Banks. Has anyone else heard this?

[TomAtAlki]

"More Argentine changes - got called into my bank today "as a courtesy" - effective end of this month, per the Central Bank, no foreigners can have bank accounts here anymore unless they have permanent residency with a permanent DNI. Any money left in accounts after the 31st will be confiscated by the Central Bank - no returns. Making harder and harder to stay here. We shall see."

Can anyone else confirm this?

I don't wan to believe unsubstantiated rumors but don't wan to get caught with my pants around my ankles.

 

[TomAtAlki]

Sorry about bumping this up. Afraid this got lost in the midnight shuffle. I think it is pretty darn important. If no one else does I'll leave it be.

 

[Fettucini]

Where abouts did you read this? Sounds pretty unlikely, some residency visas depend on you being able to open an account here.

 

[Davidglen77]

I can't imagine this would be true, as every person who has residency as an employee of a company would not be allowed to have a bank account and their funds would be confiscated. Also when you open a bank account here, they take a copy of your DNI and if you have a DNI extranjero the number always begins with 92. 93. or 94. There are no indicators as to what your residency status is with the bank whether permanent or temporary.

 

[citygirl]

Haven't heard that and no way would they confiscate the funds (not even here!)

However, I will say that banks are getting much more strict about opening accounts, who can have signing authority, etc. I know HSBC called me a few weeks ago and requested copies again of all my documentation as they were auditing every account that had a foreign signer and I had to verify that I was living in Argentina.

 

[Monique]

I opened a bank account only 2 or 3 weeks ago with a temporary DNI. They didn't say anything to me about this. Which bank do you have?

 

[Napoleon]

I HAVE heard about this!

The one stipulation is that perhaps you just need a visa beyond a Temporary Visa.

So Rentista & Student Visa holders may not be subject to having their money taken, but I was absolutely told about Tourist Visa holders being subjected to losing all of their funds.

I don't have a bank account, but I would be awfully nervous if I did.

 

[Monique]

But with a tourist visa you wouldn't have a DNI and without a DNI you can't open a bank account to begin with, right?

 

[Fettucini]

Well I just went downstairs and found a letter from HSBC! It says they want me to go to my branch before 30 December and bring my DNI for identification (which i dont have, i opened the account with a passport a few years ago).
For me this is a big problem as i'm in the middle of my residency (rentista visa) process for which i'll need a bank account here to send money into the country! If they're saying you cant have a bank account without a DNI, it makes it impossible to get the rentista visa.. what a hassle.

 

[solerboy]

But with a tourist visa you wouldn't have a DNI and without a DNI you can't open a bank account to begin with, right?

I have permannet residency now, but originally I opened my account with HSBC Premier with just my passport and a recommendation from my UK Bank.