Visa/Residency advice - Student Visa, citizenship, forming a S.A.

[Maxwell]

I should add that this is the same advice I received from 2 different immigration lawyers. They advised me to look for a regular job, apply for citizenship, or simply hope that new categories are added soon.

If you want to go the student visa route, the 3 month renewable visa for studying Spanish is MUCH cheaper than the visa for studying a proper university degree, I believe.

That's interesting. Any specific suggestions on schools that allow you to get that visa? And can that be renewed indefinitely? And how much more of a hassle do you think it would be to constantly renew this as opposed to the residency to study which if I recall correctly lasts 1 year?

Studying at UCES seems quite cheap though. Was debating taking classes in Philosophy. Will only end up paying the matriculation costs which are about $250USD for the year.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Last week immigration started to assert that the irregularities are crimes. The visa run means fake tourist. They see a fraud in the payment of the legal residency. So, the preceria is going to be granted because this is automatic while when you apply for PR it might be rejected because they see a crime.
The best way to defend yourself is citizenship.

 

[ventanilla]

That's interesting. Any specific suggestions on schools that allow you to get that visa? And can that be renewed indefinitely? And how much more of a hassle do you think it would be to constantly renew this as opposed to the residency to study which if I recall correctly lasts 1 year?

Studying at UCES seems quite cheap though. Was debating taking classes in Philosophy. Will only end up paying the matriculation costs which are about $250USD for the year.

The Spanish classes at UBA qualify you for the 3 month visa. I emailed them about this last year and they said they have a lot of experience helping out with the visas etc.

 

[Maxwell]

Last week immigration started to assert that the irregularities are crimes. The visa run means fake tourist. They see a fraud in the payment of the legal residency. So, the preceria is going to be granted because this is automatic while when you apply for PR it might be rejected because they see a crime.
The best way to defend yourself is citizenship.

Hey Bajo,

The citizenship process that you detail here and on your website, does this require you to denounce your current citizenship (which I am very reluctant to do) or would this be a dual citizenship?

 

[steveinbsas]

Last week immigration started to assert that the irregularities are crimes. The visa run means fake tourist. They see a fraud in the payment of the legal residency. So, the preceria is going to be granted because this is automatic while when you apply for PR it might be rejected because they see a crime.
The best way to defend yourself is citizenship.

Most expats won't know what a "fraud in the payment of the legal residency means," and I'm one of them. Please elaborate.

The question here is whether or not graciousness would grant a student visa (temporary residency) to an individual who has previously made a number of visa runs.

When you say the precaria would be granted automatically, does this mean the student visa/temporary residency would automatically be granted in this case, and migrciones would not regard the prior irregularity as a crime which would resutt in the application being denied?

If I understand correctly, temporary residency based a student visa cannot be upgraded to permanent residency. If that is correct, there would never be an application for PR.

That being said, if, in the future, immigration regards visa runs as a crime, what do you think might happen to someone who made visa runs in the past, but in the past couple years, heeding the "official" warnings, regularized their status and got temporary residency?

Are you saying that you believe that they would be able to continue to renew their temporary residency in the future but their application for permanent residency might be rejected based on their previous "criminal" activity?

Is there any way to know at this point how likely that is to happen?

Even if it's too soon to tell, it's a great (if not the best) selling point for citizenship I've heard so far.

 

[steveinbsas]

Also, as far fetched as this may sound, if migraciones considers past visa runs as crimes, what would prevent them from "reevaluating" the immigration status of any permanent resident who made visa runs prior to getting their permanent residency, and claim that the payment for their visa constituted a "fraud?"

PS: Of course the word "graciousness"in my previous post should have been "migraciones."

 

[Anna3313]

Also, as far fetched as this may sound, if migraciones considers past visa runs as crimes, what would prevent them from "reevaluating" the immigration status of any permanent resident who made visa runs prior to getting their permanent residency, and claim that the payment for their visa constituted a "fraud?"

PS: Of course the word "graciousness"in my previous post should have been "migraciones."

To be fair how do they know they are VISA runs

Hey group! First time posting but long time reader.

I've been in the country for 3.5 years now making visa runs (only just recently realized that this doesn't really protect me from anything).

I'm currently working in country as an independent health and fitness consultant and would like to legalize my situation here so that I can continue to work without the fear of being denied at the border.

I'm currently looking into obtaining a student visa to take some courses at UCES since my Spanish is now at a good enough level to do so and because I have heard that this would allow me to apply for a monotributo. One question that came to mind on this front - Is there a greater chance that I will be denied for a student visa and therefore deported because of all of the visa runs that I have made previously?

Or is there a more direct route to legalization considering the fact that I have already been in the country for 3.5 years more or less uninterrupted? I have read on other threads the mention of obtaining citizenship. Would this be a dual citizenship or does this require you to renounce you current citizenship?

Another option that has been brought up to me is forming a S.A. with an argentine president and then hiring yourself. I still don't understand all of the intricacies of this method. How costly is this procedure? Would this require a certain amount of initial investment or to own a physical space? Currently I only pay a small rental fee for a shared space.

Any suggestions or advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Maxwell. In regards to citizenship it depends on your home country. I am from the U.S. and as long as you don't denounce your citizenship in court or to authorities you retain both U.S. and Argentine Citizenship. The best thing to do is speak to someone in your home country government that relates to citizenship and immigration. But, for U.S. Citizens you have to be physically present in front of the proper authorities and denounce a citizenship for it to be revoked. As long as you don't do that you're fine.

 

[Anna3313]

Also, as far fetched as this may sound, if migraciones considers past visa runs as crimes, what would prevent them from "reevaluating" the immigration status of any permanent resident who made visa runs prior to getting their permanent residency, and claim that the payment for their visa constituted a "fraud?"

PS: Of course the word "graciousness"in my previous post should have been "migraciones."

The rest of my reply got cut off. Meant to say. How do they discern whether a person is just traveling around South America a lot or if their runs are VISA runs? I always wondered. When I first moved here I was in transit a lot the first two years between Chile, Uruguay and Argentina but not thinking in terms of VISA renewal just was so excited to be in South America I wanted to travel as much I could and explore. And I never thought about it but that could have gotten me stopped in my tracks. It certainly piled on the passport stamps but I was genuinely traveling in those years. Now, of course I'm trying to stay permanent and if I can save will try and take on Citizenship but I heard in the case of permatourists it's a hard go since the laws Macri put in place. I think it definitely helps to apply for Citizenship once you've already established permanent or even temporary legal residence as opposed to trying to fight uphill as a permatourist applying with solely an overstayed VISA or VISA runs.

 

[steveinbsas]

To be fair how do they know they are VISA runs

What else would you call multiple trips to Colonia with a return on the same day, especially when they occur over a two or three year period with no attempt during that time to get at least temporary residency?

 

[camel]

What else would you call multiple trips to Colonia with a return on the same day?

Getting money seems a valid reason