A Guide to Moving to Argentina

What Changed Since 2024

Two things reshaped this guide:

• The currency controls (the "cepo") were lifted in April 2025. The blue dollar is effectively dead — official, blue, and MEP rates now sit within a couple of percent of each other. Inflation is down from 211% to roughly 33% annualized, and Argentina is no longer the extreme bargain it was in 2022-2023.

• Immigration got materially stricter. Decree 366/2025 (May 2025) tightened residency, citizenship, and enforcement, and residency applications now require a health-insurance declaration. The old strategy of living in Argentina indefinitely on tourist stamps is much riskier now. Note that the decree's validity is being litigated — a June 2026 electoral court ruling declared it null in the case before it — so verify current rules with Migraciones or a lawyer before relying on any specific provision.

Why Move to Argentina?

Argentina offers many compelling reasons for relocation:

• Western-feeling country with a great climate

• Diverse natural landscapes similar to the U.S.

• Many excellent cities, especially Buenos Aires

• Still cheaper than Western cities, though the gap has narrowed

• Young population with good energy

• Similar feel to Spain, but in Latin America with a better time zone

• Surprisingly well-functioning given the economic situation

• Multi-ethnic country that is welcoming to immigrants, though official policy has hardened

Banking and Accessing Money

You need less local banking than you used to. With the cepo gone, a foreign Visa or Mastercard charged in pesos gets roughly the MEP rate automatically, with no PAIS tax and no surcharge. (The ~1,900 peso "dólar tarjeta" you may see quoted is what Argentines pay spending abroad — irrelevant to you.) Western Union still works well for pulling pesos and is sometimes marginally better than cards. Cuevas and cash exchange no longer offer meaningful arbitrage.

If you do want a local account:

• Galicia and most large banks accept foreign customers, though they are bureaucratic about it

• Requirements: precaria (obtained during the residency process, except for transitory student visas), passport, and a CUIL or CDI from ANSES

• Note: the precaria's validity was cut from 180 to 90 days under Decree 366/2025, so plan renewals

• A DNI and proof of local address make everything easier; some account types are effectively restricted to residents

A local account mainly buys you a peso debit card, easy transfers, and access to local fintech (Mercado Pago, Belo, Lemon). It is a convenience, not a necessity. One residual rule to know: if you buy official dollars through a bank, a BCRA cross-restriction bars you from MEP/CCL operations for 90 days.

Also worth knowing: foreign tourists get the 21% VAT on accommodation refunded automatically when paying with a foreign card or foreign bank transfer.

For more details, check out the Guide to Money in Argentina.

Visas

Argentina still offers several long-stay options, but enforcement is tighter than it was.

Options:

• Tourist stamp plus extension (no longer a safe long-term strategy)

• Student visa

• Student visa guide: Argentine Student Visa

• Permanent Residency visa: Guide Argentine Permanent Residency

• Digital nomad visa

• Temporary residency visa (eg Rentista)

The 2025 decree requires a sworn declaration of health insurance from anyone applying in a migration category, and an insurance requirement at the border has been announced — but its implementing regulation hasn't been published, so entry-level enforcement is inconsistent. Carry a policy anyway: it's cheap, and residency applications ask for it. Non-permanent residents are also now billed for non-emergency care at national public hospitals (Resolution 1066/2026, August 2026) — note this doesn't cover city- and province-run hospitals, which includes the entire CABA public network. Emergency care still cannot be denied to anyone.

Tourist Stamp and Overstaying

• Most Western passports get 90 days on arrival, extendable once for another 90 via prórroga de permanencia — ARS 20,000 (~US$13) for non-Mercosur nationals at the current fee table, filed in person in the final 10 days before your stamp expires (once it's expired, no extension is possible)

• Overstaying is no longer a benign default. Under the 2025 reform, Migraciones can expel someone with an expired stamp without warning, appeal windows are short, and border officers now explicitly reject "false tourists" — such rejections jumped from 8% of all border refusals in 2023 to 41% in 2025, and a refusal carries a 5-year re-entry ban appealable only from abroad
• The overstay charge itself is a flat exit permit (habilitación de salida), not a per-day fine: about ARS 40,000 (~US$27) for non-Mercosur nationals, valid 10 days. The trap: it's payable at Ezeiza and Aeroparque but not at land borders — don't plan to exit by bus or ferry to Uruguay with an expired stamp

• Border-hopping to Uruguay for a fresh stamp is being actively discouraged. Officers now have explicit discretion to refuse entry for "false tourism" — i.e., you appear to be living or working here rather than visiting

• The old advice that re-entry is effectively unrestricted no longer holds. If you plan to stay more than about six months, get a real residency category

Student Visa

• Options include Spanish lessons (schools typically need to certify 20 hours/week), four-year degree programs, and vocational courses

• Consular application fee around $150; consular processing typically 4-8 weeks, plus the RADEX file

• Valid one year, renewable, and permits work up to 20 hours/week once you have a DNI and CUIL

• Public university tuition remains free or near-free for foreigners as of early 2026

• Requires apostilled and translated police certificate, proof of funds, proof of Argentine address, and health coverage

Argentine Student Visa

Rentista Visa

• For passive income only — dividends, interest, rent, royalties, pensions, annuities. Salary and freelance invoices do not count

• Threshold is five times the Argentine minimum wage — ARS 1,762,000/month, roughly $1,150-1,200 as of August 2026. The "put $20k in a trust" workaround is much harder to make fly now; budget for real, documented income

• Granted for one year, renewable up to three; permanent residency after two years of legal residence (three for non-Mercosur nationals under the current framework)

• DNI issuance is running 6-8 months after residency approval

Digital Nomad Visa

• Still open. Requires a passport from a visa-exempt country, remote foreign income (no official minimum, but ~$1,500/month is the practical guideline), accommodation, clean record, and insurance

• 180 days, renewable once if you spent at least half the initial period in-country

• Does not count toward permanent residency — treat it as a long tourist stay, not a settlement path

Investor Visas

• Available, and the macro picture is better than it was, but still not the simplest route

Permanent Residency and Citizenship

• Standard route: two years of temporary residence for Mercosur nationals, three for everyone else

• Marriage no longer shortcuts this. Decree 366/2025 removed the waiver — you get temporary residence via family reunification and still serve the residence clock

• Citizenship by naturalization now requires two years of continuous residence, read strictly: departures can reset the count. Temporary residency also lapses after six continuous months abroad, permanent after a year

• Time documented only by a pending precaria may not count toward the citizenship clock

• Again, all of this is under litigation. Confirm before making plans around it

Leases

The rental law (Ley 27.551) was repealed by DNU 70/2023 in December 2023 and has not been replaced. That deregulation worked: supply in the City of Buenos Aires grew well over 150% and real rents fell 30-40% from the 2023 peak. The market is much easier than it was, but priced in a stronger peso, so dollar costs are higher than the 2023 lows.

What that means in practice:

• Lease length, deposit, currency, and adjustment formula are all freely negotiable. Twelve to twenty-four months is standard, with quarterly IPC or ICL indexation typical

• The garantía propietaria (a guarantor with local property) is still the main obstacle for foreigners. The usual workarounds: a seguro de caución policy (Finaer, ACG, Nación Seguros), several months paid upfront, or renting direct from an owner who will take foreign income documentation

• Furnished/temporary rentals through agencies, Airbnb, or expat Facebook groups skip the garantía entirely at a monthly premium. Still the right move for the first few months

• Rough furnished one-bedroom ranges: San Telmo $400-650, Belgrano $500-750, Palermo $600-900, Recoleta $700-1,000. Unfurnished long-term in pesos runs meaningfully less

• Web scraper available for ArgentProp to research options

• Verify ownership and see the apartment before sending money; get the adjustment clause, utilities, and early-termination terms in writing

Overall budget for a single person in Buenos Aires in 2026: roughly $1,200/month living carefully, $1,700 at a normal expat standard, $2,400 with imported goods and convenience. Finding good accommodation is very doable, and shorter leases still offer reasonable rates.