Residency after marriage

[Attorney in BA]

There has to be like 900 posts on this subject... but I couldn't find any recent info on the process of applying for residency after marrying an Argentine citizen. So a few basic questions...

1. What documents do I need?

Documents you will need:

-Valid passport
-birth certificate
-Police records from the country (or countries) where you have lived for the past 5 years
-Argentine police records
-Argentine address certificate (may be the one issued by the police)
-DNI of your Argentine spouse
-Marriage certificate
-Full copy of everything

All documents issued abroad, except the passport, must be legalized with an Apostille or by the Argentine consulate with jurisdiction on the place where they were issued. All documents in a foreign language must be translated by an Argentine public translator, and legalized by the Colegio de Traductores.

2. What sort of residency do I get? (permanent or temporary)
3. How long does it take?

The process is relatively fast. Once you file the documents you will receive a residencia precaria. In about a month (maybe a little more) you should get your residencia permanente.

4. Does having a lawyer help? (as in, does it happen faster)

Do you need help of a lawyer? No. You don't need a lawyer for this or for any type of visa or personal document in Argentina. What a lawyer can help you with is checking your documents to see if they fulfill all the requirements (for a spouse visa this is relatively simple, but not so much for other visas, such as rentista) and helping you go through the paperwork and avoiding the lines at Migraciones (when you go to Migraciones with a lawyer you will not spend more than 1 hour there, at the most).

 

[allcraz]

Passport + photocopy of your passport (every single page, even the blank ones) + translated and stamped by a "traductor publico" (costs about 120 pesos) and "legalised" in the Colegio de traductores (costs about 40).

If you have an old passport with previous Argentine entries, make a complete copy of that, too. My old one expires next month but they still made me make complete copies of both passports.

Police check here (at the Ministerio de Justicia - it costs about 50 pesos)

http://www.dnrec.jus.gov.ar/ I made an appt. online and went to the Piedras location. Website has info.
3 options: 25 pesos if you pick it up in 5 days, 40 pesos in 24hrs, or 50 pesos same day

A stamped, official copy of your Marriage certificate (NOT the libreta familiar)

Thank you for clearing this up, Ashley. I got to Migraciones and only had the libreta. Had to run out to the Registro Civil and back. Fun morning.

A certificado de domicilio (You get this from the police station nearest to your house)

I don't think it specifies. I took my medical insurance bill with my name and our address on it as well as the ABL bill with my husband's name on it just in case. No problems there. But it never hurts to have the certificado.

600 peso visa fee

PLUS the 40 peso fee for the DNI. They told me 30 to 60 days and it arrived in 30 (1 week ago!)

PLEASE don't hesitate to PM me if you have any other questions, Alilou!

 

[ensifera]

Hi, does anyone know anything about having a translator during the marriage ceremony at the registro civil? Our translator mentioned that we are legally required to have one there, even though I speak Spanish, because I'm from a non-Spanish speaking country (USA). The people at our nearest registro civil in Zona Oeste where we plan to get married didn't know anything about this but I'm worried the judge performing the marriage will, if that's the case.

Thanks!

 

[French jurist]

Hi, does anyone know anything about having a translator during the marriage ceremony at the registro civil? Our translator mentioned that we are legally required to have one there, even though I speak Spanish, because I'm from a non-Spanish speaking country (USA). The people at our nearest registro civil in Zona Oeste where we plan to get married didn't know anything about this but I'm worried the judge performing the marriage will, if that's the case.

Thanks!

I married here at the RC and i was not asked to come with a translator

 

[syngirl]

Just posted this in another thread, but here it is for the posters in this thread as well:

Married: 27 June 2009
Filed for Residency & DNI: 15 September 2010 (see, I'm lazy too)
DNI Received: 14 October 2010

29 days for permanent docs to arrive, not bad. Although they took a really nice ID photo (my first!) and squished it so I look kind of cone heady I knew it was impossible for me to actually have a good ID pic!

 

[windy]

Alilou sums up my dilema. As soon as you get one paper another expires and if you leave the country your good conduct certificate from your home country becomes invalid. While waiting for another your visa expires and you have to leave the country or get an extension ,but after so many extensions they stamp ultima proroga in your passport.(No more extensions) Which really makes it almost impossible to present valid paper work. Still i am sure it won't take me another seven years to get my papers.
And just for the record i have an Argentine wife and kids.
PS it took my wife one hour to get residency and and work insurance number in Ireland.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Alilou sums up my dilema. As soon as you get one paper another expires and if you leave the country your good conduct certificate from your home country becomes invalid. While waiting for another your visa expires and you have to leave the country or get an extension ,but after so many extensions they stamp ultima proroga in your passport.(No more extensions) Which really makes it almost impossible to present valid paper work. Still i am sure it won't take me another seven years to get my papers.
And just for the record i have an Argentine wife and kids.
PS it took my wife one hour to get residency and and work insurance number in Ireland.

You have explained very well the way DGM works.
In your case, if you have argentinian wife and children, I suggest you apply for citizenship. It is much less bourocratic.
Regards

 

[CoachGayle]

I married an Argentinian six years ago. First we got married, then I applied for residency, and I just got my DNI a year ago.

In order to get married, I presented all the properly apostilled and translated documents noted above (w/o ever sending any to the Argentine consulate in the US, how strange!) . . . Overall it was a horrific lengthy process here in San Nicolas, though I hear it is easier elsewhere, especially if it is a first marriage.

As I was divorced, I also had to present both the divorce certificate and the former marriage certificate, which was rejected since there was no formal note about the divorce on it. So then I had to get a letter from the US Consulate in Buenos Aires explaining that US laws do not permit altering marriage certificates. All this took so long that I had to redo the FBI records thing. The RC also asked me to submit a document from the New York Civil Registry (which does not exist) proving the address of my exhusband on the date of the divorce. "Why?" "Because you have to." "But there is no Registry Office." "Too bad." (I finally turned in a copy of my husband's residential tax bill for that date, as it looked official, and they took it.)

The really absurd part was when my Argentine fiance presented his original marriage and divorce papers from Cordoba. The Registro Civil refused to accept them as they were originals rather than legalized copies, and not in the same format as Buenos Aires documents. So he walked out the door and over to a copy shop, made a copy, walked over to the Tribunal office, where the original and the copy, which were scrutinized by the notarizing official, who then stamped the copy as a "legalized copy." Roberto returned to the Registro Civil office, handed it to the boss lady, who accepted it with a very officious smile. This is crazy but true!

After the wedding, I applied for residency with the help of the migrations office at the local port office and got it about two months from the Migraciones office in Rosario, hand delivered to me at home by a very kind immigrations officer. But it took two more years of waiting to get my DNI, partly because in the process of shifting my records from Rosario Migracions to Buenos Aires Registro Civil, they lost my apostilled translated birth certificate, but luckily I had kept a second copy. Phew! Even so, that added about six months delay. Most interactions involved lengthy waits and disdainful agents.

Consider that social psych research shows that if you have to go through a harsh initiaiton, e.g., at a fraternity, you are more likely to value getting in. . . so I figure I must be the happiest expat and wife here!

Best wishes for a really speedy process...and if there is a bump, take a deep breath and keep going forward. It's worth it.

 

[kellymp]

Hi everyone,
Just want to say first of all, thanks for all the information about getting permanent residency in Argentina.

I'm getting married to an Argentine in a month, but I'm still confused about the documents that I'll need to get residency.

1) Criminal records- I'm from Wisconsin, USA...is a state background check sufficient, or do I need the FBI background check? And if so, does the FBI background check need an apostille?
2) Why would I need a translation of my passport?? It's already in Spanish AND in French....

Please help with any information! My head feels like it's going to explode!!

 

[citygirl]

Hi everyone,
Just want to say first of all, thanks for all the information about getting permanent residency in Argentina.

I'm getting married to an Argentine in a month, but I'm still confused about the documents that I'll need to get residency.

1) Criminal records- I'm from Wisconsin, USA...is a state background check sufficient, or do I need the FBI background check? And if so, does the FBI background check need an apostille?
2) Why would I need a translation of my passport?? It's already in Spanish AND in French....

Please help with any information! My head feels like it's going to explode!!

Assuming you are doing the paperwork here, you can't use a state background check. You need an FBI check and yes, it needs to be apostilled. It takes anywhere from 12-15 weeks so best to start early.

Some people haven't needed the passport translated (as the US passport already has the info in Spanish on it). Really up to the person that day although it may be easier just to do it to err on the side of safety.