Argentina Stops Work Facilities for Russians

The South American country signed off the bilateral agreement sealed in 1994

Since 2003, Russian and Ukrainian citizens aiming to work in Argentina will have to follow the usual restrictive procedure to emigrate there. According with local sources, Argentina eliminated facilities to grant work visas due to the difficult economic situation lived by the South American country for more than one year.

This South American state put into force, according to an agreement signed in 1994, a simplified regimen of visa permission for Russians, who wanted to travel to Argentina to work. From last January 1st, those interested in obtaining this kind of visa permission should present an official and legal job contract by one of the firms of this nation to the Argentinean Consulate.

Many Russian, Ukrainian and other Eastern European workers benefited from the measure that eased legal migration requirements. According with statistics handled by the national Foreign Ministry, at least 8.500 visas were delivered from 1995 to 2001. Since then, the number of applicants went down due to the lack of job opportunities in a country strained by recession and unemployment.

In 2002, Argentina's currency abandoned its parity to the Dollar. Therefore, immigrants could not obtain enough money to wire to their families in Europe and Argentina became unattractive for them. The "Migration Special Treatment's" decree Number 4632/94 became senseless.

Some of these immigrants succeed on their Southern adventure. They found a job and could get better in the difficult environment. However many others had to survive thanks to NGO's help, as neither the Argentine Government nor their embassies did anything to ease their hard situation.

Hernan Etchaleco PRAVDA.Ru Argentina

Photo: The Russian Orthodox Church of Temperley, in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Many new immigrants looked for help from their precedents in Argentina. These measures lack a retroactive character for Russian citizens who traveled to the Latin American nation before December 31, 2002. Experts agree that the restriction is due to the difficult economic situation lived by Argentina for more than a year.