Cost of living/immigration from Europe

[steveinbsas]

Citizenship would definitely be a better option, for my situation. I would probably be intending to stay in Argentina for 3-4 years minimum and possibly a lot longer so it would make more sense. Do you have any further information about this procedure?.

If you enter the words citizenship and foreigner in an advanced search you will find threads like these:

Argentine citizenship for foreigners? and Argentine Citizenship for foreigners: Can it really be this easy?

Yes, housing is certainly the problem. We are going to try and be sensible about it and work and save in Europe for a few years so that we could maybe afford to buy somewhere when we get to Buenos Aires. It would make a massive difference to not have to pay rent.

If you aren't coming for several years you wil have time to sit back and see what happens in Argentina as well as the rest of the world. It is impossible to know what it will be like here (cost wise) three years from now. If there is a great deal of dollar inflation the peso may not do so well, either. In the past three years the prices of some things here have just about doubled (coffee, cheese, meat). Other items have increased by about 50% (toilet paper, shampoo). Your savings may lose a great deal of purchasing power unless they are "well invested" and grow at a rate greater than inflation.

I have a perfectly fresh, untouched British passport with no stamps at all as I always travel on my Irish passport but my problem with this whole idea is that I would effectively be living there illegally and without any sort of rights which I really don't want to do. Also, I'm not sure about how it would work in terms of banking/tax; I would basically be illegally in the country and be working illegally.....

Even if your status with migraciones is "irregular" it would probably be a good idea to become a monotribunista and pay some taxes. This might give you the ability to show a judge who is considering your application for citizenship that you have a "legal means" of living. Even if you are here with an expired tourist visa you would still have most of the rights of any citizen of Argentina.

 

[milly]

Even if your status with migraciones is "irregular" it would probably be a good idea to become a monotribunista and pay some taxes.

Hmmm, interesting. Has anyone done this recently? I enrolled as a monotributista on a tourist visa in 2004. I was un-enrolled in 2007. Now I work on the internet for a European company and tried to re-enroll last week. They wouldn't give me a new clave fiscal without proof of residency and a work permit, even though I still have my CUIT.
I thought maybe they've gotten a lot stricter about tourists signing up as monotributistas.

 

[mini]

@mini
Thanks so much.
Yes, housing is certainly the problem. We are going to try and be sensible about it and work and save in Europe for a few years so that we could maybe afford to buy somewhere when we get to Buenos Aires. It would make a massive difference to not have to pay rent.

In a few years? Well darling, then all bets are off.... I can't tell you what will happen next year never mind in a few years.

 

[gouchobob]

In a few years? Well darling, then all bets are off.... I can't tell you what will happen next year never mind in a few years.

I agree you really can't plan ahead in Argentina. In a few years it could be peoples republic or on the road to something better, who knows.

 

[fred mertz]

I agree with Lamb. I was in Oporto in October. Really enjoyed it. Lisbon (my 5th visit) and Medeira were disappointing. I had my first meal at a food court of a mall on or just off Av Catarina. I had a bowl of soup, a huge salad and a coke for under US$5.00. Fantastic. I never saw a soup bowl that big. The grass isn't greener on the other side. Stay where you are.

 

[John.St]

If there is a great deal of dollar inflation the peso may not do so well, either.

The peso follows the US$ exactly except for a slow decline in peso value.

Compare these two curves and you'll find it impossible to tell which is US$ and which is AR$ except for the figures in the coloumn to the right.
http://www.valutakurser.dk/currency/showgraph.aspx?valutaid=233053
http://www.valutakurser.dk/currency/showgraph.aspx?valutaid=287417

 

[Chris_Porto]

Thanks everyone for all of your input. It's been very useful.
I would love to be able to move this year but I think maybe I should wait and see if economically things improve in Argentina and to also try to have some savings before moving. Portugal is a wonderful place to live and although I miss Argentina terribly I know I would miss Portugal if I left! I just want to research a potential move as much as possible at the minute to ensure that I don't make a (mainly financial) mistake!

 

[PhilipDT]

I'm not saying anything said here isn't true but FWIW I live very nicely on slightly less then what you're talking about.

 

[Chris_Porto]

Regarding current cost of living, I was wondering how accurate those of you currently living in Bs As would consider the data on expatistan.com to be (you can see a comparison with Lisbon here- http://tinyurl.com/6868nhd) I would really appreciate some feedback on this.

Many thanks.

 

[Philsword]

Regarding current cost of living, I was wondering how accurate those of you currently living in Bs As would consider the data on expatistan.com to be (you can see a comparison with Lisbon here- http://tinyurl.com/6868nhd) I would really appreciate some feedback on this.

Many thanks.

Hard to say how accurate given its self reported, don't know the time frames, methodology etc. Just of the top of my head I would guess the B.A. would tend to be understated due to rapid inflation(i.e. a price posted a couple of years ago could be 40-50% higher today). My suggestion is to look at prices of apartments for rent and perhaps food. You can go to one of the supermercado's here that sells online and comparison shop with Lisbon, you could do the same for apartments on a rental basis and get a good idea as well. For other stuff I have no idea. One thing that they said is a lot cheaper here is transportation, may be today, a lot of its subsidized, may not be in the future, if you are buying a car here its probably more expensive so it depends.