Hi

After many years my Argentine wife has had enough of living in Scotland and without much persuasion due to our yearly visits of enjoying the sun, wine and bife de chorizo I have agreed to emigrate and bring her home. We have our house to go to, so that’s one problem sorted.
We have had a few quotes from reputable removal companies and think the door-to-door service to be the best option, as they will sort out the customs and port clearance for us.
What I would like to ask is if anyone here has any experience in moving to Argentina – any pitfalls/any tips etc; to make the whole process easier?

You may want to check out / join the Buenos Aires Newcomers mailing list at Yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BANewcomers/

Also, check out this page:
http://www.argentina-info.net/reloca..._in_argen.html

Dear Hiddy-- congratulations on your move, Im sure you will not regret it. I think that a door to door move is the only way to do things... the extra cost is not enormous and trying to clear everything on your own will be a nightmare.

One thing I recommend you do once you are down here is get a good immigration lawyer and have your personal residency paperwork taken care of. I assume your wife still has her Argentine Citizenship...? This fact will make things somewhat easier, as you can have a head start at getting most things like bank accounts and such under her name but it may still be useful for you to have your local residency issues in proper order.

I dont know how outfitted your home here in Argentina is... but what I do suggest you look into is bringing the major appliances for your home with you, provided you can purchase them in 220V 50-60Hz versions. While you can buy everything here in Argentina, the best quality appliances tend to be more expensive than in most G7 nations... plus the selection down here is also not the best

The same goes for all electronics.... home theaters, PCs... etc. Remember the compatibility issues for TVs and other issues before you buy, though.

Hope this helps.

One more thing, do check out this one BBoard called Indextar, its a listing of businesses that cater to expats living in Buenos Aires.... they have reviews on immigration lawyers, moving companies, English speaking professionals, etc. etc.

www.indextar.com/ba

Cheers,
Alex (Gaucho100K)

See this thread for some more useful links:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=709392

Thanks for the links fsexman^

Cheers Gaucho100K for the info.^

I am getting the residency visa sorted out at this end down in London and as my mother in law used to be a lawyer and is also the vice consul for Spain in the town she will have contacts for any further help needed in Argentina - my wife still has the citizenship, ID, passport etc;

Taken note about the electronics and appliances, although we have taken a lot of small items over with us on our previous visits I am sure Mrs HIDDY will add to them.

Thanks for the congratulations about moving it took me all of two seconds to decide - I love Argentina, especially the people, whom accepted me as a friend straight away and I look forward to having more time to explore parts of the country which I haven't seen - which is a lot.

No worries, please feel free to PM or email me directly should you have any other questions.

I'll keep that in mind Gaucho100K thanks.^

Several colleagues of mine have moved to Argentina for varying lengths of time. Most of them have enjoyed living there once settled in. But the settling in process, everything from immigration to basic services, can be a nightmare. Having an Argentine wife will no doubt help. That said, the advice from my colleagues can be summed up very briefly as "be very very patient and very very persistent". I might add, hopefully you don't need to work for a living for a while after arriving, as you'll be very busy taking care of simple things that in Argentina just aren't that simple.

Thanks for the pointers Siempre Viajando.

I think that's why I like Argentina so much as it suits my personality perfectly - take everything in your stride with a smile and ease the pressure on the accelerator of life a touch.

Just an update to the thread.

My wife and I arrived at EZE on the 30th of October and our belongings were delivered to our house a few days later.
Everything went very smoothly, so smoothly in fact that the container arrived ahead of schedule - the wonders of containerised shipping. No problems with custom clearance either which was managed very professionally by the agent from an excellent removal company based in Buenos Aires.

The jungle of a garden has been tamed and tomato plants planted,my face is aquiring a suntan, a new parilla has been used several times and I have even managed to do some fishing, in between relaxing in a lounger sipping some of Argentina's fantastic wines of course..........Oh, it's a hard life.

Hiddy-- felicidades on becoming a Bonaerense!!! ^ ^

thats a new one to me . when, or can they ever become portenos

Thanks Gaucho100K. I had to do a Google search for that one; "Bonaerense is gentilicio of the inhabitants of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina." which indeed I qualify being called, living as I do outside the limits of the city.^