Meeting the rentista passive income requirement using a peso bank account?

[julia_en_ruta]

HectorH, Neoperm’s recommendation of UBA was great. The classes are much cheaper than what I had found. Also his recommendation to apply for citizenship seems in line with other posts I have read here. Can you please explain what is “inaccurate” about his information?

You won't be able to get a DNI with a four-month Spanish class. It could take much more than 3.5 years to get a passport without legal residence, and you have to use a lawyer to apply for citizenship without legal residence, it's not just 'better to have'.

Argentina savings accounts earn nearly 100% interest. With that interest rate I could transfer about $15,000 USD to pesos to meet the requirement. There is another post here that tells how to open a peso account without a DNI (link below). Is it possible I could meet the requirement this way? It seems almost too good to be true.

Others who have tried recently to open a peso savings account without a DNI have struggled, so it's not a guaranteed thing.

To be clear, you can apply for citizenship right away, but maybe take neoperm's level of certainty with a grain of salt.

 

[Alby]

It's a pity Secret Shopper has disappeared. His was a long running saga on these pages of an attempt to get residency (and ultimately citizenship/passport) by being a student (a fake one, in his case). It seems he eventually realised it wasn't going to work.

 

[chasew4483]

@steveinbsas thank you for all the information.

Ideally, I just want permanent residency (the ability to live here legally, travel to other countries occasionally, and know I won't be denied reentry). I am willing to stay here for several years if it means evenually I will obtain permanent status. I am also willing to go a route that leads to citizenship, although it is not preffered because I believe it would create tax implications. I am currently living off savings while I attempt to build a remote consulting business. Whether or not that business will breakeven in the next year to meet any income requirement is not certain.

I have a migration attorney that was helping me apply for rentista. Now that I no longer meet the passive income requirement she suggested I take a Spanish course which she manages. The cost is $3000/year. It is more expensive than courses at UBA, but it includes visa processing so I am beginning to think it is a decent price. She tells me that doing this for two years will lead to citizenship, but that is in direct contrast to information presented on this post and others. It is difficult for me to trust a web post over an attorney, but with so many people on here saying a student visa carries no weight when applying for citizenship I can't help but question her.

Do you have any recommendations? Should I consider applying for citizenship? Is it likely I would be denied citizenship unless my business started making a profit?

Thank you,
Chase

 

[Alby]

I have a migration attorney that was helping me apply for rentista. Now that I no longer meet the passive income requirement she suggested I take a Spanish course which she manages. The cost is $3000/year. It is more expensive than courses at UBA, but it includes visa processing so I am beginning to think it is a decent price. She tells me that doing this for two years will lead to citizenship, but that is in direct contrast to information presented on this post and others. It is difficult for me to trust a web post over an attorney, but with so many people on here saying a student visa carries no weight when applying for citizenship I can't help but question her.

Regarding this, it is quite clear (from my own investigations about three years ago) and from the experiences of others reported here (Secret included) that to gain a temporary residency as a student the institution offering the course must be registered with Migraciones (and the course approved by Migraciones, including a minimum number of contact hours per week) and the institution must report regularly to Migraciones the student's attendance. Ask your immigration attorney if her course meets these requirements and is part of that system.

Separately, it is migration residency that creates tax implications, not citizenship. With few exceptions, after holding a temporary Migraciones residency under most categories for 12 months you become a tax resident in Argentina. That much has also been clearly established on these pages (though compliance with one's tax obligations remains a hot topic of debate). That is not to say that as a citizen you would NOT be liable to pay tax. But it is to say that you should not choose temporary/permanent residency over citizenship on the mistaken belief that the latter entails taxation and the former does not.

 

[chasew4483]

@Alby Oh goodness. It appears I was really mixed up on the tax implications. Thank you for setting me straight.

It appears that applying for citizenship with the help of an attorney may be my best option. I wish there was someone here that has been through the process from beginning to end. All I have found on here are replies that say it is difficult and unlikely to be approved.

 

[Alby]

I don't follow the citizenship thread too closely, but if memory serves me correctly, as recently as the last two or three weeks, somebody posed the question: has anybody actually achieved citizenship by simply arriving as a tourist and applying with that status? I don't think anybody has yet come forward claiming to have achieved the feat. But I may be wrong.

 

[steveinbsas]

It's a pity Secret Shopper has disappeared. His was a long running saga on these pages of an attempt to get residency (and ultimately citizenship/passport) by being a student (a fake one, in his case). It seems he eventually realised it wasn't going to work.

Here is a list of all of the threads he started:

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