If you’re looking to work as a legit local freelancer in Argentina so that you can provide companies and individuals with invoices for your services, you’ll need a taxpayer ID as a “monotributista” and a local bank account where they can send you payments.
HOW TO GET YOUR MONOTRIBUTO
Oh those Porteños: on the one hand they’re spontaneous, clever, sarcastic, expressive, social, never boring, and sexy as hell with an accent straight from the heavens. On the other hand you have chamuyo, histeriqueo, machismo, flakiness, lying, cheating, and drama. What you need to know about dating in Buenos Aires.
A guide for expats: enrolling in a master’s program at UBA
Very often Buenos Aires expats ask me questions about doing a master’s degree here, so I’ve decided to share my experience. I’m also happy to help if anyone has any specific questions that aren’t answered here.
VERY proud of UBA for being recognized as the top spanish-speaking university in the world. While studying International Immigration Policy at UBA’s School of Psychology, my professors encouraged me to research Americans that had immigrated to Argentina, eventually leading to an in-depth thesis investigation and analysis…. eventually leading to the launch of this blog.
THE LINK BETWEEN AMERICANS LIVING IN BUENOS AIRES AND UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
I like to keep the information on this blog a bit light sometimes, so what better way to do that then to talk about wine! I have been to a few wine tastings in Buenos Aires (in the Palermo Soho area) over the years and here are a few of my favorites.
The expat community is starting to worry…and they should. Seems like Argentina’s lax approach to north american immigration and long-term “tourism” is no longer the standard. It’s still early, and only a couple cases have been reported, but that fact is that a couple of north americans weren’t allowed into the country when they returned Ezeiza after visiting family in their home countries (U.S.A. and Canada). Here’s what the “rejection” notice looks like. You’ll notice the reason is listed as “pseudo turista”.
What is going on??
From my own perspective, an American that has been living in Buenos Aires for the past 6 years, as well as the opinions of the 27 Americans I interviewed for my master’s thesis on Americans living in Buenos Aires. P.S. Check out my Top 10 best here.
From my own perspective, an American that has been living in Buenos Aires for the past 6 years, as well as the opinions of the 27 Americans I interviewed for my master’s thesis on Americans living in Buenos Aires. P.S. Check out my top 10 worst things here
Americans living in Buenos Aires want more local friends
According to the 27 Americans living in Buenos Aires that I interviewed, it’s hard making porteño friends. In fact, most have very few (if any!). Read more about why that is here: BA expat predicament: I have no porteño friends.
The grand majority of the Americans interviewed admitted to having more foreign friends than local ones, and they believe that a large contributing factor to this situation is that there are simply more ways to meet “expats” than there are to meet locals. If you compare this post on meeting locals to my post on the top 5 ways to meet expats in Buenos Aires you’ll notice one glaring factor that makes all the difference: the internet. While this is the preferred method of many for meeting other foreigners in Buenos Aires, very few mentioned this as the way they met their local friends.
So how did they meet their few precious porteño friends? Here are the top 5 ways these Americans made local amigos in Buenos Aires.
Living in Buenos Aires as a “TOURIST”
First of all, a lot (more than half based on my research) of Americans living in Buenos Aires do so under the “tourist” category, meaning that upon entering the country they get a stamp in their passport that allows them to stay in the country for 90 days of “tourism”. However, I discovered that many Americans have been living in Buenos Aires for years as “tourists”. Some of them leave the country every 90 days and then get a new stamp when they re-enter, but most of them tend to “overstay” their 90 days, and pay the $300 peso fine when they do eventually leave the country (many claim it’s cheaper than taking a trip every 3 months).
Americans living in Buenos Aires don’t have many local porteño friends. Why?
During the interviews I conducted for my research on Americans living in Buenos Aires, I asked the participants about their social lives in BA. First of all, while the majority have an Argentine partner, the majority also claimed to have more foreign friends (primarily English-speaking) than local ones.
The good, the bad and the ugly of the transience of the expat communities in global cities.
The revolving door of expat friends when you live abroad
Most of the participants in my case study of Americans living in Buenos Aires claimed to have more foreign friends than local ones, and in many cases, those friends are English-speaking or American friends. In this context, many commented on the “revolving door” of expat friends in Buenos Aires due to the typically temporary nature of American expatriation to Buenos Aires.
How do I meet expats in Buenos Aires?
Here are the top ways to meet other expats in Buenos Aires according to 27 Americans living in the city.
1. ONLINE
The majority of the Americans I interviewed claimed that one of the main ways they meet other foreigners or “expats” in BA is online. Here are just a few of the web links they mentioned:
Detailed instructions for Americans (and those from any other “extra Mercosur” countries) on how to get residency in Argentina. Temporary or permanent.
STEPS: APPLYING FOR RESIDENCY IN ARGENTINA
urban expats 