There is nothing in the law that prohibits students with valid residency under the immigration law to obtain either permanent residency and/or citizenship. NOTHING. As long as one has had 2 years on continuous legal residence in ARG under any of the immigration categories (except transitoria, aka tourist) it should not be a problem.
As far as I know, unless the rules (aka laws) have changed since I was granted permanent residency, migraciones may grant permanent residency on the
third renewal of temporary residency. This means one must have three consecutive years of temporary residency before thay can apply for the cambio de categoria from temporary to permanent resdiency.
I have never heard of or read any posts about anyone who was granted permenent residencyon the third renewal of temporary residency based on being a student. I have only read posts that inidicate it is not possible.
As SecretShopper has indicated, he knows he will not be able to
renew his student visa if he does not "attend" classes (either in person or online) and does not complete the course work, so getting a new student visa year on year will not be of any use if he ever wanted to apply for permanent residency.
Someone recently the expresion "fake enrollment" as a way to get temporary residency, but I seriously doubt that is possible. SecretShopper's enrollment as a student is undoubtedly real. His status a a student, however, could be described as fake (no insult intended).
SecretShopper has made no secret of the fact that he never had a desire to be a student in Argenitna, Enrolling as a student was just the way to get temporary residency.Nor has he made it a secret that he has no desire to live in Argentina. All he really wants is an Argentine passport and is still searching for the easiest countries in which to get a second passport (assuming he only has one now).
Bajo_Cero2 has recently posted that being a student is not a reason to get citizenship, but two years of "residency" (being in Argentina most of that time) is required. In his most recent post he suggested not revealing to the court that you are a student, but if the court checks with migraciones that information could easily become known. If the court only checks with migraciones to know your entry and exit dates, then it might not be an issue.
He added that you must be working in Argentina, that you don't have to be working in blanco, and the income does not have to be significant. It has to be "an honest (non-criminal) "means of living" and I imagine a judge would be satisfied if the income was "enough to live on" in Argentina. It would be interesting to know if,
at the time you apply for citizenship, you must demonstrate "an honest means of living" in Argentina and that it must be certified by an Argentine accountant.
Even if someone actually completes three years as a temporary resident based on being a student, I seriously doubt that migraciones would actually grant permanent residency on the third renewal unless that individual could show a source of income (not just savings on deposit in a foreign or even an Argentine bank account).
While working in Argentina is allowed on a student visa, I wonder if contnuing that employmet could be considered in the decision to grant or deny permanent residency after three years as a student of if that would require gettig a work visa or the visa rentista or pensionda and starting over.
SecretShopper indicaed he wanted to open a bar in Argentina and he might be able to do so with a CUIT (I sincerely hope he doesn't), so I also wonder if migraciones would consider running his own business as an acceptable source of income when applyig for permanent residecy afer three years as a student.
I imagine the citizenship court would consider running his own business as an "honest means of living" but, as an entrepeneur who started a number of my own businesses in the USA from age 20 to 50 (including a bar), I can think of several easier and safer ways (with no risk to the initial investment) to open and operate a business in Argentna that would likely satisfy the court and might not even taxable (if the numbers are low enough), although paying the monthy fee to be a monotribusta for as long a period of time it takes to qualify for citizenship would probably be worth it.
