Police clearances for country of origin now required

IMPACT – MEDIUM

What is the change? The National Immigration Bureau has directed that all applicants for residence visas must provide legalized or apostilled police clearance records from their country of origin in addition to all countries where the applicant has lived in the previous three years.

What does the change mean? The additional documentation will add significant time to the overall process. The rules apply to all foreign nationals, including citizens of Mercosur member states.

• Implementation time frame: Immediate.
• Visas/permits affected: Temporary residence visas and Mercosur visas.
• Who is affected: Applicants for temporary residence visas, regardless of nationality.
• Impact on processing times: The new requirement will add from several weeks to several months to the process.
• Business impact: Employers should take into account the extra time required to obtain legalized police clearances when planning assignments and start dates in Argentina.
• Next steps: Applicants should plan to gather police clearances from their home country and any other relevant countries and work with their BAL team to determine requirements for current applications.

Background: Officers in the Residence Visa Section have been instructed to require all applicants to provide police clearances from their country of origin. Previously, authorities only required police clearances from the country or countries where the applicant had lived during the previous three years.

BAL Analysis: To avoid delays, employers and applicants should start obtaining appropriate police clearances early in the process. Applications submitted without police clearances will be denied.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group and our network provider located in Argentina. For additional information, please contact your BAL attorney.

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