Intelligent Or Stupid To Move To Ba Now?

[86andcounting]

Thanks for that jdr7137! Sounds like a good contract with all covered, or have you had any problems with anything that you might suggest we do?

I'm on a one year assignment (in another city in Argentina, not BsAs) and I can tell you what I have in my contract. I get paid as much or as little of my salary as I want into an Argentine bank account (pesos). This is a requirement of my work visa, to get paid in ARP into a Argentine account, but it doesn't have to be your full salary. The rest I get paid into my USA bank account. My company pays all my taxes in Argentina as well as any different in income tax between what I would normally be paying to the US and what I would pay now (with all of these new allowances). My company works with a local firm to pay for my apartment, so they pay the rent and all the securities. This is pretty standard in international transfers. I get a stipend (in US), car allowance (in US - but you might not need a car in BsAs), and some assistance with home maintenance for my house in the states. I also get currency protection. All of this is in my contract.

I'm on a one year assignment (in another city in Argentina, not BsAs) and I can tell you what I have in my contract. I get paid as much or as little of my salary as I want into an Argentine bank account (pesos). This is a requirement of my work visa, to get paid in ARP into a Argentine account, but it doesn't have to be your full salary. The rest I get paid into my USA bank account. My company pays all my taxes in Argentina as well as any different in income tax between what I would normally be paying to the US and what I would pay now (with all of these new allowances). My company works with a local firm to pay for my apartment, so they pay the rent and all the securities. This is pretty standard in international transfers. I get a stipend (in US), car allowance (in US - but you might not need a car in BsAs), and some assistance with home maintenance for my house in the states. I also get currency protection. All of this is in my contract.

 

[JamJam]

Why is it necessary to be paid in dollars on a European account? Why not just euro's? I dont know where in Europe he lives, but most likely he gets paid in euro's already (unless its the UK obviously), so what would be the reason to change that?

Sorry I should have said be paid in Euros or dollars depending on where the company is based.

 

[JamJam]

Thanks JamJam and Lamb,

We traveled for a month in Argentina before, but there were no currency restrictions then, plus it must be different just being a tourist than actually staying there. We're up for a change but we read a lot of negative stuff on how complicated Argentina can be.

It will be a new contract so the currency is not yet defined. But if I get paid in $ or Euros, will I be able to take that out from the bank in that currency or will they just give me the pesos at the govt exchange rate?

Thanks,

As far as I know you can only get Pesos out of the banks here at the official rate which is a lot lower than the 'blue' rate.

 

[jdr7137]

Make sure they cover all your visa fees, including any documentation from your home country that needs translated or apostilled. My translations alone cost $900 in the US (Philadelphia, and I got a few quotes). My company said it would cover just the fee to the government, but not all the extra documentation. That I had to fight them about.

The work visas are getting harder to obtain, so make sure you do whatever you can to get it before you come and expect at least 3 months to get one. if you wife is coming, try to get her visa when you get yours. We had some problems with our marriage license being eligible for international notary (apostille) so my husband had to wait until he got here to apply for a visa. Now they are being awful about giving him one. I've heard with this new government everything is slower and they are saying 'no' more to visas.

If you can get it try to get them to cover at least 1 trip to your home country in your contact. Airline flights are expensive here. I didn't get that included because my husband came with me (if I went alone I would have had 2 trips paid home). Try to keep your same vacation time, as at least at my big international company the vacation hours in Argentina are about the same or less than an American. So you coming from Europe, that might be a big step down in vacation time.

Good luck!

 

[Greg2231]

Yah make sure to get a travel allowance, ideally a flexible travel one, that is a set amount in $,€, or £ which allows you to spend it on travel wherever you want.
I know a fair amount of people working for foreign companies in Argentina, and the contracts vary widely, as a lot of what you can negotiate depends on how valuable you are to the company, so if you give us an idea of the field your company is in, and your position there, people may be able to share real world experiences from like contracts that you will be looking at.

 

[Iznogud]

No clue where we are headed as a society but it is likely not to where I would look forward to. Economy does not cover everything
As one who went through the previous meltdown with no work, money (appropiated by banks) or clues and a baby and a child to worry about, I would stay clear of this particular society until things return to some kind of normalcy.

These are strange times. Keep your options open and a clear and practical rapid exfil strategy. .Don´t buy into it.

 

[Xeneizes]

Great move if you maintain your salary and don't have your savings in pesos.

 

[Shoeb]

Hola Everyone,

I am facing the same situation, I have to negotiae with my company for my posting at BA. At present, we have not initiated any discussion but I am expecitng it next month. Mine is an indian company with operations in Buenos Aires. Few basic things I have identified during my 1 months stint at BA is I definitely need break of my salary in pesos & Dollars or Indian Rupees(I prefer dollars) in India due to exchange restriction. My company is located in Pilar hence I dont want to stay in downtown, I prefer some suburban area like San Isidro or Martinez( I have to find apart in there). I also need allwance of Car, some relocation allowance. I was not aware of the taxes, are taxes high here at argentina ? if it is , i may need to include it in my checklist. Also do I have to pay taxes at India as well?. What about the translation, do all my documents need to be translated in spanish before bringing here. Let me make a list:

1. Salar - split up between pesos in argentina and dollars etc in home country - ok
2. Area - Suburban - is san Isidro or Martinez safe area to live in, any ter area near to Pilar.
3. Car Allowance - ok, is having a car safe here at BA
4. Basic Allowance -how many pesosit may come to ?
5. Taxes - guys please help me with this.
6. Visit to home country - I prefer to get once in a year
7. Translation of documents - waht kind of document should be transalted
8. Bringing family members to BA - well i would like to bring my parents for a visit, should i ask to company for theri flight tickets
9. Currency securiy - I do not understand this
10 - is there ny other aspect I need to look into?

 

[jdr7137]

Getting a visa from India to Argentina might be really hard - I know for Brazil it took like 7 months or more for Indians to get in there even to start. Don't underestimate the visa process, I had a lawyer and supposed help from two relocation companies but they were pretty useless with my home country documents (how to get them, apostille them etc.) so I did all of that on my own.

For the visa you need to have every document translated - for a work visa (mine is a 1 year temporary residence visa I got as an inter-company transfer) you need 1) birth certificate 2) copies of passport 3) local police records from everywhere you lived the past 5 years 4) letter from your company on their letterhead with the transfer information - all of these need to be translated into Spanish by an official translator and all of these need to be apostilled. If you are bringing your family you need their birth certificates and police records, as well as the marriage license all apostilled and translated. There was additional work that my lawyer did here in Buenos Aires I don't even know about on top of the documents I had to provide. Then there are appointments with the Argentine consulate in your country which take all day. IT IS A PROCESS.

Car - I need a car where I live in Argentina, but if you get a transportation allowance instead of a car allowance you can use that for taxis or public transportation.

Basic Allowance - my company and the relocation company they used had charts for stuff for this that supposedly they used to come up with my stipend. But I don't live in Buenos Aires so giving you a $ number wouldn't really be helpful.

The tax situation depends on how your company wants to do it. My company as part of my contract is making it like I never left the states. I still pay my wage tax to my city, my state taxes, and federal income taxes as if I never left. But I know they will have to pay taxes here in Argentina, so I have in my contract tax advisors from Deloitte in both countries so that I end up only paying the taxes to the US as if I never left (and didn't have all this additional 'salary' in benefits such as stipends). Why they do it this way I don't know, must be the easiest way for them.

Currency security - if they exchange rate on things I purchase (with cash or credit card) is higher than my company's internal monthly exchange rate I can expense the difference in the rates. This is helpful in Argentina, as inflation goes up within the month. I also have my stipend adjusted for currency every quarter.

Honestly its a lot of money for a company to want to send you here, so they must really want you here. But don't settle for a contract that is going to make you more poor than if you stayed home - it should be the opposite. Make sure you get good compensation for the move - you are far from home without all your family and things here are not cheap or are hard to find (especially in my little town).

 

[fifs2]

Every time I read these threads I wonder what the hell HR departments are for in these global companies as they seem to do little to prepare or protect employees transferring between locations. That was the case in my own move Dub - USA and it seems of employees need to trawl expats websites here nothing much has changed...