Extending a Tourist Visa in Buenos Aires to be a permanent-tourist in Argentina

[Katherina]

I saw another thread about over staying your tourist visa. I along with many of my friends have over stayed many times or did border runs. I never had any issues. You can read this great website with tons of information and addresses.

Extending A Tourist Visa In Argentina

Visitors to Argentina are granted a 90 day tourist visa on arrival. Here's the the process and price to get an Argentina visa extension.

inlovelyblue.com

 

[LongIslander]

Wow that was a comprehensive site with lots of info!

 

[Sally4]

Too bad you can't just renew online. I don't know why Argentina doesn't utilize technology more. Maybe they will be like other countries where you can just renew online. In Colombia I could just renew the extension online. Quick and easy! Argentina has far more tourists and makes it 100 X more difficult.

 

[JoeTrip]

I saw another thread about over staying your tourist visa. I along with many of my friends have over stayed many times or did border runs. I never had any issues. You can read this great website with tons of information and addresses.

Extending A Tourist Visa In Argentina

Visitors to Argentina are granted a 90 day tourist visa on arrival. Here's the the process and price to get an Argentina visa extension.

inlovelyblue.com

I followed the instructions on that website and it is 100% correct. I went through this process last week. It only took me 30 minutes. I am conversational in Spanish. I brought with me a printout of my migraines record from this government website below. Just go up to the window to pay. No need to wait in line. There is a sign that says, "Caja" and you just pay. All quick and easy.

Just enter all your details along with your arrival date and it will show you when your current visa period expires.

Tránsitos | DNM

Consulta del último tránsito de ingreso o egreso del país | DNM

www.migraciones.gov.ar

 

[StatusNomadicus]

I along with many of my friends have over stayed many times or did border runs

this is wrong. border crossings are illegal now. that blog was updated 03Jan2024, but still says day trips to Colonia/Uruguay are legal. they aren't, and @Bajo_cero2 has provided links for the law, but many Expats keep perpetuating the legality myth. see: https://www.expatsba.com/threads/an...an-you-do-border-runs-in-argentina.537/page-4

Just enter all your details along with your arrival date and it will show you when your current visa period expires.

https://www.migraciones.gov.ar/transitos/

this is awesome, i was wondering how annoying it would be to prove my time/date, since EZE airport doesn't stamp passports. thanks!

note that 90 days will be different than 3 months, so plan accordingly with a Date-To-Date calculator like https://www.timeanddate.com/date/dateadd.html until you have your exact date from Migraciones

 

[StatusNomadicus]

"It only took me 30 minutes. I am conversational in Spanish. I brought with me a printout of my migraines record from this government website below. Just go up to the window to pay. No need to wait in line. There is a sign that says, "Caja" and you just pay. All quick and easy." @JoeTrip i am going to try this the week of 12Feb depending on how Carnival affects Migraciones. thanks! hope it's that easy...would be super cool to just walk in and pay

 

[JoeTrip]

"It only took me 30 minutes. I am conversational in Spanish. I brought with me a printout of my migraines record from this government website below. Just go up to the window to pay. No need to wait in line. There is a sign that says, "Caja" and you just pay. All quick and easy." @JoeTrip i am going to try this the week of 12Feb depending on how Carnival affects Migraciones. thanks! hope it's that easy...would be super cool to just walk in and pay

Welcome! I'm glad it helped. Good luck. Just note the employees at these government offices are very lazy. I don't know if you can speak Spanish but that helps as none of them speak any English.

Just a note that the Caja sign isn't some official sign. They only had it written on a piece of paper taped to the window so ask if they took that down!

 

[All the Answers]

All great information on this thread. My friend from USA just went through this process. He watched this video online which he said was helpful. He said he has a Youtube channel with helpful information. @StatusNomadicus maybe something about studying Spanish. Take a look. He sounds like at the end he is going through the same arguments about which is easier. I doubt there is any right or wrong answer. Maybe different for different people.

 

[MikeHilll]

All great information on this thread. My friend from USA just went through this process. He watched this video online which he said was helpful. He said he has a Youtube channel with helpful information. @StatusNomadicus maybe something about studying Spanish. Take a look. He sounds like at the end he is going through the same arguments about which is easier. I doubt there is any right or wrong answer. Maybe different for different people.

This video is great! Thanks for posting it! His Argentina content looks great!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2WNFxGoyr8gBIpTK7k_errQA-teIEHhB

I do have a related questions.

I just came back from a trip to Montevideo for border run to extend my stay here. The reason is, I need a legal residence status to get a CDI from AFIP so I can buy a car as I want to explore around Argentina like this guy from the YouTube.

Now, I have a quick question: When should I go to Migraciones to renew for another 90 days?

On the Lovely Blue website, it says you can only extend your tourist visa in Argentina 10 days before it expires. If you have more than 10 days left on your current visa, they'll ask you to come back within 10 days of the expiry.

The Migraciones site says you should request an extension of residence or a change in immigration category within sixty (60) days before the temporary residence expires, and within ten (10) days before the expiration of the temporary residence. Does that make sense to you? Help! I'm confused!

 

[All the Answers]

This video is great! Thanks for posting it! His Argentina content looks great!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2WNFxGoyr8gBIpTK7k_errQA-teIEHhB

I do have a related questions.

I just came back from a trip to Montevideo for border run to extend my stay here. The reason is, I need a legal residence status to get a CDI from AFIP so I can buy a car as I want to explore around Argentina like this guy from the YouTube.

Now, I have a quick question: When should I go to Migraciones to renew for another 90 days?

On the Lovely Blue website, it says you can only extend your tourist visa in Argentina 10 days before it expires. If you have more than 10 days left on your current visa, they'll ask you to come back within 10 days of the expiry.

The Migraciones site says you should request an extension of residence or a change in immigration category within sixty (60) days before the temporary residence expires, and within ten (10) days before the expiration of the temporary residence. Does that make sense to you? Help! I'm confused!

@MikeHilll,

If you're here as a tourist, follow the info in the Lovely Blue article. Check your current 90-day period on this website (https://www.migraciones.gov.ar/transitos/). For instance, if you returned from Colonia on November 29th, your 90 days end on February 27th. To officially extend it, go to Migraciones 10 days before it expires (between February 19th and March 1). My friend has a Colonia trip in January, resetting his clock. You can only extend once as a tourist before leaving or paying fines for overstaying.

They you wait 10 days before expiry to avoid unnecessary extensions. Colombia had the same rule for tourist extensions.

The Migraciones website info on "residence" likely refers to those with formal residency. As a tourist, your options are in-person extension (within 10 days) or another trip to Colonia, Santiago, Brazil, etc.

 

[MikeYoung]

I just do border runs to Uruguay. It's quick and easy. Sometimes I just wait until the day before my 90 days is up. Never an issue. Much easier than hassling with the extension, IMHO.

There is so much conflicting information online. I talked to an immigration lawyer a few years ago that said it's safer to do border runs. He said that none of his clients ever had issues going to the border run but he said that the extension could possibly be the end of the line if you get a grumpy person the day you go to re-extend it. He said he had a client once that didn't get an extension to renew it and hired him.

It just sounds like much of this depends on the agent you get and their interpretation of the law. He told me both overstaying and habitually doing border runs are both wrong in eyes of Argentina. He said just because you get an extension once doesn't mean they have to re-up and do it again. He said that's why some people if they are iffy don't even bother to do it until a year later. But he said that looks bad too.

 

[Jenn]

Thanks for these great posts. Does anyone know what the new President thinks about this issue? Is he good for expats and perma-tourists or bad as it relates to immigration?

 

[GlasgowJohn]

@Jenn . Its really hard to say , Milei hasnt made any direct commenst so far. We are not top of his priority list . I reckon if you ar bringing cash in and investing he will be fine. At the moment I think they are looking for Bolivians, Peruvians, and Paraguayans on subsidies who will be thrown it first.

After that he will look at retirement visas and digital nomad visas. My feeeling is that it will be towards the end of the year.

Thanks for these great posts. Does anyone know what the new President thinks about this issue? Is he good for expats and perma-tourists or bad as it relates to immigration?@

 

[Larry]

@Jenn . Its really hard to say , Milei hasnt made any direct commenst so far. We are not top of his priority list . I reckon if you ar bringing cash in and investing he will be fine. At the moment I think they are looking for Bolivians, Peruvians, and Paraguayans on subsidies who will be thrown it first.

After that he will look at retirement visas and digital nomad visas. My feeeling is that it will be towards the end of the year.

Bolivians, Peruvians, Venezuelans, Colombians and other brown-colored skin Mercosur residents most are worried there will be negative changes for them. There is talk of not allowing them to come free to study here any more. Probably if they have $$$ and contribute something to society in Argentina Javier Milei will be for them to stay. If not, then no.

 

[StatusNomadicus]

this video online

nice video, decently done except he is repeating the same 'you can do a border run' bad info - and if anyone needs a confidence booster on their Spanish, that YouTube uploader is sooooo bad, ahahha...i hope he's only been in Argentina for a couple weeks, with how bad he can't pronounce anything : P

you can only extend your tourist visa in Argentina 10 days before it expires

this has been what i have heard, and so i emailed Migraciones offices in a few provinces and the ones that actually responded (20%) said "La solicitud de prórroga de turista se puede realizar como máximo 10 días antes del vencimiento del plazo de turista" - 10 days maximum before the end of your tourist visa. does this mean if your visa ends on 31Jan you can do -10 days or 21Jan, or should you count the last day as a day, and 22Jan would be your first possible day? no one knows!

They you wait 10 days before expiry to avoid unnecessary extensions. Colombia had the same rule for tourist extensions.

so silly! just let people do it online; the website is already there, and you can get free money with people paying online. if they don't need it, Argentina still gets the money. and no need to staff the offices; you already took fingerprints and photos at the airport!

Never an issue.

you guys gotta stop repeating old information, when the entire premise of these threads is that the Immigration enforcement has changed!

I talked to an immigration lawyer a few years ago that said it's safer to do border runs. He said that none of his clients ever had issues going to the border run but he said that the extension could possibly be the end of the line if you get a grumpy person the day you go to re-extend it. He said he had a client once that didn't get an extension to renew it and hired him.

but this is the opposite of what @Bajo_cero2 says, and your information is old like you mentioned, so what does that lawyer say today for his clients? probably not to try border runs, but to apply for residency or risk overstaying.

sounds like much of this depends on the agent you get and their interpretation of the law

more that the national Immigrations folks are now using the digital database to flag tourists who are leaving and coming back the same day, and forcing gov't employees to enforce the law using an algorithm or directive.

here's a 2013 post on the old censored forum about a Border Run expat being denied entry: https://baexpats.org/threads/visa-run-fake-tourist-permatourist-deported-at-ezeiza.25732/

 

[StatusNomadicus]

and other brown-colored skin Mercosur residents

ah yes, throwing in the racism part. you're such an idiot...i'll let the light-skinned illegal immigrants here in BsAs know that they are safe, since obviously the new gov't is only going to enforce immigration for non-'whites' according to Moron Larry

 

[Jenn]

nice video, decently done except he is repeating the same 'you can do a border run' bad info - and if anyone needs a confidence booster on their Spanish, that YouTube uploader is sooooo bad, ahahha...i hope he's only been in Argentina for a couple weeks, with how bad he can't pronounce anything : P


this has been what i have heard, and so i emailed Migraciones offices in a few provinces and the ones that actually responded (20%) said "La solicitud de prórroga de turista se puede realizar como máximo 10 días antes del vencimiento del plazo de turista" - 10 days maximum before the end of your tourist visa. does this mean if your visa ends on 31Jan you can do -10 days or 21Jan, or should you count the last day as a day, and 22Jan would be your first possible day? no one knows!


so silly! just let people do it online; the website is already there, and you can get free money with people paying online. if they don't need it, Argentina still gets the money. and no need to staff the offices; you already took fingerprints and photos at the airport!

you guys gotta stop repeating old information, when the entire premise of these threads is that the Immigration enforcement has changed!


but this is the opposite of what @Bajo_cero2 says, and your information is old like you mentioned, so what does that lawyer say today for his clients? probably not to try border runs, but to apply for residency or risk overstaying.

more that the national Immigrations folks are now using the digital database to flag tourists who are leaving and coming back the same day, and forcing gov't employees to enforce the law using an algorithm or directive.

here's a 2013 post on the old censored forum about a Border Run expat being denied entry: https://baexpats.org/threads/visa-run-fake-tourist-permatourist-deported-at-ezeiza.25732/

I'm not sure who this other guy you are referencing but what makes you think he is right and others are wrong? Even it sounds like you ask 5 lawyers and all would give different answers. Sounds like far more people say border runs have worked for them without issues. I'm sure there are probably people that have issues with the other things that don't post online.

I have never been to BA yet and may never go but it sounds like more people than not including my friends have had NO issue with a hop to Uruguay. Especially if it's not over years and years.

 

[Larry]

ah yes, throwing in the racism part. you're such an idiot...i'll let the light-skinned illegal immigrants here in BsAs know that they are safe, since obviously the new gov't is only going to enforce immigration for non-'whites' according to Moron Larry

Why are you so angry? I'm not racist. I am saying the government of Argentina is racist. Yes, racism is alive and well here. I am only pointing out those people always have had more issues here. Why you always calling people bad names? It isn't necessary. You have only been here a very short amount of time. You don't understand there is racism here by Argentina towards these people. I'm not racist. I am pointing out that "brown" Mercosur residents have sometimes had issues with Argentina vs. more European looking Mercosur. That is true.

 

[MickMolloy]

I just came back from a trip to Montevideo for border run to extend my stay here. The reason is, I need a legal residence status to get a CDI from AFIP so I can buy a car as I want to explore around Argentina like this guy from the YouTube.

Now, I have a quick question: When should I go to Migraciones to renew for another 90 days?

You can't do a visa run and then get a 90 day extension at migrations. They won't extend your visa if it puts you over 180 days for the last year because that is supposed to be the limit.

You are supposed to do the 90 day extension first and then later do visa runs if you want to risk it. Your only options now are either another visa run or just overstay

 

[earlyretirement]

You can't do a visa run and then get a 90 day extension at migrations. They won't extend your visa if it puts you over 180 days for the last year because that is supposed to be the limit.

You are supposed to do the 90 day extension first and then later do visa runs if you want to risk it. Your only options now are either another visa run or just overstay

This is great info. Thanks @MickMolloy.