I try to find information that can make border crossings easier on my trip and found Life Remotely. Here was plenty of useful information but I reproduces only the short version in respect for the great job they had done. So those who need more information should visit Life Remotely.
Chile to Argentina at San Sebastian: Border Crossing
Border name: San Sebastian
Closest major cities: San Sebastian, Chile and Rio Grande, Argentina
Cost for visas: $0
Cost for vehicle: $0
Total time: 20 minutes, plus 20 minutes driving
The Steps
- Stop at the Chilean border building just on the other side of San Sebastian.
- Go to the immigration counter and hand in your passports and tourist cards. The official will stamp both and return your passports.
- Go to Aduana and hand in your temporary vehicle permit.
- Buy delicious empanadas from the kiosk (avoid the french fries like the plague).
- Drive 15 kilometers to the Argentinian border building.
- Hand the immigration official your passport, completed tourist card and reciprocity fee receipts (if required, see note below). The official will stamp and return everything. He will also give you a scrap of paper with a stamp and the number of people in your car written on it. Save this, you need it to exit.
- Go to aduana and hand over the vehicle title and driver’s passport.
- (For South Africans Only) Explain impatiently that South Africa is not a region, it is actually the name of a country, and that your car is not from there, just the driver, and yes he is white and sketchy looking.
- Get your vehicle permit, sign it, and get back to your car.
- Drive up to the guard and hand over your stamped scrap of paper.
RECIPROCITY FEE NOTE: Effective January 7, 2013 all US, Canadian and Australian citizen are required to pay a reciprocity fee at all Argentinian border entries, including land crossings. You must pay the fee online and bring the receipt to the border. Pay your fee online at this website.
It’s not the destination, but the journey, that matters. 