Overstaying a Tourist Visa in Argentina on a UK Passport: Fines and Fixes

If your 90-day tourist stay has expired, the ordinary route out of Argentina is a *habilitación de salida*, an exit authorisation. For a British passport it costs 40 UMSM, or ARS 40,000 (about US$26) at September 2026 values. Pay it before departure and leave voluntarily, and there is no automatic ban on returning.

If you are still within your permitted stay, the cheaper option is a single extension of up to 90 days. The *prórroga de permanencia* costs 20 UMSM (ARS 20,000, about US$13), with the usual application window in the final 10 days of your stay. The distinction matters: an unpaid overstay can also lead to an order to regularise, and ignoring that order can end in expulsion and a re-entry ban of at least five years.

Find the date your stay ends

British passport holders enter Argentina visa-free as tourists for 90 days. Count from the day after arrival, rather than treating the permission as three calendar months: an arrival on 1 March runs through 29 May. Passports are no longer routinely stamped, but Migraciones holds the entry date in its system.

If you have made several trips and need the dates, Migraciones issues a *certificado de movimientos migratorios*, a record of entries and exits. It costs 10 UMSM (ARS 10,000, about US$6.50) for each calendar year covered. The record is especially useful before choosing between an extension and an exit authorisation.

An extension while you can still stay

Migraciones ordinarily accepts an extension request during the 10 days before the permitted stay ends. A passport valid through the new period matters, and the extension is available once, for up to another 90 days. Someone who arrives on 1 March and extends before 29 May can remain until 27 August, 180 days in total.

The application is made at the DNM (Dirección Nacional de Migraciones) headquarters, Av. Antártida Argentina 1355, Retiro, Buenos Aires, edificio 3, 08:00 to 13:00, or at a regional *delegación*. Bring the passport and fee; an Argentine address and an onward ticket help answer questions about the planned stay and how it is funded. Migraciones charges a 50% surcharge for a voluntary request within 30 days after the normal extension window: 30 UMSM (ARS 30,000, about US$20) instead of 20 UMSM. Beyond that late window, an expired tourist stay cannot be extended.

What it costs to leave after an overstay

Fees are set in UMSM (*Unidad de Medida de Servicios Migratorios*). Under Decreto 584/2024, 1 UMSM is ARS 1,000; British nationals pay the non-MERCOSUR rate, twice the MERCOSUR rate. The dollar equivalents use a September 2026 reference of about ARS 1,520 to US$1.

The exit authorisation covers one departure and remains valid for 10 running days from the day after issue. If that period passes before you leave, another authorisation costs the same amount. At Ezeiza, allow at least an hour before check-in closes to start the process rather than arriving at the counter at the last minute.

Migraciones opens the case and issues a Boleta BURe for payment at Banco de la Nación Argentina, Provincia Pagos or the payment desks in the headquarters buildings. Return to the counter for the *Formulario de Habilitación de Salida*, which you show with your travel documents at the border. The headquarters handles this in Edificio 6, counters M, Monday to Friday 08:00 to 16:00; regional offices also handle it. Ezeiza operates 24 hours and Aeroparque 07:00 to 22:00. Land border crossings no longer collect the fee: leaving with it unpaid creates a debt that blocks re-entry until paid, including by card from abroad on the Migraciones site.

When the overstay becomes an immigration case

An overstay paid for on voluntary departure differs from an expulsion. Under article 61 of Ley 25.871, Migraciones can order someone it finds overstaying to regularise by a deadline, through a qualifying residence application or departure. Staying on despite the order risks expulsion; article 63 attaches a re-entry ban of at least five years. By comparison, the UK can refuse re-entry for 1 to 10 years to a visitor who overstays there by more than 30 days.

A tourist entry also does not permit work for an Argentine employer. Someone planning to live in Argentina rather than visit needs a residence route that fits their circumstances; remote work for UK clients belongs on the digital nomad route. This becomes more important after successive short trips abroad.

Why a border run is a fragile plan

Departing and re-entering starts a new 90-day stay, and Argentine law sets no numerical cap on entries. From Buenos Aires, a common trip is the ferry to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay: Buquebus departs from Av. Antártida Argentina 821 in Puerto Madero, while Colonia Express leaves from Av. Pedro de Mendoza in La Boca. The fast crossing takes about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, with both exit and entry checks at the Buenos Aires terminal. British citizens need no visa for Uruguay.

Return fares were about US$60 to US$150 per person (ARS 93,000 to 232,000) in September 2026, depending on the operator and day; weekend sailings sell out. Other crossings include the Cristo Redentor pass into Chile from Mendoza, which can close in winter snow, and Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil from Puerto Iguazú. After two or three consecutive runs, expect questions about work, funds and a ticket home. An officer can refuse entry to someone plainly living in Argentina as a tourist.

How a longer stay changes the calculation

Consider a British couple aged 58 and 61 who arrive at Ezeiza on 1 March 2026 to try a year in Buenos Aires. She receives about £1,500 a month from a let flat in Leeds; he draws a £1,100 monthly workplace pension. They take a furnished flat on a six-month contract and have until 29 May on their initial tourist permission.

Applying for their extensions between 20 and 29 May at Retiro costs them 2 × 20 UMSM, or ARS 40,000 (about US$26) together, and takes their stay to 27 August. Their ACRO police certificates, ordered before departure, are apostilled by the FCDO and translated in Buenos Aires; they add Argentine criminal record certificates. During June or July they file through RaDEX, Migraciones' online system: she applies as a *rentista*, he as a *pensionado*. Each applicant compares their own monthly income, at the exchange rate on the day they file, with five times the minimum wage (ARS 1,956,000 a month in October 2026). The two temporary residence filings cost 2 × ARS 100,000, or ARS 200,000 (about US$130).

Each receives a renewable 90-day *residencia precaria*, a provisional residence certificate that keeps them legal beyond 27 August while Migraciones decides; Migraciones does not publish a fixed decision time. Missing 29 May would have left them without the ordinary extension and facing a 40 UMSM exit fee each. Many UK annual travel policies also limit a single trip to 31 to 90 days, so a stay of six months calls for long-stay or international health cover.

Dual British-Argentine nationals enter and leave on Argentine documents. A person already holding a *precaria* or residence follows the dates on that document instead of the tourist clock. For a visitor still deciding how long to remain, the relevant choice is between an extension before the stay runs out and a qualifying residence application for life beyond it.