Need advice on digital nomad visa vs work visa

[Bajo_cero2]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for some advice on different visa options for me to live together with my girlfriend in Argentina.

We are a long distance couple since almost 1 1/2 years now, her being argentine and me being german. I'll finish my bachelors degree around may 2026 and we're planning to move in together in Argentina afterwards as she still needs to finish studying.
I'm studying digital engineering (a mixture of computer sience and electrical engineering) and am working part time as a working student in FPGA / chip design. My company already offered me to continue to employ me, even 100 % remotely from Argentina (although we haven't spoken about the details yet, so I'm keeping it in mind as a potential option).
I've been to Argentina twice so far to visit my girlfriend. Unfortunately I have a very limited amount of vacation and am quite restricted in terms of finances as a student, so it has only been 2 weeks + 5 weeks = 7 weeks in total. I've started to learn spanish but am still working on A1 level so I still have quite a way to go there too.

Now my girlfriend and I started to do some research and came up with a different strategies on how to move in together:

1. Start with a digital nomad visa + prolonging it so I can stay in Argentina for one year.
   
   Advantages: The visa is comparatively easy to get. I'd be working for my current company and receive a good and stable sallary. Also it would give me time to learn / improve my language skills
   
   Disadvantages: Unclear how to proceed after one year. If I manage to improve my spanish enough I could consider doing a master's / especalizacion and get a study visa. Second option would be switching jobs to a local company and get a work visa but so far I haven't seen any job offers in my field. Third option we consider would be marriage and getting temporary residency this way. We want to marry at some point anyways (if our relationship continues as well as it did so far) but I'm not sure if we'd have enough time for all the paperwork involved.
   Also I wouldn't get a DNI which makes renting an appartment rather complicated as she doesn't have a regular income except for a small scholarship she gets every month.
   
   
2. Looking for a job in Argentina and immigrating with a regular work visa.
   
   Advantages: No pressure to find a follow up solution after just one year, could be prolonged for up to three years and then turned into a permanent residency. Also I'd get a DNI which would largely simplify renting an appartment etc.
   
   Disadvantages: I'd loose my current job that I really enjoy and as stated above there don't seem many if any alternatives in the semiconductor / electronics industry in Argentina. Also I'd be highly dependent on the argentine company + I'm not sure whether my language skills will be enough by that time.

Sooo does anyone here have any advice on which option to go with? Are there any alternatives we haven't considered yet?
In case a situation like ours was already discussed in the forum, please forgive me for reposting, I couldn't find anything with our combination of requirements so far. If there's other good resources on this I'd also be very happy to receive those! I've already had a consultation on this here in Germany but it was more about the german side of legal requirements (which are a lot already ...) and didn't include any direct experience with the current situation in Argentina.

Thanks a lot to everyone!

Never apply for DNV, it is a Bobby trap.you give up defense rights and by pass the deportation process.
Work visa does not exist in practize.
If you are decided to live here, apply for citizenship. It is possible at Federal Courts.

 

[foobar]

@Alby I can definitely confirm that I'm the type of person that tends to do very intense planning way ahead of times, maybe too early, that's true.

Despite that I'm not looking to get tax advice now, I'm just interested in getting some quotes to have an idea on how expensive it is and some options prepared to choose from later on.

My issue with the "coming and leaving multiple times" strategy is that I can't keep my appartment in germany. It'd be too expensive, have implications on tax and they'd kick me out anyways if I don't live there for more than ~three months. This also means I need a place to put some of my stuff that I can neither sell nor take with me every time. Social insurances will either get super expensive (as I'd keep my german ones and pay twice for them and the argentine counterparts) or a hell of paperwork as I'd have to pause my german social insurances every time I leave and reactivate them as soon as I come back to work here again.

TLDR: I want to avoid traveling back and forth as much as possible as each time traveling makes things more expensive and/or involves a huge pile of paperwork.

 

[foobar]

you give up defense rights and by pass the deportation process.

Could you please explain in more detail what this means in practice? What kind of disadvantages would I have with the DNV?

 

[Alby]

@Alby I can definitely confirm that I'm the type of person that tends to do very intense planning way ahead of times, maybe too early, that's true.

Very good, very German. Now, let me tell you something, as someone who has suffered from the same syndrome, and for much longer than you have: you are going to have to let some of this go. These are tough times for people like us. Almost all the key variables surrounding your situation are, suddenly, in a state of flux, and it is impossible to know what will happen:

• Immigration rules have just been changed by presidential decree, and may or may not continue to come into effect (pending parliamentary votes and likely court challenges). If they do come into effect, there is no way of knowing how strictly they will be applied and enforced.
• Taxation reporting regulations have just been changed, and a new supporting project is about to be presented to parliament, which may or may not come into effect.
• Banking rules are being changed, as per the reporting today I mentioned in an earlier post.
• A comprehensive new tax regime is under design and will at some point be presented to parliament, where it may or may not be approved.

The biggest unknown in your case is probably whether your relationship will stand the initial test of time to justify, now, extreme planning, contingency planning, and war gaming possible scenarios.

Bajo_cero is taking the Digital Nomad visa and the Employment temporary residency off the table. He is not going to tell you his reasoning because he is an immigration lawyer. But you can probably assume he knows what he is talking about. If he is, then the bad news, for someone like you who enjoys certainty and wants to do everything by the book (as I would, in your situation), is that short of marrying this girl immediately, or becoming a student (or a refugee, or a religous visitor, or performing some other contortion to fit the immigration rules) there is no way you can come to Argentina and stay continuously more than six months without falling into irregular immigration status at the six month mark.

So, either get married immediately and seek temporary residency on that basis, or get your head around a few months of irregularity after being here six months as a tourist. That irregularity would not have been a problem up until the new change to the immigration rules, as many people on this board will tell you. Six months from now (if you arrived tomorrow as a tourist), it may still not be a problem--this is the uncertainty that arises from nobody knowing whether the new rules will really come into effect and whether, if they do, they will be enforced.

As far as I can see, the only certainty for you in all this is that the absolute earliest you could possibly become a tax resident in Argentina is 12 months from the date you arrive. And you can easily push that out for a second year, and a third year, if necessary, by staying outside the country for 90 days in each year. By the way, who said anything about going back to Germany? You could travel here in the region for 90 days, still working remotely for your company. If you time that to coincide with your girlfriend's holidays (which won't be a problem, given your planning skills), you could take her with you. With the new immigration rules, there is less of a guarantee than before that you will be let back into Argentina after each 90-day absence. It will be some time before the practical impact of the new rules is known. You are going to end up with a choice between the unease that comes from staying in the country irregularly, or that which comes leaving the country from time to time with no certainty of being let back in. But embrace uncertainty and ambiguity. One of the strange things about Argentina's uncertainty and ambiguity is that as much as it causes anxiety for people like us, in the end, the changed rules often end up having a funny way of working in our favor in ways we can't foresee when they are causing us sleepless nights.

My advice is to forget the tax stuff for now. There will be plenty of time for you to investigate that later, when you come closer to bumping up against the tax residency rules. You've got bigger, more immediate problems to solve.

 

[foobar]

Very good, very German.

Hahaha, you are so right!

I was just thinking about this yesterday evening. I had to think of the infamous "German Angst". I do think this really is both a cultural and a personal issue tbh.
To me it seems absurd to be gaming the legal gray zones of a country either on my own or with the help of a lawyer. In my mind that's just something for criminals, not regular people. Also, germany doesn't even have anything like a decreto. The last time anything remotely similar was done was during covid, things like that just don't happen here.
For endeavours like this in germany I'm used to collecting a huge pile of regulations in the beginning, then reading everything, planning out my way through this maze and in the end executing everything step by step.

Now I guess you are absolutely correct in that I need to adjust to the way things are handled in argentina I'll try to mentally set myself up for a more temporary lifestyle for some time. And I definitely need to learn how this whole "tranquilo" thingy works although there the issue starts again with my brain immediately going "Ok now how does this work? What do I need to do? Let's make a plan for it ..."

So far the only one being able to completely switch this off is my girlfriend and in the end that's exactly why we are doing all that. So thank's a lot already to everyone for your support and dealing so well with my very german brain^^

P.S.

By the way, who said anything about going back to Germany? You could travel here in the region for 90 days, still working remotely for your company.

That's actually something I need to take a look at, maybe there's some good options that don't complicate things too much. Thanks again!

 

[Alby]

You really ought to relax on the tax aspects. You are in the priviledged position of being covered by a double tax agreement. This means regardless of when you technically meet the definition of tax residency in Argentina, you will still be liable to tax ONLY in Germany, where most of your economic resources are still held. At least for a while. Eventually, when the balance of your personal and economic life shifts more to Argentina, a point will come when you are liable to tax ONLY in Argentina. If you want clarity now on when and how that transition might happen under various scenarios, you can get it. But the place to look is the double tax agreement. And any advice you need should not be about Argentine tax: it should be about how the agreement will (eventually) work. And this advice you should pay for in Germany, in your own language, from a German specialist experienced in international taxation.

If, under the double tax agreement, down the track you are starting to move into a grey area where you might be at risk of becoming a tax payer in Argentina instead of Germany, that will be the time to get local advice here about your obligations and the up-to-date income and assets rates in what will likely be a very different taxation regime from today's.

 

[foobar]

This means regardless of when you technically meet the definition of tax residency in Argentina, you will still be liable to tax ONLY in Germany, where most of your economic resources are still held.

As far as I'm currently aware and have been informed so far this is wrong but please correct me if you have more information on this (preferably with a source). As per the double tax agreement I need to pay income tax in the country that I'm doing the work in as soon as I work there for more than 183 days in one year. So the only way to avoid paying tax in argentina would be to not be there for at least half of each year (which wouldn't make sense as then I would be way better off just doing regular visits).

As soon as I need to pay tax in argentina I need to file a tax declaration for each fiscal year I worked there (>183 days). I need to file one in argentina and a separate one in germany.
In case I work in multiple countries, I need to document when I worked where and it needs to be considered in the tax declaration(s) I need to file.

Furthermore once I need to pay tax in argentina, my employer needs to commission a so called "employer of record" as they don't have an office in argentina. Something I'm still curious about is whether or not this employer of record could get me qualified for a work visa as technically I'd be hired and payed by them in behalf of my company.

The double tax agreement only protects me from being charged the same tax twice in both countries, it doesn't free me from doing the paperwork nor does it free me from paying income tax completely.

 

[Alby]

As far as I'm currently aware and have been informed so far this is wrong but please correct me if you have more information on this (preferably with a source). As per the double tax agreement I need to pay income tax in the country that I'm doing the work in as soon as I work there for more than 183 days in one year. So the only way to avoid paying tax in argentina would be to not be there for at least half of each year (which wouldn't make sense as then I would be way better off just doing regular visits).

As soon as I need to pay tax in argentina I need to file a tax declaration for each fiscal year I worked there (>183 days). I need to file one in argentina and a separate one in germany.
In case I work in multiple countries, I need to document when I worked where and it needs to be considered in the tax declaration(s) I need to file.

Furthermore once I need to pay tax in argentina, my employer needs to commission a so called "employer of record" as they don't have an office in argentina. Something I'm still curious about is whether or not this employer of record could get me qualified for a work visa as technically I'd be hired and payed by them in behalf of my company.

The double tax agreement only protects me from being charged the same tax twice in both countries, it doesn't free me from doing the paperwork nor does it free me from paying income tax completely.

If you've obtained this advice from an international tax specialist, then give it due consideration.

However, you can't pay tax in Argentina if you are not a tax resident of Argentina. And, as section 2.3 of the KPMG report shows (based on Article 116 (b) of the Ley de Ganancias--https://biblioteca.afip.gob.ar/dcp/LEY_C_020628_2019_12_05), you do not become a tax resident of Argentina simply by spending 183 days here. You have to meet other criteria first: either obtain permanent residency or stay for 12 months (the latter without having spent 90 days outside Argentina--an escape hatch you should seriously look at exploiting).

Now, once you've met those Argentina tax residency criteria, depending on what German tax legislation says about losing tax residency (you need to check from a German adviser under what circumstances you lose German tax residency), you are either liable to tax (i) only in Argentina, or (ii) in Argentina and Germany. And if it is the latter (ii), then Article 4 of the tax agreement will kick in at that point to resolve the tie break.

Now, read Article 4 of the tax agreement:

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You will discover that the tie break is not resolved simply by measuring in which country you spend most time, though that might be a factor and could, in certain circumstances, be a decisive factor. The tie break is also broken by a more nuanced equation that also includes the concepts of "center of vital interests"/"personal and economic relations" and also on the concepts of "permanent home available" and of "habitual abode".

That is as far as I am prepared to go in advising you. I am not a tax specialist, although I've looked at these matters in great detail and paid for professional advice, having similar circumstances (and mindset) to yours and also being protected by a double tax agreement. You will need professional advice. I just don't think you need it right now, or from an Argentine firm, because you are not going to get into any tax dilemmas for at least 12 months after arriving here, because Argentina's tax legislation is likely to change quite alot in the not too distant future, and because your immigration challenges are the bigger issue right now.

 

[Alby]

To the best of my knowledge (non-expert in either field but quite experienced now having worked with both immigration and tax advisers over a number of years), this would work:

1. Work remotely for your German company and enter as a tourist for 90 days with a view to extending for another 90 days.
2. During the 180 days as a tourist, investigate how to have a civil union registered and use that as a basis for applying for temporary residency (I don’t know anything about the civil union option, but other people have written about it recently on this board). Once you have a temporary residency application in process, Argentina won’t deport you, even after your second 90-day tourist visa expires. The temporary residency application process could take weeks or even months, meaning you are extending your initial stay well beyond the initial 180 days (and NOT accruing time towards Argentina tax residency).
3. Be issued temporary residency for 365 days, and with it the DNI. At that point, you may well have already been living happily in Argentina for perhaps a year, or even longer. Only at this point do you begin to accrue time toward Argentine tax residency.
4. Travel to neighboring countries for 90 days during the 365 days and thus zero your existing accrual of time towards Argentine tax residency.
5. At the end of the 365 days, you will now have been in Argentina for perhaps as much as two years (or even more, depending on how long the initial temporary residency process took). And you still will not be a tax resident in Argentina (although it will be important to check what German legislation says about losing German tax residency during that period).
6. Renew your temporary residency (having been outside the country for 90 days won’t prevent you renewing).
7. Rinse and repeat, if you wish. (By this stage, you will know a lot more, in particular whether you are sure you want to get married and settle down here for a while and obtain permanent residency and start paying tax here.)

(Some will advise you to enter as per step 1 above and start a citizenship bid. The disadvantage is it will throw you into Argentine tax residency after 12 months and, probably, under the tax agreement, starting to pay tax here rather than in Germany.)

(Others will advise you to never register for and pay tax here, even if the tax agreement says you should, and will tell you you will easily get away with it. Some of us aren't so sure about that.)

 

[toongeorges]

Keep your job, you won't find anything as good as that in Argentina, or not anything close. All your employment options in Argentina will be far worse career wise, salary wise and content wise. You are young and you do not want to to throw your future away.

Argentina can be a nice experience, you can try to make if work. Maybe you manage to find a way, maybe you don't. To find things out is part of life.

Just don't be one of these naive people who come to Argentina and then get stuck there with no options to go back and a wasted life.

If you are old, lived your life and decide to spend your last days in the jungle that Argentina is, that is fine. You are young and in this case I advise you not to leave the security you have from home behind.

I am speaking to you as someone in his mid 40s. I started going to Argentina since my early 30s, had 2 Argentine and 1 Uruguayan girlfriend and value the time I spent in Argentina. I have lived in total about 5 years in Buenos Aires. I first made sure I could financially retire in my mid 30s, before I committed to Argentina and even if I tried, I could not make it work and had to split up from my last girlfriend. We are still good friends and Argentina will always have a special place in my heart. I will visit it again, but never live there.