To those of you from the US hoping to come to Argentina: I’ve got you covered. Those of you outside the US: A lot of this information will still apply, but you’ll have to find your own government websites. And to those looking to move to a country that isn’t Argentina: the general ideas in this post should still help.  First, I’m going to talk about the country of origin paperwork.

The home-country background check  is a document you’ll need for basically any visa in any country. To get the US background check, go to this website and follow the instructions. For other countries, get this info on your government’s criminal justice department’s website. That website will also be the best source for up-to-date information so I’ll share my pre-pandemic experience.

For US citizens: I filled out the electric form and got fingerprinted. Then I mailed the fingerprints to the US. In less than a week after my fingerprints arrived, I got results in my inbox. I hear it is even less complicated in European countries.

Next, you need the apostille. For US citizens: go this website and follow the instructions. Outside the US: Check out your state department. Summary for US citizens: Print out your background check and request form. Then mail those, along with a paid-for return envelope and check or money order, to the US Department of State. Do this in the US if at all possible! It’s complicated otherwise. If you have to, work with a friend or family to get it done. 

You will also need to get a translation and legalization for documents in English. You can get both done by a translator accredited by the Colegio de Traductores nearest you once you’re in Argentina. The link is to the one in CABA.

All visas require an Argentine background check. It’s nearly always done through RADEX (the website where you apply for residence) and your appointment with migrations. But if for some reason it’s not, go to this website. You’ll also need a certificado de domicilio that you can get from your local registro civil with some proof of address + passport. If you’re in CABA, a local police staton. So onto visas.

There are many temporary residence options. I assume most of you reading this English are extra-mercosur, like me. Most temporary residence visas last one year and are renewable. The two I know best are work and student, but I imagine family temporary residence works a lot like family permanent residence, which is explained below. Temporary residence gets you a DNI (national ID document that’s very useful to have) in the process, too.  You might be able to get a precaria (temporary formal residence) that doesn’t lead to a DNI here. 

Permanent residence needs fewer renewals than temporary residence. You can get it by either family connection or “arraigo.” Arraigo means you’ve been here for 3 years if you’re outside of Mercosur, 2 from within. You’ll need documents proving your residence or family connection. For family documents that were made in Argentina, get them at the registro civil. For documents outside of Argentina, follow the instructions from your home country and get an apostille and translation for them. 

To the right are the paperwork details for these visas. The pandemic is currently complicating the renewal of student visas. Good luck in figuring out the paperwork you need! Hope this helped!