Work Visa Paperwork Question

[Cali90]

Hello,
I am new to this forum and have been doing my best to search for answers to my questions and have found many of them, but I have a specific question I couldn't find the answer to. I have been offered the chance to work for a U.S. company in their office in Buenos Aires. I have read that as part of the Visa process you need a criminal history from any country where you have lived for more than one year in the past three years. I have been back in the U.S. for just under two years. Prior to that I was teaching English in another country/traveling. When I was teaching English I was working under the table and had no work visa. I worked there for slightly over a year but this period was interrupted by trips home and to another country. I don't have a criminal history anywhere. Verifying this in the U.S. is no problem. However, given my lack of visa in the country I previously worked in, I would rather not have to look into getting a criminal background check from there. I feel like that could open up a whole can of worms. Will my time there come up in the visa process? Will I be required to get a background check from there (I'm not even sure that I could given I had no visa)? Also, I'm not sure if this makes a difference, but by the time I would come to Argentina that three year window would only capture roughly 11 months of my time in the other country (not sure if this still counts). Any advice would be helpful. Thank You.

 

[mikic007]

I can't be sure for your case, but I had similar case. I presented only antecedentes penales from country where I lived 2 years and Argentinian (5 months) and no one ever asked anything.

 

[Dada]

If you were working under the table, I suppose you were there as a visitor (=tourist) and while you know you were actually living there, officially it was probably not so. In addition, many countries label working under the table as a crime (such as the US). I wouldn't mention that if I were in your shoes...

 

[Idois]

... by the time I would come to Argentina that three year window would only capture roughly 11 months of my time in the other country (not sure if this still counts). Any advice would be helpful. Thank You.

Official web page says:

CERTIFICADO QUE ACREDITE FEHACIENTEMENTE QUE NO REGISTRA CONDENAS ANTERIORES NI PROCESOS PENALES EN TRÁMITE emitidos por las autoridades competentes de los países donde haya residido por un plazo superior a UN (1) año, durante el transcurso de los últimos TRES (3) años.

So, technically no since you would have 'lived' there 11 months in the last 3 years.

P.S. I was in a similar, if not more complex situation to the one you describe, and nobody said anything. If you want to be really cautious, you could just get a new passport.

 

[jantango]

If you were working under the table, I suppose you were there as a visitor (=tourist) and while you know you were actually living there, officially it was probably not so. In addition, many countries label working under the table as a crime (such as the US). I wouldn't mention that if I were in your shoes...

Every country requires documentation before you can work legally, including Argentina.