of years ago about my experience doing this. I'll summarize it briefly here.

I had passed from Argentina to Paraguay a few times with my passport and Texas driver's license, before I applied for my residency. Then, one year, I had applied for residency and only had my precaria. It took me more than a year for the residency process to be approved due to two little issues that had to be resolved. We wanted to go to Paraguay that summer to bring my wife's sister back to visit their folks (she came to live with us to go to high school). We cross in Clorinda to go to Asuncion. They would not let us cross there. We didn't know that the law would not allow you to cross with an Argentine vehicle and a precaria - I had to wait until I had my DNI in my hands before they would allow it. We ended up going to another crossing nearby, which was a ferry (quite dubious! 18-wheelers on a flat, fragile contraption, and our little car...) across the river, and had to talk them into letting us pass this once since we had just driven some 15 hours to get there. The border crossing at Clorinda would not let us, no way no how, but this smaller one did with some convincing.

The person to whom the vehicle's green card belongs is supposed to have to have a DNI to cross the border. If you haven't applied for residency your passport will indeed work (or at least as of a few years ago it was like that, don't know if they've changed that as well). you may have different results at different border crossings, but by law you can't do it with the precaria. Using your passport once you have applied for residency won't do it either as your passport is linked to your precaria.

 

[Patagone]

Thank you all so far for your answers, keep them coming please. To add my personal experience of border crossing:

- We have a car, my wife's name is on the green card, mine on the blue card. I cannot cross the border without her present.
Note that I can cross the border if a local friend is driving if he has a blue card (and his DNI) as well.

But alone I cannot do it, even though I can legally drive in Argentina and Chile and my wife has no license to cross the actual border, but she must be present to sign the papers with her DNI
This is actually one of the reasons I started the residency process, to be able to take my own car across the border (which is just an hour drive away).

 

[Girino]

3) Do I need to exit with my precaria or can I use my passport and get a new 90 days visa?

You don't need to get a tourist VISA once your precaria expire. You can renew it online (on Migraciones' website) and print it at home. You keep doing this until your DNI arrives.

 

[clooz]

I also procrastinated and used a US driving license here, then a UK license. I recently completed the process and got a local driving license. The local license when issued has an expiration date set to the DNI's expiration date or 2 years whichever is sooner. Therefore it makes sense to go get a driving license as soon as you get the DNI delivered. If for example a temporary residence DNI expires in six months, then the driving license will expire at the same time. fyi I joined ACA to get a local license, then cancelled my ACA membership - this seems to be the easier way to handle the process. I can recommend the ACA experience, though it still took many hours.

 

[Ceviche]

Another time,

Can you please elaborate on the process. How did joining ACA help?

what was the step by step procedure?

do you need your own car to get a license?

how did you do the written test?

where is aca located?

what was the timeline from start to finish?

thank you

 

[Rich One]

I also procrastinated and used a US driving license here, then a UK license. I recently completed the process and got a local driving license. The local license when issued has an expiration date set to the DNI's expiration date or 2 years whichever is sooner. Therefore it makes sense to go get a driving license as soon as you get the DNI delivered. If for example a temporary residence DNI expires in six months, then the driving license will expire at the same time. fyi I joined ACA to get a local license, then cancelled my ACA membership - this seems to be the easier way to handle the process. I can recommend the ACA experience, though it still took many hours.

Did you get the money back from ACA or a portion of it? Seems like a perfect deal.
Local Drivers License after age 64 is renewed for only One Year....!! at a time

 

[Girino]

I also procrastinated and used a US driving license here, then a UK license. I recently completed the process and got a local driving license. The local license when issued has an expiration date set to the DNI's expiration date or 2 years whichever is sooner.

My experience is different. I have permanent residency as I am married to a citizen (as the OP). My DNI card says it will expire 15 years since the issuing date. My driving license will expire in 5 years since the DL issuing date (that's the validity of a standard DL in Argentina).

I don't know why your DL expires in 2 years and not in 5. May be related to your age?

It was pretty quick to get a DL for me, but I am in San Isidro.
I booked my "turno" online, there were various spots for the next week. I went there and I was given the physical and the theory test (electronic test). Then I had 1 month to take the practical test. You just need to be accompanied to the practical test since you are not supposed to drive to there alone.

The theory test was no guessing game, road signs are quite different from those used in Europe and the US and there were questions related to parking rules, speed and lights that vary from country to country. I have another 2 foreign DLs that were irrelevant for the whole process. I was given a fresh new Argentine DL, including 6 months of "principiante" limitations.