Getting dollars?

[lostravenblue]

OK, so I read the Western Union info post, but my girlfriend is trying to tell me that we can transfer dollars from our US bank to our Argentina bank, and then the bank itself will give us dollars. And then since it's just dollars to dollars, there's no exchange rate, and we can take those dollars to our blue dollar guy.

Can anyone verify this for me before I go open a bank account here? And is there any reason I shouldn't have a bank account here?

 

[Neil]

OK, so I read the Western Union info post, but my girlfriend is trying to tell me that we can transfer dollars from our US bank to our Argentina bank, and then the bank itself will give us dollars. And then since it's just dollars to dollars, there's no exchange rate, and we can take those dollars to our blue dollar guy.

Can anyone verify this for me before I go open a bank account here? And is there any reason I shouldn't have a bank account here?

It won't work, search the forum many posts on this...

 

[lostravenblue]

Oh, shoot, sorry. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[lunar]

It won't work, search the forum many posts on this...

Getting dollars into Argentina to purchase real estate

I'm a retired U.S. citizen with permanent resident status in Argentina. Earlier this year I sold my house in the U.S. and moved permanently back to Argentina, where I recently purchased another house. This proved to be far more difficult than expected, even though I'd researched things for...

baexpats.org

Well, not exactly. It is possible under certain conditions. But unless you have your DNI and a regular job in Argentina, and moved the same money out of the country after paying taxes, that's probably will be problematic.

 

[Silvie]

I do that. You may search forum posts. But depends on conditions.

 

[Quilombo]

It won't work, search the forum many posts on this...

That is not correct, it is in fact very doable, the only issue is the SWIFT fees which can be up to 5% depending on the bank and transfer amount and what people want to do with the dollars once they have them.

For example, here is a guide on how to do so from Banco Santander: https://www.santander.com.ar/banco/...revios-para-recibir-divisas-desde-el-exterior

The thing you need to worry about is @lostravenblue is the selling and re-depositing of these funds in to your bank account after converting them from USD to ARS at a cave. "I sold my dollars on the black market" is not an acceptable reason for source of funds when asked as it would make your bank complicit in violating the MULC (Forex law) along with god knows how many anti-money laundering regulations. I have heard of people having their bank accounts closed for doing this.

You can spend the pesos in cash you get from selling the dollars, you can sell the dollars in your account via the CCL or MEP market for pesos legally (time limits/parking/possible taxes apply), or, as I have seen some people that work en negro do in Argentina, they deposit an amount under the BCRA reporting thresholds, something I don't condemn nor condone, but is illegal.

And is there any reason I shouldn't have a bank account here?

If you are planning on working remotely, collecting your salary in your foreign account, and transferring it here via the the methods mentioned above it's a bad idea as you're creating a paper trail on how you plan to avoid paying taxes and adhering to the MULC regulations on foreign currency.

 

[Redpossum]

Can you still cross the river to Colonia and get dollars out of the ATM's there?

 

[Agribotics]

That is not correct, it is in fact very doable,

I understand from your post how it's very doable to transfer large amounts of USD into a multicurrency account in an Argentinian bank but I missed the part where you could convert it to a wheelbarrow-full of pesos at the blue rate and easily buy real estate with it without running afoul of the law.