Moving to and living in...Argentina

Getting your Argentine born childs passport

I must admit I've been very lax about posting lately, somehow I think becoming a new mom has been the major culprit. I have so little time on my hands now and it seems that just as I sit down to write, something else always pulls me away. But I recently received a couple of questions about how to get a passport for a child born in Argentina to expat parents so I wanted to get this post out that I've been trying to do for more than three months :( It's gonna be a quick post but here goes.

Argentine passports are processed at the Policia Federal in the capital. You can go online to their website and download the form that you'll need to turn in with your paperwork which will save you a lot of time, particularly if you think you'll struggle with your Spanish. You'll click on the dropdown menu for "servicios" and then on "formularios" and then choose "pasaporte cedula de identitad". You can then print it to LEGAL sized paper. You need to fill out the entire form - have your child's DNI handy because you'll need information from it.

Once you've got your form filled out, collect your child's DNI, birth certificate, and your passports. You must make copies of everything...first page of DNI, birth cert, and first pages of passports PLUS the page which shows your last entry stamp. (if you are illegal because your visa has expired you'll have to first exit the country ie. go to Uruguay and then you can go to the Policia). If you don't get all the correct copies don't worry because there's a copy place just across the street. So once you've got all your paperwork together you'll head on down to the office.

Try to go to the office early just to avoid waiting. When you get there, DO NOT stand in line outside. Enter the building and turn immediately to your left and you'll see a special area for elderly, pregnant women, and people with young children - that's where you go. Head to the desk where the "very nice" (read grouchy) people will take your papers. They will check your paperwork and have you sit down to wait to be called. Once you're called back up they check everything again, send you over to pay for the passport in the main cajeras; then you return again where you'll head to get your child's photos done where the person will also give you a paper with a bar code DO NOT LOSE THIS; then you'll go to have their fingerprints taken; you're done. All said if everything goes smoothly you should be out in no more than 2 hours and possibly much less.

They tell you the passports can take around 20 business days but we got ours in around 7 business days. The passport is delivered by a mail courier and for him to release it to you you'll need the child's DNI, your passport, and that little paper with the bar code and then you just sign for the passport. And that's it.

It really isn't that bad as long as you know what to expect. Good luck and email if you have any questions!

When the person take

Ebook Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina

If you're considering a move or are already actively planning to relocate to Buenos Aires, don't forget to make Moving to and Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of your resources. If you like the information that is available in Moving to Argentina, then you will definately find the ebook even handier.

Registering a foreign born U.S. Citizen CROBA

This past week was a busy week with visits to the Registro Civil here in Buenos Aires to pick up Caitlyn's Acta de Nacimiento, another trip to Mater Dei to get more of my hospital records for the U.S. Consulate appointment to register a foreign birth abroad, and then finally - the actual appointment at the consulate to apply for her American passport and the CROBA or "consular report of birth abroad."

Caitlyn will have dual citizenship once the consular record of a birth abroad is approved, but that means two passports and understanding how that affects her when traveling to the US or to Argentina.

So, if you plan to travel to the U.S. and will be registering their foreign birth abroad  you must have the baby's Argentine passport to leave the country (this is my next post) and their American passport to enter the States. So you need to also do the Argentine passport as soon as possible.
By US laws, even if your children also hold foreign nationality, they are required to enter and depart the United States on a valid US passport at all times. They should not enter the United States on a foreign passport or on US visa waiver program.

One other thing to be aware of that is very important:
if your baby is born here in Argentina then they will forever have "born in Argentina" in their American passport. If they want to travel to Argentina later in life they should enter and exit Argentina on a current Argentine passport because they are still considered as being governed by Argentine laws once they set foot in the country and without the passport they will not be allowed to leave the country if someone sees the born in Argentina in their American passport.

 

NOW FOR THE PROCESS

You should really do this as soon as possible after your baby is born in Argentina. Here is what you need to know based on our experience (which was a positive one as her applications were all approved!)

1. Contact the U.S. Consulate in Buenos Aires for to request the information package "How to Register a Child Born Abroad" by email at BuenosAires-ACS@state.gov or by mail: Consular Section , United States Embassy, Av. Colombia 4300, C1425GMN Buenos Aires.
The package will contain all your instructions, the form for the consular birth record of birth abroad, a passport application, an affadavit detailing the time in and out of country, and a social security application (which you won't need to fill out because now you can't apply for one until you get your passport.) p.s. while you're waiting for the packet, visit the U.S. Department of State's page on "documentation of U.S. Citizens born abroad" for a lot of great information.

2. Once you have the packet, call or email to make an appointment - if you want to call them then best to do early in the day. They will give you an appointment with the time and the window number (in reality you'll be going to one of two windows that are set up for passports). You'll need to go with the baby's father and the baby.

3. Prepare all of your paperwork (read the backs of the forms carefully to make sure you fill in the information the way they like it). You'll need your major documentation in originals (ie. marriage certificate etc.) and preferably certified but you won't need to bring them any copies - I think they copy what they need.
*You need to provide them with proof that you lived in the U.S. for at least five years of your life as a US born citizen (if not born in US then read the packet to see the differences). In our case I provided them with my unofficial school transcripts as well as a file of bills from my pets over the years that I had dragged along in my records since I didn't have anything else that covered enough time.

4. The day of your appointment make sure you give yourself some additional time as you have to go through a security check which takes a bit of extra time.
Once at appointment, take a number and sit down to wait to be called by number or name whichever comes first. The person at the first window will go through your papers with you to make sure everything is in order.
Next you'll be sent to pay the fees for the  CROBA which is 65.00 US and the passport which is 82.00 US (you can also pay by credit card or in pesos).
After you finish paying and have your receipt you head back to the person processing your paperwork, give them the receipt and wait to be called up again for the final processing.
When called up again, they confirm all your paperwork, ask some questions, ask to see the child, and have you sign and do a swearing in that everything is true. If everything is fine...all is approved. Passport should take around 10-14 days to get to your Argentine address by DHL.

5. Final step, take the receipt they give you and go to the DHL window on the way out, pay the DHL fee in pesos and give the address you want the passport sent to.

All in all, it wasn't too difficult, particularly as it was only one of us who is a U.S. citizen with the other one still considered a French citizen till naturalized.

One last thing, if you ever need a certified copy of a "consular record of foreign birth abroad" they you'll need it from the Department of State. They have all the information you'll need right on their website.

Acta de nacimiento and DNI for Argentine born baby

This post is coming just a bit before some other posts that I really want to get out about how everything went with the medical care for Caitlyn's delivery. But since I am now a human pacifier and spend most of my day literally with Caitlyn attached to me, I'm going to get to these posts as I can, and in this case it won't be in exactly the order I hoped!

I wanted to cover our experience at the Registro Civil and the process of getting Caitlyn's Acta de Nacimiento or birth certificate and her Argentine DNI.

Normally, you can register your child's birth at the hospital where they were born, however in our case, and probably the case of some of you who might be reading this, we weren't married here in Argentina and thus to register the birth at the hospitalo we would need our marriage certificate apostilled, and then translated here in Argentina by a translator certified by the National College of Translators, and then the translation would have to be certified as well.

The other option and really the easiest for foreigners - whether here legally or illegally, is for both parents to go to the Registro Civ il, with the: passports of both parents, a photocopy of each passportl, and the Certificado de Nacimiento from the place of birth (ie hospital, birthing clinic, etc).

** Beware of one thing with the certification of the birth. In our case the partera or midwife that assisted my obstetrician was the person who certified the birth on the paperwork. Unfortunately she missed my middle initial on my passport name and this caused us to make two trips to the Registro, because the passports needed to match EXACTLY, with no misspellings or omissions. Also, if you plan to apply for permanent residency through your child, you will want to make sure you take a copy of your birth certificate so as to save the hassle later of having to go and get extra certifications or paperwork about the differences.

Once at the Registro, you head to the nice lady at the window for the nacimientos, she looks over your passports and certificado de nacimiento and then gives you a number, sends you off to fill in the personal information on the certificado as well as giving you an Informe Estadestico de Nacido Vivo to fill out as well - this last form essentially asks how many children are born to you at this time, how many you had before, info on your newborn, etc and if you can't comfortably read Spanish, you'll want to take someone with you to make sure you understand the questions, although with basic Spanish you should get by fine.

Eventually, your number will be called and you will go back to the window again, now with your forms filled out for the clerk to review all the information. MAKE SURE YOU PRINT CLEARLY SO THERE ARE NO MISSPELLINGS! Once the information is reviewed then you wait again until the person who registers the birth and prepares the baby's DNI is finished. Once they're ready they call you back up and you then sign the birth registry, again making sure everything is correct, and if the DNI is in stock you get it right then. The official birth certificate takes about a week and requires a trip back to pick up by one of the parents or an authorized person. Something I found interesting by the way, only the father signs their name in the babies DNI book, not the mother...hmphhh.

So there you have it, registering your child born in Argentina, and oh yes, in case you didn't figure it out already, your newborn with automatic Argentine citizenship just gave you the chance to have permanent residency if you so desire.

More to come, including registering the foreign birth of a U.S. and French citizen.

Tax Leads Americans Abroad to Renounce U.S. from NYT

The New York Times ran an interesting piece on Americans who are renouncing their U.S. citizenship due to double taxation (of course many of them have slim ties to the U.S. at the the time of renounciation. Double taxation is always a concern that must be addressed if you're considering leaving the U.S. to live in another country.

Tax Leads Americans Abroad to Renounce U.S.

By DOREEN CARVAJAL

Published: December 18, 2006

 

PARIS, Dec. 17 — She is a former marine, a native Californian and, now, an ex-American who prefers to remain discreet about abandoning her citizenship. After 10 years of warily considering options, she turned in her United States passport last month without ceremony, becoming an alien in the view of her homeland.

      

“It’s a really hard thing to do,” said the woman, a 16-year resident of Geneva who had tired of the cost and time of filing yearly United States tax returns on top of her Swiss taxes. “I just kept putting this off. But it’s my kids and the estate tax. I don’t care if I die with only one Swiss franc to my name, but the U.S. shouldn’t get money I earned here when I die.”

Historically, small numbers of Americans have turned in their passports every year for political and economic reasons, with the numbers reaching a high of about 2,000 during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.

But after Congress sharply raised taxes this year for many Americans living abroad, some international tax lawyers say they detect rising demand from citizens to renounce ties with the United States, the only developed country that taxes it citizens while they live overseas. Americans abroad are also taxed in the countries where they live.

“The administrative costs of being an American and living outside the U.S. have gone up dramatically,” said Marnin Michaels, a tax lawyer with Baker & McKenzie in Zurich.

If you want to read the full article it can be accessed here.

Ebook delayed one week

Unfortunately, it will be approximately another week before my book will be ready to get into everyone's hands. Speaking of hands, that's the reason for this delay. Pregnancy is known for aggravating carpal tunnel syndrome and causing major swelling - well I've got both in my hands, including completely numb fingertips. Have you ever tried typing when you can't feel a think in your fingertips? It's no fun.

Anyway, I will post as soon as it's done and ready to go.

Thanks for your patience.

Argentina Tourist Visa

Florida
Originally uploaded by jmpznz Flickr.com. Visit jmpznz to see more fabulous photos

I have received several emails asking about tourist visas: how long they’re good for, how to renew, etc. I’m going to give a brief answer to the questions I receive most often.

*Disclaimer: All information given here is subject to change

How long is the Argentina tourist visa valid?
The tourist visa is valid for 90 days and is renewable.

How do I renew my tourist visa?
Tourist visas can be renewed at Migraciones, Av. Antártida 1355. You need to go to the Prórrogas de Permanecencia. The fee for this is 100 pesos. However, you can not do this every 90 days. You must alternate between going to Migraciones and leaving the country, which could be as simple as taking a trip by Buquebus to Urguay.

If I don’t renew my tourist visa before it expires what happens?
If you overstay your tourist visa, visit Migraciones and be prepared to pay a fine of $50 pesos and sometimes receive the Spanish Inquisition about why you overstayed your visa in the first place.  However I don’t recommend this route as things are always changing here in Argentina and you do so at your own risk.

Can I work with my tourist visa?
You cannot work legally, or “en blanco”,  with a tourist visa. To work legally you need a work permit which enables you to get a CUIL/CUIT (sort of like a social security number.) Even if you have a rentista/pensionado visa that allows you to stay long-term, you will not receive a work permit to work here legally.

Can I apply for a long term visa while here on my tourist visa?
You can apply for a long term visa, such as a pensioners or rentista visa while here on your tourist visa, but you will actually make the process even more difficult and time-consuming, because you will need a lot of original documents from back home and they will need to be apostilled.

If you are planning to come here and stay legally for any length of time, I would recommend you do your paperwork before coming here. If you only plan to stay for less than a year or find the process too complicated or can’t qualify for any other visa, then you could just stay on a tourist visa. If you are not sure whether you will want to stay long term, I would suggest coming here on a tourist visa in the beginning, even if the process will be more difficult later – you wouldn’t want to spend all the time and money just to come here and decide you want to go back home and some people do just that.