Argentina visa for UK citizens: 90 days free, then residence

A British citizen can arrive in Argentina without arranging a visitor visa: the initial stay is 90 days. Migraciones (Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, the immigration office) can extend it once by another 90 days for 20 UMSM, or ARS 20,000. Someone intending to settle instead needs a residence category based on a pension, income from assets, a local employer, study or family. An application filed inside Argentina through RADEX costs 100 UMSM, or ARS 100,000, per applicant on the fee table checked on 11 October 2026; a first DNI adds ARS 20,000.

Pensionado and rentista residence require qualifying monthly income of five times the minimum wage (SMVM), which is ARS 1,956,000 a month in October 2026. Family residence is temporary, including for a spouse of an Argentine citizen, and can run up to three years. The visitor stamp, a digital nomad permit and residence each give a different amount of time in the country, so the first decision is what the stay is actually for.

What the visitor stamp permits

Check the entry and authorised expiry recorded by Migraciones. By day 90, a visitor who needs more time can request a prórroga de permanencia, an extension of stay, during the preceding ten days; it costs 20 UMSM (ARS 20,000). There is one extension per entry and it cannot be requested after day 90. The visitor stay suits travel, business meetings, flat viewings and gathering residence paperwork. A British passport must remain valid for the whole stay.

Local employment or invoicing Argentine clients requires an appropriate residence route. Tourist permission should not be assumed to authorise paid remote work; the digital nomad transitoria permit is the route designed for work for clients abroad. British nationality alone brings no MERCOSUR residence entitlement or local work permission; check any separate consular scheme before relying on it.

A ferry to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay and a return to Buenos Aires can start another 90-day entry, but officers may question repeated border runs. Visitor days contribute nothing to permanent residence or citizenship. Someone who has already overstayed pays for a habilitación de salida, an exit authorisation of 40 UMSM (ARS 40,000), valid for ten calendar days. Failure to comply with an order to regularise can result in expulsion and a re-entry ban of at least five years.

Which residence route fits the move

The residence categories in the table below, apart from the digital nomad permit, are filed through RaDEX while the applicant is physically in Argentina; check entry permission with the consulate before travel when the purpose is work or study rather than tourism. An overseas consular filing does exist: the official table gives a non-MERCOSUR fee of 600 consular units, versus 300 for MERCOSUR nationals. For a British passport holder, the in-country temporary or permanent residence fee is 100 UMSM; MERCOSUR nationals instead pay 50 UMSM and may reach permanent residence after two years.

A migrant-worker or family resident may work locally; article 51 permits temporary residents to work during their authorised stay; wages do not replace qualifying pension or asset income. A family resident sponsored by an Argentine citizen or permanent resident can receive up to three years with multiple entries, while one joining a temporary resident receives the sponsor's remaining term. Scientists, athletes, artists and religious workers have smaller sponsored categories. Digital nomad time carries no DNI and counts towards neither permanent residence nor citizenship; its application follows a separate Migraciones procedure rather than RADEX, set out in the digital nomad guide.

What counts as pension or asset income

The pensionado and rentista threshold is five times the salario mínimo, vital y móvil (SMVM): ARS 1,956,000 a month in October 2026 (5 × ARS 391,200). It is a peso test, so the figure moves with each SMVM rise, and it is repeated at each annual renewal. Compare your own monthly income, using the conversion basis Migraciones accepts for your application, with five times the SMVM. Pensions belong to pensionado; rent, dividends and interest from owned assets belong to rentista. Salary, freelance receipts and a savings balance cannot replace the required recurring income shown on bank statements.

A UK State Pension is payable in Argentina but remains frozen at its initial rate, as Argentina is absent from the countries receiving annual increases. A full new State Pension is £241.30 a week in 2026/27 and is paid in sterling to a UK account (overseas-account payments are usually converted), while the income test is set in pesos, so how it compares depends on the conversion basis Migraciones accepts for the application. A DWP letter from the International Pension Centre, workplace pension or annuity provider letters, tenancy agreements for UK property and broker statements for dividends provide the evidence appropriate to each income stream.

Paperwork before departure and filing after arrival

UK certificates require an FCDO apostille, followed by Spanish translation by a traductor público (sworn translator) in Argentina and legalisation of the translator's signature by the Colegio de Traductores. ACRO issues Police Certificates for overseas immigration and citizenship purposes. Confirm acceptance with Migraciones rather than substituting a DBS employment check. Applicants aged 16 or over also need a police certificate from each other country where they lived more than a year during the previous three years. The ACRO certificate should still be recent when the application is filed.

GRO and ACRO certificates cannot use the e-Apostille, so their originals go through the paper service. Ask the Argentine translator for a quote per document that includes legalisation of the translator's signature, and for a turnaround date. A marriage certificate also connects a passport in a married name to a birth certificate in a maiden name. These timing differences matter when the residence application depends on a recent police certificate.

The applicant files at radex.migraciones.gob.ar while physically in Argentina. An address is needed; since DNU 70/2023, a lease's term, currency and rent reviews can be freely agreed and set out in the contract. Applicants aged 16 or over obtain the Argentine criminal record certificate from the Registro Nacional de Reincidencia through the standard RADEX process. UK originals arrive apostilled, then receive their local translations and Colegio legalisation before upload. The 100-UMSM filing fee can be accompanied by 50 UMSM for a preferential appointment; Migraciones says the procedure is personal and simple and needs no gestor (paperwork agent).

Migraciones may issue a residencia precaria after filing, a provisional certificate valid for up to 90 days that allows legal stay, work and travel while the application is pending. The published Migraciones procedure gives no fixed decision time; the precaria (or the status shown in RaDEX) covers the wait, and its renewal can be requested from 15 days before the printed expiry. After approval, RENAPER (the national registry) issues the first DNI for ARS 20,000; delivery is tracked using the application receipt; follow RENAPER's instructions for any digital DNI service. A stale certificate, an unrenewed precaria or mismatched names can slow an otherwise complete filing.

Residence beyond the first approval

After three years of temporary residence, permanent residence is available with at least half that period spent in Argentina and no single absence of six months or more. Family residents use arraigo, or settlement, for the transition. Citizenship is a separate petition under Ley 346 and article 20 of the Constitution, based on two years of continuous legal residence.

Ley 346 as amended by DNU 366/2025 names Migraciones, whose citizenship service describes a RaDEX filing made from inside Argentina. Before filing, ask an Argentine lawyer to confirm the competent authority and the effect of any applicable court order from the original judicial record. A published administrative checklist does not settle that question for an individual case. Britain permits dual nationality, allowing an Argentine citizen to retain a British passport. Argentina also announced a citizenship by investment programme on 2 October 2026, with a US$350,000 contribution or a bond of US$800,000 and applications expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2026. Our guide for UK citizens covers the costs, the UK tax position and the legal framework and application checks. For help with this programme, we recommend Lucero Legal's citizenship by investment service.

ARCA's guidance treats foreigners who obtain permanent residence, or remain under temporary authorisations for 12 months, as resident for Income Tax; ask an adviser about commencement, exceptions and reporting for the actual case. The 1996 UK-Argentina double taxation convention, in force since 1 August 1997, governs relief when both countries tax the same income. The right residence category therefore matters well beyond the visitor's first 90 days.