Consulate General of Argentina

It took a while to get a response but once you are on their radar, getting an appointment is easy. When you show up for your appointment, everybody is asked to sign-​in to a clipboard. There are many people there who also have an appointment but everyone seemed to get called accordingly. The staff is very professional and courteous.

Have a few questions for my passport renewal, nobody answers the phone, I have not had the time to go in person, I’ve been calling for a week, just like in Argentina.
Embarrasing

Seamless experience. Appointment arrangement for visa was made within 4 days of my first email, which included a request from me to change the first appointment because of schedule conflict. Paper work was taken from me within minutes of my arrival and I was seen for my interview exactly on time. I was informed that visa would be ready in 7 days. Within a week I was informed that the passport had been mailed back, I should begin tracking and it arrived within 2 days. Every interaction was courteous, respectful and efficient.

I have dealt with them for years, fortunately I have another citizenship, if not I would have to go through their mistreatment, rude manners, unpolite to say the least.
Four years ago I had to renew my passport, obviously we had to travel to Los Angeles, my husband could not believe how rude this people were, on top of not speaking english and their rude manners, he was appalled, he said, if this is how they treat their citizens what can a foreigner expect, well nothing I am afraid, Well after paying an outrageous amount of money for the passport, we went to the Spanish embassy, same building, my hubby was scared, he wanted some answers, but I told him go ahead, so he did,
A complete different experience, nice people, adressing all his questions and more, perfect english speaking, well what should be. The worst part was when I finally got to argentina my passport was cancelled, right there in eze, not only mine everybody elses, because the passport was changed so everyone had to go to another building downtown to pay again, another huge amount, couples with babies, myself disabled, three four hours under the rain to pay then going to another place in town to actually get the pas sport, a kafkian experience but had to do it, because you have to use the same passport to get out of the country
Till this very day I am asking myself why I did it? Why didn, t I use my other passport!
Who knows some kind of mislead loyalty to the country where I was born and grew up.
But years go by, you try to forget the mistreatment and today I decided to call to enquire about something, again the same rude, unpolite human beings if you can call them that, very rude, no thanks, hello, s good morning, horrible, just awful, on the edge of abuse. And I completely disagree with people saying that this does not show what the country and its people are about, that is not true. There are beautiful people like in every country but if you have the misfortune of needing to deal with public employees, you will be mistreated and it talks about what the country is about and its people, we are talking about a consulate here, whose salaries are paid by us to serve us, but not in argentina, not 20 years ago not now in 2015. Those employees are hired through the corrupted people in charge at the time, lovers, friends of, cousins of, you name it.
Sad, very sad, and makes you feel bad, very bad

When I arrived for my appointment to renovate my passport and DNI, the man that assisted me was very efficient and accurate. I waited for about 40 minutes. The woman that took my picture was very kind, she offered to take my picture as many times as necessary to make sure that I felt comfortable with the photo. When returning for my receipt, the man that gave it to me was very kind. When I asked him if he thought they would open an office in san francisco, he responded to me very kindly that they may perhaps conduct an itinerant consulate — provided they receive a portable fingerprint scanner from Argentina. Overall my experience there was better than expected, as well as cordial and informative. All of the extra information I received was deeply appreciated, it was like a nostalgic reminder of when I lived in Argentina — my home country.
Thank you so much.

My rating and experience with the embassy explained as follows. FYI, I am an Indian passport holder who visited the embassy to get a tourist visa. I had a pleasant experience at the embassy and everyone was polite and nice. Minus 2 stars for how difficult it is to make an appointment with them, but +1 star for being nice and polite. The only way seems to be sending them an email and hoping that they reply. I had to wait a week before they replied, I have heard of people having to wait 2 weeks. They do not have info on their website on what documentation is required. When you send them an email, they will send you a list of requirements for the visa. The consulate is very busy and they cater to nearly 11 states. When you go for your appointment, you will need to sign in one of the two sheets (one for appointment, one without appointment). You sign in for the one for appointment since you have to take an appointment for a visa. You are called out when your appointment time comes and not before that, even if they can. You wait in the area. There are not enough seats, but that is ok. It is a small place. When you are called, the person at the counter checks your documents and if everything is ok, will tell you to wait for your interview with a consulate officer. The person before me had to wait for a long time, i had to wait maybe 15 minutes. The consulate officer takes you to his/​her office and asks you basic questions. If he/​she approves the visa, you will know right away, but the passport is mailed back to you in a week or so. Overall, I was happy with the experience. I was apprehensive at beginning because of all the negative comments I had read. I however had a positive experience, may be not as good at the german embassy in San Francisco, a few months ago, but the german embassy does not handle as big a load. I wish however that the Argentinian embassy had an easier way to contact them, even to get info on how to apply and what is required (put it up on a website).
and lastly, there is a starbucks opposite the embassy. you can wait it out there, if you are early for the appointment :-)

Went to fetch my ID, they were a bit hard to get a hold of, but nothing major.
For those that complain about this Sylvia person– not condoning her behavior, but despite being a frequent traveler, the way I’ve gotten treated by US officers when re-​entering makes her sound like a sweetheart. Just sayin’.

Fell in love with tango. Decided to go to Argentina during Xmas break 2013 for 2 weeks. Learnt that I needed a visa. Called the Argentinian consulate in L. A beginning of September. Answering machine advised to ask for an appointment by email. Wrote to the said email address. Waited patiently. 8 days later, got an answer that my appointment is set for beginning of October, 11 am. Booked a flight ticket to L.A. Paid 240 dollars. Gathered all the required papers. D-​day, took the day off, parked my car in SFO, took the flight to L.A., rented a car, got to the consulate at 9.30am. Decided to sit in waiting room at the consulate. Looked around: mostly Argentinians in the waiting room, 2 other candidates for the visa application. Chatted with the 2 other applicants. Boy’s appointment at 10am, girl’s at 10.30am. Looked at my watch, 11 am and no one was called yet. Went to the glass window to ask what is happening, was told that the lady responsible for the visas is busy. Thought that my car was parked in a 2 hour parking spot, decided to ask if I should move my car. Mistake of my life. Went to the glass window again, to find Silvia, the person responsible for the visas.
Me: «Hello, can I .»
Silvia: «Return to your seat, I will call for you»
Me: «I need to ask you a question please»
Silvia: «Return to your seat, I will call for you»
Me: «Please, I do need to ask you a question»
Silvia: «Return to your seat, I will call for you»
Me: «I need to ask you a question»
Silvia (looking annoyed)
Me: «Should I be moving my car? My appointment was at 11 am but I think we are running late»
Silvia (waved the back of her hand at me as to say «go away»)
Walked to my car in disbelief. Wondered how the conversation went that way. Decided to go back and try to make things better. Big mistake.
45 min later, got called to the glass window. Gave my papers to Silvia who disappeared for 10 minutes. Saw Silvia coming back with a small smile on her face. Saw Silvia giving me back my folder as to say that they cannot accept my application. Heard Silvia saying that I only gave them the first page of my bank statements, they needed all the pages. Told Silvia that no worries there, I had the full bank statements with me. Saw Silvia’s smile disappear. And Silvia as well. Thought to myself that this situation was surreal, they cannot be that mean. Saw Silvia coming back and telling me that I will be interviewed by the consul. After the interview, got told that I have to wait around 20 days for the decision.
Got back to SF. Still in disbelief, I tried to see if anyone had a similar experience. Looked up «Silvia» and «Argentinian consulate in L.A.» on Google. Found 2 blogs/​forums describing similar experiences. One talked about «the Wrath of Silvia» (2006). The other one described her experience on the phone with Silvia (2012): «she was SO mean, impatient, and downright hostile and rude on the phone! She kept cutting me off on my questions and yelling „Next!“ She also did some other extraordinarily rude things on the phone. I am kind of in a state of shock.» Someone else commented (2012): «The person who did my visa was very rude. Silvia, I think her name was. This is pretty normal for all government workers here. No one really cares about helping you out or doing a good job.»
Told the story to my colleagues. Told the story to my neighbors. Told the story to my friends. Actually, told the story to whoever wanted to listen. Got different opinions. Yes, I should be more understanding, Silvia’s job sucks. Still, I couldn’t understand how one can be that mean and lacking empathy? Wondered if I should still go on with my plans and visit Argentina. Promised myself to not go back to the Argentinian consulate before Silvia retires or gets fired. Got a lesson about why the Argentinian economy is so bad.

As an Argentinian, I’m ashamed to have to pen this review but now that Unilocal is available, I feel that I must.
I have not visited other consulates/​embassies so I can only comment on this one… perhaps others are just as bad or hopefully much better. Anyway, I have been coming to this office since the early 1980’s and I can tell you that I always dread the visit. Why? well, it’s not the location, lack of parking, etc… no.
The main reason that I and many others dread the visit, is the awful customer service, unappealing office environment and most of all, the surliness of the staff. Remember, this is not just a review of one visit, this is a review over a considerable span of time.
The staff seems to have a contempt for their customers that is clearly palpable. From the tone of their speech to the shortness of their answers and clear look of derision and exasperation when the client does not understand the response or instruction. All of that thrown together with counter people that have a poor command of the English language and lack of basic customer service skills.
Either they don’t understand that the Consulate is usually the first encounter that a non Argentinian has and that it needs to present a professional and welcoming face… or, they just don’t care. I hate to say this but it seems that they just don’t care.
Dear tourist, I hope your visit to this office is a good and productive experience. If not, do not let it cloud or affect your view of all Argentinians. Argentina is a wonderful and exciting country filled with lots of kind, warm and fun people. I urge you to visit it!

Worst visa experience ever. The website does not have a clear english instructions. The phone number is only a VM that suggests to reach out only via email. They reply to their emails every other week.
I applied for my visa 1.5 months before my trip– plenty of time to get my visa right? No– they use an antiquated system to answer their emails. First of all, only one woman handles all of their Visa Inquiries. They do not have a system set up that distinguishes between casual questions and pressing matters (such as I need a visa and have already purchases my ticket). I even had a friend go and ask in person about my visa status– I live in SF and was going to fly down for the interview. What a nightmare– cold, rude and completely unhelpful. They make a big deal about how they respond to the hundreds of emails they get in order– I say– hire more staff or design a better system to filter out the urgent cases. I ended up having to cancel my trip and took the hit– as I had purchased my ticket. Note– I planned all of this way in advance. There was plenty of time for them to give me my visa. Ironically enough, over a month after my trip would have ended-​I only now get a reply that they can look into processing my visa. 1 month after my planned trip)
In the end I decided to go to Brazil instead. (Which by the way has the easiest process. Everything online, quick turn around of 5 days, clean consulate).

I would give this place zero stars. I had to renew my passport a few months ago. I checked online for the requirements, the instructions are not clear at all. So I tried calling the consulate to no avail. I then called the Embassy in DC, where I was informed that the consulate phone is very rarely answered and usually out of order. I confirmed with them the requirements, got all my documents and pictures taken before I left PDX.
When I get there I am informed that I am missing documentation and that the pictures are not up to their standards (these are passport pictures! taken by their specs! WTF)
The employees had the standard Argentinean public employee mentality. They didn’t provide a new passport, I had to leave the old one to get a stamp that basically extends the expiration date to five more years, but it expires the minute I set foot on Argentinean soil regardless of those five years.
Luckily now I am a resident of the US, so I can put that passport away and forget about it.

Applied for a tourist visa to Argentina. Got multiple entry visa free of charge. We had to go in person to LA for the interview with the consul. That’s the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars. The visa arrived a week later in mail. The consul was very friendly and even offered us tips on things to do in Buenos Aires. Overall positive experience.