Registration and numbers in Argentina: RaDEX, the DNI, the CUIL and the CUIT
In Argentina everything starts with your residencia from Migraciones. With it you collect the DNI for foreigners at RENAPER, then your CUIL at ANSES to work and your CUIT at ARCA for tax matters. Anyone on temporary residence who is away for six months or more loses their residencia.
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Your Argentine numbers follow from one document: the residencia the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (DNM) gives you. Only then can you get the DNI for foreigners, the RENAPER identity card. With the DNI you arrange your CUIL at ANSES, the number for work and social security, and your CUIT at ARCA, the tax authority formerly called AFIP. ANSES names banks and the vehicle register as places where you need the CUIL.
| What | With whom | When | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residencia application | DNM, through RaDEX | in Argentina, started online | see the residence routes |
| Appointment at an office | DNM | email within 24 hours of the second step | |
| Residencia precaria | DNM | while your application is pending, at most 90 days at a time | |
| First DNI for foreigners | RENAPER | after the residencia, by appointment | 20,000 pesos |
| CUIL | ANSES | provisional after Migraciones, definitive after the DNI | free |
| CUIT | ARCA | if you file taxes or work self-employed | free |
| Renewing a residencia temporaria | DNM | within 60 days before it ends | 100 UMSM |
How does RaDEX work?
You cannot simply walk into Migraciones. An application starts exclusively online, in the Sistema de Radicación a Distancia (RaDEX). In the first step you enter your details and those of your family. You then pay three amounts at once: the residencia, the DNI and the Argentine criminal record. After payment you receive a username by email for the second step, in which you upload your documents. Within 24 hours an email follows with an appointment at the nearest DNM office.
While your application is pending, the DNM can give you a residencia precaria of at most 90 days. With it you may stay in Argentina, travel, work and study. You request a renewal from 15 days before it ends, and only while you are in the country.
How do you get the DNI?
With a valid residencia temporaria or permanente you apply for the primera identificación para extranjeros. You book an appointment at a Registro Civil or a RENAPER Centro de Documentación, through the Mi Argentina app. It cannot be done at an airport. The appointment takes a quarter of an hour and costs 20,000 pesos. You collect the DNI or have it delivered.
If your residencia expires within 60 days, RENAPER first sends you back to Migraciones to renew it. For the DNI, your residence replaces the birth certificate.
What are the CUIL and the CUIT?
The CUIL is the number on which ANSES records your pension contributions and your benefits. Anyone who wants to work in Argentina creates a provisional CUIL after the steps at Migraciones. Once your DNI is there, you apply for the definitive one and have the two merged. The constancia de CUIL is free and does not expire.
You need the CUIT for tax matters, for example as a self-employed person in the monotributo; see working in Argentina. If you do not yet have a DNI, ARCA issues a provisional CUIT, valid for at most 2 years or as long as your admission runs. You report the DNI number later. Without a CUIL and clave fiscal you file the application at an ARCA office, with an appointment you book online.
The clave fiscal is your password at ARCA. For security level 3 or higher, ARCA asks for a DNI.
What happens if you are away for a long time?
A residencia temporaria is cancelled if you are outside Argentina for six months or more. For a residencia permanente that is one year. So plan a long stay in the Netherlands, for example for care or family, well within that limit.
You apply for renewal in the 60 days before your residencia temporaria ends. If you are late, you can still apply up to 30 days after it ends, with a 50% surcharge on the fee. After that the right to renew lapses.
What do you arrange in the Netherlands?
You deregister at your municipality; see deregistering at the municipality. You keep your citizen service number, and with it your DigiD; see keeping your bank account and DigiD. You need it for the SVB and the Tax Administration.
What you open next with the DNI and the CUIT is in bank and payments and the first weeks. The order of all these steps is in the route to Argentina.
In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Argentina or go straight to step 5.1 in the open plan.
What this rests on
The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.
- Migraciones — frequently asked questions on RaDEX, renewal and absence — argentina.gob.ar
- RENAPER — the DNI for foreigners, only with a valid residencia — argentina.gob.ar
- RENAPER — the first identification for foreigners, cost and appointment — argentina.gob.ar
- ANSES — the constancia de CUIL and the provisional CUIL for foreigners — argentina.gob.ar
- ARCA — the CUIT for foreigners without a DNI, provisional for at most 2 years — arca.gob.ar
- ARCA — the clave fiscal and the security levels — argentina.gob.ar
- Ley 25.871, article 20 — the residencia precaria of at most 90 days — argentina.gob.ar
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