I'm a retired U.S. citizen with permanent resident status in Argentina. Earlier this year I sold my house in the U.S. and moved permanently back to Argentina, where I recently purchased another house. This proved to be far more difficult than expected, even though I'd researched things for months prior to making the relocation decision. I hope what I've learned can be useful to others.
Two major issues needed to be addressed:
1) whether to sell everything before moving and start over (again) OR ship all my belongings to Argentina
2) Getting sufficient dollars into Argentina to purchase real estate, which is done in dollars.
I discuss #1 in a previous post (Shipping household good to or from Argentina).
This post is about Issue #2: Getting dollars into Argentina to purchase real estate
Now things get tricky.
While researching, I was told variations of how easy it is to bring in dollars from outside Argentina. While the information was well-intended, it had either it had not been done recently or the amount obtained was actually trivial. Remember... common transfer methods will be converted into pesos as soon as they cross the electronic border. You won't end up with dollars, which are required for most real estate transactions, AND you'll get your pesos at the official rate, far below the dollar's actual value. Bad bad bad.
The government here constantly closes loopholes and changes the rules for obtaining dollars, making it more difficult always. What might have worked several years ago, or last week, might today be just another dead end. Keep this in mind when considering a real estate purchase, using due diligence before signing a contract.
The simplest solution, and the one my seller initially desired, was to directly transfer the dollar purchase price into a foreign (i.e. non-Argentina) bank account. This can still work, but NOT for Uruguay. AFIP has recently instituted very punitive measures against Argentinos doing this in that particular country.
Some people recommended using financieras to move the money into Argentina. The plan is to transfer dollars into their account somewhere outside Argentina and be given dollars in Argentina a few days later. This requires trust... LOTS of trust. Essentially it means handing a stranger a LARGE amount of money and then hoping they give it back to you here, for a percentage. Perhaps you can find one you can sufficiently trust. I could not. Of the three I met with, none inspired anything but suspicion and/or outright distrust.
Yes, you can make runs to Colonia, bringing back $10k each time (if you've set up a bank account in Uruguay). Rather impractical, that.
After many frustrating disappointments, I did finally find a reliable way to get dollars from the U.S. into Argentina. And I found two different ways to use essentially the same method. It is legal, and should remain viable in the future.
After reading several posts here by HenryNisental, I contacted Banco Piano (many thanks Henry!) They took all my personal information, bank records, IRS returns, sales contract of my U.S. property, etc. and agreed to open a dollar account for me (along with a peso account). THIS IS IMPORTANT.
Without a dollar account, there would not be a way to obtain actual dollars when making a transfer. Instead the dollars would be converted into pesos. Bad bad bad... I tried opening a dollar account in 4 other banks and none would give me one, even though I'm a permanent resident. Some just said "no", while BBVA wouldn't do it until I'd had an account for more than 6 months. Maybe not an issue for some, but it was for me.
Banco Piano specializes in transferring foreign pensions of retirees into Argentina, from both the U.S. and Europe. As most pensions are paid monthly, a deposit into my dollar account (for example) can ONLY be done once per month due to BCRA (Banco Central) regulations, a small but important point to remember. Make a 2nd transfer and your account will be locked.
Loosely speaking, this is how Banco Piano is able to get you dollars: with your money (pension or bank transfer), they buy stocks or bonds using their account in the U.S. They then transfer those stocks or bonds into their Argentina account and quickly sell them. As all stock/bond transactions in Argentina are officially done in U.S. dollars, like magic you now have dollars deposited into your dollar account.
Banco Piano charges 5% for this service, but the cost can be paid in pesos at the official rate so the effective cost is closer to 3%. I was unable to use Banco Piano for the transfer, due to particular personal circumstances (my only U.S. bank is Schwab, which ultimately resulted in a conflict between Federal Reserve and BCRA regs).
But the dollar account I now had was still very valuable.
I found another company that does the same process with stocks and bonds that Banco Piano does (though only for dollars), but without the above-mentioned regulation conflict. Not only do they charge only 1% instead of 5%, the broker is a noted economist, professor, and a close personal friend of my brother-in-law. He's a financial wizard that I trust 100%, and without him I'd be renting now instead of owning a home.
The company is Inviu, and the broker is Franco Tealdi (fluent in English btw). And unlike Banco Piano, he can move money in both directions, helpful for those needing to move dollars out of Argentina. Franco specializes in wealth management, and I highly recommend him to anyone needing to move money or optimize their resources.
Franco Tealdi:
francotealdi@gmail.com
Franco Tealdi Twitter 54 9 351 266-1022 WhatsApp [his preferred method]
Good luck and best wishes...
Two major issues needed to be addressed:
1) whether to sell everything before moving and start over (again) OR ship all my belongings to Argentina
2) Getting sufficient dollars into Argentina to purchase real estate, which is done in dollars.
I discuss #1 in a previous post (Shipping household good to or from Argentina).
This post is about Issue #2: Getting dollars into Argentina to purchase real estate
Now things get tricky.
While researching, I was told variations of how easy it is to bring in dollars from outside Argentina. While the information was well-intended, it had either it had not been done recently or the amount obtained was actually trivial. Remember... common transfer methods will be converted into pesos as soon as they cross the electronic border. You won't end up with dollars, which are required for most real estate transactions, AND you'll get your pesos at the official rate, far below the dollar's actual value. Bad bad bad.
The government here constantly closes loopholes and changes the rules for obtaining dollars, making it more difficult always. What might have worked several years ago, or last week, might today be just another dead end. Keep this in mind when considering a real estate purchase, using due diligence before signing a contract.
The simplest solution, and the one my seller initially desired, was to directly transfer the dollar purchase price into a foreign (i.e. non-Argentina) bank account. This can still work, but NOT for Uruguay. AFIP has recently instituted very punitive measures against Argentinos doing this in that particular country.
Some people recommended using financieras to move the money into Argentina. The plan is to transfer dollars into their account somewhere outside Argentina and be given dollars in Argentina a few days later. This requires trust... LOTS of trust. Essentially it means handing a stranger a LARGE amount of money and then hoping they give it back to you here, for a percentage. Perhaps you can find one you can sufficiently trust. I could not. Of the three I met with, none inspired anything but suspicion and/or outright distrust.
Yes, you can make runs to Colonia, bringing back $10k each time (if you've set up a bank account in Uruguay). Rather impractical, that.
After many frustrating disappointments, I did finally find a reliable way to get dollars from the U.S. into Argentina. And I found two different ways to use essentially the same method. It is legal, and should remain viable in the future.
After reading several posts here by HenryNisental, I contacted Banco Piano (many thanks Henry!) They took all my personal information, bank records, IRS returns, sales contract of my U.S. property, etc. and agreed to open a dollar account for me (along with a peso account). THIS IS IMPORTANT.
Without a dollar account, there would not be a way to obtain actual dollars when making a transfer. Instead the dollars would be converted into pesos. Bad bad bad... I tried opening a dollar account in 4 other banks and none would give me one, even though I'm a permanent resident. Some just said "no", while BBVA wouldn't do it until I'd had an account for more than 6 months. Maybe not an issue for some, but it was for me.
Banco Piano specializes in transferring foreign pensions of retirees into Argentina, from both the U.S. and Europe. As most pensions are paid monthly, a deposit into my dollar account (for example) can ONLY be done once per month due to BCRA (Banco Central) regulations, a small but important point to remember. Make a 2nd transfer and your account will be locked.
Loosely speaking, this is how Banco Piano is able to get you dollars: with your money (pension or bank transfer), they buy stocks or bonds using their account in the U.S. They then transfer those stocks or bonds into their Argentina account and quickly sell them. As all stock/bond transactions in Argentina are officially done in U.S. dollars, like magic you now have dollars deposited into your dollar account.
Banco Piano charges 5% for this service, but the cost can be paid in pesos at the official rate so the effective cost is closer to 3%. I was unable to use Banco Piano for the transfer, due to particular personal circumstances (my only U.S. bank is Schwab, which ultimately resulted in a conflict between Federal Reserve and BCRA regs).
But the dollar account I now had was still very valuable.
I found another company that does the same process with stocks and bonds that Banco Piano does (though only for dollars), but without the above-mentioned regulation conflict. Not only do they charge only 1% instead of 5%, the broker is a noted economist, professor, and a close personal friend of my brother-in-law. He's a financial wizard that I trust 100%, and without him I'd be renting now instead of owning a home.
The company is Inviu, and the broker is Franco Tealdi (fluent in English btw). And unlike Banco Piano, he can move money in both directions, helpful for those needing to move dollars out of Argentina. Franco specializes in wealth management, and I highly recommend him to anyone needing to move money or optimize their resources.
Franco Tealdi:
francotealdi@gmail.com
Franco Tealdi Twitter 54 9 351 266-1022 WhatsApp [his preferred method]
Good luck and best wishes...
