Immigration Myths: Is there an Investment Visa in Argentina?

If you have ever conducted some research online to inquire about the ways to get residency in Argentina, you may have stumbled upon the visa for investors.

Some countries allow investors to start businesses to self-employ themselves. Others have interesting real estate acquisition programmes that get the applicant residency in the process and some countries even use foreign capital from residency applicants to fund targeted industries.

However, myth debunked, none of this happens in Argentina yet.

Of course, people who call us and want to get this visa are not to blame!

Our investor visa is a renewable temporary residency set up by paragraph d) of Article 23 of our Immigration Law but it is not operational.

It makes perfect sense to want to get something that is written in the law, but unfortunately, the bureaucracy to get this turned out to be so impractical that it was erased from existence.

In fact, Decree 616/2010 establishes a minimum investment threshold of ARS 1,500,000, which today amounts to a little more than USD 1,000. 

This is, if anything, further evidence that this type of residency isn’t being granted anymore.

Another common misconception revolves around the types of income that can get you our passive income residency and it’s natural for people who have done research on the investor’s visa to stumble upon the passive income residency as well.

Our passive income residency (rentista, in Spanish) was designed to attract foreign capital into the country and allows rental proceeds, real estate sales, stocks and bonds to be used as a vehicle to get residency.

That’s why many of our clients who have already purchased real estate in Argentina cannot believe that renting this property doesn’t work for the passive income visa, which requires the source of income to be of foreign origin.

It’s no wonder that navigating all of these bureaucratic processes requires expert hands.

Citizenship by investment, what we know so far. It's important to distinguish fact from scams or wishful thinking.

• Rumour: the investment amount will be USD 500,000. False – this figure is nowhere in the law or decree.

• Rumour: only the technology or agriculture sectors will qualify. Also false – there is currently no legal text specifying preferential sectors.

In short: if someone tells you the rules are “set” with a specific amount or sector, treat that as premature.

Contact us at mhlegalhub or check out the piece we wrote with Argentina Expat for more information: https://argentinaexpat.com/citizenship-by-investment/