Thoughts on Being an Expat in Buenos Aires

[FrankPintor]

Venezuelans who got to Argentina were not the poor ones, the price for bus travel through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile to here was about $500 one-way, plus they needed to show $500 in cash to enter Chile. The "walkers" got as far as Colombia and Ecuador.

Argentina has been very welcoming to Venezuelans, both at the official level (strictly speaking, Venezuelans shouldn't get the Mercosur visa), and also at a personal level, with very little resentment among Argentinians. And Argentina has also made it easy for them to get citizenship. Many of them are very overqualified for whatever work they do here, whether it's Uber, fitness trainers, massage therapists, call centre workers or whatever, quite often they're engineers, lawyers, and teachers.

I don't really know why the Venezuelan mafias like the "Tren de Aragua" aren't present in Argentina, maybe with the unending economic crises here it's just now attractive for them. Whatever the reason, I'm very grateful that we don't have a situation like in Chile with those mafias, resentment, and sporadic murders of immigrants.

 

[earlyretirement]

Venezuelans who got to Argentina were not the poor ones, the price for bus travel through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile to here was about $500 one-way, plus they needed to show $500 in cash to enter Chile. The "walkers" got as far as Colombia and Ecuador.

Argentina has been very welcoming to Venezuelans, both at the official level (strictly speaking, Venezuelans shouldn't get the Mercosur visa), and also at a personal level, with very little resentment among Argentinians. And Argentina has also made it easy for them to get citizenship. Many of them are very overqualified for whatever work they do here, whether it's Uber, fitness trainers, massage therapists, call centre workers or whatever, quite often they're engineers, lawyers, and teachers.

I don't really know why the Venezuelan mafias like the "Tren de Aragua" aren't present in Argentina, maybe with the unending economic crises here it's just now attractive for them. Whatever the reason, I'm very grateful that we don't have a situation like in Chile with those mafias, resentment, and sporadic murders of immigrants.

But "poor" is a subjective term. The ones that I spoke to don't have a lot of money and busting their asses working like 12 hours in day in Uber. I'm not sure what all the ones you're meeting are doing? The ones I met are cutting hair, in Ubers, nail salon girls, etc. Definitely not a lot of money. They are struggling.

When I'm there I get deep in conversation with them. I always like hearing peoples story. And none of them I spoke to have much money. Most of them are in debt to their eyeballs but it's a much better life then their crappy country.

I'm not saying there aren't people with more money from there. But it sounds like you run in more "rich old white guy" circles than I do. I just hang out and talk to the common man. LOL (Just kidding) But I'm mostly encountering them in Ubers and the places I mentioned. They very well could be in other places too so I'm not sure. When I'm in town I'm in about 10-13 Ubers a day going around to meetings. And most are from there.

 

[FrankPintor]

But "poor" is a subjective term. The ones that I spoke to don't have a lot of money and busting their asses working like 12 hours in day in Uber. I'm not sure what all the ones you're meeting are doing? The ones I met are cutting hair, in Ubers, nail salon girls, etc. Definitely not a lot of money. They are struggling.

When I'm there I get deep in conversation with them. I always like hearing peoples story. And none of them I spoke to have much money. Most of them are in debt to their eyeballs but it's a much better life then their crappy country.

I'm not saying there aren't people with more money from there. But it sounds like you run in more "rich old white guy" circles than I do. I just hang out and talk to the common man. LOL (Just kidding) But I'm mostly encountering them in Ubers and the places I mentioned. They very well could be in other places too so I'm not sure. When I'm in town I'm in about 10-13 Ubers a day going around to meetings. And most are from there.

I think we're misunderstanding each other. The Venezuelans who got here weren't poor in Venezuela, they were able to save $1000 plus whatever they needed to get started here ( a few month's rent basically). That was a lot to be able to save in Venezuela where people I know earn $20-40 per day. And then they got to scramble here. They don't have much money (because, Argentina), and they're generally hugely overqualified for what they do here.

 

[earlyretirement]

I think we're misunderstanding each other. The Venezuelans who got here weren't poor in Venezuela, they were able to save $1000 plus whatever they needed to get started here ( a few month's rent basically). That was a lot to be able to save in Venezuela where people I know earn $20-40 per day. And then they got to scramble here. They don't have much money (because, Argentina), and they're generally hugely overqualified for what they do here.

No worries. Sometimes online it's difficult but no worries. I think we're both saying don't have that much money. Wow, a butcher with an MBA. That's awesome. Did he try to go in the corporate world at all? How much does a butcher make in BA?