WikIMAS

The Knowledge!

Can you remember your 1st day in Buenos Aires?

Maybe not your first visit as a tourist ...but your first day as someone that intended to stay for as long as you could.

What a frabjous day! A new life was before you in a place that held all the promise of being what you always wanted.

I hope that your first day worked out to be the first of as many beautiful ones as you ever wanted.

If you'll allow me, however, I'll bet that some/many of your subsequent days were spent navigating a strange land as a stranger. Days that could have been spent enjoying this new city and nation ...days that got bogged down in things as simple as getting someone to repair a light fixture ...or as complicated as talking to the police on an important matter.

If you've been here awhile, the memory of getting internet into your humble flat or a visit to a laundromat is something distant and a now funny story. Be truthful, though. It was probably a big big headache on that long-ago day.

If you could help someone avoid the tortures of those trivial things, would you like that?

If you've got some other hard-won "living skills" in more grave matters, would sharing them appeal to you?

What if you only had to give that help one time? What if your help would become part of a wiki, a knowledge base, that would remain permanently available to those that need what you would have loved on that day?

IMAS is the place for that.

Tomorrow evening, Tuesday the 22nd at areatres, will be the first of many opportunities for you to share what you know ...and share what others already have figured out.

There are already more "rsvps" than were expected. There's a real need for this.

Tuesday evening will deal with anything, anything that you want to know about DNI or Legal Residency. Bring any and all of your personal needs, situations, and experiences. Later DNI gatherings will focus on the more complicated aspects of "getting legal in Argentina."

The next seminar could explore more mundane, day-to-day concerns. Don't waste a day of your life on something that somebody else has already figured out.

Get help. Give help. Don't think you are the first person to face this stuff. Do it yourself ...but do it with a friend. A new friend.

(IMAS does not ask for money. IMAS does not need money. IMAS needs you.)

This looks big...

By all accounts, IMAS' Tuesday's seminar will be very well attended! Due in no small part to the generous contribution of meeting rooms and facilities contributed by areatres workplace to the efforts.

"Do it Yourself DNI / Legal Residency" will be two hours of presentation and question-answer regarding absolutely anything you'd like to know about DNI and/or legal residency here in Argentina. It's Tuesday at 7pm and IMAS askes that you RSVP just so there is some idea as to how many of us will be there.

The presentation will be conducted by Solange Verón, an Argentine immigration lawyer with a track record of helping English speakers obtain their DNI.

It's free and open to the public ...and in the heart of Palermo at areatres' sparkling digs on Malabia 1720 right behind the Starbucks.

I'll be there and, immediately after, I'll be buying drinks at the nearby bar, Sugar. See you there!

IMAS on the Radio...

I don't know if you had a chance to listen-in on the web or the radio tonight to some of the organizers of Buenos Aires' Immigrant Mutual Aid Society's (IMAS) founders.

We were discussing the truly unprecedented US immigration to Argentina with one of the honchos of all immigrant communities here, Horacio Daboul on RadioCadenaEco's program "Diplomacia Politica y Economía" at AM1220 and here on the web.

If you missed it, don't worry. We'll be back.

But if you didn't tune in, you missed Marta Motta! One of our activistas ...who truly deserves the title!

Pugnacious. I can't believe that Marta has ever shrunk from battle with any injustice that she's ever encountered ...and she's working for you now.

Marta's a veteran of political infighting in Nevada and California, social activism, community organizing, and just plain "making things happen that wouldn't have happened had she not been there"... wherever she's been.

She's working for you now. Tune in next time ...or come meet all of us (all of YOU) at IMAS very soon.

Immigration to Argentina

My buddy Bill Hammond and I explored the dreaded belly of the beast this morning, in search of the coveted DNI.

Bill, being the organized guy that he is, had all his ducks in a row and was ready, willing, and able at 07:00 waiting in line for the doors to open. I got there at 08:00 when the doors actually opened and ran for a couple of double espressos to fortify us.

The great old building at 25 de Mayo and Tte. Gral. Juan D. Perón doesn't have the sterile efficiency of its peers in yanquilandia but we were both impressed at the mass of humanity that was being processed during our almost 4 hours together. From 8am to about 11am, I'll bet that 1000 people got processed in some way, shape or form.

I'd been through the process a few years ago; the layout has changed a little but it's basically the same. Bill was putting some of the final touches on his DNI and volunteered his experience to aid the newly founded IMAS. Other than good basic navigation, the best thing we discovered is that anyone older than 62 can skip to the front of any line in the process. It took us about an hour of sipping good coffee and swappin' lies before we figured that out ...but once figgered, we pretty much sailed thru. One for the database. It is also a definite plus to have a friend along that can go explore the bureaucracy ...without you losing your place in line!

When it comes to DNI for retirees, Bill is IMAS' freshest gurú. 40 more working days and he should have his bright, shiny, and freshly minted DNI.

Care to share with anyone your own DNI experiences with your particular demographic? Do you need someone to share their DNI experiences with YOU? The place to go is IMAS. Think of it as our institutional memory. A database of colaborative living skills for Argentina.

There's no reason for anybody to have to go through it alone anymore.

Parental Lifelines, Frayed to Breaking

The parents still wish they could help, Mr. Weinstein said, but “right now, they’re in a situation in their life where they need to ensure their own security.”

...I'm not sure that this is related but I sense something:

"If you’re the kind of person who prefers freedom to security, who feels more comfortable in a small room than a large one and who finds that happiness comes from matching your wants to your needs, then running to stand still isn’t where your joy lies."

I've praised and, also, taken issue with Pico Iyer before ...but I kinda like this piece from him.

Crisis Stings Britons in France and Spain

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/business/global/30return.html?emc=eta1

More yanquis for Buenos Aires?

I guess it could be true.

Two more stories came in over the transom today regarding the phenomenon and its accompanying reportage: this one from Reuters ...and this one from Bill Bonner who has developed a lot of expertise regarding Argentina (he owns a ranch in Salta and his son, Will Bonner, is the head blogger what's in charge at Discovering Buenos Aires.)

The graphic to the left links to Taos Turner's examination of the recent Clarín article and video on the same meme. My post about a possible "second wave" of expats to Argentina mentions two international blog posts that seemed to have lit the fuse as to the Argentine media's renewed fascination with the subject. But like Taos wrote, "Every six months or so local newspapers like Clarín and La Nación write stories about foreigners living in Argentina."

The Reuters and the Bill Bonner articles came in about the same time as I was speaking today with Fred of Fourpoint Report. Fred was in a television studio today recording a program with María Laura Santillán of "Argentina Para Armar" on TN.

Fred was part of a panel discussion with an Argentine expert on immigration and four other yanquis (prominently including Martin Frankel of Expat Connection.) I'll let you know about airing times when I find out.

I've been suspicious, however, about this latest trend toward exploring the foreigners (not all yanquis) that are supposedly flocking to Buenos Aires and Argentina in general in order to escape the recent economic crisis.

On March 4, two big blogposts hit the ether: from gawker.com and from blackbookmag.com ...those posts, to my mind, generated the current stir.

The current interest in the press is probably just more of the same-old, same-old ...except this time with even less good reporting and, probably, just a tie-in to the widely reported economic crises in the US (something that impresses the average Argentine as much as yanquis moving to Argentina.)

But I can't seem to shake the notion that this time it's different.

This recent interest shown in the Buenos Aires media strikes me as a sea change in the attitudes of people in Buenos Aires (and, to a slightly lesser degree, Argentines in general) toward the foreigners that almost crowd certain corners of Capital Federal.

First, the fact that the US could be suffering economically surprises the average citizen here. Secondly, the very idea that yanquis might be fleeing the US because of the current straits is almost unimaginable. Third, for US citizens to choose Argentina as an economic refuge just plain boggles the mind of any South American considering that the Colossus of the North has been the ambition of the ambitious for a very long time.

The story of Americans fleeing, if true at all, is not picking up too much traction beyond the usual story of foriegners in Buenos Aires that have become commonplace since the un-pegging of the peso to the dollar in 2001. The potential of it morphing into something new, however, looms on the horizon. A new variant is available to any enterprising journalist seeking both to push circulation and catch the wave: "there are now two kinds of foreigners."

Most Argentines believe that all foreigners here are rich. That may seem ridiculous to the foreigners themselves ...but perfectly in line with the empirical evidence experienced by local residents. People here have met many foreigners and they have all been wealthy enough to warrant that label at least somewhat.

Since the devaluation of the Argentine Peso, however, many foreigners of lesser means have taken up residence here. Those new arrivals were bundled into the prevailing attitude regarding the economic status regarding foreigners in general. Their assumed high economic status was never in question.

The idea now that not all foreigners here are rich ...is taking some time to sink in. I think that it will, however.

The traditional attitude in this most cosmopolitan of South American cities is based on good, overwhelming, personal observation of facts collected during the 100 years or so in which tourism to Argentina never existed ...not based on something uninformed nor ignorant.

When the idea finally does sink in, however, a certain immunity enjoyed by rich foreigners and poor ones alike will disappear ...and it will be felt by both groups. We should all expect to have to describe ourselves, on occasion, as to which category we personally belong: the "usual" rich...

...or the refugees from the kind of crisis with which Argentina is well acquainted ...but something virtually unknown to ourselves.

Immigrant Mutual Aid Society

From American Expat:
New blogger on deck! Watch yer six! American Expat aims to be of service while she chronicles her experiences.

One of Æ's (may I call you Æ? I've been dying for a chance to use that character.) blogs caught my eye today: Budget Buenos Aires.

My wife is a hopeless Coca Light addict and I've been impressed at how much it's gone up in price the last few years. I've also noticed a recent television commercial that hawks the virtues of the pesadisimo 1.5 returnable coke bottle to the average non-weightlifting house wife (that bottle seems a lot more popular in the campo than in Capital)

Not only does she weigh-in with a post on how much cheaper it is to buy the retornable, she has a whole blog on money saving tips.

The big deal for me, however, was seeing that she has another blog devoted to letting people know the pitfalls of getting your "papers, please." She plans to publish a blow by blow on the process of obtaining a visa, CUIT/CUIL, and/or DNI.

She's new ...so there's not a lot of content as of yet. Drop by and give 'er some love.

Digs.

From a Reader:

Hola Mike

Been much enjoying your blog and the spirit of this immigrant mutual aid idea. I've not been here 3 weeks but already have a good deal of hard earned bsas-quirk wisdom. One thing I have not figured out though - and I wonder if you can offer a tip - is how one gets a decent apartment in this city without getting crushed by the expat tax. Do you have any go-to websites for this sort of thing? My needs aren't complicated: Just need a single bedroom, furnished, with Internet, and would pay a little extra to pay by credit card or paypal (to avoid dealing in large sums of cash, which I learned the hard way on day one is dangerous business). Much obliged if you can suggest a website. Either way keep up the good work.

Dear Digs Seeker,

Good news and bad news:

The expat tax is coming down ...but large wads of cash are still the order of the day.

Buenos Aires rents really went up last year and the year before but the city has overbuilt and the extranjeros aren't renting and buying like they used to. I think that March will be a good time for apartment hunting. If you can hold out until chillier weather ...even better.

A two year lease is what every landlord wants to do here. You might be able to squeeze a 1 year out of somebody ...but it's hard to negotiate a good rate and get that at the same time. Furnished? Well, that's always been at a premium and from what I've seen those rents haven't gone down quite the way others have and probably won't follow unfurnished apartments in the exact same downward trend this year.

Rents are down a little in the expat bubble barrios ...but getting out to some traditional neighborhoods away from the N.E. of town will save you money and still keep you on a major public transit artery. I dearly love Almagro, por ejemplo ...but there are lots of others.

I've been lucky with paying multiple months in advance ...in cash, of course. I've even negotiated some pretty good discounts that way.

The really bad news is: landlords are the worst businessmen in the world. Doesn't matter what country you're talking about. They are just a step and a half above people that think they can make a fortune in the restaurant business. Therefore, they're hard to do business with.

You need to explain to them, and/or get somebody to explain to him, that the whole concept of la guarantía doesn't really apply to extranjeros.

La guarantía is the landlord's insurance policy against your "squatting" in his dpto for the two years that it's gonna take to evict you. You as an expat actually are more of a risk for running out on your lease than becoming a squatter. If you can get that through his thick landlord skull ...and pay 6 months in advance ...you might get him to overlook the guarantee and even drop the rent to porteño prices.

Paying 6 or more month's rent in one fell swoop may sound pretty extreme ...but if you're not getting any heavy interest on your savings account anyway ... it can actually be convenient for you as well as being a negotiating tool: you only have to pay your rent twice a year! (And remember, you gotta pay your rent every month anyway.) And since almost nobody mails in their rent check, like in the states, paying every month means arranging some face time to hand over the cash, which could conflict with some of your plans.

The best part of the relatively unheard-of "cash in advance" thing is that it surprises the hell out of your landlord (money talks...) and it might get him to start thinking outside the box.

For shorter terms than 2 years, we're gonna have to talk to somebody that's done it or is doing it. Trouble is... most of them, by definition, are gone by now! I still have lots of readers in the US, tho. Maybe some of them were short-termers and can chime in on the subject!

Yours in art and labor,
Mike

Immigrant Mutual Aid Society

You'll notice, to the very right of this page, the beginnings of something very near and dear to my heart: an effort to help those among us ...far, far from home ...to cope with coming to, establishing in, coping with, and fruitfully living here in Argentina.

The idea of such a "society" might have been laughable only a few short months ago.

However, now, with so many changes here and abroad, we might want correct our course of Yankee Individualism ...and take a page from our great-grandparents book and the books of other immigrants to the new world ...and pool our resourcefulness toward helping ourselves like every other to this side of the pond has done before.

We can laugh. Most of us are in tremendous good shape. We are still in an enviable position as regards our fellow residents of Argentina ...in fact, some of us are in better shape than our compatriots we left behind in the good ol' USofA.

However, I have met several expats that have been wiped-out by the recent "crisis financiero" ...and some of the others I have met can no longer depend on the remittances like they used to.

Some of us are working here ...but some of us are working illegally. The idea of US citizens depending on dwindling investments, smaller remittances, being employed without benefit of "papers", making the "Montevideo Two-Step" to keep our residency somewhat legal ...is alien to our self-image and our concept of ourselves and our people.

Toward that, I propose that we not re-invent the wheel. I could be wrong but the but the model of the old Immigrant Mutual Aid Societies of the 19th century could assist us all in building a 21st century Expat/Immigrant community that we could all be proud of.

Some of us could end up in more trouble than others. Some others of us will need the sort of help and services that many of us could provide without any bother at all. Some of us will need the kind of help that will require us to put our heads together to find a way to help ...if not a solution.

I don't see this as a yanqui-centric effort ...although our assistance will be limited to the English language at first. Maybe later, we can develop a core that can assist in situations that can encompass languages other than ingles and castellano. There is no reason, however, to limit our efforts to any particular nationality nor to our debt to the nation that has been our gracious host.

We US citizen could leave behind a trace of good works like so many other nationalities have done here in the Argentine. It could make us very proud.

"Immigrant Mutual Aid Societies" do not qualify for non-profit status under Argentine law ...thereby making the creation of an NGO difficult if not impossible.

However, I'm of a mind that, in this period that we are experiencing globally, to look for status and funding ...in advance of good works ...is fighting "the last war." Today, I think we should prove ourselves capable of rendering service ...then, perhaps, seek official status. It's an upside-down world today. The lack of available funding now shouldn't prevent us from "helping a fellow American down on his luck" anymore than it did our forbearers.

"Society" may be a bad term for this. However, if we never develop a societal leadership ...that won't be so bad. Amish barn-raisings and Syndico-Anarchists never looked to build institutions ...they simply came together for a purpose and lended any effort they could. When the job was done, they went home happy and waited for the next call to help another.

Each one of us has so very much to give. The assistance from one of our own that "has been there, done that" can be so valuable to someone in the kind of need that we all found ourselves in... once upon a time.

The graphic to the right is merely brainstorming on my part as to the needs of people that I see coming to Argentina still to this day ...and the sort of things that I'm certain that short and long time residents still need help with. A laundry list, nothing more.

Buenos Aires life has a component of leisure that we all love. If we have learned anything from our Argentine hosts, it is that helping a fellow compatriot does not need to interrupt that. A moment here, a moment there ...with the things that we have become "expert" in, could make all the difference in the world to a fellow extranjero in need.

As we all begin to digest this proposal, I hope that you will all ponder the things you have learned to do and accomplish, through the school of hard knocks, and share them and teach them to others that might not pass through certain crucibles as well as we have.

I offer this site as a clearing house for both the need and the abilities that we as a community have.

It's a 19th century model, to be sure. However, it may be the moment to re-learn some of the lessons of that time ...with a decidedly 21st century twist!

Think about it ...and give me your thoughts as you are thinking.