For a PT who doesn't want to be considered a resident taxpayer, the PT idea is to move on before your tourist status runs out. But suppose? You like Buenos Aires enough to want to make it your permanent HQ.
No big charges for Golden Visas. You simply live (rent or buy) there and register with the police.
You can become a resident. Free! After two years you can apply for citizenship and a passport.
VISA RUNS
Or you can stay in Argentina as a PT or permanent tourist; stay invisible & there are no taxes. ---if that is your desire. How?
The River Plate separates Buenos Aires from Uruguay. It is no Rio Grande that you can swim across but, its only a cheap boat ride (Bouquet Bus) to cross the wide river. On the other side, in Uruguay, you can have lunch, smoke some pot (it's legal there like in Amsterdam). Then come back a few hours later on the same boat “The Bokey Bus” – You will get a 3 month tourist visa -free of charge, upon arrival at each end. In PT parlance, this little stratagem is called a “Visa Run.” A fringe benefit, is that in Uruguay, you can use your foreign credit or debit card to withdraw cash dollars from an ATM. You can't do this at an ATM in Argentina. You can only get pesos at the official bank rate. This gives you only less than half as much as you get if you bring in on your person, cash dollars. You can carry up to a value of $10,000 per person. It is entirely legal has a spend value in Argentina of double or more and need not be declared....Let me explain.
Cash dollars in Buenos Aires are called "Blue Dollars." They can be exchanged on Avenue Florida at multitude of private money changers for over twice as many Argentine Pesos as you'd get from a bank at the official rate. They are but don't call it the “Black Market Rate.” This is how the “Blue Dollar” exchange rate works... Neither legal nor illegal it seems.
Last time we exchanged, the official exchange rate was 60 pesos for $1 USA dollar. But the unofficial rate was 200 pesos per dollar. Now this situation may not go on forever. Frankly, I don't expect the disparity to always stay this great, but the net result is with Blue Dollars, everything made or produced in Argentina costs around 10 to 20% of Stateside or vs,. European prices.
THIS MAKES ARGENTINA BY FAR, THE CHEAPEST PLACE IN THE WORLD
For what? For great food, wine, rent, in fact everything except imported appliances. But no worries.
Local brands of everything are perfectly good. I get locally made Hiram Walker Whiskey for 75c per liter.
Decent wine or beer 50c. Great wine $2.
A WORLD CLASS CITY
Many newsletter articles promote living towns in “developing” countries. They are also cheap to live in – though nowhere near as cheap as Buenos Aires. But besides cheap, BA is a world class city. It has everything (and more) than you could get in Paris, London, New York, etc. We personally like to live near the local Chinatown (Barrio Chino) for great restaurants (for fresh fish, roast duck, lemon chicken) & shopping.
There are “ethnic” areas and restaurants to fit every taste- We go to Armenian, Arab, Greek, Israeli, and Japanese places all within walking distance. There is even a Kosher McDonald's. The local specialty is the Empanada. It's a baked dumpling kind of thing. Tasty! We had lunch of 3 different fillings and a drink – One buck! Where in the world can you get a tasty filling meal for that price any more. A good steak lunch would be around $5. I took a few pictures today in my own upper middle class neighborhood (Belgrano) that I can share if you ask me.
The town is very friendly to graffiti artists who decorate every wall. Needless to say, the art is not always as high quality as the famous mural “ The Yellow Brick Road” featuring me!
When I say Buenos Aires is a World Class City, besides the many classy French style mansions from the prewar period, BA is full of high-rise luxury apartment buildings.. In this particular building where we lived, overlooking Barrancas Park, the views all the way to the River Plate are spectacular. The many thousands of apartments in the better neighborhoods are generally 200 to 300 m2 and are all priced in USA Dollars. Here they would sell for $900,000 on a lower floor and maybe $2 million plus for larger units on higher floors. There are an awful lot of very rich people in Buenos Aires. Real Estate prices are always in USA dollars--comparable to prices in USA or Europe.
There is a German Pub in our neighborhood. The local draft beers are made in a German brewery founded over a century ago. The food is what you'd expect in Berlin: Sauerkraut & Sausages, Weiner Schnitzel, Goulash. Delicious! Probably a third of all the locals are of German descent.
On the streets and in the parks there are always a lot of little artsy-craftsy stall. Clothing, metal work, art, jewelry, ceramics – the usual. One thing I could not figure out is why every tall building seems to have a high tower antenna (as pictured) above it. Must be a cell fone transmission tower.
If you want to see the top of the Chrysler Building in New York City, in Buenos Aires you need to go no further than the Club Manhattan a hamburger joint on Avenue Cabildo. Note the tower on the left side of this picture.
There are attractive flower stands on almost every block. You can get your honey-bun a nice little gift bouquet for around 50c to $1.
Need a job?
A popular portable trade here is “Dog Walker.” Two walks per day with 20 dogs at a time can make you a very well paid person. The town is dog friendly with “dog playgrounds” where pooches get to run free and socialize.
The BA parks are full of art and statues—nobody seems inclined to damage, deface or steal them as is all too common in the USA and London.
No big charges for Golden Visas. You simply live (rent or buy) there and register with the police.
You can become a resident. Free! After two years you can apply for citizenship and a passport.
VISA RUNS
Or you can stay in Argentina as a PT or permanent tourist; stay invisible & there are no taxes. ---if that is your desire. How?
The River Plate separates Buenos Aires from Uruguay. It is no Rio Grande that you can swim across but, its only a cheap boat ride (Bouquet Bus) to cross the wide river. On the other side, in Uruguay, you can have lunch, smoke some pot (it's legal there like in Amsterdam). Then come back a few hours later on the same boat “The Bokey Bus” – You will get a 3 month tourist visa -free of charge, upon arrival at each end. In PT parlance, this little stratagem is called a “Visa Run.” A fringe benefit, is that in Uruguay, you can use your foreign credit or debit card to withdraw cash dollars from an ATM. You can't do this at an ATM in Argentina. You can only get pesos at the official bank rate. This gives you only less than half as much as you get if you bring in on your person, cash dollars. You can carry up to a value of $10,000 per person. It is entirely legal has a spend value in Argentina of double or more and need not be declared....Let me explain.
Cash dollars in Buenos Aires are called "Blue Dollars." They can be exchanged on Avenue Florida at multitude of private money changers for over twice as many Argentine Pesos as you'd get from a bank at the official rate. They are but don't call it the “Black Market Rate.” This is how the “Blue Dollar” exchange rate works... Neither legal nor illegal it seems.
Last time we exchanged, the official exchange rate was 60 pesos for $1 USA dollar. But the unofficial rate was 200 pesos per dollar. Now this situation may not go on forever. Frankly, I don't expect the disparity to always stay this great, but the net result is with Blue Dollars, everything made or produced in Argentina costs around 10 to 20% of Stateside or vs,. European prices.
THIS MAKES ARGENTINA BY FAR, THE CHEAPEST PLACE IN THE WORLD
For what? For great food, wine, rent, in fact everything except imported appliances. But no worries.
Local brands of everything are perfectly good. I get locally made Hiram Walker Whiskey for 75c per liter.
Decent wine or beer 50c. Great wine $2.
A WORLD CLASS CITY
Many newsletter articles promote living towns in “developing” countries. They are also cheap to live in – though nowhere near as cheap as Buenos Aires. But besides cheap, BA is a world class city. It has everything (and more) than you could get in Paris, London, New York, etc. We personally like to live near the local Chinatown (Barrio Chino) for great restaurants (for fresh fish, roast duck, lemon chicken) & shopping.
There are “ethnic” areas and restaurants to fit every taste- We go to Armenian, Arab, Greek, Israeli, and Japanese places all within walking distance. There is even a Kosher McDonald's. The local specialty is the Empanada. It's a baked dumpling kind of thing. Tasty! We had lunch of 3 different fillings and a drink – One buck! Where in the world can you get a tasty filling meal for that price any more. A good steak lunch would be around $5. I took a few pictures today in my own upper middle class neighborhood (Belgrano) that I can share if you ask me.
The town is very friendly to graffiti artists who decorate every wall. Needless to say, the art is not always as high quality as the famous mural “ The Yellow Brick Road” featuring me!
When I say Buenos Aires is a World Class City, besides the many classy French style mansions from the prewar period, BA is full of high-rise luxury apartment buildings.. In this particular building where we lived, overlooking Barrancas Park, the views all the way to the River Plate are spectacular. The many thousands of apartments in the better neighborhoods are generally 200 to 300 m2 and are all priced in USA Dollars. Here they would sell for $900,000 on a lower floor and maybe $2 million plus for larger units on higher floors. There are an awful lot of very rich people in Buenos Aires. Real Estate prices are always in USA dollars--comparable to prices in USA or Europe.
There is a German Pub in our neighborhood. The local draft beers are made in a German brewery founded over a century ago. The food is what you'd expect in Berlin: Sauerkraut & Sausages, Weiner Schnitzel, Goulash. Delicious! Probably a third of all the locals are of German descent.
On the streets and in the parks there are always a lot of little artsy-craftsy stall. Clothing, metal work, art, jewelry, ceramics – the usual. One thing I could not figure out is why every tall building seems to have a high tower antenna (as pictured) above it. Must be a cell fone transmission tower.
If you want to see the top of the Chrysler Building in New York City, in Buenos Aires you need to go no further than the Club Manhattan a hamburger joint on Avenue Cabildo. Note the tower on the left side of this picture.
There are attractive flower stands on almost every block. You can get your honey-bun a nice little gift bouquet for around 50c to $1.
Need a job?
A popular portable trade here is “Dog Walker.” Two walks per day with 20 dogs at a time can make you a very well paid person. The town is dog friendly with “dog playgrounds” where pooches get to run free and socialize.
The BA parks are full of art and statues—nobody seems inclined to damage, deface or steal them as is all too common in the USA and London.
Last edited by a moderator:
