Possibility of moving to Buenos Aires

Jtee125

Registered
Joined
Mar 29, 2022
Messages
291
Likes
190
Hi,

I’m currently an IT professional working in London, specifically a PL/SQL developer. A few weeks ago I returned from a few weeks visiting Buenos Aires for the first time. I must admit, having been to many places around the world, I really did love Buenos Aires - and I am aware this is from a tourist perspective.

I was wondering if any IT professionals have any experience of relocating to Argentina and the job market there. I am conscious of the fact that I am conversational in Spanish - I can have conversations on different topics in Spanish but I am nowhere near fluency, so I am aware this could be problematic

One thing I have noticed is the digital nomad visa but this doesn’t seem to have had any movement for a long time - obviously I would love to retain my existing job and salary and work remotely in Buenos Aires but I would need this visa to materialise for this to become a possibility

As far as being aware that Argentina is a tricky place to live, if I were able to secure a job paying in GBP/USD then my quality of life would be much better than in London where rents are insane
 
Here’s an idea you may not have considered and which might be a much smoother start: if your current job allows you to work remotely, have you considered, for starters, just spending 6 months in Argentina and 6 months back in the UK (or in a cheaper EU country, or another South American country). It’s semi-digital nomadism, you don’t have to worry about getting any visas, and it will give you a much better picture of what life in Argentina really looks like on a longer term basis.
 
Hey bdk1,

Thanks for the prompt reply, I do agree that that would be a smoother start than committing so much without experiencing living in Buenos Aires. But I’m unsure of how it’s possible to spend 6 month working remotely in Buenos Aires? As far as I can see from the U.K. foreign office advice is that Argentina will grant 90 days visa free, and that this is purely on a touristic basis, which implies to me that working remotely isn’t allowed.

Also the digital nomad visa seems quite confusing given that it hasn’t launched - on one hand the official website seems to be marketing Buenos Aires as a great remote Working location whilst they’re aren’t any visas that seem to actually facilitate this
 
Hey bdk1,

Thanks for the prompt reply, I do agree that that would be a smoother start than committing so much without experiencing living in Buenos Aires. But I’m unsure of how it’s possible to spend 6 month working remotely in Buenos Aires? As far as I can see from the U.K. foreign office advice is that Argentina will grant 90 days visa free, and that this is purely on a touristic basis, which implies to me that working remotely isn’t allowed.

Also the digital nomad visa seems quite confusing given that it hasn’t launched - on one hand the official website seems to be marketing Buenos Aires as a great remote Working location whilst they’re aren’t any visas that seem to actually facilitate this
You'd basically come as a tourist, renew your tourist visa at migraciones after 90 days, and then, once you've been here for 6 months, decide if you want to stay, and what options you have to make that a reality. Who knows, you might end up falling in love with an Argentine too, many of us did, (myself included) and stay this way which is pretty easy from a visa POV.

Long story made short, if you can get a remote work job do it and come try things out for 6 months. You wouldn't be breaking any rules since you wouldn't be working illegally for an Argentine company, and you wouldn't be a tax resident of Argentina after 6 months even if you had residency here, so provided you find a job, it's the best of both worlds because if you find Argentina isn't for you, move on to the next place, or back home.
 
Hey bdk1,

Thanks for the prompt reply, I do agree that that would be a smoother start than committing so much without experiencing living in Buenos Aires. But I’m unsure of how it’s possible to spend 6 month working remotely in Buenos Aires? As far as I can see from the U.K. foreign office advice is that Argentina will grant 90 days visa free, and that this is purely on a touristic basis, which implies to me that working remotely isn’t allowed.

Also the digital nomad visa seems quite confusing given that it hasn’t launched - on one hand the official website seems to be marketing Buenos Aires as a great remote Working location whilst they’re aren’t any visas that seem to actually facilitate this

Yes, what Quilombo said. If you just renew your visa after the first 90 days for another 90 days, and as long as you're staying less than 6 months every year, you're absolutely fine. The Argentine government has no intention on taxing you if you're here less than 6 months on a tourist visa, and they don't care that you're working remotely because you're just a tourist. If you were here for longer than 6 months a year, that's a different story.

The digital nomad visa is unlikely to happen in the near future because (as far as I've heard) it's an initiative by the Buenos Aires city government, which is politically opposed to the national government. This means that the national government generally tries to boycott all of the city's plans (and they are the ones in charge of migration issues, not the city). But who knows, the government might change next year. But I wouldn't count on it.
 
The city of Buenos Aires has no Federal Powers to rule on visas, forget it.
If you overstay in Argentina you are not illegal, instead, an inhabitante.
You can apply for citizenship any time and after the 2nd year the judge is going to decide.
The advantage of applying in advance is you are argentine since then, in posession of citizenship.
I suggest you move on a foreign income.
 
Thanks for all the comments, and it is very useful to know that the digital nomad visa is something that is unlikely to materialise.

I figure the best bet would be doing 3 months in the U.K. and 3 months in Buenos Aires and cycle in this manner so that I spend no more than 180 days in Buenos Aires in a rolling year.

The only thing I may have to do is sell to my boss to allow me to work remotely from Buenos Aires - which won’t be terribly fun with the time difference but the difference in income is surely better than seeking a job in Buenos Aires, even one that pays in USD (correct me if I’m wrong) and I’m sure that the quality of life with an English income is substantially better in Buenos Aires than in London
 
And I figure it may be difficult to secure full time employment in the U.K. that allows me to work from abroad half the time
 
I have a friend who, due to sudden caring responsibilities, found herself needing to relocate to another city. She told me she would keep working for her existing company as an employee, but work from home in the new city. I asked whether (i) she asked permission, (ii) she simply announced that this would be the new arrangement, or (iii) she would implement the new arrangement unannounced and count on them to not notice ever, or at least until it was already too late. She replied she simply announced.
 
Is another city not a very different circumstance to another country/continent? I realise the short answer is to enquire with my boss (which I plan to do informally at the pub when making a trip to the London office) but my potential worries are taxation issues and the legality of being an employee in Buenos Aires working abroad for a British company. One thing is for certain is that I certainly couldn’t do it unannounced as I have to connect to my virtual computer via my company’s vpn
 
Back
Top