Argentine rules regarding receival of foreign pension

[desde_Holanda]

Hi - I am 62 years old and will decide in the next half year or so between either (1) emigrating to Argentina, stop working and let my retirement pension start early, or (2) 'hopping' between the EEC country I currently live and Buenos Aires, and then staying a tax resident in my home country. Because of the monthly costs in Europe the latter option will mean I will have to continue working for likely at least two years.

Currently I am trying to make an overview of the pros and cons of each option. One of the major pros for emigration are the cheap cost of living in BA. We could easily manage with my employee pension, the state pensions of me and my wife from my home country (which we will start receiving in about 5 years from now), and the Argentine pension my Argentine wife will get from having worked in Argentina in the past. That is: if I can receive my pension in Euros and using for instance Western Union for changing that into Argentine pesos.

Now yesterday I read in a Facebook group that foreign pensionados in Argentine are obliged to get their foreign pensions being paid to an Argentine bank account, with an obligation to change to Argentine pesos against the official rate. Does anybody have knowledge and/or experience regarding the receival of foreign pensions in Argentina after having emigrated there? TIA!

 

[toast]

I receive my US pension directly into my dollar account in an Argentine bank( I have a peso acct also ). I reside here, so I pay tax on the income, and that tax is high. I can withdraw dollars from the bank, and I manage to find a way to exchange USD for pesos at a decent rate.

 

[Alby]

A separate thread on this exact same topic started two days ago. Here: https://baexpats.org/threads/pensionado-visa-peso-requirement.46441/

The regulations for the Rentista temporary residency changed on 1 June. As per your report on the Facebook page, some people claim the change means that Pensionistas now must deposit their pension funds in an Argentina bank account pesified at the official rate amount equal to 5XArgentina's minimum monthly salary (roughly US$2000 per month at the moment).

The wording of the rule change does not appear to necessarily require this. As you will see from the other thread, one poster says he lodged his Pensionista application recently and neither his lawyer nor the Migraciones officials have (yet) indicated he needs to bring his funds into the country and pesify them. This is the closest we have come to seeing a specific and credible report on the matter. The question remains unresolved, it seems.

 

[sergio]

Too hard to predict. Everything is likely to change. Will there even be a blue rate? Dollarisation? Who knows....

 

[Alby]

In the medium to long term, anything could happen. But there is nothing to predict here. There has been a rule change. It's been in place long enough now that people are beginning to discover what it means in practice. We just need some of them to report their experience. Let's keep these threads on track.

 

[kai420]

A separate thread on this exact same topic started two days ago. Here: https://baexpats.org/threads/pensionado-visa-peso-requirement.46441/

The regulations for the Rentista temporary residency changed on 1 June. As per your report on the Facebook page, some people claim the change means that Pensionistas now must deposit their pension funds in an Argentina bank account pesified at the official rate amount equal to 5XArgentina's minimum monthly salary (roughly US$2000 per month at the moment).

The wording of the rule change does not appear to necessarily require this. As you will see from the other thread, one poster says he lodged his Pensionista application recently and neither his lawyer nor the Migraciones officials have (yet) indicated he needs to bring his funds into the country and pesify them. This is the closest we have come to seeing a specific and credible report on the matter. The question remains unresolved, it seems.

I just posted this exact reply on the thread:
https://baexpats.org/threads/pensionado-visa-peso-requirement.46441/

"Hi there, I cannot speculate on whether or not pensionados are required to bring their money to Argentina, or will be required to in the future, but I can only tell you of my own experience since no one else who has responded to this thread has indicated they have gone through the process since this new guidance that is being talked about was put into effect.

I have.

I am 43 and receive a combined pension income of $5205 a month, which next year increases by 3.2% thanks to the COLA.

I started the pensionado visa process while in Argentina on 11 July, and finalized my application on 14 August with the required documentation, which in my case was a valid passport, fingerprinting and an Argentine criminal record check (through the Registro Nacional de Residencia), a criminal record check from the United States (which was provided by my local police department and not the FBI), a domicile certificate (which the local police precinct in Buenos Aires issued on the spot while I waited), as well as copies of my proof of benefits from the two federal agencies in the US.

I did not use a lawyer.

I had my criminal record check and income documents with apostilles issued by the Secretary of State's office in my home state, and then had those documents translated in Beunos Aires and legalized by the College of Public Translators in Beunos Aires.

I submitted all of this documentation through Radex, including a picture for my DNI.

In that moment, because I had already paid the fees on 12 July (26.000 pesos paid online with my Mastercard, which I received the tourist rate adjustment for, as well as 300 pesos paid in-person at a bank with a payment voucher for DNI processing or something), the system then immediately issued a temporary pensionado precaria as of 14 August, as well as an in-person appointment time at Buenos Aires immigration on 16 August.

I attended the appointment where I was fingerprinted again (despite having already done so at RNR) and had my picture taken (despite already uploading a picture to Radex).

There was no mention of income requirements, proof of bank statements, or a requirement to bank in Argentina.

I then signed a bunch of stuff I was not given time to read, and was then given a website address (https://www.migraciones.gov.ar/accesible/consultaTramitePrecaria/ConsultaUnificada.php) and told to check my status at the end of the day for an updated precaria.

That was it. Easy peasy.

All in all, the appointment lasted 5-10 minutes after waiting awhile.

In and out.

From that day onward, my status on the website showed awaiting supervisor approval.

My post-immigrations appointment precaria expired 23 October and I applied to renew my precaria through the online portal on 8 October. It was renewed on 12 October until 10 January 2024.

Sometime at the end of October, I noticed that I had moved out of the awaiting supervisor approval status and am now awaiting issuance of the disposition of residency protocol.

All prior steps are in green, while my current status of disposition of residency protocol is still color-coded blue, which means it is still in-progress.

Simple and easy process.

Let me recap, there was never a mention during the appointment about income requirements, banking my income in Argentina, or all the other stuff everyone else is mentioning.

I hope that my experience helps you, since I seem to be the only one who has recently gone through the process since the updated requirements."

 

[desde_Holanda]

Thanks for the extensive replies so far! I must have overlooked the other thread, apologies.

Maybe I should have added that - because of the fact that my wife has an Argentine passport - I guess I won't need to use the pensionado visa possibility to be able to immigrate here. But I got the impression that - at least at the moment - that doesn't make a real difference, right?

 

[desde_Holanda]

I have also noticed that I will need to pay income tax on my world wide income after immigrating here, including my foreign pensions. @toast: yes, since incomes here are so low, I will have to pay 35% over the most of my pension here, which is about 10 procent point higher than what I will have to pay residing in The Netherlands.
On the other hand, keeping a house in The Netherlands when not migrating, including obligatory health insurance (EUR 300+ per month) and all fixed costs (gas/electricity, water, internet, city tax etc) will for sure be much higher than when moving to Argentina (we already own a house in Capital Federal, with all services in place). Let alone the difference in the cost of living between The Netherlands and Argentina.

 

[Alby]

It's never been clear the reason some posters here believe their pensions are tax exempt in Argentina whereas others believe they are not. In your case, the double tax treaty between The Netherlands and Argentina should get you out of trouble. https://www.argentina.gob.ar/sites/default/files/cdi_con_paises_bajos.pdf

 

[desde_Holanda]

Yes. State pension will be taxed in Holland I believe, employer's pension in Argentina. But I will read it again, it's been a while. Thanks for pointing at this Alby!