Argentina Grants Temporary Protection to Ukrainians Fleeing the War

On March 8, 2022, the National Directorate of Migration (DNM), a decentralized agency within the orbit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs established Provision 417/2022 in the context of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, authorizing the entry into Argentina, and the stay in the country for humanitarian reasons of Ukrainians and their immediate family members, regardless of their nationality.

The conflict in question has triggered a huge displacement crisis. According to The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) this is the fastest forced population movement in Europe since the Second World War: in just two months more than 5 million people have fled Ukraine and 7.1 million have been internally displaced.

Despite the fact that most of these people decide to migrate for reasons of proximity, language, culture, etc. to countries such as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, in recent years, the migration issue has gained significant relevance in the international agenda and States are obliged - or should be - to provide a humanitarian response.

Migration in Argentine law

(In)migration has always played a leading role in our country; Alberdi in his "Bases" stated that it was one of the keys to the development of Argentina. For this reason, according to the Preamble of our National Constitution, the rights recognized will be guaranteed to "all the men of the world wishing to inhabit the Argentine soil," thus encouraging and inviting immigration into our territory.

To broadly understand the framework of rules regulating the subject in our domestic law, we will mention Law 25,781, Administrative Regulation No. 616/2010 and Provision 417/2022 issued by the DNM.

1. Law 25.871

With the publication of Law 25,871 on 20 January 2004, the fundamental policies and strategic bases on migration were established. Article four of the law establishes the idea of migration as a human right: "the right to migrate is an essential and inalienable personal right and the Argentine Republic guarantees it on the basis of the principles of equality and universality."

With this in mind, three categories are envisioned for foreigners residing in the Argentine territory:

• Temporary residence up to 3 months stay permit: for those staying as tourists, for a short period of time, in general, less than three months.
• Temporary residence over 3 months stay permit: art.  23 lists the various circumstances. In particular, subparagraph (m) states that: " all those who enter for humanitarian reasons justifying (...) a special treatment." This is the category that the DNM grants to the Ukrainian nationals.
• Permanent Residence: any foreigner who, for the purpose of settling definitively in the country, obtains from the DNM an admission in such character.

2. Administrative Regulation No. 616/2010

According to subsection m) of this Administrative Regulation of the Migration Law, certain situations will be specially taken into account (we are mentioning two of them):

• People in need of international protection, who, not being refugees, are protected by the principle of nonrefoulement.
• Persons who are presumed to be subjected to human rights violations if forced to return to their country of origin.

It is clear that both assumptions fit into the current context.

Provision 417/2022

The Provision 417/2022 makes effective the right recognized in our legislation in this specific case/context. Thus, it guarantees the human right of Ukrainian war victims to migrate to Argentina, granting them the status of temporary residents for three years. Punctually the Disposition establishes that:

• It will apply to Ukrainian foreign nationals and their immediate family members, regardless of their nationality.
• They should have been outside Argentina at the time of the Provision promulgation.
• The application for admission must be made to the offices of the Argentine consular network.
• The authorized period of permanence is three years; after this period, the beneficiaries may apply for permanent residence.
• Beneficiaries are exempt from paying immigration fees.