Retire in Argentina: the pensionado and rentista visas, five minimum wages, about US$1,280 a month

Argentina asks very little of a retiree. There is no investment, no property, and the income floor, at October 2026's figures, is about US$1,280 a month. The catch is in three places most pages skip: the floor is set in pesos and moves every month; the rentista category has a rule about bringing the money into the country that the pensionado one does not; and after twelve months on the permit Argentina taxes you on everything you earn, wherever you earn it.

Everything below is taken from the instruments themselves, read on 25 October 2026: the Migration Law, Law 25.871, in the consolidated text on the government's legal database, including the changes made by Decree of Necessity and Urgency 366/2025; its regulation, Decree 616/2010; Migraciones Dispositions 1732/2023 and 3446/2023, which set the amounts; Resolution 4/2026 of the minimum wage council; the Migraciones procedure page for pensioners and its fee table; the Income Tax Law as consolidated by Decree 824/2019; and the central bank's reference exchange rate of 23 October 2026.

Argentina retirement visa: pensionado and rentista, article 23 of the Migration Law

Argentina has no visa called a retirement visa. It has two categories of temporary residence in article 23 of Law 25.871 that do the same job:

• Pensionado, article 23(c): a person who receives "from a government or from international organisations or from private companies, for services rendered abroad, a pension whose amount allows a regular and permanent income in the country".
• Rentista, article 23(b): a person who supports his stay "with his own resources brought from abroad, from the income they produce or from any other lawful income from external sources".

The law allows up to three years for each, renewable, with multiple entries and exits. Migraciones' own procedure page for pensioners, last modified 30 September 2025, says what it actually grants: "a temporary residence for a term of one year, renewable".

Argentina retirement visa requirements: five minimum wages, 1,956,000 pesos in October 2026

The amount is not in the law. It is in Migraciones Disposition 1732/2023, as amended by Disposition 3446/2023: "an amount equivalent to five (5) Minimum, Vital and Mobile Wages" for each category. The minimum wage is set by the National Employment Council, and its Resolution 4/2026 schedules it month by month:

The dollar column uses the central bank's wholesale reference rate, Communication A 3500, of 1,528.26 pesos on 23 October 2026. Two things move it: the wage rises every month on the council's schedule, and the peso moves against the dollar. A pension that clears the bar comfortably in dollars today will keep clearing it only if the peso does not strengthen faster than the wage rises. Check both on the day you apply.

Argentina retirement visa: is the income requirement per person or per family?

Per application as the text now stands, not per family member, and this is a correction to something this site said. The first version of Disposition 1732/2023 added: "In the case of family groups, the said income must be proved by each applicant for residence." Disposition 3446/2023, of 27 October 2023, replaced both articles without that sentence. Its recitals explain why: they measure five minimum wages against the national statistics office's basic basket for a household of up to four people.

What the replaced text does not say is how Migraciones treats a spouse who applies alongside a pensioner, and the procedure page does not say either. Ask before you rely on one pension for two applications.

Argentina pensionado visa: what the pension certificate must show

The procedure page lists what a pensioner files:

• a valid passport;
• a certificate from the payer — the government, international organisation or company — confirming "a regular and permanent pension or retirement" of at least five minimum wages;
• a criminal record certificate from every country where you lived for more than a year in the last three years, for applicants over 16; the Argentine one is pulled into the online system automatically;
• proof of address in Argentina and of regular entry into the country.

Foreign documents need an apostille, or legalisation by the Argentine consulate where the country is not party to the Hague Convention, and a sworn translation into Spanish by a national public translator, legalised by the translators' college. Everything is an original.

Argentina rentista visa: income from assets, and the money has to come in through a bank

The rentista category asks for more than the pensionado one, in two ways.

The income must come from assets, not from work. Article 3 of Disposition 1732/2023 requires "a benefit from assets incorporated into the applicant's estate — financial instruments, property, shares in companies" and expressly excludes "remuneration obtained from personal work". Remote salaries and freelance fees do not count; for those Argentina has a separate digital nomad residence. Savings held in foreign bank accounts are accepted "provided the lawful origin of the funds is proved beyond doubt".

The money has to be brought into Argentina before the permit is granted. Article 4 requires Migraciones to verify, before granting it, "the entry into the country of the funds necessary in relation to the length of residence requested", through banks or financial institutions authorised by the central bank. Article 23(b) of Decree 616/2010 says the same, and adds that Law 25.246, the anti-money-laundering law, applies.

The disposition does not do the multiplication, but its logic is plain: for a one-year permit at October's figure, twelve months of the threshold is 23,472,000 pesos, about US$15,400, transferred into an Argentine account. A pensioner does not have to do this. A rentista does.

How to apply for the Argentina retirement visa from inside the country

The application is made online through RaDEX, Migraciones' remote filing system, and the procedure page is specific about three things: the applicant must be inside Argentina; "the process is personal and no agent is needed"; and the only payments are those the platform generates. After the documents are uploaded and accepted, Migraciones sends an appointment for the in-person step.

Argentina retirement visa cost: 100,000 pesos

Fees are set by Decree 584/2024 in migration fee units, worth 1,000 pesos each on the Migraciones fee table:

For an American or a British applicant, 100,000 pesos is about US$65 at the 23 October rate. Translations, apostilles and the foreign criminal record certificates will cost more than the fee.

Health insurance in Argentina: public hospitals and temporary residents

Since DNU 366/2025, article 8 of the Migration Law draws a line by status. Emergency care is never refused to anyone. Permanent residents use the public health system on the same terms as citizens. Everyone else — which includes a pensionado or rentista on a temporary permit — receives routine treatment in hospitals run by the national state only "against presentation of health insurance or prior payment for the service". Article 34 adds that foreigners entering under any category declare that they hold health insurance.

So private health cover is not optional for the first years in Argentina. It stops being the only option only once you hold permanent residence.

Argentina tax for retirees: tax resident after 12 months, on worldwide income

The permit does not change your tax at once. Twelve months on it does. Under article 116(b) of the Income Tax Law, a foreigner becomes an Argentine resident for tax purposes on obtaining permanent residence, or after remaining in the country "with temporary authorisations granted under the migration rules for a period of twelve (12) months". Residents pay on income "obtained in the country or abroad", at progressive rates from 5% to 35%, with a credit for foreign tax.

Argentina offers no flat rate for foreign pensions of the kind Greece, Cyprus or Malta sell, so the tax on a pension can be higher than in any of those three even though the permit is cheaper. The same article lets a person whose stay does not imply an intention to settle prove that to the tax authority; how that applies to a retiree is a question for an Argentine tax adviser. A US citizen remains taxed by the United States on citizenship whatever Argentina charges.

After the Argentina retirement visa: permanent residence and citizenship

Permanent residence. Article 22(c) of Decree 616/2010 grants it for "roots" to a person who has held temporary residence for three continuous years or more, or two for nationals of MERCOSUR and associated states. Since DNU 366/2025, article 22 of the law requires anyone applying to show sufficient economic means and no criminal record that would justify refusal. The change of category costs the same 100,000 pesos as a renewal.

Citizenship. DNU 366/2025 rewrote the naturalisation rule to two years of continuous lawful residence, where continuous means not a single exit from the country. The decree's validity is contested: on 30 June 2026 the electoral appeals court declared it void, and the government is reported to have appealed. That is the same decree that rewrote articles 8 and 22 above; the consolidated text still shows its articles in force. What is known about that case, and what it means for anyone counting years, is on the sources page.

Argentina retirement visa or citizenship by investment

For a retiree the comparison is not close. The temporary permits cost almost nothing and rest on a law in force since 2004; the investment programme costs more than most retirement budgets and rests on an instrument under appeal.

Frequently asked questions

Where this sits in the rest of the site

The citizenship programme and naturalisation by residence are in Argentina citizenship by investment. The 2025 decree and the court case against it, the minimum wage schedule and every instrument above are on the sources page. Rule changes as they happen are logged on the changes page. The European routes for comparison are in retiring in Greece, retiring in Malta and retiring in Cyprus. How this route compares with five other countries, on income, cost, term and pension tax, is in countries with a retirement visa.

If Argentina is where you plan to retire

We do not sell property and we do not give legal or tax advice. What we do is put a person who knows what they are asking in front of a licensed adviser in Argentina. The questions that decide this route are rarely the five minimum wages. They are whether your pension certificate and criminal records arrive apostilled and translated in the form Migraciones accepts, whether a spouse needs an income of their own, and what twelve months of tax residence will cost you. Send them through the enquiry form. We take no part in the fee.

Sources: where each figure comes from

• The two categories, up to three years, multiple entries: Law 25.871, article 23(b) and (c); permanent residence and its conditions: article 22, as replaced by DNU 366/2025; health care by status: article 8, as replaced by the same decree; the entry declaration of health insurance: article 34. Consolidated text on argentina.gob.ar, read 25 October 2026.
• Five minimum wages, the rentista's income from assets, savings abroad, the entry of funds through authorised banks: Migraciones Disposition 1732/2023, Official Bulletin 6 June 2023, articles 2 to 5; the removal of the per-applicant sentence: Disposition 3446/2023, Official Bulletin 31 October 2023, articles 1 and 2.
• The rentista's bank transfer and the anti-money-laundering law: Decree 616/2010, article 23(b); permanent residence after three continuous years: article 22(c), as published.
• The minimum wage schedule: National Employment Council, Resolution 4/2026, Official Bulletin 2 September 2026, as republished by the Buenos Aires College of Notaries.
• The one-year grant, the documents, RaDEX and the in-country rule: Migraciones, temporary residence for pensioners, last modified 30 September 2025; the fees: Migraciones fee table under Decree 584/2024, last modified 11 December 2025.
• Tax residence after twelve months and worldwide income: Income Tax Law, consolidated by Decree 824/2019, articles 1 and 116(b); the exchange rate: Banco Central de la República Argentina, Communication A 3500, 23 October 2026.
• Not published here: how Migraciones applies the threshold to a spouse; whether a rentista on a renewal must transfer a fresh year of funds; and how the United States or the United Kingdom taxes a pension paid to a resident of Argentina.