Applying For A Rentista Visa

[shawnjames]

I want to apply for a Rentista Visa. I am currently staying in Cordoba Captal, Cordoba, Argentina. My end goal is to have permanent residency then to apply for citizenship. If anyone knows an easier way to get citizenship or sees something I'm missing please let me know.

I am living in Argentina, I have bills in my name to prove that. I am also overstaying my tourist visa (or stay, since it's not a visa). Do I need to leave the country and come back to renew my tourist visa before I apply for residency or can I do it while being irregular?

I have a job that is earning well over 8000 pesos a month. I read that income does NOT count as a requirement for Rentista Visa and that I must have investment. Is there any way to get around this? I read somewhere that you could possibly open a bank account as a non citizen through a lawyer and deposit more than 8000 pesos a month into it to qualify, however I have no idea if this is true. This is the most complicated part for me.

I heard you need to get a criminal background report to apply for residency. It looks like the only US Embassy in Argentina is in BA. Do I have to travel to BA to get a background report or can I get fingerprints taken here in Cordoba and send them in to BA?

Okay, so once I have all these questions answered I am still pretty clueless on where to start. So really any advice on the easiest way to do this would help. If anyone has experience in Cordoba in specific that would be great!

Thank you in advance!

 

[Girino]

I want to apply for a Rentista Visa. I am currently staying in Cordoba Captal, Cordoba, Argentina. My end goal is to have permanent residency then to apply for citizenship. If anyone knows an easier way to get citizenship or sees something I'm missing please let me know.

You can stay in this country for 2 years straight, without ever leaving, and then apply directly for citizenship (with the help of a lawyer). No matter if you stayed here illegally or working in black or paying taxes elsewhere.

 

[shawnjames]

So in order to do this I could not make a week-long visit to the US?

 

[Girino]

It would reset the clock, I think. But wait for someone else's response. Bajocero2 also talked about applying for citizenship right away but using a lawyer (he is an Argentine immigration lawyer, though based in BsAs).

 

[steveinbsas]

I want to apply for a Rentista Visa. I am currently staying in Cordoba Captal, Cordoba, Argentina. My end goal is to have permanent residency then to apply for citizenship. If anyone knows an easier way to get citizenship or sees something I'm missing please let me know.

You do not have to have either temporary or permanent residency (or a DNI) to apply for citizenship and you do not have to stay in the country for two years while you are in the process of applying for citizenship. You can start the process about a year after your first arrival (ever) in Argentina.

I am living in Argentina, I have bills in my name to prove that. I am also overstaying my tourist visa (or stay, since it's not a visa). Do I need to leave the country and come back to renew my tourist visa before I apply for residency or can I do it while being irregular?

Leaving the country does not "renew" a tourist visa and you do not have to have a current tourist visa if and when you apply for temporary residency. You may or may not need a current tourist visa to get married (and apply for permanent residency based on the marriage) but that is an issue with the registro civil, not migraciones.

I have a job that is earning well over 8000 pesos a month. I read that income does NOT count as a requirement for Rentista Visa and that I must have investment. Is there any way to get around this? I read somewhere that you could possibly open a bank account as a non citizen through a lawyer and deposit more than 8000 pesos a month into it to qualify, however I have no idea if this is true. This is the most complicated part for me.

Being a citizen is not an issue when opening a bank account but having a DNI and CUIT/CUIL usually is. It may no longer be possible to open a bank account without a CUIT/CUIL, even if you pay a lawyer to try. The visa rentista is granted on the basis of passive foreign income from investments, including income from annuities and rental properties. Having an Argentine bank account is not required to get the visa.

I heard you need to get a criminal background report to apply for residency. It looks like the only US Embassy in Argentina is in BA. Do I have to travel to BA to get a background report or can I get fingerprints taken here in Cordoba and send them in to BA?

The US Embassy does not issue or expedite criminal background reports. You have to send your fingerprints to the FBI in the USA.

Okay, so once I have all these questions answered I am still pretty clueless on where to start.

If you don't have a stable foreign income from investments you may be spinning your wheels to try to get the visa rentista...unless you incorporate your business in the USA (or Panama) and receive the income as dividends

 

[ElCordobés]

Fingerprints can be done at the Central Police in Cordoba...You would do two or three FBI fingerprint cards (just in case of bad prints) and send the the US. The US Embassy is not involved in the process whatsoever.

Temporary visa qualification is problematic if you don't fit a certain box. If one of your parents gets citizenship or permanent residency...you may have an angle to get the same through them. I sent you a PM as I suspect I'm spoken to some of your family members here.

 

[steveinbsas]

It would reset the clock, I think. But wait for someone else's response. Bajocero2 also talked about applying for citizenship right away but using a lawyer (he is an Argentine immigration lawyer, though based in BsAs).

Dr. Rubilar (Bajo_cero2) specializes in citizenship for foreigners without residency or a DNI and he has clients that live far from Capital Federal (in all directions).

He has indicated that you can start the process about a year after the first time you ever set foot on Argentine soil (as the process takes about a year).

The clock will not be reset if you travel. You do not have to be physically in Argentina all of the time during the two years it takes to get citizenship.

PS: And, in spite of the information a couple "agencies" have on their websites, you are not required to have a DNI or temporary or permanent residency in Argentina prior to applying for citizenship, and you are not required to have paid income taxes in Argentina, either (if your income is below $15,000 pesos per month).

 

[ElQueso]

Also, for the rentista visa it's not as simple as depositing X amount of money in a bank account here. You have to get the proper certification that this money is going to continue to come in, and it can't be related to work. It could be rental income, interest income, etc. At least as I understand it.

 

[steveinbsas]

So in order to do this I could not make a week-long visit to the US?

Going to the US for a week will result in getting a new tourist "visa" but it is unnecessary and actually unwise to do so only for that reason. You can only renew your initial 90 day visa once at migraciones.

If you overstay, then leave the country for week, and then reenter at EZE you will probably be scolded at the least. You also run the risk of not being allowed to reenter if you get the "wrong" official. Even if you breeze through migraciones with nothing but warm smiles, the "system" will remember you as a potentially :"fake" tourist.

You do not need to have a "current" 90 day visa when you apply for temporary residency, but income form your "job" will not be accepted by migraciones if you apply for the visa rentista.

Depositing that income into an Argentine bank account (even if you can get one with the help of lawyer and without a DNI and CUIL/CUIT) will not make any difference to migraciones.

 

[shawnjames]

Going to the US for a week will result in getting a new tourist "visa" but it is unnecessary and actually unwise to do so only for that reason.

I would not be going for the sole purpose of keeping my 90 day tourist valid, I would be going for other business. That is why I ask if it is wiser to wait on going until I have gotten my residency.

income form your "job" will not be accepted by migraciones if you apply for the visa rentista.

Also, for the rentista visa it's not as simple as depositing X amount of money in a bank account here. You have to get the proper certification that this money is going to continue to come in, and it can't be related to work. It could be rental income, interest income, etc. At least as I understand it.

That is how I understood it as well. I am again out of ideas on getting residency.

ElCordobes - thanks