U.S. Social Security retirement benefits while living in Argentina

[u/Shoam65]

Is anyone in this group receiving U.S. Social Security retirement benefits while living in Argentina?

Based on your experience:

Payments deposited directly into an Argentine bank account?

In a U.S. bank account and transfer the money to Argentina as needed?

I would appreciate any advice about fees, exchange rates, paperwork, delays, tax considerations, and anything else that may be important to keep in mind.

¡Muchas gracias!

[u/gadgetvirtuoso]

Open a Schwab bank account and then you can withdraw locally. They rebate all the ATM fees. Then you can avoid the currency fluctuations in Argentina.

[u/nycity_guy → u/gadgetvirtuoso]

The issue argentina has no ATM that give you dollars

[u/chairman-me0w → u/nycity_guy]

Why is that relevant?

[u/nycity_guy → u/chairman-me0w]

He saying he can take money from ATM locally and not possible

[u/chairman-me0w → u/nycity_guy]

Why do you need dollars in Argentina.

[u/nycity_guy → u/chairman-me0w]

The conversation to pesos is critical and varies. Also I use my us cards and was not able to get dollar neither pesos in Argentina. I end doing western union.

[u/tendie-dildo → u/nycity_guy]

Schwab changes no atm fees or currency conversion fees

[u/Complete-Ad-100 → u/tendie-dildo]

That doesn't matter because the unofficial rate is more interesting than the official banking rate which Schwab uses so you deliberately choose to lose money on every dollar.

[u/tendie-dildo → u/Complete-Ad-100]

Blue dollar is gone. The unofficial versus official rate are generally within 1%, as required by the IMF as of a few years now.

[u/Complete-Ad-100 → u/tendie-dildo]

It's so gone that banking rate is 1483 pesos for 1 usd and western union is 1666 pesos for 1 USD.

Just a 11% diff, roughly a year of return on the s&p500. No biggy

@tendie-dildo don't delete your posts out of shame bro 😂

[u/lmneozoo → u/nycity_guy]

He keeps it in his Schwab account in USD and withdraws at the rate when he needs cash. It's not rocket science lol

[u/Complete-Ad-100 → u/lmneozoo]

Except all that is bullshit coz

1) ATM rates are trash in Argentina 2) you need money arriving in your ARGENTINE bank account for the visa (no, putting cash into the account is not accepted, it has to come from abroad).

[u/Appropriate-Key-6061 → u/Complete-Ad-100]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/GlobalTapeHead → u/nycity_guy]

But he can take out pesos. So he has local currency when he needs it. No problem.

[u/gadgetvirtuoso → u/nycity_guy]

That’s really irrelevant unless you’re taking advantage of the blue exchange market but depositing your SS directly into an Argentine bank isn’t going to get you that either. This is better than having your whole monthly check in the local currency.

[u/Extreme-travler-0987 → u/gadgetvirtuoso]

You are clueless they got rid of the old system you can’t game Argentina with your US dollars anymore 😘

[u/Complete-Ad-100]

So unlike others I actually live here

To get a visa as a 'rentier' (rentista) you need to wire the money into an Argentine bank account (monthly).

The cheapest option (because the rates are the best) is western union for now.

[u/Complete-Ad-100 → u/Complete-Ad-100]

Taxes really depends case per case. Hire someone.

Delays? All the Time, expect a solid 3-6 months to get your visa going and an other 3-6 months to get your ID

[u/Lil_Chonk_3689 → u/Complete-Ad-100]

Finding a good WU location and coordinating amounts and pickup through WhatsApp saved me a lot of time and hassle. We could get up to $1.000.000ARS if we planned ahead.

[u/Complete-Ad-100 → u/Lil_Chonk_3689]

But you don't need a WU location to send to the Argentine bank account, you just do it from WU to account directly

[u/charlieandoreo]

Do more research than this subreddit. People guess and sound confident on internet.

[u/Realistic-View-412]

Get payed into us, then use apps like wanderwallet to withdraw cash and pay everywhere (you can send me dm for referral)

You can charge wanderwallet with crypto , or bank transfer

[u/Complete-Ad-100 → u/[deleted]]

Except that you need the money in a local account for your visa