I just opened a peso bank account with my passport (no DNI or precaria), here's how

[Stephano]

I used to own a business that involved banks in exotic places regularly eating deposits and wire transfers from my corporate accounts and me having to argue with them to get my money back every time.

Sometimes I do crazy things like "try to open a USD account at Banco Provincia with my passport" so my skills don't get rusty, This looks like a star candidate. I do, indeed, have a peso account with them that I opened with my passport. Thanks for the idea!

A piece of advice : When you do open your USD account with your precaria, don't automatically assume you'll be able to withdraw the money. If you think opening the account is a pain, getting your money back is always more stressful. Send a SMALL transfer at first and make sure you are actually able to withdraw it. Don't do something silly like open the account to buy an apartment, wire yourself the money, and assume the bank will just give you the money. There are always certain tiers that get triggered at certain levels, so while withdrawing $20 or even $1000 may be pain-free, at a certain point the bank always asks you to show documents like proof of funds, and the documentary requirements go up as the amounts go up. I would be anxious about them demanding proof you paid taxes to AFIP on money you deposit in the account.

You're in a world of hurt when they start demanding documents that don't exist and they refuse to release your money until you deliver them.

Thanks for the suggestion! Right now the primary purpose of a USD account for me is to satisfy the rentista requirements, so as of today I will need to transfer around 1100$ each month, but it is wise as you suggest to start small and see what hurdles are there when withdrawing. I can altenatively get pesos via Western Union into the peso account and then buy USD or USDT at a cueva; I think a few of us do that.

 

[deanocko]

I just arrived in Argentina and managed to get a local bank account open with no DNI. I'm posting the information here in case it may be of use to anyone else. I'm personally apartment shopping and need a way to pay expenses other than paying cash in person, but I'm sure the account has many uses.

What you will need:
Your passport
A printout of your current electronic visa stamp (not overstayed), from here : https://www.migraciones.gov.ar/transitos/
A printout of this page : https://www.bcra.gob.ar/BCRAyVos/inmigrantes-preguntas-frecuentes.asp

What you do :
First, you need a CDI number from the AFIP office with jurisdiction over wherever you are staying. This page will tell you where : https://serviciosweb.afip.gob.ar/genericos/buscadordependencias/dependencias.aspx
Go to the office and get a CDI number, This was relatively straightforward for me.

Next, take your CDI number printout and your other documents to one of the participating banks (Ciudad, Provincia, Santander y Macro). I got my account open at Provincia, but in theory any of the four should work. I went to the main branch downtown on San Martin, I would recommend you do the same, as smaller branches are likely to be even less cooperative.

Tell them you are there to open a Cuenta de Ahorros para Inmigrantes. This is the part that gets tricky. Everyone will insist that you need a DNI or a precaria. You don't. The page you printed out from the Banco Central says that residentes transitorias can open accounts with a comprovante of their status. The electronic visa stamp is a comprovante that says you are a residente transitoria. Let me reinforce the point that the bank will not want to do this, you will need to explain this to them, multiple times.

They will then hopefully let you open the account. They will need the CDI number document from AFIP and your passport. That's it. The account has some kind of limit on it (250k pesos a month, or 250k peso maximum limit, I'm not sure yet.) I'm still waiting for my card to arrive, at which point I will be able to login to internet banking and see if the account is actually good for anything, or if I have to go try the other banks until I find one with working internet banking, but the account is open. Perhaps this account can help someone else. I have no idea about the tax implications.

Thanks for posting this!

Wondering if you know whether the cap of 250k pesos has been increased considering the inflation the country has experienced since this post was first published?

I arrived in Arg 3 weeks ago and have been running into road blocks including not being able to make online purchases and having to pay my rent by loading 1000 peso bills into an Autoservicio machine which is arduous especially considering it doesn't recognise the newer bills and sometimes decides to hold onto a few of them without making a deposit or giving them back.

I'm hoping to get an account set up within the next few days but if that limit is still in place it will help me to order groceries online but not with my rent...

Anyway, worth a shot!

 

[gringoexpress]

Thanks for posting this!

Wondering if you know whether the cap of 250k pesos has been increased considering the inflation the country has experienced since this post was first published?

I arrived in Arg 3 weeks ago and have been running into road blocks including not being able to make online purchases and having to pay my rent by loading 1000 peso bills into an Autoservicio machine which is arduous especially considering it doesn't recognise the newer bills and sometimes decides to hold onto a few of them without making a deposit or giving them back.

I'm hoping to get an account set up within the next few days but if that limit is still in place it will help me to order groceries online but not with my rent...

Anyway, worth a shot!

don't bother, they've implemented a facial recognition system to send transfers that doesn't work if you don't have a DNI, as far as I can tell, so the account is only useful for keeping your hard earned pesos safe in the bank. the debit card is very hit or miss and usually doesn't work if they try to verify your ID with your DNI (my passport number has a letter in it, which a lot of automated systems won't accept, so the transaction gets refused.) the only useful thing the bank account does is allow me to pay my monthly internet bill.

www.t.me/p2plightning

If you're comfortable using bitcoin, just go on there and sell someone bitcoin and have them pay whatever you need paid with their bank account and send you the comprovante. it actually works, unlike anything involving banco provincia.

just order your groceries online using a foreign card, and maybe use western union for your rent?

 

[deanocko]

don't bother, they've implemented a facial recognition system to send transfers that doesn't work if you don't have a DNI, as far as I can tell, so the account is only useful for keeping your hard earned pesos safe in the bank. the debit card is very hit or miss and usually doesn't work if they try to verify your ID with your DNI (my passport number has a letter in it, which a lot of automated systems won't accept, so the transaction gets refused.) the only useful thing the bank account does is allow me to pay my monthly internet bill.

www.t.me/p2plightning

If you're comfortable using bitcoin, just go on there and sell someone bitcoin and have them pay whatever you need paid with their bank account and send you the comprovante. it actually works, unlike anything involving banco provincia.

just order your groceries online using a foreign card, and maybe use western union for your rent?

Damn, I wonder if that's something that just Provincia has done or if its all of the financial institutions.

Keeping pesos in the bank is pretty useless considering inflation. I'm sure we'd all rather keep our savings in dollars.

My passport number also has letters in it so that will also be an issue for me.

Was using Western Union for rent but my real estate agent told me to deposit in cash at a machine, apparently I can deposit to a bank teller who can accept all the bills at once and if my agent is willing to invest 10 mins to setting up a WA account I can transfer directly to his account.

My Wise international cards don't work on the MasOnline website and my Amex doesn't either. Seems they want the address tied to the card to be from Argentina. Haven't tried Revolut because it seems they're using the official exchange rate. Being able to order my groceries online alone is tempting to attempt opening a bank account here especially as there's a Macro branch across from my apartment.

Money stuff is such a headache over here but it's still much easier for us foreigners than it is for the locals.

Thanks for the help!

 

[jbeas176]

gringoexpress. i appreciate your post. it gives me hope. i do think you got lucky. when i arrived in 2003. i tried to i open an account to wire the money for purchase in blanco. i had a cuil and i think a cdi. they told me i need to own property to open an account. chichen and the egg. after buying the condo i opened an account at hsbc now gone. they closed the account in 2008 said it was not worth filling out the usa paperwork. they did give me my money. i used it to pay bills, elec, cable. i would be happy to have an ahorras de la cuenta in pesos. fly in, change to blue, and deposit. my problem is i have tried several times to no avail. el banco national was recommended but didnt work with out a dni. do be suprised if they close your account unexpectedly. i now pay someone to pay my bills and fly in in january to pay gov property taxes. best of luck

 

[Bajo_cero2]

I have some clients who opened bank accounts and later were frozen by AFIP. Used them wisely for small things like Rappi and Mercadolibre.