Argentina Spouse Visa: Residence for Britons with Argentine Family

Argentina has no separate spouse visa. If you are married to an Argentine, or you are the parent of an Argentine child, you enter visa-free on your British passport. You then apply from inside the country to Migraciones (Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, the immigration office) for temporary residence as a family member. The fee is ARS 100,000 (about US$65, September 2026), there is no income test, and you can work as soon as your application is accepted. Since DNU 366/2025 (a 2025 presidential decree) you get temporary residence first and permanent residence later, through arraigo (proof of settled roots).

Who qualifies and what proves it

Your spouse's citizenship is what counts, not where they have been living. An Argentine who has lived in Manchester for 20 years can still sponsor you on the same terms.

Family residence against the other routes

If you qualify through family, use that route, even if your UK pension or savings would also pass the rentista test. It is the only route with no income floor and no ban on local work. It is also much easier than the reverse move. Bringing an Argentine partner to Britain means a Home Office income requirement, a fee of more than £1,800 and the Immigration Health Surcharge. Argentina asks for ARS 100,000 and your marriage certificate.

Before you leave the UK

1. Order new certified copies of your marriage certificate and your full birth certificate from GRO, NRS or GRONI. The FCDO can refuse old copies if it cannot verify the signature. Allow 1–2 weeks.
2. Order an ACRO Police Certificate if you lived in the UK for more than a year in the last 3 years. Get the same from any other country where you did. Aim for it to be no more than about 3 months old when you file.
3. Apostille all three at the FCDO Legalisation Office, either by post to Milton Keynes or through the premium same-day service in London. The apostille goes on the certified copy itself, never on a photocopy.
4. Do not translate anything in the UK. Argentina only accepts translations by a traductor público (sworn translator) registered there.
5. Check your spouse's DNI. Migraciones needs a copy. If it has expired, renew it at the Argentine Consulate General in London before you fly.
6. Married in a third country? You need that country's apostille (or legalisation), not the UK's.

The full order and timings are in apostilling UK documents for Argentina.

Applying in Argentina, step by step

1. Enter visa-free. Your British passport gives you 90 days, and you must file within them. If you need more time, Migraciones grants one 90-day extension for a fee.
2. Get sworn translations. A traductor público translates each UK certificate. The CTPCBA (Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires) then legalises the translation. Expect 3–7 working days. Budget roughly ARS 40,000–80,000 (US$25–50) per certificate, including the Colegio stamp, and get two quotes.
3. Get an Argentine criminal record certificate from the Registro Nacional de Reincidencia (the national criminal records office). You request it online. Everyone aged 16 or over needs one.
4. Prove your address. A lease in both your names is the clearest proof that you live together. A utility bill at the same address also works. If you are still looking, furnished rentals can be signed quickly.
5. File on RaDEX, the Migraciones online system. Upload your passport, the apostilled certificates and translations, both sides of your spouse's DNI and your proof of address. Pay 100 UMSM (Migraciones fee units of ARS 1,000), which is ARS 100,000. A preferential appointment is optional and costs another 50 UMSM.
6. Download your precaria (provisional residence certificate) once your application is accepted. It lasts 90 days and can be renewed. Under Article 20 of the migration law, it lets you work, study, and leave and re-enter Argentina. It works much like section 3C leave in the UK: you stay lawful while you wait for a decision.
7. Attend if called. Migraciones may ask to see originals and take your photo and fingerprints. Take your spouse, or at least their original DNI.
8. Wait for the decision. Allow 3–12 months, and renew the precaria every 90 days until then.
9. Get your DNI. Once residence is granted, book an appointment at RENAPER (the national registry). The first DNI costs ARS 20,000 and arrives by post in 2–6 weeks.

If you want to start a job before the DNI arrives, ANSES (the social security agency) issues a provisional CUIL (work and social security number) on your passport and precaria.

What happens next

• Permanent residence comes through arraigo. For British nationals this normally means 3 years of temporary residence. At least half of that time must be spent in Argentina, with no absence of 6 months or more in a row. The fee is ARS 100,000 again. See permanent residency for UK citizens.
• Citizenship can come sooner. Under DNU 366/2025 you can apply after 2 years of continuous legal residence, filed with Migraciones rather than a federal court.
• If the marriage ends before you are a permanent resident, the link your residence depends on has gone. At renewal you need another basis, such as an Argentine child, a job or the rentista income test.

Same-sex couples, civil partners and unmarried partners

Argentina legalised same-sex marriage in 2010 (Ley 26.618), the first country in Latin America to do so. A same-sex spouse applies on the same terms and with the same documents, and faces no extra questions.

A UK civil partnership is less straightforward, because Argentina has no equivalent. Migraciones decides whether to treat it as a marriage. If you can convert your partnership into a marriage before you leave, you will have a document that needs no interpretation.

Unmarried couples can use the unión convivencial, which the Civil and Commercial Code recognises after 2 years of living together. You register it at the Registro Civil where you live. Ask beforehand what proof of the 2 years they accept; joint leases, bank statements and bills in both names all help.

Argentina's Gender Identity Law (Ley 26.743, 2012) lets people change the name and gender on Argentine documents without any medical requirement. DNIs have offered a non-binary X marker since 2021. For your application, the names on your passport and certificates must match. If they do not, bring the document that links them, such as a deed poll or Gender Recognition Certificate, apostilled like the others.

Children

• A baby born in Argentina is Argentine by birth, unless a parent is a foreign diplomat. British parents with no other route can then apply as parents of an Argentine. For registering the baby as British, see British children born in Argentina.
• A child born in the UK to an Argentine parent can usually be registered as Argentine (ciudadanía por opción, citizenship by option) through the Argentine Consulate General in London. The child then does not need residence.
• Your own non-Argentine children apply as family of a resident, with their apostilled birth certificates. If their other parent is staying in the UK, expect to need that parent's consent, signed before a UK notary and apostilled.
• Travel permits catch families out. Once a child is resident, leaving Argentina with only one parent needs an autorización de viaje (travel permit). It is signed before an escribano (notary) or at the Registro Civil.

Worked example

A British man, 44, and his Argentine wife, 41, married in Bristol. They move to Buenos Aires in March with their son, 7, who was born in the UK.

• October to January, in the UK: she registers their son as Argentine at the consulate in London and renews her expired DNI there. He orders certified copies of their marriage certificate and his birth certificate, orders an ACRO certificate in January and gets all three apostilled. Budget roughly £200–350, including courier.
• March, weeks 1–3: three sworn translations, ARS 120,000–240,000. He requests his Reincidencia certificate, and they sign a lease in both names.
• Week 4: he files on RaDEX and pays ARS 100,000. Once he has his precaria, he can take a local job on a provisional CUIL.
• Decision: expect it between July and the following April. The DNI then costs ARS 20,000.

The Argentine costs total about ARS 240,000–360,000 (US$155–235), and he never has to show income. He can apply for citizenship after 2 years of legal residence and for permanent residence after 3.

Mistakes to avoid

1. Relying on the old rule. Before DNU 366/2025, spouses of Argentines got permanent residence straight away. Older guides and forum posts still say they do.
2. Leaving it until day 80. Translations and the Reincidencia certificate take weeks. Aim to file by day 45.
3. Translating in the UK. Migraciones rejects any translation not made by an Argentine traductor público.
4. Mismatched names. A married name on your passport and a maiden name on your birth certificate is fine, because the marriage certificate links them. Any other change needs its own evidence, such as a deed poll.
5. Letting the precaria lapse. Put the renewal date in your calendar on the day you download it.
6. Choosing the digital nomad route for speed. It gives you no DNI, and none of the time counts towards permanent residence.

When this page does not apply

• Your Argentine partner is moving to Britain: see the UK visa for Argentine partners.
• You have no Argentine spouse, partner or child: compare every route in Argentina visas for UK citizens.