Moving to Argentina with an Argentine spouse or partner

An Australian married to an Argentine citizen can apply for up to three years of temporary family-reunification residence under DNU 366/2025. Marriage does not itself give you permanent residence or Argentine citizenship; an Australian parent of an Argentine child can also use the family category and must make a residence application.

Who qualifies when the Argentine connection is a spouse or child?

The family category in article 23(ñ) of Argentina's Migration Law covers a spouse, parent or child of an Argentine citizen. It also covers specified relatives of a temporary or permanent resident, but those sponsors have different duration rules. For an Argentine-citizen or permanent-resident sponsor, the family residence can be granted for up to three years and renewed. If the sponsor holds temporary residence, the family member's grant is limited to the sponsor's remaining authorised term.

If you are an unmarried partner, do not treat shared living arrangements as a substitute for a marriage certificate: the published spouse checklist calls for proof of marriage. Before booking travel around this category, ask the Argentine Consulate General in Sydney at csidn@mrecic.gov.ar or +61 (2) 9262 2933 what relationship evidence Migraciones will accept in your circumstances. Tourist entry does not establish eligibility for family residence. An ordinary Australian passport generally allows a tourist visit of up to 90 days, but tourist entry alone is not residence or permission for local employment; see the Australian visa and entry rules.

Which documents should you prepare in Australia?

The Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (DNM, Argentina's immigration authority) asks for the sponsor's identity document and civil record proving the relationship. Bring the original marriage certificate for a spouse application, or the birth record that proves your link to an Argentine child. The Australian applicant also needs a valid passport, an Argentine address, evidence of lawful entry and the required criminal-history records. Applicants over 16 need records from countries where they lived for more than one year in the preceding three years. An Australian Federal Police certificate cannot cover a stay in a third country.

1. Obtain the Australian civil record that establishes the relationship, and the required police certificates. The AFP issues a National Police Certificate for visa purposes; its format must meet the receiving authority's requirements.
2. Arrange an apostille on Australian originals through DFAT, or the authentication route DNM accepts. DFAT can apostille Australian registry birth certificates and police checks; it warns that a scanned copy is not an electronic original.
3. Have non-Spanish documents translated into Spanish by a traductor público nacional (authorised public translator), with the translation legalised by the relevant Colegio de Traductores (translators' professional body). DNM requires this for foreign-language documents.
4. Bring the Argentine sponsor's DNI (national identity card) and the civil record that connects the sponsor to you. For the document preparation sequence, see Australian police checks and apostilles for Argentina.

A spouse needs marriage evidence; a parent applying through an Argentine child needs birth evidence. A birth certificate is not required for every adult spouse.

How do you file for family residence in Argentina?

File through RaDEX, DNM's online residence platform, while physically in Argentina. The family route is a temporary-residence filing; select the appropriate family category rather than a permanent-residence application based on marriage alone.

1. Enter Argentina lawfully with your Australian passport and have the family documents and sponsor's ID ready.
2. Create a RaDEX account at Migraciones, complete the category form and pay the charges generated by the platform.
3. Upload the requested documents and monitor the email address used for the application. DNM sends an appointment for in-person document verification.
4. Keep any residencia precaria (provisional residence certificate) current while DNM decides the application. Under DNU 366/2025, it may be issued for up to 90 calendar days and renewed on a reasoned decision. While valid, it permits staying, leaving and re-entering, working and studying; time on the precaria does not count towards the later permanent-residence or naturalisation residence periods.

DNM says you do not need an agent to file through RaDEX. For a case involving disputed relationship evidence or an unusual immigration history, we recommend Lucero Legal for the residence application.

How much does the application cost?

The published extra-MERCOSUR fee for an Australian applicant is 100 UMSM for an initial temporary residence and 100 UMSM for a later conversion to permanent residence. UMSM is the immigration fee unit, not the minimum-wage unit used by other residence categories. DNM's fee chart sets one UMSM at ARS 1,000; the AUD figures below are indicative conversions using the 29 September 2026 Wise mid-market quote of AUD 1 = ARS 1,066.43, not a fee payable in Australian dollars.

RaDEX may generate separate charges. Pay the amounts shown for your filing against DNM's live fee schedule; a foreign-card exchange rate need not match the quoted mid-market rate.

What happens if your child is born in Argentina?

A child born in Argentina is an Argentine national, including when the parents are Australian, according to Australia's Argentina travel advice. The child's nationality is distinct from the Australian parent's immigration status. The Argentine child gives the parent a basis to apply for the temporary family category; it does not grant the parent permanent residence or citizenship at the hospital.

Smartraveller says children born in Argentina to Australian parents must leave Argentina for the first time on an Argentine passport. Deal with the child's Argentine documentation before planning that departure; an Australian passport for the child does not replace the Argentine exit requirement. Where a child is born outside Argentina to an Argentine parent, Argentine nationality by option is a separate question from the Australian parent's residence application.

When can an Australian family resident apply for permanent residence or citizenship?

For an Australian, DNM’s arraigo (residence-based settlement) route to permanent residence requires three years of temporary residence and sufficient means. You must be in Argentina for at least half the authorised period and have no single absence of six months or more. Apply separately: a three-year family grant does not automatically become permanent residence. Temporary residence itself can be cancelled following an absence abroad of six months or more, subject to the legal exceptions or DNM authorisation. The Australian residency routes and permanence rules explain the category change in more detail.

Naturalisation has a different test. Under DNU 366/2025, an adult's ordinary citizenship application goes to DNM after the immediately preceding two years of lawful, continuous residence; the decree defines continuous as no exit from Argentina during those two years. Marriage does not shorten that requirement by itself, and time on a precaria does not count. Applications started before 29 May 2025 follow transitional rules, including older court-filed citizenship cases; newly filed applications should not copy those court instructions. For the nationality and passport implications, read Argentine citizenship for Australians.