Job Discussion Forums

[margareetta]

Hi you all!
Have been planning for a while now to come to BA... so, I have questions.
How much should I expect tp pay for a 2 bedroom apartment? Preferably unfurnished. I am now (together with my kid) in Asia, but come from Europe. We have a lot of stuff here, including furniture, and no home in back in my country, so can't ship them there. And really don't even want to.

Also, I've been teaching here economics and English. Any possibilities to do the same in BA? I am not a native speaker and have no certificate in teaching. Another thing is that I would like to study for a lic or phd in economics. Is it possible in any university in BA to do that in English?
How about the elementary schools? They are probably all in Spanish, but will they take kids that speak no Spanish at all?

Thanks a lot in advance!
margareetta

[matttheboy]

Do you have residency here? If not then i'm pretty sure you won't be able to enrol your kid in a local school, rent an apartment except ones specifically aimed at foreigners or work and live legally. Also, if you have no cert in teaching then you won't be able to teach at a school (economics that is) and not being a native speaker (unless you have no accent) will probably hinder your chances of gettting work teaching english...sorry...

If you do have a residency or a way of getting it then things will be a hell of a lot easier for you. It's not easy to get residency but there are ways. The easiest is probably as a 'rentista' but to qualify you need to have an independent income of around us$900 a month from for example, interest on savings and be able to prove this to the argentine government. All this has to be done in your home country before coming here though and is very time consuming.

The other way is to live here illegally and wait for the next amnesty to come along...i reckon in a year or so there'll be another...

[Gauchito]

margareetta,
Too many questions, just a few answers...
First is the furniture question.
If you want to bring them along that will complicate your entrance, since you should have a residence or work visa in order to bring your own stuff from overseas. Eg. if you're relocated by your company here, etc.
The other issue is the cost of moving your furniture I paid a couple of years back USD 8,000 to move all my stuff back from the states, so, I've no idea of how much it'll cost you from Asia.

About schools accepting kids that are non spanish speakers, we have a few, most of them in the northerns suburbs, but, they are no cheap at all, figure around USD 1,500. if you plan to live on a teacher's wage, then that will be impossible. May be you'll like to consider home schooling, or even what we call distance education, may be your home country has a program of sorts and your kid can study here at home and get certified.

On the topic of teaching and studying I'll suggest you to visit the sites of Universidad de Belgrano, Universidad del Salvador and Universidad de San Andres, the have exchange programs and some other interesting things to offer.

On a personal note. About you moving here with your furniture, REDLEY can help you out. I like to think of him as our in-house lawyer. And on you working or studying I believe that sqwerl is attending UNiversidad de Belgrano, may be he can give you a hand with this.

Well, good luck!

Gauchito

[margareetta]

Thanks for the replies. Some answers.. I don�t have a residence permit, most likely I�ll get a student/research visa. I�ve emailed my embassy in Argentina about these study visas and working permits, but received no answers.

My income would be rental income and some child benefits, but not 900 USD. Together with a scholarship it might. To avoid taking a huge loan I thought I could help finance our stay with some teaching. To teach economics for undergrad students you usually need a master, at least that�s the case in majority of the countries. As for English, I have no accent (or do but an American one).

I checked the shipping costs to Europe some time back, and the average was around 100 USD per cubic meter. Probably a little bit more to South America. But I really have no choice, can�t ship them to my parents, brother or anyone else. Mostly I have cabinets, a few tables and a lot of small stuff (books, decorations, clothes, toys). Anyways, things I don't want to leave behind

The private schools you (Gauchito) mentioned are in English or Spanish? I know that in most of the countries the governmental schools don�t accept children who can�t speak the language. But aren�t there any other private schools that cost less? Or was that per year? I am pretty sure the embassy can�t help on this one, they send their kids to top schools. When we moved over here and I asked about the schooling, I got info of many schools, but they all cost closer to 5000 USD per semester!

margareetta

[REDLEY]

Well, here i send you some preliminary orientation info, please dont take what I say for granted, always double check.

1) Immigration Status: Obtaining a STUDENT VISA is a good way to get work authorization. Make sure you enroll at an official school program and for a minimum of 2 years so that you can obtain a STUDENT VISA of at least one year (renewable to one more) and this will let you apply for DNI (local ID) and CUIL (social security ID number). You will be allowed to work as long as you comply with the study course.

I know cases of clients who had VISAS stamped for 11 months and they were denied DNI since you must have at least a 12 months VISA.

In general, Argentine Embasssies suck, It doesnt surprise me that they didnt reply. What country are you in again?. You will have to process your student visa at the argentine consulate in your home country!.

2) You could apply for a residencia temporaria as a RENTISTA, but you would need I think u$s 1.000 a month.....but I would have to double check this. If you cant reach 1000 perhaps you can have a cosigner of your US account deposit an ammount everymoth so that it shows in the bank statement (then he withdraws it and deposit it again every month)....to justify this income perhaps you can have a second lease contract signed in the US with a friend .... I shouldnt go on, or I will have my bar association licence revoked.

3) Shipping Furniture: your shipping company will tell you exactly how much the freight cost is. I do know that for avoiding paying customs import duties you need to have your VISA and declare your shippment ass �non acompanied baggage� for a �residir, immigrar o temporarios�.....so you pay 0% import tax. There is also a �term� you must respect to import these stuff, if you fail to do it within the term, you are charged with import duties.

4) The job market is very diverse and experiencies are very personal....I am not a teacher...follow gauchitos and the guys tips.

5) The US Embasy in Buenos Aires has a list of bilingual schools, check
http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/ar1/wwwhengschools.html perhaps you can email them asking for their fees.

Suerte.