Visa Application Processing Time

[Alby]

I can understand it taking months for an application for residency to be evaluated and approved (or years, as was my famous pandemic-affected case--nearly three years in fact). But the precaria, even in the depths of the pandemic, was always renewed on time. Without Migraciónes meeting this minimum part of the bargain, the would-be immigrant waiting for their application to be granted is in an impossible situation.

I find it hard to believe a precaria rewnewal can go unattended for 8 months. Maybe the terminology is getting confused here?

(As Barg comments, Rentista residencies can be the slowest to evaluate because of their inherrent complexity and the sheer weight of translated and apostilled documentation they entail.)

 

[Johngwyn]

YOW. Any idea why it took that long? Was that during the pandemic?
It's annoying for me at the moment because I have money sitting en route from a wire transfer, and the bank won't liquidate it until i get my unexpired precaria.

That was last year, and there is no valid reason for the delay. It's pretty common here for things like this.

 

[Johngwyn]

bank won't liquidate it

You mean bank won't let your withdraw your money? That's horrible. Cash is safer than the bank, I think.

 

[LuckyLuke]

YOW. Any idea why it took that long? Was that during the pandemic?
It's annoying for me at the moment because I have money sitting en route from a wire transfer, and the bank won't liquidate it until i get my unexpired precaria.

The central bank is holding onto your wire? Personally, I would request they return the funds back to the originating bank (until such time that you have the required paperwork to re-initiate it). I was told with my wire last year that they would hold it only for 5 days before automatically converting it to pesos. Having it stuck in limbo here is risk exposure.

 

[Paige55]

The central bank is holding onto your wire? Personally, I would request they return the funds back to the originating bank (until such time that you have the required paperwork to re-initiate it). I was told with my wire last year that they would hold it only for 5 days before automatically converting it to pesos. Having it stuck in limbo here is risk exposure.

I know when I was in the phases of renewing temp residency, the bank wanted you to attach a current DNI to liquidate the funds into either your dollar/peso accounts. They would also accept the precaria form attached along with the most recent expired DNI. I've never heard of a precaria being held up, I was lucky as mine were always issued quickly and only had to have one renewal which was renewed and my residency approved the same day. I feel lawyers should be able to help but I have a friend whose lawyer kind of just shrugs, like there is nothing they can do to hasten the process, even though they're in front of migrations on a daily basis. Not sure if perhaps the new laws hitting the books and citizenship now being thrust on the department are to blame for more recent delays but I agree that it's very dangerous to not be able to send/liquidate funds to your local bank account for an indeterminate amount of time. I suppose Western Union might work but you likely need a current ID here for that also?

 

[mageesa]

I know when I was in the phases of renewing temp residency, the bank wanted you to attach a current DNI to liquidate the funds into either your dollar/peso accounts. They would also accept the precaria form attached along with the most recent expired DNI. I've never heard of a precaria being held up, I was lucky as mine were always issued quickly and only had to have one renewal which was renewed and my residency approved the same day. I feel lawyers should be able to help but I have a friend whose lawyer kind of just shrugs, like there is nothing they can do to hasten the process, even though they're in front of migrations on a daily basis. Not sure if perhaps the new laws hitting the books and citizenship now being thrust on the department are to blame for more recent delays but I agree that it's very dangerous to not be able to send/liquidate funds to your local bank account for an indeterminate amount of time. I suppose Western Union might work but you likely need a current ID here for that also?

This is my situation; I could just WU money to myself, but migraciones wants the money deposited for the visa rentista to originate from the account where my rental income is deposited. I think I have more than 5 days 'in limbo', from what I recall it's 30 days or something at Santander. What do you mean by 'precaria form'? The official request for a new precaria? Maybe I'll try that, if that's what you mean.

 

[Alby]

This is the crazy part about the system: they make you bring money in each month before they even know they are going to accept you. And if they take months, or even years, as was my Rentista case (before the deposit system came in), you could end bringing in tens of thousands of dollars to support an ultimately unsuccessful application..

 

[Paige55]

This is my situation; I could just WU money to myself, but migraciones wants the money deposited for the visa rentista to originate from the account where my rental income is deposited. I think I have more than 5 days 'in limbo', from what I recall it's 30 days or something at Santander. What do you mean by 'precaria form'? The official request for a new precaria? Maybe I'll try that, if that's what you mean.

Oh, I meant the actual copy of the precaria that was issued while they were deciding on my residency. My precaria was always issued on time and it never lapsed, I only had to renew it once and migrations had made the decision. I'm not sure if they'll take the official request, but it doesn't hurt to try, or go in and talk to someone at a branch that might be able to help?

I didn't know migrations could just 'sit' on the precaria, I thought they'd at least have to renew that fairly quickly so as not to hold people hostage here (along with their funds), as you can't travel if you've not been issued any form of precaria, right? Not that that's an issue for some but it's wild they can just not issue a precaria on time. I was always issued the precaria the day I turned in my paperwork and it was renewed fast the one time I needed to renew it.

 

[Paige55]

This is the crazy part about the system: they make you bring money in each month before they even know they are going to accept you. And if they take months, or even years, as was my Rentista case (before the deposit system came in), you could end bringing in tens of thousands of dollars to support an ultimately unsuccessful application..

It's also now so arbitrary. I have a friend renewing next year and she's meant to transition to her permanent residency after three full years on temporary status, but her lawyer now says they have no clue if it'll be seamless and there is no official statement on how much she has to prove to her name for them to switch her from temp to permanent, which I guess had been going well for people fairly until the change this year (they say just 'sufficient means to support yourself' I mean, is that for life? A year more? I feel that immigration doesn't even know and perhaps that's what's holding up rentista even more now.

Lawyers also don't seem to be able to do much to help move cases along and it's a wait and see with them also from what my friend is going through. But, yeah...unsettling to have to build out a bank account and make constant transfers (perhaps even more than you'd even need to survive here, that money could be better used in high yield savings or elsewhere). But, compared to some other immigration systems, perhaps it's not too shabby. I don't know anymore.

 

[RichardAlem]

What I have learned, the hard way, with respect to Migraciónes Argentina, is to not push on a rope. Initiate the process and then just patiently standby. Enjoy the free extra time here as you go to through multiple precarias and prórrogas. Worrying about what capricious requirements some nameless Migraciónes bureaucrat will erroneously conjure out of the ether is to worry needlessly. If they don't know what they are doing, then neither can you. At the end of the day, it all works out.