citygirl said:
A&A - Just to clarify (and double-check this as it changes), you can no longer receive "permanent" residency here in Argentina unless you marry an Argentine/have a child here.
Are you
sure?
I received permanent residency this past October on the third renewal of my visa rentista (in spite of the change in the law last May). I asked if there was a cutoff date for those in the same situation. The answer was that those who received their visa rentista or pensionado prior to the change in the law should also be able to become permanent residents on their third renewal, but there was just a bit of doubt.
I think it still might be possible to become a permanent resident after having a work visa for "several" years, but I am not absolutely certain.
citygirl said:
There are lots of options for temporary residency - best is to check and see what it easiest in your case.
I have yet to meet anyone who thought getting any type of visa here is
easy (including me). I was fortunate to have a brother who picked up my criminal report from the home town police department as well as a letter from my local bank verifying my income and sent them to a friend of mine in Chicago (who took them to the Secretary of State's office for the Apostille and then sent them Fed EX to BA).
I call myself a do-it-yourself-er, but I did have help here, too. When I first applied for and renewed my visa, I went to migraciones in BA with a woman who spoke Castellano (my girlfriend at the time). As I've previously posted, it wasn't necessary to use a lawyer here. The people working at migraciones aren't lawyers, either (as one member recently implied).
I did go to migraciones alone this year (four times in total) to get my permanent residency visa. My Castellano is not so good, but the ladies at the prorrogas de permanencia didn't mind in the least, and in fact, had two other individuals from nearby sectors translate when I didn't fully understand what they were saying.
citygirl said:
I have used a lawyer for incorporating here and while yes, it was expensive - it was worth every penny. Re residency costs (as I am in the process of doing a work visa here now that the company is incorporated), the costs that were given by one of the posters (roughly 900 - 1500 USD) are right in line with what I was quoted.
Suerte!
It may indeed be "necessary" to use a lawyer or at least an accountant to get the investor visa, so I cannot comment on that one.
FYI: Migraciones no longer accepts local police reports...only those from the FBI.