Contacts
What this office does
Role of the office. Our Latin American practice is younger than the others but growing, mainly through clients diversifying capital beyond the jurisdictions traditional for the CIS.
How the work is organised. The office is a point of local presence, not a separate practice. Every matter is led by a partner from the head team, who is personally responsible for the result and coordinates the work across all the jurisdictions involved.
How exactly we help here
Our other offices
Argentina’s currency regime and cross-border payments
Several peso rates at once. Argentina has an official rate (oficial), the MEP and CCL market rates and an unofficial “blue” rate side by side, and at times the gap between them has exceeded 50%. Which channel and which rate a cross-border payment, dividend or loan will go through is a question we settle when the transaction is structured, not after the money has already been sent.
Central Bank control and repatriation of capital. Paying dividends to a foreign shareholder, servicing an intra-group loan and settling import obligations are governed by BCRA rules and require the operation to be registered. A mistake at this stage does not void the transaction, but it can freeze a specific payment for months.
Property and residence permits in Argentina
Property purchases by foreigners. For urban property in Buenos Aires there is no restriction based on the buyer’s nationality. The purchase is completed through an escribano (notary) in the form of an escritura pública and registered in the provincial property registry. Rural land in border zones is a different matter: the land law (Ley 26.737) limits the share of land in a single municipality that foreigners may own and requires a separate permit for plots of 1,000 hectares or more.
The rentista visa. For private clients without an operating business in the country, the most predictable route to a residence permit is the “rentista” category: residency based on a documented permanent income from abroad (rent, dividends, a pension). We prepare the document package (statements, apostille, notarised translation) in advance so that formalities do not derail the filing deadlines.
Establishing a business presence in Argentina
S.A. or S.R.L. An operating presence in the country is set up either as a Sociedad Anónima (the equivalent of a joint-stock company, suited to several investors or a future sale of a stake) or as a Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (the equivalent of an LLC, simpler and cheaper to administer for a closely held structure with one or two participants). Registration is carried out through the IGJ in Buenos Aires, with the CUIT tax number issued at the end.
A bank account is a separate project. For a company with foreign beneficial owners, opening a corporate account at an Argentine bank takes noticeably longer than registering the legal entity, because of compliance procedures against the backdrop of currency restrictions. We build this time into the project plan from the outset rather than leaving it to the end.
Argentina for the international client: key figures
Frequently asked questions
Why do clients choose Argentina to diversify capital?+
Some clients look beyond the traditional set of jurisdictions (the UAE, Cyprus, Switzerland) to diversify risk geographically, and Latin America has become such a destination in recent years.
Do you work with local lawyers in Argentina?+
Yes. For specific questions of local law we bring in partner lawyers on the ground, while remaining the client’s main point of contact.
Do Argentina’s currency restrictions affect cross-border transactions?+
Yes. Argentina periodically introduces currency restrictions, and we always take them into account when structuring any transaction with an Argentine element.