Getting cash USD out of Argentina

[marsan]

OK, I am confused. I am Argentine with US citizenship, resident in the US. My DNI has my US address. According to Nikad's post (quoted) I should be able to transfer the 130K from my own recent real estate operation at once from my bank account in Argentina to my bank account in the US. But according to Pjniki, I would not be able to, because my DNI has my US address. Which one is correct?

If you have a bank account in Argentina, you should have no problems and no limits wiring it to a foreign account under your name. The only restrictions are set on currency purchase and corporate transfers

If you do not have a DNI with a local address, then you are restricted to taking $10,000 each on your person at the airport. Aside from black market caves your completely hamstrung.

Also, does the $10K limit (which I believe is per month) for bank transfers out of Argentina (https://www.ambito.com/no-habra-lim...entas-pero-si-transferir-al-exterior-n5052006) apply to residents abroad too, or is it only for residents in Argentina?

Thank you!

 

[nikad]

OK, I am confused. I am Argentine with US citizenship, resident in the US. My DNI has my US address. According to Nikad's post (quoted) I should be able to transfer the 130K from my own recent real estate operation at once from my bank account in Argentina to my bank account in the US. But according to Pjniki, I would not be able to, because my DNI has my US address. Which one is correct?





Also, does the $10K limit (which I believe is per month) for bank transfers out of Argentina (https://www.ambito.com/no-habra-lim...entas-pero-si-transferir-al-exterior-n5052006) apply to residents abroad too, or is it only for residents in Argentina?

Thank you!

You should not have any restrictions to transfer your money out.

 

[pjniki]

You should not have any restrictions to transfer your money out.

Yes there are restrictions or we would have transferred the money from the sale of our apartment a month ago. If you are non-resident, i.e. your DNI has a non-Argentinean address, you are treated the same as foreigners in terms of being able to electronically send money from the country. $1,000USD/per month. It doesn't matter whether you are a citizen of Argentina or not. My partner is Argentinean and also a Canadian citizen. Since his DNI has a Canadian address, no one legal, including Banco Piano, would deal with us. In addition, without that Argentinean address on the DNI, then it was impossible to open a bank account (banks wouldn't even respond, even HSBC with whom we have accounts in Canada). Finally, in order to get a new DNI with an Argentinean address quickly, you have to make an appointment online and then pay a fee with an Argentinean credit card. The service simply will not accept foreign cards. We tried. And my partner's father looked into adding him on to his (the father's) existing bank account for some future transactions that will need to be done, and again, the bank flat out refused.

The only exception that I can think of is if you have an active, pre-existing USD bank account in Argentina, you may be able to talk your bank into sending the money out of the country.

 

[pjniki]

Also, does the $10K limit (which I believe is per month) for bank transfers out of Argentina (https://www.ambito.com/no-habra-lim...entas-pero-si-transferir-al-exterior-n5052006) apply to residents abroad too, or is it only for residents in Argentina?

Thank you!

My understanding is the 10k limit is only for residents in Argentina. Without a DNI that has an Argentinean address, you are screwed. You are a non-resident. End of story.

 

[Weyland]

If you do not have a DNI with a local address, then you are restricted to taking $10,000 each on your person at the airport.

I'd be careful with that. If two people are traveling together, I believe they can only take $10,000 in total. Each taking $10,000 is called structuring and is illegal without declaring the funds.

 

[pjniki]

I'd be careful with that. If two people are traveling together, I believe they can only take $10,000 in total. Each taking $10,000 is called structuring and is illegal without declaring the funds.

i can't offer any comment on that except that we had no trouble whatsoever and my inlaws have done this for years when they come to visit. On exiting the country, they border agents were completely uninterested in the what was in our backpacks. Rationally, I have always heard $10,000/person. And every other country I am aware of does that same. It seems rather discriminatory if a family of 5 (adults) is travelling together that they can still only bring $10,000 but if they all travelled separately on different days they could each bring $10,000. I think this is where one needs to look into what the Argentinean government actually has to say about the matter. And that's well beyond my Spanish.

One other comment: since our apartment was jointly owned, when we talked to Banco Piano, they were quite explicit in telling us that they could send my partner's 50% IF he had the local DNI (because it was a property sale), but I could only send $1,000/month electronically. Since he didn't have the DNI and it proved impossible to get one in the short time we were there, we went with our alternative plan.

 

[camel]

Just google search, the rules are on the US CBP website. If I recall correctly, it's 10k per "family" traveling together. The CBP also has a newsletter where they brag about taking people's life savings who failed to declare it. I remember a story in this newsletter about an old eastern european guy bringing his life's savings of about US $80,000 to buy a house in the US. The gov't took it all and were proud.

 

[nikad]

If you are about to close the deal, you can get your buyer to transfer the money to your foreign bank account. Or change the address on your DNI, get an extension credit card from your dad, then open a bank account and you should be ok to go.

 

[on the brink]

My wife does have local bank accounts with Banco Patagonia and BBVA, but all foreign accounts are in my name. @pjniki ?

A good option is to open a USA bank account in your wife's exact name as shown in her Argentine bank accounts. (Identically titled accounts are locally called mirror accounts - cuenta espejo)

This can be done from here, at least at USA banks. I'd start by asking your wife's bank Foreign Desk - they should be able to guide you through the paperwork maze.

Government regulations change all the time, and your bank is the most reliable source of information. Which is not saying much...!

Best of luck......

 

[Patagone]

Thanks all. I was just thinking: it is legal nowadays to actually sell a property in USD? So that the value is stated in USD in the contract? Else it will be impossible to show where the USD came from, as if we would be paid in AR$ (whether on paper or in reality), we can only buy USD 200/month (for now) with it. Can you just show up at the bank with cash USD and tell them you got it by selling a property, even if the deed is in AR$?