Tourist stay: visiting Argentina before you choose a route

You are visiting Argentina, or plan to, on a passport that needs no tourist visa. You may be scouting cities before you choose a residence route. Or you are already here as a tourist and want to know your dates.

A tourist stay is for visiting. It is not a way to live in Argentina, and it does not allow paid work.

If you want to live here, this page is a starting point, not a plan. The Route Finder shows the residence routes you may fit.

Who can visit without a visa. Irish, UK and US citizens can visit Argentina as tourists without a visa. For any other passport, check with the nearest Argentine consulate before you travel.

How long you can stay. Migraciones authorises a tourist stay of up to 3 months. "Up to" means the stay you are given can be shorter. The Irish, UK and US governments describe it as up to 90 days. These two ways of counting can end on different days. Work from your entry date, and if you do not know the exact end date, plan on the earlier one.

The extension. You can ask Migraciones for 1 extension, called a prórroga, for otro período similar (another similar period).

• Where: In person at DNM headquarters (building 3, 08:00-13:00) or any DNM delegation.
• Bring: Valid passport; a stay that is still valid; the fee.
• When: in the last 10 days before your stay ends. Do not leave it to the final day.

Migraciones words this timing rule in two ways, and it does not say whether the days are calendar days. The rule is unclear. If your dates are tight, ask Migraciones or a lawyer early.

After the stay ends. Once the stay has expired, it cannot be extended. To leave, you need a paid exit permit, the Habilitación de salida. It is valid for 10 days, counted from the day after it is issued. If it lapses before you leave, you must buy a new one. If you have already stayed past your end date and want to come back later, talk to a lawyer first.

Tourists may not work. You cannot do paid work in Argentina on a tourist stay.

Refusals at the border. Each time you arrive, the border officer decides whether to admit you as a tourist. Grounds to refuse a tourist: The declared tourist purpose does not fit the category, or there is well-founded suspicion of a different real intention. These are known as falso turista (false tourist) refusals, and they have become much more common.

A refusal based on article 29 of the migration law carries a re-entry ban of at least 5 years. Article 29 covers grounds such as false documents or distorting the declared reason for entry. A border refusal can only be appealed from abroad.

Leaving and coming back. Leaving Argentina and coming back is a new decision at the border. It is not a reset of your stay.

• Your stay: up to 3 months from entry.
• The extension: otro período similar (another similar period), requested in the last 10 days before the stay ends.
• The exit permit after an overstay: valid 10 days, counted from the day after it is issued.

Our research gives no processing time for an extension. Go early in the window rather than on the last day.

A tourist may meet these Migraciones fees. You pay them to Migraciones directly. We never collect them.

• Extension (prórroga): ARS 20,000 (about USD 13 at ARS 1,540 on 6 October 2026). Nationals of Mercosur countries pay ARS 10,000 (about USD 6 at ARS 1,540 on 6 October 2026).
• Exit permit after an overstay (Habilitación de salida): ARS 40,000 (about USD 26 at ARS 1,540 on 6 October 2026). Nationals of Mercosur countries pay ARS 20,000 (about USD 13 at ARS 1,540 on 6 October 2026). If it lapses before you leave, you pay again.

A tourist stay does not lead to residence. It is a transitory status. It gives no ID card, and permanent residence by arraigo is built on years of temporary residence, not tourist time.

What a tourist stay can do is get you into the country. Most residence routes are filed online, from inside Argentina, after a legal entry. For a visa-exempt visitor, that entry is usually as a tourist. The Route Finder shows the routes you may fit.