Rentista Wire Transfer Woes. Need Help Please.

[Wheresdylan]

I've got my 1 year temporary rentista visa completed, have a DNI, settled in finally. Recently went to renew the rentista visa for year two and ran into the inevitable problems. I was able to open a bank account with the Nacional bank and after six months they said I could wire transfer money to fulfill the rentista visa requirement. That wasn't true, the bank won't allow me to do a wire transfer since I'm a temporary resident, not permanent. All the banks I go to tell me the same thing. They say it's the Central Bank that prevents it. What am I to do? I'm willing to transfer the money at the official rate, whatever it takes to stay here, but I need a bank that will allow it. What have other rentistas done to fulfill this requirement? I'm not located in Buenos Aires, so maybe our small town BRC migraciones branch doesn't yet know how to respond.

 

[steveinbsas]

Your post indicates that you already went to renew your visa rentista. That leads me to ask a few questions:

How close to the expiration/renewal date are you? Is your local migraciones office asking for bank statements for any number of months of the past year showing that you have made wire transfers into the account? How have you been able to access your foreign funds since you got the visa?


If you're from the USA you can use XOOM to "transfer" funds from your US bank to your Argentine bank account at a good rate. If you are not from the US and can't use XOOM, there are other companies you can probably use. I don't think migraciones in Capital Federal has asked for actual wire transfers for a number of years.

A friend of mine renewed his visa in Capital Federal last year and he wasn't asked for copies of his Argentine bank statements, just verification of his income from the USA (and was not asked for his US bank statements, either). There was no mention of wire transfers.

Even if the office of migraciones where you are asks to see your Argentine bank statements, they "should" only ask for the last two months before you apply for the renewal. In case they do, it might be "wise" to deposit the peso equivalent of your foreign income (at the official rate) for at least two months before you apply for the renewal.

 

[steveinbsas]

Another question: Is the "small town migraciones branch" insisting that you show evidence of previous wire transfers as a condition of the renewal or did they tell you to start making them now?

If they are demanding that you do something that is legally impossible I suggest you ask them to check with the "home office" in BA for information regarding the current income "verification" requirements.

Migraciones in BA started "requiring" bank to bank wire transfers (in lieu of presenting ATM receipts as "proof" the foreign income was "available" in Argentina) some time in 2008 or 2009.

I had temporary residency at the time, but before I could open a bank account or (try to) make the first transfer (which would have cost about $50 USD to send and $50 USD to receive), they dropped the requirement.

 

[Wheresdylan]

Thanks for replying so quickly!

To answer your questions, the local migraciones BRC office let me enter into Precaria for the next three months. They said during this time I needed to figure out this situation and start making wire transfers. Before I entered into Precaria I had to prove how I got the required $8,000 pesos into Argentina during the last year. To do that I had my US bank statements from last year with a letter from my Chase bank all apostilled. Those statements and letter specifically show I made transfers to friends that were allocated as Argentina Funds, totaling more than the minimum requirement. Basically showing that I had friends carry the dollars to me from the US. They said it would work for year one, but moving forward I need to prove the income with a wire transfer every month. Hence my current dilema.

Some of the local banks like HSBC, Nacional, Bbva Frances, have all told me there is a Central Bank law that won't allow it to happen, which is what obviously seems to be the case. I just can't seem to get anyone to show me the written law or prove it so that I can take that to migraciones as evidence of what I'm saying is impossible. The migraciones office did ask me to collect letters from the banks saying why they cannot do it, but so far the banks don't want to do even that. Obviously they have no requirement to write any such letter for me.

I think your advice of going to the migraciones office and asking them to talk to "BA homeoffice" will be a good route to go.

Thanks!

 

[steveinbsas]

Hopefully, we'll soon see a post by someone who successfully renewed a visa rentista recently by making transfers from their US bank to their Argentine bank using XOOM (or RIA). The XOOM debits would appear on their US bank statements and the net proceeds would simply appear as funds deposited to their Argentine account...without any indication of the source.

I suggest you take a proactive approach with migraciones rather than a reactive one. I suggest you make a transfer using XOOM with the net amount being just over $4000 pesos. Hopefully, it will be completed without you having to supply XOOM's Argentine partner (More) without any paperwork. As soon s that transfer is complete (and in the same calendar month) , make another transfer for the same amount.

Take screenshots of each step of the XOOM transaction as well as screenshots of your US and Argentine bank statements showing the debit(s) and the deposit(s) and take them to your hometown migraciones office and see what they have to say. If XOOM's Argentine partner wants additional documentation (declaration jurada and/or proof of the source of the income) you'll have to provide it before the second transaction can be completed. You also have the option to cancel the delayed transaction and your US account will be promptly credited.

If you want to be able to send yourself funds with RIA you will need a VPN that shows you are "in" the US and you'll need a US phone number that they can call. Recently RIA got much easier and faster to use as the last two transfers my brother made to me (in the same month and over $5000 in total) were deposited the next day and without the need to provide additional documentation.

 

[steveinbsas]

PS: You can make a single transfer for the $8000 pesos per month you need to meet the income requirement. Based on recent posts, you will probably have to provide XOOM's Argentine partner with the same documentation that you provided migraciones to get and/or renew the visa when you exceed $60,000 in any calendar year. The threshold for the need to provide the documentation was raised from $40K to $60K since I started using XOOM, but I'm not sure when it happened. RIA recently got much faster and some transfers are being completed without going through their Argentine partner (Argenper), but I don't know the current limit.

Before you ask the hometown office to ask the BA office anything, especially something that questions their autonomy, I suggest that first make one XOOM transfer from your US bank to your account at Banco Nacion. The take all of the screenshots that you have printed to the nearby office of migraciones as see what they have to say. Showing them what you can do to "fulfill" the bank transfer requirement will probably carry a lot more weight than telling them what the banks are only willing to say that you can't do. Even if no one else posts that they were able to renew their visa rentista in CF using XOOM to make transfers to an Argentine bank, that might only be because migraciones in CF isn't asking for them.

 

[Rawley]

Hi, You won't find any regulations indicating you can't wire money from abroad as a Rentista because the law says the opposite. Tell your bank officer about Section 23 of National Law 25871 and Section 2 of "Comunicacion A 4717 BCRA". He should take it from there and tell you about the current requirements needed to authorize the transaction.

 

[steveinbsas]

Hi, You won't find any regulations indicating you can't wire money from abroad as a Rentista because the law says the opposite. Tell your bank officer about Section 23 of National Law 25871 and Section 2 of "Comunicacion A 4717 BCRA". He should take it from there and tell you about the current requirements needed to authorize the transaction.

That's great information, but because of the huge difference between the official rate and the XOOM rate, I'd make at least one transfer ($8000 net deposited) using XOOM and then take the printouts of the screenshots to the hometown office of migraciones before starting to make wire transfers to (and by definition) through the national bank.

Once you start making "real" wire transfers that the local migraciones has asked for, it might be far more difficult to get them to accept transfers using XOOM. If you add the cost of making "official" (bank to bank) wire transfers to the difference in the net amount received using XOOM you will not want to make any wire transfers.I

Since it became possible to use XOOM and RIA, I don't think anyone has posted that migraciones has required that bank transfers be made to be able to renew a visa rentista. In fact, I can't recall any posting that they made wire transfers for that purpose before there was more than one exchange rate. The fees to make the transfers would have been something to complain about.

 

[Alicia karr]

I didn't have to show ANY transfers to my local bank account during my three years of temporary residency and now am permanent resident (rentista). What I did have to show (just once) was the deposit history of the rental income at my bank in the US, and a letter from the same bank (HSBC) here attesting to my accounts being in good standing. I NEVER HAD TO PROVE how I got the money from the US to here. And that was as recent as about six months ago.

 

[Wheresdylan]

Hi, You won't find any regulations indicating you can't wire money from abroad as a Rentista because the law says the opposite. Tell your bank officer about Section 23 of National Law 25871 and Section 2 of "Comunicacion A 4717 BCRA". He should take it from there and tell you about the current requirements needed to authorize the transaction.

What does that law say exactly?