Instead of using the tourist visa, can we change it to a residency visa? We're a family from the US who want to live in Argentina for one year (want kids to learn Spanish). The kids are 6, 8, and 10 years old. We entered on a tourist visa and can extend every 90 days by going abroad...but, I'm reading that there is another type of residency visa that could work for us? My husband and I are not planning to work while here but live off investments / savings. Should we try to change the visa and will that provide us with DNI? We need to find a place to live in BA which may be hard without a visa...also for kids' school - they would likely prefer that we have a residency visa. Any thoughts?
If you enter "visa rentista" in the search box and click on "search titles only" you will find many threads on the subject.
In order to qualify for the visa rentists you will need to "prove" that you have a "stable" source of foreign income in the amount equivalent to $30,000 pesos per month that will continue uninterrupted for two years (even if you are only planning to stay in Argentina for only one year). The monthly income could change at any time. The last time it changed went from $8000 to $30,000 pesos per month. At the time both of these increased occurred the new monthly dollar equivalent was $2000, but once the temporary residency is granted you will not have to re-qualify at the new level (unless you renew for a second year).
The income can be generated from an annuity or rents from property or interest income from CD's, etc. It will have to be verified by a CPA and/or a bank officer in the USA. All of the documentation will have to be notarized and receive the Apostille in the USA and then be translated and "legalized" in Argentina.
You will also need FBI reports (only for the adults) which will have to be "certified" by the State Department before they are sent to
any address you specify in the USA. There are special handlers/expediters who can help get this done fairly quickly (as well as send the completed reports to you).
I can tell you from experience that is possible to apply for the visa rentista here. It will be much easier if you a have a friend or family member in the USA who can help get the apostille for the documents that verify your income in the USA and send them to you in Argentina (along with the FBI reports), but it is also possible to pay a service like apostille.com to accomplish this task.
I think it's "safe" to say that, even if everything goes smoothly, it will take at least three months (from the day you start the process of getting your docs) before you can begin to expect to receive your DNI's. If the latest post on the subject was accurate, after you receive the precarias and you are waiting for your DNI's to arrive, you will not be able to leave the country, even for a quick trip to Chile or Uruguay for cultural purposes.
PS: Even after you and your husband (and the kids) have your DNIs, it will still be difficult for you to rent a place to live for more than six months at a time.
PS2: I have never tried to enroll a kid in school, with or without a DNI, but I wonder how many schools would be willing to enroll any children, especially children who don't speak Spanish, at any time of the year except the start of the annual term (which I believe is in March).
