Visa Applications While Overstaying

[Alby]

The advice I was given about this (from an Argentine immigration lawyer) is that you actually "regularise" yourself when you make an application for another visa. Migraciones may eventually reject your application and then tell you to leave, but you apparently have a regular migration status while they are considering your application.

Well, if this information from the lawyer is correct, then you would, in theory be OK and solve your moral dilemma. But in practical terms, you won't unless you can pull off the feat of gathering all your documents from overseas, getting them apostilled in your home country, couriering them in, receiving them, getting them translated, uploading them all, and having Migraciones then process them to the point they can issue the precaria. And all that may well consume most of the time between now and the next six months, meaning the moral dilemma only gets solved close to its natural expiry. It all depends on what residency category you are applying under and how far down the path you are of getting the documents that category requires, information you haven't disclosed to us.

 

[steveinbsas]

I wonder if what El Queso (my favorite poster ever) wrote about ten years ago (quoting Bajo_cero2) still applies, that your immigration status is considered irregular when you overstay a 90 day tourist visa or it's 90 day extension, but not "illegal" (have commited a crime) until 30 days after recieving a notice from Argentin migraciones to regularize your status (or at least start the trámite?)

Post in thread 'Overstayed Visa--How Many Times Is This Acceptable?' https://baexpats.org/threads/overstayed-visa-how-many-times-is-this-acceptable.32753/post-295675

Here is the link to the beginning of the thread:

Overstayed Visa--How Many Times Is This Acceptable?

Hi All, I'm hoping you may help shed some light on my situation, so I know how seriously I should "worry" about my visa status. I was planning to go to Uruguay to access my US account and renew my tourist visa--or rather get issued a new one, as mine is expired-- but when I went to...

baexpats.org

 

[Ceviche]

El queso got upset when he was constantly bullied here and left, like many many members have over the years

 

[Johngwyn]

Steve is well expained. Best to consult with a immigration lawyer. But it's common sense at this point, don't leave the country if you don't have to.
You can leave the country if you have a valid precaria, but otherwise with or without a lawyer it's going to be a headcache. If you can, live happy and waiting full two years, go to the court claim your citizenship.

 

[Alby]

I wonder if what El Queso (my favorite poster ever) wrote about ten years ago (quoting Bajo_cero2) still applies, that your immigration status is considered irregular when you overstay a 90 day tourist visa or it's 90 day extension, but not "illegal" (have commited a crime) until 30 days after recieving a notice from Argentin migraciones to regularize your status (or at least start the trámite?)

It seems fairly clear that there is little point at this late stage in his/her Argentina project in Flying pursuing a residency application (if s/he has in fact started one), but the above definition is the key question that his/her thread has thrown up. It would be great to know if the definition still applies, for all those other overstayers with longer-term projects who are now contemplating their options in the new Migraciones environment.

 

[elflyingkiwi]

I wonder if what El Queso (my favorite poster ever) wrote about ten years ago (quoting Bajo_cero2) still applies, that your immigration status is considered irregular when you overstay a 90 day tourist visa or it's 90 day extension, but not "illegal" (have commited a crime) until 30 days after recieving a notice from Argentin migraciones to regularize your status (or at least start the trámite?)

So this is more or less the same as what the lawyer I spoke with told me.

When you overstay a visa you are considered to have an "irregular" migration status, which isn't in itself a crime. It only becomes a crime if you receive a notice to "regularise" your migration status and you fail to do so in the given timeframe. You supposedly do not need to get a new visa approved in the timeframe that migraciones give you, but you do have to send an application (with all of your supporting documentation).

That all sounds well and good, but I was also told that what they are starting to do is give stupidly short timeframes (think 10 days or less) to submit all of your papers. In practice, this makes it essentially impossible to comply with their request and so you are, in effect, just getting kicked out of the country at that point.

 

[steveinbsas]

When you overstay a visa you are considered to have an "irregular" migration status, which isn't in itself a crime. It only becomes a crime if you receive a notice to "regularise" your migration status and you fail to do so in the given timeframe.

Does migraciones have your current contact information? If not, how will they actually be able to notify you?

 

[Alby]

Does migraciones have your current contact information? If not, how will they actually be able to notify you?

Flying is speaking hypothetically, I would say. S/he's has no contact with Migraciones; s/he is trying to decide whether s/he should. There doesnt seem to be much point at this late stage, unless Flying is already well advanced in the application in the undisclosed residency category.

His/her latest post confirms that what El Queso once said still holds true. So that is a very useful result from this thread.

 

[elflyingkiwi]

Flying is speaking hypothetically, I would say. S/he's has no contact with Migraciones; s/he is trying to decide whether s/he should. There doesnt seem to be much point at this. That much seems clear.

Correct, I have not personally been in contact with migraciones so they do not have any way to reach out to me (as far as I know). I'm pretty sure they don't even have a current address for me, since they didn't ask me where I was staying the last time I entered the country.

 

[steveinbsas]

Flying is speaking hypothetically, I would say. S/he's has no contact with Migraciones; s/he is trying to decide whether s/he should.

I realize that there is no contact with migraciones at this point. Nonetheless, migraciones undoubtedly can easily ascertain if a foreigner who entered Argentina on a 90 day tourist visa is still here beyond the 90 or 120 day mark. If they don't have the current contact information, they won't be able to serve a deportation order.

I am not going give any advice about what flyer should do, but I do remember one expat who recieved more than one deportation order while waiting for citizenship. She indicated that her lawyer told her to ignore those orders. This happened more than a few years ago and that lawyer's advice might be different today.

PS: I think that Flyer's "best odds" of staying in the country until the end year would be to stay low and not say too much in the wrong place at the wrong time. In spite of the current desire, the time for doing the "right thing" expired the same day the tourist visa expired (passed the point of the prórroga).