If You Could Do It Over Again...advice/info For A New Family

[AngeWP]

Hi all

So after a week looking around BA we have returned to Australia with the likelihood we will be moving our family to BA to live in March next year.

I have been reading as much as I can about life in BA and have been chatting with some expats about their experiences.
We have some decisions we need to make fairly soon so I would love any advice/info/input you can offer to help make the process a little more straight forward/less complicated for a fellow Expat.....I think they call it Paying It Forward

So if you were coming from Australia with a 4 year old and a 2 year old, with no friends or family in BA, feeling slightly anxious about safety and security and a husband most probably working at an office in San Isidro....

1. Where would you live? (San Isidro (to be close to the office), Nordelta (for the 'perceived' safety and security of a 'country' and also the social aspects, Tigre? Somewhere else?

2. Where would you send your children to school? We would prefer them to be bilingual but rather than going to a school of mostly expats we like the idea of our children building relationships with Argentinian children as well. Our children are baptised catholic but we are not practising catholics.

3. What would you bring to BA that you found hard to get or what cost a fortune?

4. What do you wish you knew about BA before you got there?

5. What employment issues/challenges have you experienced since you have been in BA in terms of your contracts/salary.

I realise this is a lot to ask and everyone will have different opinions and experiences but I figure knowledge is power and the more knowledge I have the better informed and equipped we will be when we commit to coming.

Thank you in advance for those of you that take the time to reply...hopefully I too will be able to 'Pay It Forward' one day.

Ange

 

[Gringoboy]

Are you coming because your husband has been offered a job here Ange?

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Probably would go for a country in Tigre in your position, pool & bbq with real security benefits.

I always say the same thing but for your own good start really really intensively learning the language. Both of you. Not sure I'd worry immensely about bringing stuff over but it will be advantageous for your mental wellbeing if you get less attached to "stuff!" I dont mean to sound trite, but genuinely electrical goods are more expensive and less well made here, so once you accept it as a fact of life you'll spend less time in occupying yourself with the stress of comparing products available in Aus to here.

Employment wise you'd do well to understand how pay increases work, tied to inflation or company performance....because if inflation is 40% and your max bonus is 20 %, you just got poorer for working very hard!

Bring dollars. US ones. Use them as your emergency backstop. Physically bring them.

Learn spanish, locally. So important I say it twice. Once you do you can open yourself up to the cultural stuff on offer, courses etc. A an expat you will have to work harder for your social life, it may be very rewarding but it wont land in your lap.

Maybe repeating myself, but do not spend any time comparing lifestyles, products, weather, food, sport etc with Australia because until you can immerse yourself in life here, which takes time and serious effort, it'll frustrate you. Successfull expats need an almost impossible zen like ability to transcend frustrations.

Nothing is ever as bad as the people in this forum say it is.

Nothing is ever as good as people in this forum say it is. Don't let us define your perception because it becomes reality very quickly.

Welcome, suerte!

 

[sergio]

To give you answers, I think we need to know WHY you are moving to Argentina and approximately how much monthly income you will have. Will the company pay for housing? Education of children when they are of school age -- assuming you are still in Argentina at that time (how long will you be in Argentina?).

 

[Girino]

We are two 30-something with no children and we came here deliberately and likely forever, so our situation is very different from yours.

[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]1. Where would you live? [/background]
[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]San Isidro (partido de -) is fairly big, and there are good areas and bad areas. There are a tons of pretty houses in Acassuso-La Lucila, old and with pool. I like a lot the area around Punta Chica, which makes its little port easily accessible by walk. Rent for a single house should be USD 1000 upward. I haven't seen many people living in their garden, to be honest, though I see many pools and we have good weather 350 days/year. Some have private security inside their gate, other share security with the rest of the street (there is a booth at the corner). However the first kind of security should be able to intervene physically, while the shared security only watch the houses and calls the police, in case.[/background]
[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]I don't know Nordelta, but I hear they have sort of country communities with security (sort of American-style gated community, called barrio cerrado con vigilancia privada), so that you can actually enjoy outdoor space.[/background]
[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]In any case, you will both need a car.[/background]

[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]2. N/A - [/background]

[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]3. What would you bring to BA that you found hard to get or what cost a fortune? [/background]
To be honest, you should first consider how long you will be here and if you will have your relocation expenses paid. Moving stuff around takes at minimum 6 weeks, which is a huge time if you have small children. In my opinion, if you are going to be here for less than 2 years, you should look for a furnished place and bring your clothes as checked baggage. There are many furnished places and in different price ranges.

If you really want to move your stuff, take all the electronics goods you can (dishwasher, laundry machine, iron, hairdryer, dryer, phone, tablet, kitchen tools, etc.)
Here most of the mid-high quality stuff is not available (e.g. Bosch), and what abroad is considered "low-medium quality", here is considered "the good stuff".
Also, you can sell them before leaving Argentina for a good price, since quality electronics here is very rare.

Second, bring your sheets from home, towels, clothes, shoes, etc. Fabric quality here is very poor, and there is not much choice. You won't find Frette-quality stuff for your bed, to name names.

You shouldn't be allowed to bring food in your container, but if you use maple syrup, it is in the top places of "most missed stuff" among expats. You can put it in your checked luggage.
If you are picky on your make-up/toiletry, bring plenty from home. Also, bring Tampax, as they are not available here!

[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]4. What do you wish you knew about BA before you got there?[/background]
That the nicest places are priced according European standard because they know only the rich ones can afford them, so they try to squeeze them as much as possible. Also, being able to speak Spanish over the phone is essential. Anything goes by phone, websites are most likely outdated or not checked.
Also, to enjoy outdoor safely, you will most likely have to join a club, and that's another cost European-priced.


[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]5. What employment issues/challenges have you experienced since you have been in BA in terms of your contracts/salary[/background]
[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]I don't even dare to look for a job here, a safety supervisor at the local newest nuclear plant earns 17.000 pesos GROSS/month, which equals to slightly above USD1,000. [/background][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]Make sure your husband gets paid abroad for his work, or at least partially in pesos and partially in USD (or other foreign currency) and according to an amount in USD[/background]
[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]I.e. he should agree on the equivalent of 1000 USD/month instead of 15,000 pesos/month. [/background]

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

[background=rgb(252,252,252)]

[/background]

[background=rgb(252,252,252)]5. What employment issues/challenges have you experienced since you have been in BA in terms of your contracts/salary[/background]
[background=rgb(252,252,252)]I don't even dare to look for a job here, a safety supervisor at the local newest nuclear plant earns 17.000 pesos GROSS/month, which equals to slightly above USD1,000. [/background][background=rgb(252,252,252)]Make sure your husband gets paid abroad for his work, or at least partially in pesos and partially in USD (or other foreign currency) and according to an amount in USD[/background]
[background=rgb(252,252,252)]I.e. he should agree on the equivalent of 1000 USD/month instead of 15,000 pesos/month. [/background]

From someone actually working here I can tell you that this is extremely unlikely to happen. No company in Argentina is going to part with dollars right now. Generally speaking, apart from some very specific exlusions to the rule, paid in pesos is the rule. It's actually law to a certain extent.

Practically speaking you need to ensure that you (or the earner) earns a sufficiently decent amount to allow you to buy dollars from AFIP each month at the official rate. Despite some scare mongering this is possible for anyone who is not self employed and earns enough.

When considering "official" i.e. non black market transactions it does not make sense to quote the 15 to 1 rate. It's a fallacy. In other words, if you can manage to have an excess of 8500 pesos per month you can officially buy $1000 easily enough. If you wanted to you could sell those for the 15 to 1 rate, but quoting that as the purchase price is not correct.

It is worth referring to my previous comment about making unwise comparisons, a salary of 25k pesos net would be a good salary and afford a certain quality of living. You can easily make a false calculation and say that by the black market ex rate, its only about 1600 USD per month...you could then say that in reality any dollar purchases would be charged at the "credit card" rate (official plus 35%) and so that become closer to 2500 USd per month, but essentially what is really important is to actually find a reference for the quality of living, not some unstable currency exchange rate which if you earn in pesos isnt going to affect your reality.

Limit your USD dollar outgoing, buy dollars for a rainy day. As an expect you will find it easy enough to be straight with taxes, so, at the end of the year you can reclaim the 20% the govt retain. IO know it's possible, because I have done it. I stay clean from a tax perspective and earn pesos so my reality is probably closer to youres than someone who admittedly isnt employed and therefore outside of the tax system! (AFIP).

 

[AngeWP]

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[AngeWP]

Are you coming because your husband has been offered a job here Ange?

Yes - assuming it is an offer that suits us

 

[Ries]

I am sure everyone is different- but I cannot imagine living in the boring suburbia of gated communities, when the city of Buenos Aires is so damn fun every minute.
I would be living right in the thick of it, myself, (in point of fact, I do).
My kids are older, and were hardy travellers always, so we would thrive in a pretty urban environment, but if I had little ones, I would be looking at houses in Belgrano, not too far north.

 

[DCexpatstudent]

I think if your kids are looking to really grow up with the culture and experience a lot more, yes living in Belgrano or CABA in general as Suburbia unless that is what your looking for just seems so boring! Plus in the city there is not usually a need to drive!