Documents in Argentina

I have arrived in Buenos Aires to get my residency here. It would have been easier and more convenient to do this process in Puerto Madryn where I am now based, but the Immigration branch there could not do anything with my English language documents. So here I am in Buenos Aires trying to get everything together. The problem is that even though there is information about all of this, most people that have been through it have told me that there is always one more paper needed before you can actually start (or sometimes finish) the process.

None of this should really come as a surprise to me, since I have been through this process once before, with my old Siambretta motorbike (which I eventually gave away to a good cause after all of that). The procedure is that when you ask somebody, they will give you one answer, but when you get to the next person in the order of presenting papers, they will tell you that the other person was wrong and you need something else, or something different. This makes for a slow process in getting things done, but with persistence and a lot of time to stand in the long lines, and you will eventually get things sorted out. That was what I was about to do here in Buenos Aires. Monday - Translation Not having done this process before, I start on Monday with the most obvious obstacle... that of translating those documents I have brought from Australia from English to Spanish. The process should be quick and easy, however the only translator known to YWAM who gives us great discounts does not respond to phone calls or emails. Days later we discover that she is in Israel and won't be back for several weeks. Instead, I start calling some friends and asking them for help. The one amazing thing about Argentina is the strength of friendship. When you know somebody as a friend (and not just as an acquaintance), it suddenly allows the impossible to happen. Through friendship you can open doors that were otherwise closed. Life here is helped greatly by friends in the right places. Although I had contacted one translator already, the time for the translation was going to take most of the week and with this Friday being a holiday, time was very important. So when one of my friends tells me of some translators that he uses on a regular basis who can do the job at a discount and finish it today, everything starts coming together. Immediately I head out to their office, a unit in a very tall building. Getting there is easy, but getting inside was somewhat more complicated. The two glass doors that stand as the entrance to the building are locked. A guard inside ignores me completely, so when another person comes and opens the door, I follow him through... to the chagrin of the guard who then calls me over and explains that I must communicate with the people I want to see - from outside the building. It is only as I am shuffled back out the door that I discover a brass pedestal looking somewhat like a pulpit covered with rows upon rows of buttons. It is through this that I must communicate with the translators.

Posters plastered on old garage doors. One of many sights around Buenos Aires city.

Getting Access Closely spaced buttons ten across and thirty down formed a mind-numbing grid of selections. Letters on the top and numbers down the side, it soon started to sink in that floor twenty corresponded to the numbers, and unit H was the eighth button across on the row. Pressing the button, careful not to touch any others, I wait. Within moments a voice resounds from the brass pulpit asking who it is, and after declaring my identity, a pulsating buzz grinds away inside the doors. Pushing firmly the once locked door is now free and I move inside for the second time. This time the guard is satisfied with my level of clearance, and even guides me to the right elevators. There are four elevators in the building, all of which move slowly. The two on the left cover all odd floors, and the two before me cover all even floors. Opening the manual door, I then slide across the inner elevator door and step inside. All buttons on this elevator are even numbers, naturally. The ride to the twentieth floor passes slowly, but I assure myself that even in the heat of this closed shaft, it is cooler and easier than trying to climb the twenty flights of stairs as an alternative. The translators inform me upon my arrival that they cannot finish my job today and in fact it will only be ready by tomorrow at the earliest. Now that I am here it still seems acceptable, so I pay the amount and leave the documents with them. From here I head into the city centre to fulfil some promises for other people and change my money. Planning Time The rest of the afternoon, after returning to the local YWAM base, is spent on the phone and internet sorting out my next move with the documents. One of the more disheartening moments was calling the Migrations Office to get an appointment and receiving it for the 1st of June. With a Police Report from Australia about to expire on the 11th of May, it will no longer be useful by the time my appointment comes around. Some of the people within the Migrations Department have told me that it will still be valid after that date because I have not returned to Australia (which makes sense), most people tell me that you get different answers from different people and once you get to the point of actually submitting the papers, the rules change once again. My personal experience is that the three month limit on police documents is a pretty firm limit and the first time I tried to submit a document outside this limit it was rejected. So with the possibility that my police certificate may be rejected, I must submit the document before this date. The only way this is possible is to do it from Puerto Madryn as there is a Migrations Office branch down there. In the branches you do not need an appointment, which means that I will be able to submit my document as soon as I arrive there. The only possible down side to this is that there have been some experiences of other people waiting over a year for nothing to happen with their visa applications. Most of these people have had to come to Buenos Aires to get their residency. Left with a choice... What do I chose? With very little other possibilities of being certain, I am planning on returning to Madryn to submit my documents there. It seems the most secure way of ensuring that all of my documents are acceptable, and all of the horror stories have come from other parts of Argentina, so perhaps this branch is different.