Argentina

Argentina grants one year of renewable temporary residency to a foreigner who can show a recurring income of at least five monthly minimum wages, produced by assets rather than by working. The wage figure is indexed, so the threshold moves with it several times a year; the requirement that the money be passive, and that it arrive through the Argentine banking system, is what actually decides most applications.

By default this route does not exist for a given applicant: it is open only to nationals of Mercosur member and associated states. If that is you, the conditions are set out below - and they are notably lighter than any other route into Argentina.

Argentine ancestry reaches exactly one generation. A person born abroad to an Argentine parent is recognised as a permanent resident - recognised, not granted it after a waiting period - and the parent may be Argentine by birth, by naturalisation or by option. Past that the trail goes cold: the migration law does not use the words grandchild, grandparent, ancestor or descendant anywhere, so a grandparent from Salta is not a claim on Argentina the way one from Palermo is a claim on Italy. Descent also opens a second and quite separate door, to Argentine nationality itself, and that one is narrower still: it asks that the Argentine parent be Argentine by birth.

Argentina taxes its residents on worldwide income, and you become one by staying. A foreigner holding permanent residency is a tax resident from the start; a foreigner on temporary permits becomes one after twelve months of them. Nobody has to opt in, file anything, or be told - the twelve months pass and the status attaches. This is the single most expensive thing to discover late about Argentina.

Emergency care in Argentina cannot be refused to anyone, whatever their immigration status - that is written into the law and survived the 2025 reform intact. Everything else changed. Ordinary, non-emergency care at nationally-run establishments is now free as of right only for citizens and permanent residents; everyone else is treated against health insurance or payment. Because most Argentine public hospitals are run by provinces rather than the nation, what you actually meet at the desk varies by province.

One year of renewable temporary residency for a foreigner with a job offer from an Argentine employer. The decisive condition is not about you: the employer must already be entered in RENURE, the national register of those who may request a foreigner's admission. Without that registration the application cannot be filed at all - the system will not let it be linked to an unregistered requester.

Argentina admits tourists for up to three months, extendable once by a similar period. Since Decree 366/2025 entry itself carries two conditions that did not exist before: a sworn declaration of why you are coming, and health insurance covering your medical needs. Whether you need a visa at all depends on your nationality.

Two years of residence sounds generous until you read what 'continuous' now means. Since May 2025 the law defines it as having remained in the territory for the whole period without making any departure abroad at all - not a short trip, not a family visit. A second route was added at the same time for those who make an investment the economy ministry considers relevant, with no residence period.

Argentina asks retirees for the same five minimum wages as its passive-income route, but the proof is narrower and easier: a certificate that you receive a pension or retirement payment regularly and permanently. Unlike the rentista route it does not have to come from assets you own, and unlike Colombia's it can come from a private company as well as a state or an international body.

One route covers marriage and family alike, and who your relative is decides how long you get. Being the spouse, parent or child of an Argentine gives up to three years. Being the family member of a resident rather than a citizen ties your permission to theirs, and the qualifying relationships narrow: a child has to be unmarried, under eighteen and not emancipated, or an adult with a disability.

Enrolment as a regular student at a recognised institution is the core of it, and the category is wider than a degree course: interns on an international agreement between an educational body abroad and one in Argentina, or a company or state body here, are covered by the same route.

The central bank has told financial institutions in terms that a deposit account can be opened for a foreigner without a DNI, including someone still regularising their immigration status, and for non-residents. Identity is proved with the document that identifies you in your country of residence, consularised or apostilled. Whether a particular bank will do it is another matter - the regulator has removed the excuse, not the discretion.

Whether you can simply drive, or must exchange, or must start again, depends on an agreement between Argentina and the country that issued your licence. Where one exists the arrangement can be remarkably light - Chileans and Argentines drive in each other's countries with no procedure at all - and it is time-limited: recognition lapses after a year of continuous stay, which is the deadline most people miss.

Permanent residency unlocks a genuinely generous allowance: household and personal effects come in free of tax, new or used. Tools of your trade do not - they are taxable. And a used car registered in your name comes in exempt provided its customs value is no more than fifteen thousand dollars, which is the single most valuable line in Argentine customs for someone relocating.

Argentina has no investor residency category. What it has, since May 2025, is something stranger and more valuable: an investment route straight to citizenship, with no residence requirement at all. The Ministry of Economy decides what counts as a relevant investment, and it has not published that anywhere we have read - so the route exists and its price does not.