Relocating in the next 6 months...

[2GuysInPM]

To put it in perspective; For around 400 to 600 pesos a month you can rent a small room in Villa 31. If you're not familiar, that's one of Buenos Aire's largest slums. If you find a job cleaning homes, expect to earn around 10 to 15 pesos per hour (USD 2.60 ~ 3.90). Good luck!

 

[GuilleGee]

Hi Lainey,

Can I just ask if you could let us know why you are looking to move down to Argentina, not to be disparaging or anything, I just am interested. PM me if you dont want it to be public.

As for your costs, they are definitely more than you think they would be. I am down here because in University I majored in Spanish & Latin American Studies but also because I have a girlfriend down here. I like it down here, and I definitely do not live like a lot of the other people on this forum.

I do however know that it would have been absolutely impossible for me to have set-up down here without the support of my girlfriends family, she has 8 brothers, and with the support of my family in the USA.

I agree that it is a great to just go out and do things, but be sure that you have a support network, back in the USA and also here, if at all possible. I don't know if you have lived outside of the country before but you are definitely going to suffer some culture shock, and without a support network you are a goner.

As for work, it is available, maybe not your dream job, and definitely a job that will be very well respected by some of the people on this forum, but I am sure you will make do.

And you are going to want to bring stuff with you from the USA; electronics, clothes, and such. Don't try to start from scratch, thats never the right idea, use your past as a foundation for your future....

When you do get down here though, give me a call or shoot me a message and we will invite you over to eat, we make dinner for about 12 pesos a night and then bring the leftovers to work the next day!

 

[jez]

So let me ask another question, does BA have a really bad economy that there aren't many jobs?? I am asking because I really didnt think it sounded any more difficult than finding a job here in the US; as long as your willing to put up with a few months of unemployment maybe, and put in the effort to find one, a job will pop up

So let's turn this around, if I was Argentine and wanted to come to the USA and WORK ILLEGALLY and possibly didn't speak the language do you think I would have as good an opportunity of finding work as in Argentina?

 

[criswkh]

Try the Buenos Aires Herald on Sunday. Also, realize that if you move to the country and find a job you will be mostly like paid in Pesos at a local salary. If you want to earn a better salary be sure to read this one: http://baexpats.org/newcomers-forum/2935-before-you-move-imporant-documents.html
The cost of things do rise. Try to have some support network either her or at home.

 

[gouchobob]

Just in case this isn't a joke (I find it hard to believe anyone is this naive) someone is playing I'll give my two cents worth.

First off don't know where you live in the states. The cost of living here is about the same as an average city in the U.S. If you come here on $2,000 and assuming you find a low pay job, you will at best have a very marginal existence. Your chances of success are between slim and none. Imagine trying to live where you are now on a job that pay 2 or 3 dollars an hour, you couldn't do it. You won't be able to do it here either. Stay at home, save your $2,000.

 

[syngirl]

Can we just emphasize something else here -- living in the States with a shitty job in a shitty apartment is still miles above what living in a third world country with a shitty job and a shitty apartment is. Argentina is a developing country. There is a large (and unfortunately growing) distance between the lifestyle of the poor and of the middle class. Coming here and taking a shitty job is not the same as moving to say London or Sydney, working in a hostel, and dossing (sleeping) on some friends couch.

Dream jobs barely exist for locals here. They are very old school here -- it doesn't matter if your some young thing with a degree from Harvard, they're still going to pay you a shittier salary than the 50 year old with no college education. Working your way up is a much longer process than in North America, promotions don't happen the same way they do in the US, and salary increases barely keep up with inflation. So maybe every 6 months you'll be lucky enough to get a salary increase, but because of inflation you'll be making about the same money. We depressingly worked it out for my husband one night. Thanks to inflation and the rising US dollar, despite his salary having tripled in 4 years, he's only actually making about 1000 USD more than he was 4 years ago. To give you a little persepctive -- he's an engineer with now almost 7 years experience -- he makes about $21,000 USD a year. That's an engineer. In the USA he'd be making about 70-80k USD, if not more (this is why we will most likely be leaving in the next couple of years, at least for a bit).

Imagine what a waiter will be making here. It's not pretty. Make sure you have that ticket home.

 

[Ries]

Jez nailed it-
If you come down here on a tourist visa and try to get a job, you are just another illegal alien who cant speak the language.

And the government of Argentina, while at times it may be corrupt, inefficient, bumbling, slow, and bureaucratic, is VERY VERY GOOD at making sure that its almost impossible to legally employ anyone in Argentina who doesnt have legal residency, a DNI, and a CUIL.

Which means its almost impossible for you to get a legal job, "in the white".
And compared to the USA, there are very few illegal jobs, "in the black". And the ones that do exist are being taken by other illegal aliens, from Peru or Bolivia, or Paraguay, who DO speak the language, and will work for ten bucks a day and consider it a good wage.

In the USA, you can get a fake social security card for $25 in most any city. And get a legal job with it right away. That is not possible here.

And the USA is the richest nation in the world. Argentina is NOT. There are lots and lots of very well educated, qualified Argentines, who cant get a job.

I know several Portenos who teach at the University- and all have either another, full time job, or a spouse who supports them- and this is at UBA, the largest, most prestigious college in the country- it doesnt pay a middle class wage to its professors. Who are legal, and do speak the language.

Public education in Argentina is free- so you will be competing for work with people who have graduate degrees.

Which brings me to my cranky old man rant-
What is it with all these kids who cant do anything?
You expect to come to a foreign country, where you dont speak the language, and get a job with NO skills, NO degree, and NO experience?

Heck, even in the USA, where I have been employing people full and part time for close to 30 years, I would never hire an illegal alien that cant speak english.
And I wouldnt hire a young person who didnt know how to do anything. I hire kids with 2 year AA degrees in welding or machine shop, I hire industrial design students who can build models, draw freehand and on a computer like a pro, who are familiar in their sleep with Photoshop and Illustrator and can edit movies or music, or I hire kids who can weave or crochet or sew and cut patterns, and the thing they all have in common- they have spent time and money learning skills, trades, and have LEARNED how to do all kinds of things.

I meet these kids whose idea of "IT" is that they can plug a hard drive into the back of a PC. In Buenos Aires, I know guys who can repair circuit boards at the component level for a few bucks an hour.

If you have enough chutzpah, and some actual ability to do things, there is work to be found anywhere in the world, including BA. But it sure aint fat and sassy like in the USA. Here in Washington State, where I live when I am in El Norte, minimum wage is $8.55 an hour, and even fast food places pay blank eyed slackers ten bucks an hour. In argentina, you will have to work a bit harder than that to earn your money.

Its certainly do-able, but it is nothing like the USA.

 

[Santiago]

And compared to the USA, there are very few illegal jobs, "in the black".

I don't know where did you get that, but actually MOST jobs that you can get are usually "en negro". But yes, illegal or not, getting one is not easy at all, especially if you don't speak spanish.

 

[GuilleGee]

What is it with all these kids who cant do anything?
You expect to come to a foreign country, where you dont speak the language, and get a job with NO skills, NO degree, and NO experience?

Agreed...100%

 

[Ries]

I don't know where did you get that, but actually MOST jobs that you can get are usually "en negro". But yes, illegal or not, getting one is not easy at all, especially if you don't speak spanish.

I said, "compared to the USA".
In the USA, there are an estimated 8 Million PLUS illegal immigrants working "en negro". They buy a fake social security card, or just make up a number, or get paid in cash by the day. In addition, a few million more US citizens work "en negro" to avoid paying taxes.

There are about 40 million people in Argentina.
25% of em are under 14 years old.
10% are over 65 years old.
That leaves 26 million people in the whole country of working age.
probably a third of them dont work, either because they are married wives, or unemployed, in jail, injured, or have money.

My guess is there are as many "en negro" jobs in the USA as every single job in Argentina.

Hence, "compared to the USA".