Argentina: The one about getting residency

Since last July, I have made a total of four trips to the local Immigration Office: first to process my residency application and get my ID picture taken, then three months later to renew my temporary residency (on that day I was granted permanent residency), three months after that to check on the status of my Argentine ID, and a month after that to check again. Not too enthusiastic about going back to the office to check on my ID once again, I was ecstatic when a postman showed up at our door yesterday and delivered it directly to me. From the time I started the residency process to the day I received my ID, 8 and a half months had passed. They say this time period is longer than normal due to an influx of immigrants at the present moment.

To obtain residency, I first had to provide the required documents and pay the roughly US$100 fee. The documents included my passport, an original and recent apostilled birth certificate, my criminal records (also known as "Good Conduct Certificates") from both the U.S. and Argentina, my spouse's national ID, and our marriage certificate. Getting the documents from the U.S. was the most complicated part and involved spending two hours at the local police station one night just to have them help me properly complete the F.B.I.'s fingerprint card. Their black ink was caked under my fingernails for at least a week after that episode.

I am grateful that this so ends my residency paperwork process. Overall, it was relatively quick, inexpensive, and painless; that being said, nobody likes doing paperwork. I am perhaps most excited that with my Argentine ID I will no longer cause problems in checkout lines, this because anytime a purchase is made using a debit or credit card at any store, you must also show ID to verify the name on the card matches the name on your ID. Not keen on carrying my passport everywhere I go, I often handed over my (now expired) Minnesota driver's license when they asked for ID. This received all kinds of reactions, ranging from "This is your driver's license, not your ID," (in Argentina they are two different things), to "This number has more than 8 digits, so it can't be your ID number," to "you aren't from here." Thank you, Captain Obvious, and thanks for informing everyone in the checkout line of that fact. My new ID has the word "FOREIGNER" written at the top in capital red letters, but at least it has the accepted number of digits.

And allow me to close by clarifying that by gaining Argentine residency, I have not gained Argentine citizenship nor have I lost my U.S. citizenship. This means I can still use my U.S. passport for international travel, I still pay my taxes to the good ole' U.S. of A., and by golly you bet I will be mailing in my absentee ballot for the November elections.

One residency status resolved, one to go.