Argentina is a country best known for red-tape and bureaucratic loopholes/roadblocks. Many paperwork-related issues can be resolved by a little bribe here or a friends in high places ... But you're still stuck with the circus that is the world of "trámites."
In order for me to be fully installed here as "legal" (again... since I've been through this before. Two years ago, for a work visa. Sadly those papers have expired since I'm no longer working legally) I need to apply for permanent residency under the umbrella of "married to Argentine citizen." Luckily when I was home before the wedding Deb and I got tons of paperwork together (she pretty much should be an immigration lawyer) that I'd need for the near future. Perhaps the most frustrating is the FBI report. If you've lived in the US in the past 3 years, you're required to have a crime report issued, which is done via the FBI. You've got to get your fingerprints done at the local police station and send them off to West Virginia. Sometimes the turnaround time is rather quick; others it takes weeks for them to return the information to you. The kicker is that the report is only valid for 3 months ! So once you get it back, it's tick-tock, tick-tock or you're SOL.
We were waiting ages for the papers to arrive ... I think it was almost 2 months. Now they are en route to Argentina and should be arriving any day now ... The documentation must be translated here, and once that's done I will be able to present it at Immigrations. However I also need some local trámites done! An Argentine crime report and a little flimsy piece of paper from the local police station that verifies my address as correct.
It doesn't really sound that complicated, and to be honest, at the end of the day, it isn't. But so many little details are arbitrary (like the time period that these documents are valid. Some are only valid for 30 days, others 3 months ...) that the timing really becomes key here. To make things worse (or better, depending on how you look at it), the availability of appointments at Immigrations varies. Thankfully you can now book a space online, saving yourself the time and stress of throwing yourself into a pack of Peruvian and Bolivian immigrants who camped outside all night to get in (Not a joke), but depending on a bunch of random factors that no one tells you, sometimes you can get in the next day, other times several weeks down the road. There's not much you can do about that, either.
Speaking to different "outlets" doesn't always clarify things. One person at one office will tell you one thing... Another day you'll get another answer. The website might be out of date, or the phone recording not clear. It's enough to make anyone mad ... Or at the very least, incredibly bitter.
I've been trying to get my ducks in a row before I start work on Monday (!!) and go from having all day to get things done to having a very small window of time. So off I go ....
Tomorrow:
-Pre-Work Medical Exam. Yep, in Argentina before you can legally work somewhere, they make you get a blood and urine test, an electrocardiogram, and a chest x-ray (damned TB!). For some reason your boss knowing if you have any type of disease is important to the work that you'll be doing. I think it's ridiculous. It's so funny how different things are here... You have to put your nationality, age, gender, marital status and photo on your resume. I never have because it's outrageous. However, this time .. Just gotta say "When in Rome ..." (Thanks Ron Burgundy. That was you, right?)
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