No-frills Strategy for Obtaining Residence

[Goshinki]

What, no Nostradamus quotes? No references to the Mayans?
It cannot be true.

Please, I did not create this thread for this kind of discussion. I have a different thread I started under the newcomer section, please take it over to there and keep this one about strategies for gaining a visa.

What I want now are for people to comment on the checklist I just made but it's getting buried under all this crap.

Thanks

 

[John.St]

Hey I have one better... and I am 100% certain this will happen. One fine day the Sun will come to the end of its life and it will slowly emerge into a red giant. The dying Sun will then throw off its outer layers, forming a nebula. The only object remaining will be the extremely hot core, which will slowly cool and then fade as a white dwarf over many billions of years.

Even worse - the Sun is growing ever so slightly but inevitably, so in app. 2 billion (2,000,000,000) years all the oceans on Earth will evaporate. What are we going to do then? even hiding in a cave won't save us.

Help! I don't want to die so young!

 

[John.St]

Bah, this May 21st nonsense is just a distraction from the real important things in the world. When people cry wolf like that, eventually no one is going to listen when someone actually is correct about an impending global crisis.

I notice you have used the 'mad' smily - very appropriate.

But come on, this guy only made a minor miscalculation - we shall probably all perish in a few more days, remember always look at the bright side of life

 

[steveinbsas]

I've made a crude checklist of what it seems like my plan should be.

Below I've provided some answers to the items on your list with which I disagree or have an additional comment. I basically agree with everything else on your list.

5) Get all the things I will need NOW to make my life easier LATER, including a wireless modem and outdoor survival gear.

Don't buy a wireless modem. The kind you need for service in remote areas (USB plug in) are provided without charge. Then you can pay by the month for 3,5, or 10 GB. If you share a rental with internet service you then might have to buy a 220V wireless modem so you can use your computer in your room.

If you need "outdoor survival gear" in Argentina we are all in serious trouble, especially thos ein the metropolitan areas. Just bring decent winter clothes and perhaps a down sleeping bag (to use indoors if there's no gas). Clothes in US thrift shops are often higer quality than anything you can buy here and are very, very cheap by comparison.


8) The passport I already have. Any other documents I'll need?

Your birth certificate (with the Apostille) from the Secretary of State in which you were born.


9) Leave with no less than $3000 USD.

Keep most of the money in the bank in the US and make withdrawals at ATMs in Argentina as necessary. Schwab will issue a debit card that you can also use in most stores.

11) Get work. Maybe put up fliers offering to do odd jobs.

Offer whatever services you can perform to expats here.

13) Do documented community service regardless of what the consulate says. It can only help me to gain residency later.

It really won't.

14) Blog, blog, blog so I can be considered a paid journalist.

Don't count on this to get a resident visa but do it so you can show a leagal means of living if and when you apply for citizenship.

15) Visit the universities and try to get a student visa.

This will not lead to permanent residency or citizenship and will cost you time and money you may not have to spend.

16) Get married? Well... I'm aware of the dangers there. We'll see how it goes.

Of course you have to find someone who wants to marry you.

17) Get a lawyer to help with the process.

I'll help you on line and if you ever need to go to migraciones regarding a visa or the juzgada federal to apply for citizenship I'll put you in contact with a woman in CF who will go with you for a small fraction of what a lawyer would charge. She will only be there to translate for you, but she knows all about the process and can ask all the right questions.

There is one more way you can get citizenship in Argentina without getting married (but of course I don't recommend it):

Be the father of a child born in Argentina.

 

[Goshinki]

Cool Steve, thanks so much. It's good to know that if I do decide to go through with it I will have someone I can refer to.

 

[xtrasback]

18) getting voluntarily institutionalized

you from west virginia gosh by any chance ?

 

[Goshinki]

18) getting voluntarily institutionalized

you from west virginia gosh by any chance ?

No, I am from Connecticut, why do you ask?

 

[MizzMarr]

I just have to say that $3000 dollars savings (post airfare purchase) may get you through a few months, six-eight months at the absolute outside living extremely frugally in shared housing. I'd recommend working and saving quite a lot more if you want to really have a modicum of enjoyment in your life down here and not feel totally trapped. Argentina really is an island, work is hard to find and doesn't pay as much as comparable jobs in the States (unless you're lucky and find a good opportunity to telecommute). It's getting expensive here,and if you decide to go into neighboring countries they all cost at least $100 dollars to enter with the exception of Uruguay.

 

[AkBill]

"in the future my friends and family are all going to be dragged to concentration camps and killed, but as long as you all had a good laugh! Feel good about yourselves?"

hehe
yes
im still more concerned about my pants

 

[PhilipDT]

Goshinki,

I honestly think that you're writing it off too easily. Most of the responses here were harsh because of your over the top zeal which irked long term expats who have had to deal with the relatively minor problems of life in the city. A select few were written by posters who themselves are members of the very global elite which is threatening the USA and took personal affront to what you had written. The truth is, outside of buenos aires, the fertile earth of Argentina is very welcoming and centuries of immigrants have arrived with nothing but the shirts on their backs and made a life here. Don't let the crusty bourgeois here get you down, you are young and can do anything.

I, for one, would surely be an avid follower of your blog if you did decide to move to cordoba and live humbly but freely off the land.