My wife (Argentinian) claims you can live "well" on $1500 a month in Argentina. True?

[Crema Americana]

There is realistically little difference from a child born in the USA vs overseas to American parents. If he or she would want to run for president, maybe the Supreme Court would have to clearly define "natural born", but for the moment, the US has two ways to get citizenship at birth - either from your parents OR from US soil.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/natural_born_citizen
A child born to Chinese or Brazilian parents who have paid to have their child in the US for the sole reason of citizenship, and that child lives abroad until they are over 14 and spends a couple years in the US, should not have more of a right to presidency than a child born overseas to American parents (especially if the family moves back to the US during childhood.) The spirit of the law is to not have foreign nationals as president for treasonous reasons. Of course even if allowed, that wouldn't stop the opposing party from trying to deny their right (like was done to Obama and McCain.)


I think your wife believes that $1500 figure because many people here live on much less than that. It's possible... however, many families live together until marriage or beyond, or own their house outright (so no rent). If they do have rent, it's cheaper because of the neighborhood or being able to provide a garantia. Not everyone owns a car. Most don't send their kids to fancy private schools. They don't have a lot of the appliances or conveniences you may be used to (starting a life here means furnishings and purchases.) You can live frugally and make it on that income, but at that point may not be worth it. I can understand your wife's desire to be close to family, but taking into account safety and society (schooling, opportunities, stability, etc) she may decide on her own after living here that she prefers the US.

And yes, if you do have a child here... make peace with the fact that you may be stuck here until the kid is 18.

 

[gimesalot]

Yep. You can't be President of the USA and be born abroad unless you are on a military base. I'm not sure where gimesalot got their information that you can be born wherever and still become president. Kind of funny how they said it so matter of factly. Ha, ha.

Harvard Law Review, that's where I got the information... " All the sources routinely used to interpret the Constitution confirm that the phrase “natural born Citizen” has a specific meaning: namely, someone who was a U.S. citizen at birth with no need to go through a naturalization proceeding at some later time. And Congress has made equally clear from the time of the framing of the Constitution to the current day that, subject to certain residency requirements on the parents, someone born to a U.S. citizen parent generally becomes a U.S. citizen without regard to whether the birth takes place in Canada, the Canal Zone, or the continental United States." Source
That's why Ted Cruz was allowed to seek the GOP nomination despite being born in Canada and why all the court challenges to his campaign were unsuccessful source . I state it matter of factly because it is how it works.

Back to the original question... I agree that your child being born in Argentina may complicate matters in case something goes wrong, but my guess is that if your wife really wants to move back to Argentina and you don't, things may go poorly then too.

 

[earlyretirement]

Harvard Law Review, that's where I got the information... " All the sources routinely used to interpret the Constitution confirm that the phrase “natural born Citizen” has a specific meaning: namely, someone who was a U.S. citizen at birth with no need to go through a naturalization proceeding at some later time. And Congress has made equally clear from the time of the framing of the Constitution to the current day that, subject to certain residency requirements on the parents, someone born to a U.S. citizen parent generally becomes a U.S. citizen without regard to whether the birth takes place in Canada, the Canal Zone, or the continental United States." Source
That's why Ted Cruz was allowed to seek the GOP nomination despite being born in Canada and why all the court challenges to his campaign were unsuccessful source . I state it matter of factly because it is how it works.

Back to the original question... I agree that your child being born in Argentina may complicate matters in case something goes wrong, but my guess is that if your wife really wants to move back to Argentina and you don't, things may go poorly then too.

That interpretation is unsettled and not clear. Just because some Harvard scholars are interviewed and saying their interpretation makes it ok doesn't mean it's ok. There is a reason why even the Supreme Court hasn't touched the issue. I'm not saying it's impossible but many people believe that the original constitution forbids it. But honestly the US presidency has became a circus and I can't see anyone that would want to be President of USA.

I totally agree with everyone else that this is a complicated situation if the child is born there and the wife wants to move back to Argentina (which very often does happen).

 

[wrangler]

with the current value of the USD/AR$ yes, very true. $1500 = 60,000 pesos, that is a great wage here.

 

[PoorSoul]

I do not think $1,500 is enough especially for a couple. Of course it all depends on definitions of well, etc. I think you can be comfortable. But, you won't be living great.

 

[earlyretirement]

I do not think $1,500 is enough especially for a couple. Of course it all depends on definitions of well, etc. I think you can be comfortable. But, you won't be living great.

I agree. Even with the current exchange rate if you have a child (which I believe this OP said they do or one is on the way), $1,500 US (60,000 PESOS) isn't much. You can NOT go by what the median income is for the local. You can't compare how someone locally making very little income is living with what you're accustomed to as an ex-pat. From my experience, it's tough to go backwards once you're used to living a certain quality of life.

Once your kids start school, the public schools are NOT good. ALL of my friends that have kids send them to private schools and they are all really suffering complaining about the constant increases and how expensive it's getting just sending their kids to preschool and kindergarten. Rents in good areas aren't cheap. If you OWN a property that really helps not having to pay rent. But still when you factor in all of the things we're used to in a first world country and if you want to dine out, travel AND save up for future it's going to be impossible at $1,500 per month.

 

[squall]

I have been think of coming to Argentina for birth tourism, so I had my share of doing some research about the cost of living and here what I found out (and please correct me if I were wrong or mistaken, also forgive me for my week English)

- The nice and safe neighborhoods are (Recoleta, Palermo, Villa Crespo, the once close to the Bay)
- The Studio rent is between (750 USD - 1500 USD) per month depends on the Area
- Argentina and BA is pretty safe and there is no need for renting a studio in secured compound (unlike what I have been told by my family and friends because they are always comparing it to Brazil)
- Public Hospitals is free (almost free) and for Insurance or Medical Plans we cannot get because we are a Tourists
- Private hospitals are expensive because I contacted 3 hospitals (Italian, German, and British) and Aleman hospital is the only one responded to my email (Between 130,000 ARS and 180,000 ARS) for baby delivery
- Public Transporation is cheap and good
- Life cost is not that expensive (comparing to Saudi Arabia) such as restaurants and grocery stores like 50% cheaper than here based on https://www.expatistan.com website and 1000 USD per month (average is 750 USD) is more enough for 2 persons

so average cost of living for 2 persons is like 1750 USD per month

this what I found online, so 1500 USD per month is not impossible or even difficult (I excluded the Pubs, Nightclub because we don't drink)

please remember all my information comes from the Internet, not real life or experience

 

[earlyretirement]

Yes, the nice neighborhoods that are safe, beautiful and typically have high quality of life are Recoleta, Palermo, Barrio Norte, Belgrano, and the one close to the water that you're referring to is called Puerto Madero but that's an expensive area and not too convenient as it's not central.

Yeah, your budget for rental sounds doable. And you're right, BA is a relatively safe city. Like any big city you have to take precautions but mostly small scams (pick pocketing, stealing cellphones, etc) vs. violet crime here. I also own an apartment in Rio and spend time there and it's much more dangerous as you mentioned. The problem there is there are favelas and really poor right next to nice neigborhoods.

As you mentioned, you don't qualify for free healthcare but even if you did the public hospitals aren't nice, especially in the event of an emergency or serious health issue. Private insurance as you mentioned isn't cheap. Are you saying you'd roll the dice and not have any health insurance??

Do this exercise. Add up all of the things you would spend on a monthly basis. Be realistic with yourself. What do you come up with at the end of the month? Also, are you just not going to save anything for retirement? Many people that say, "oh i can live for $X a month" don't factor in having to save for the future. I've always found it's totally unrealistic to not save anything for the future. Especially if you're going to have a child. Kids simply are not cheap. Groceries in Buenos Aires simply are not cheap.

In my experience, people always underestimate what they will spend vs. overestimate.

-Mortgage or Rent (if you don't own outright)
- Property taxes if you own
-Phone (Land line and Cell phone)
- Utilities (gas, water, electricity, cable, internet, etc)
- HOA fees/expensas each month
- Maintenance and repairs (if you own a property)
- Car payments
- Car insurance
- Auto Fuel each month for each car
- Registration fees for your car each year
- Maintenance on your car to include car washes and oil changes
-Parking (various times when you're out and about plus if you don't have a garage in your apartment and have to rent one)
- Home/rental insurance for your property
- Life insurance
- Health insurance premiums
- Dental insurance premiums
- Medical/Dental expenses (what insurance won't cover)
- Prescription medications
- School expenses for kids (tuition, stuff for school, ballet classes, etc)
- Babysitter expenses
- Annual fee for Credit Cards
- Clothes for kids and yourself
- Toys for kids
- Dry Cleaning
- Health club / gym
- Taxi/Uber fares which are inevitable.
- Beauty (hair salon for hair cuts, color, nails, make up, etc)
- Extracurricular activities dues/fees
- Entertainment (movies, theatre, plays, Zoo, concerts, sporting events, etc --)
- Magazine/newspaper/Ipad subscriptions
- Dining out at restaurants
- Grocery budget
- Retirement savings contributions
- Kids college fund savings contributions
- Charity/donations
- Travel / vacation expenses
- Federal/State/local income taxes
- Any revolving debt payments you might have
- Bad habit type stuff (alcohol, smoking, etc)
- Emergency savings fund for any major health issues
- Non reimbursed office/work expenses and supplies

 

[Bajo_cero2]

This is so confusing. $ means pesos, and dollars are here USD.

 

[squall]

As you mentioned, you don't qualify for free healthcare but even if you did the public hospitals aren't nice, especially in the event of an emergency or serious health issue. Private insurance as you mentioned isn't cheap. Are you saying you'd roll the dice and not have any health insurance??

As tourist can I get health insurance? from what I have read I can't get one but if I can this would be amazing.