Starting a business in CABA

[steveinbsas]

PS to my previous post: As a foreigner with a student visa, you can rent a temporary apartment fairly easily for several months at a time without a guarantia, but it will probably be very difficult to lease a commercial space without one.

 

[antipodean]

I just imagined if you had money it wouldn't be a problem.

If that were the case the economy would be booming. Unfortunately, Argentina insists on making problems.

You can always get lucky and find ways around any obstacle like this, but it would be naive to think you will always end up with exactly what you need. Maybe for your personal life here it will work more often than not, but for a business... that’s another story.

Once you have an idea/ business in mind you need to think how you will make it work (eg as a monotributista or set up a local persona jurídica like an SA or similar) Having a local entity could be the solution to getting guaranties etc. I’m not sure with a student visa and thus temporary residence you would be allowed to be an executive director of the company to be able to register it - perhaps you’d need a lawyer or local partner to appear on the papers.

The beaurocracy is a real pain in the ass for everyone and not something that can just be ignored altogether by businesses.
When suppliers (Beverage distributors, Coffee, Importers etc) set you up in their system you will need to provide a lot of documents etc. When you want to set up a POS or ML or bank business account to get paid you will need to provide a lot of documents etc. When you want to set up the company or get that all important CUIT, you will need to provide a lot of documents etc. When you want to hire someone you will need to provide a lot of documents etc. When you want to receive a dividend or salary you will need to provide a lot of documents etc. When you want to connect the electricity to your business, you will need to provide a lot of documents etc.

In short, not sure how far a student visa and bag full of cash will get you if going it alone unless your idea of a business is just peddling trinkets from a blanket on the sidewalk or simply working from home on a very small scale.

 

[lunar]

When you want to set up the company or get that all important CUIT, you will need to provide a lot of documents etc.

I don't know why you keep encouraging him. He will not be allowed to work with the student visa. So, no CUIT, no commercial leases, no business. May be he can become a mantero and sell some junk on the streets. If he is on a student visa, he is supposed to study.

 

[Alby]

Am I the only one who has been wondering why Secret has been so desperate, for so long, to break through the closed border to get here in order to gain citizenship but seemingly without any other particular purpose and certainly not the purpose for which he or she has obtained the visa? I have long had the feeling that Secret secretly wants someone to ask... But I ain't asking.

 

[FrankPintor]

I have seen artesenal beer places that basically have a very very small footprint (low rents) and basically just serve people beer and they mostly just take it to go or congregate on the side walk. I imagine something like that would be very low employee count (potentially 0 just you) and you would likely only need to work it during evening / nights. The fixed rent cost given the small space would likely be very low. By a small space I mean very small like no seating even.

It might be a good concept to try. As the economy gets worse people drink more.

Something like "Patio de los Lecheros" in Caballito fits this concept, very small footprint, and it's full most evenings. There must be similar places around the city. But the student visa is going to be a limitation, as several people here have said.

 

[steveinbsas]

He will not be allowed to work with the student visa. So, no CUIT, no commercial leases, no business.... If he is on a student visa, he is supposed to study.

The last two points in the second sentence are undoubtedly "deal breakers" when it come to starting a business with a student visa. Even if someone with a student visa could work (many years ago I posted they could not, but later others posted they could), they would not be able to legally sign a commercial lease and would never be granted a business license.

Nonetheless, I wonder if someone with temporary residency such as the visa rentista would be able to legally sign a mulit-year commercial lease...assuming they have a property to pledge to get the guarantia as their foreign income probably wouldn't be a factor in "buying" one. If SS is dead set on opening a bar in CABA, and the student visa is just a "means to an end," perhaps he could "partner up" with another expat, if not an Argentine as others have in the past.

PS: Of course a permanent resident would undoubtedly be able to do it...that is if SS is willing to trust someone who is really a complete stranger...just to realize his goal of opening a bar during his quest for citizenship.

 

[antipodean]

I don't know why you keep encouraging him. He will not be allowed to work with the student visa. So, no CUIT, no commercial leases, no business. May be he can become a mantero and sell some junk on the streets. If he is on a student visa, he is supposed to study.

You can own shares in an Argentine company as a non-resident. So yes, he/ she can own a company here if he/ she really wants. Then the company will have the CUIT for all required transactions.

 

[lunar]

So yes, he/ she can own a company here if he/ she really wants.

Good for him, but he is not asking how to become a passive investor in some Argentine company.

 

[SecretShopper]

I fortunately know someone there who I could trust. And it appears that I may not have much of a choice but to partner up. That person also doesn't know anything about starting a business there but at least it's an Argentine citizen who could get through the paperwork.

So if I was to partner with this person, would everything have to be in that person's name and I'm just completely out of the legal picture? Which also means I would have no real connections to the company... which isn't the ideal situation.

 

[SecretShopper]

Am I the only one who has been wondering why Secret has been so desperate, for so long, to break through the closed border to get here in order to gain citizenship but seemingly without any other particular purpose and certainly not the purpose for which he or she has obtained the visa? I have long had the feeling that Secret secretly wants someone to ask... But I ain't asking.

Ummmmmm... why do you think that I want someone here to ask me why I want to get a second citizenship? That makes no sense.