Traveling across the border and back to renew stay?

[Alle1770]

Then it's perfectly fine. Like I said, I think staying for a year or so as a PT is just fine. When I first moved to CR I had to make about 3 border runs before I finally applied for residency. Get your life together, maybe find a job to sponsor you to get residency. Whatever. Just, like kitty said, don't make it a permanent thing

I've read before from people who have traveled in South America that you can do that and it works just fine. Just don't let it turn into a permanent thing. :P

Well, it's nice to know I'm not the only one possibly doing border runs then Thanks again guys, promise I won't make it a permanent solution. You're all free to slap me in the face if I do!

[lucybelle]

So border-hopping would definitely not be a permanent solution, only temporary to be able to sort out lives out and get everything on track.

Then it's perfectly fine. Like I said, I think staying for a year or so as a PT is just fine. When I first moved to CR I had to make about 3 border runs before I finally applied for residency. Get your life together, maybe find a job to sponsor you to get residency. Whatever. Just, like kitty said, don't make it a permanent thing

[kittyo9]

I've read before from people who have traveled in South America that you can do that and it works just fine. Just don't let it turn into a permanent thing. :P

[Alle1770]

I can always trust you to answer my posts Lucy, thanks!

I suppose some things are similar between CR and Argentina, so thank you for your input even if it's for another country. It would never cross my mind to work illegally, I'm way too nice to do that and I find it very disrespectful of the country and it's residents, and I wouldn't in a million years risk being banned from entering the country again. If I would do border-hopping, it would probably just be once or twice so that we can sort out an actual visa and the like, while still being able to be together and not do it from afar, considering I would have to be in BsAs many times for medical exams/permits and whatnot. Plus, I think the same rules apply in Argentina as CR, you have to be a citizen to do most things except just being a tourist. So, making it possible to live and work there legally is a must, for both moral and practical reasons. So border-hopping would definitely not be a permanent solution, only temporary to be able to sort out lives out and get everything on track.

I will definitely have a look up at some forums out there, that makes a lot of sense, I didn't even think of that! Thanks again!

[lucybelle]

Well, I don't know about Argentina, but I'll tell you about CR.

CR you get an immediate 90 days when you come into the country. Many expats decide to live in the country as what we like to call "perpetual tourists" where they make border runs every 90 days to renew their visa. With this, you are not allowed to work. Some still do, illegally, but remember if you get caught you will get in trouble.

Also, at least in CR and surely in Argentina where it seems like they're a little more organized, they are seriously cracking down on perpetual tourists. Now in order to open a bank account you need to have residency. You need to have residency to get a driver's license. Since you are not guaranteed a 90 day stamp, some PTs are getting only 30 and sometimes 7 days on their passport when the official notices they're border hopping a lot.

With that being said, I have PT friends who have lived and worked (again, I remind you illegally) in CR for over 5 years and have never had a problem.

I think it's perfectly fine to stay in the country for a year doing border runs every 3 months. But after that, have a little respect for the country. Find a way to get residency of some sort. I would never be okay with working illegally because if I get caught (the chances are slim, but still) I will be deported and possibly not allowed back into CR. That's not something I'm willing to risk when half of my family lives here.

Look up an expat forum for people living in Argentina. They'll answer a lot of your questions. And probably be mean to you about suggesting PT (at least the old bastards on my CR expat forum always are). But meh, whatever.

Good luck!

Oh- and let me add- check to see which country you have to border hop across. Here in Central America, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador have some sort of agreement. So you don't get a new stamp when going into those countries. So if you lived in Nicaragua you couldn't go to Honduras for your border run, you'd have to go to CR or Panama or Belize or whatever. Sort of like in the EU.

[Alle1770]

Hola guys!

Now, I know there isn't an overflow of people living in/from Argentina on this forum, but maybe there's one or two reading this post that can help me out! Or, maybe this applies for other countries in South America too, I'm not really sure... Anyways! When I travel to Argentina I don't need a visa since I'm from Sweden, but this means I can only spend 90 days in the country before having to travel back. However, I've heard from many people that you can just travel across the border to another country (for example Chile or Uruguay) and back, to get another 90 days.

So, my question is just if there's anyone out there who has tried this, or know if it works? Because if it does, I could live with my SO for an infinity of time (seeing as he lives almost on the border to Chile) without needing to apply for a visa xD Our plan is for me to be able to apply for a fiance/spouse visa eventually, but since the waiting times can be long and all that, it would be nice to know if there's a way to go around this without me having to travel all the way back to Sweden every 90 days.

So yeah, confused and slightly rambly post, but it would be great if someone out there could answer my question!