Visas How complicated is it to obtain residency in Argentina?

[Vince]

Different people definitely have their own unique reasons why they want multiple passports. I have an Argie friend who has both AR and IT passports and is married to a US citizen. Now he has 3 passports namely AR, IT and US. About two years ago Spain passed a law nicknamed Ley de Nietos for children and grandchildren of Spaniards to apply for Spanish citizenship so he's going through that process now to get SP citizenship. I asked him why he wanted the SP passport since he already has IT one and he can live/work anywhere in the EU already. He said, "Well, because passports are like Pokemon so you just need to catch them all if you can" or something along that line LOL.

I have a couple of reasons of my own for wanting to have AR passport but the main reason is an ease of traveling especially to the EU and UK if I want to. People with powerful passports probably have no clue how complicated and expensive it is for weak passport holders to get Schengen and UK visas. Heck many of them probably don't know what Schengen visa is. In order to apply for the Schengen, UK or US visa, you need to provide some of these documents:

- Paychecks (at least 3 or 6 months I am not sure now. So that means if you're not employed full time, you might not get the visa).
- Travel insurance (coverage at least 30K euro for Schengen).
- Letter from the company certifying that you've been employed with them (or proof of being a business owner).
- Flight and hotel reservations.
- Travel itinerary if you plan to travel to several countries (esp in the Schengen area).
- Bank books to show you have sufficient funds to cover your trip.

These are some of the required documents. There are more docs required if you travel with a minor under 18, you need certain docs, application form, photo etc etc, not to mention you need to get the appointment beforehand and probably take a day off to do it oh and the fee. In terms of fee, US visa is the most worthwhile when it comes to the visa validity period. If you get it, you most likely get the 10-year visa. Schengen is the stingiest visa of all because if your trip is for 14 days, you're likely to be given 14 days of visa (no grace period provided in case you miss a flight or something happens and your trip needs to be extended under whatever unfortunate circumstances). UK visa is the most expensive of them all and they charge for every single turn you take. I remember I had to get the UK visa (work related thank god so I was reimbursed) several years ago and you are given options like 6, 12, 24 months etc. I had to get the 24 month option and it cost around 500 dollars-ish if memory serves. The visa fee itself was less than half of the amount. The expedite fee cost more than the visa because if you don't expedite it, it will take one month to get the visa. If you have time to wait but need to use your passport while waiting for the visa, you can do that for a fee. If all the appointment slots are full, you can walk in and wait for no shows (of course for a fee as well).

Need I say more?

@Jakoval assuming you have all of the documents needed, do you know how long the process is to go from permanent residency to Citizenship? Is that a few years process? I never messed around with it but probably doesn't hurt.

Wow, I didn't realize that visa fees were so expensive! That must be terrible for those with weak passports!

 

[Jakoval]

@Jakoval assuming you have all of the documents needed, do you know how long the process is to go from permanent residency to Citizenship? Is that a few years process? I never messed around with it but probably doesn't hurt.

Wow, I didn't realize that visa fees were so expensive! That must be terrible for those with weak passports!

When you marry an Argentine citizen or have your child born here, you can start the process of PR and citizenship at the same time right away but separately (because PR is done with Migraciones and citizenship is done through Juzgado. They have nothing to do with one another) so there is no need to wait until you get PR first. My PR took 7 months till I got the plastic DNI in my hand (6 months until the case was approved and one more month for the DNI to be produced and sent to me) but it could have been faster than 7 months. Mine took a bit longer because I didn't have my police clearance ready. I supposed if I had all the documents ready it could have taken only 6 months. A friend of mine has a relatively similar timeframe.

My citizenship case was registered in Oct 2023. I'm following a case of a Venezuelan who was assigned the same judge and secretary as me and use his case as a reference. His case was registered in Sep 2023 and he has already been given 'sentencia ciudadania' in Sep 2024 so it took him only one year. It looks like he's only waiting for the swear-in date to be assigned now to get 'carta de ciudadania'. My case seems to be slightly slower. Comparing to his case, I should get my sentencia ciudadania in 2-3 months. Right now my case has been forwarded to the fiscal federal (Federal Prosecutor) and it normally takes them 2-3 months to give 'dictamen fiscal' and a week later from that they will give you 'sentencia ciudadania'. All is referenced with the case of the said Venezuelan, by the way, so it could take more or less time depending on your luck I suppose. If I get my sentencia in a few months that means my entire citizenship process would take only 12-14 months.

 

[Betsy Ross]

When you marry an Argentine citizen or have your child born here, you can start the process of PR and citizenship at the same time right away but separately (because PR is done with Migraciones and citizenship is done through Juzgado. They have nothing to do with one another) so there is no need to wait until you get PR first. My PR took 7 months till I got the plastic DNI in my hand (6 months until the case was approved and one more month for the DNI to be produced and sent to me) but it could have been faster than 7 months. Mine took a bit longer because I didn't have my police clearance ready. I supposed if I had all the documents ready it could have taken only 6 months. A friend of mine has a relatively similar timeframe.

My citizenship case was registered in Oct 2023. I'm following a case of a Venezuelan who was assigned the same judge and secretary as me and use his case as a reference. His case was registered in Sep 2023 and he has already been given 'sentencia ciudadania' in Sep 2024 so it took him only one year. It looks like he's only waiting for the swear-in date to be assigned now to get 'carta de ciudadania'. My case seems to be slightly slower. Comparing to his case, I should get my sentencia ciudadania in 2-3 months. Right now my case has been forwarded to the fiscal federal (Federal Prosecutor) and it normally takes them 2-3 months to give 'dictamen fiscal' and a week later from that they will give you 'sentencia ciudadania'. All is referenced with the case of the said Venezuelan, by the way, so it could take more or less time depending on your luck I suppose. If I get my sentencia in a few months that means my entire citizenship process would take only 12-14 months.

Fabulous @Jakoval! Are you doing it all yourself or did you use any attorney for your Citizenship case? Keep us posted.

 

[Vince]

When you marry an Argentine citizen or have your child born here, you can start the process of PR and citizenship at the same time right away but separately (because PR is done with Migraciones and citizenship is done through Juzgado. They have nothing to do with one another) so there is no need to wait until you get PR first. My PR took 7 months till I got the plastic DNI in my hand (6 months until the case was approved and one more month for the DNI to be produced and sent to me) but it could have been faster than 7 months. Mine took a bit longer because I didn't have my police clearance ready. I supposed if I had all the documents ready it could have taken only 6 months. A friend of mine has a relatively similar timeframe.

My citizenship case was registered in Oct 2023. I'm following a case of a Venezuelan who was assigned the same judge and secretary as me and use his case as a reference. His case was registered in Sep 2023 and he has already been given 'sentencia ciudadania' in Sep 2024 so it took him only one year. It looks like he's only waiting for the swear-in date to be assigned now to get 'carta de ciudadania'. My case seems to be slightly slower. Comparing to his case, I should get my sentencia ciudadania in 2-3 months. Right now my case has been forwarded to the fiscal federal (Federal Prosecutor) and it normally takes them 2-3 months to give 'dictamen fiscal' and a week later from that they will give you 'sentencia ciudadania'. All is referenced with the case of the said Venezuelan, by the way, so it could take more or less time depending on your luck I suppose. If I get my sentencia in a few months that means my entire citizenship process would take only 12-14 months.

That is good that the process seems to be relatively quick. An Argentine passport is definitely much stronger than a Venezuelan passport. I guess I'm spoiled by such a strong passport that I never bothered with it. My kids both have dual citizenship. Maybe I will start that process ironically as I plan to move back to the USA soon.

 

[Jakoval]

Fabulous @Jakoval! Are you doing it all yourself or did you use any attorney for your Citizenship case? Keep us posted.

I'm doing it all myself both PR and citizenship.

 

[Jakoval]

That is good that the process seems to be relatively quick. An Argentine passport is definitely much stronger than a Venezuelan passport. I guess I'm spoiled by such a strong passport that I never bothered with it. My kids both have dual citizenship. Maybe I will start that process ironically as I plan to move back to the USA soon.

You kinda have to be here at least in the beginning because you will need to submit certain documents in person a couple of times and go to PFA and Reincidencia for fingerprint sometime during the process.

 

[MikeYoung]

That is good that the process seems to be relatively quick. An Argentine passport is definitely much stronger than a Venezuelan passport. I guess I'm spoiled by such a strong passport that I never bothered with it. My kids both have dual citizenship. Maybe I will start that process ironically as I plan to move back to the USA soon.

I've met a few foreigners that were married to locals and just did it themselves. I think many of the foreigners that go through the process don't speak Spanish well but those that are married can have their spouse help them with a lot of it. It seems like if you're married to an Argentine it will definitely go through but just a matter of time and waiting.

Hopefully we see with this new administration and government things getting more efficient although I haven't seen much proof that is happening yet. Migraciones seems to be a huge mess still.

 

[Scottishgaucho]

My missus who is Argentine born also has British and Spanish passports. I got the feeling the reason she gave me for not bothering with getting Argentine residency was purely a financial one....there's nothing to be gained. Quite the opposite I believe.

 

[VINO]

My missus who is Argentine born also has British and Spanish passports. I got the feeling the reason she gave me for not bothering with getting Argentine residency was purely a financial one....there's nothing to be gained. Quite the opposite I believe.

True. Argentina has a wealth tax which taxes you based on assets even assets you have outside of Argentina. Before, most people just didn't declare assets they had outside of Argentina but it sounds like the IRS will be sharing information with Argentina in the near future. I'm not sure about the UK but in this age of technology, it probably won't be difficult to share.

For most people that already have strong passports there isn't really much advantage to having Argentine passport. People can talk about need for multiple passports but I doubt there is much need at all if you're just an average citizen. I read a few examples of comparing Snowden and others but most people aren't going to be in that situation.

 

[James Bond]

True. Argentina has a wealth tax which taxes you based on assets even assets you have outside of Argentina. Before, most people just didn't declare assets they had outside of Argentina but it sounds like the IRS will be sharing information with Argentina in the near future. I'm not sure about the UK but in this age of technology, it probably won't be difficult to share.

For most people that already have strong passports there isn't really much advantage to having Argentine passport. People can talk about need for multiple passports but I doubt there is much need at all if you're just an average citizen. I read a few examples of comparing Snowden and others but most people aren't going to be in that situation.

Actually an accountant once told me that it's not just once you get Citizenship here but if you get permanent residency here so you might want to talk to an accountant. I don't think any of this mattered before but things are getting normalized.

I laugh about some people talking about how they moved to Argentina because of low taxes and tax efficiency but Argentina has some of the highest taxes! It is not a low tax country. The reason why so much of the economy operates in cash is because of the high taxes! I don't know if there is more taxes from Citizenship vs. Permanent Residency but I was told it's the same.

Before I got my DNI I changed some properties that I own out of my name. Argentina has a lot of taxes!