Tech Gringo

Southern Chile Beauty

Puerto Montt, Chile sits in southern Chile, south of the Chilean Lakes region. It’s a beautiful port city that sites against the backdrop of the snow-capped Andes Mountains. Puerto Montt is beautiful city that is worth a look by any expat considering living in Chile. It has a relatively mild climate akin to the Pacific Northwest. This is a video of Puerto Montt.

Attracted To Uruguay

Well, from off the radar comes information on Uruguay. Uruguay has been called Iowa with beaches by some. It is hardly a land of adventure, but it does seem like it is a lower cost destination with a nice basic infrastructure that I am looking for. The thing that entices me the most is its very liberal rentista visa scheme.

What actually is a rentista visa? In many countries they have a visa that is based on receiving income from outside sources on a monthly basis. In some countries, the amount required is quite high, for example Thailand needs to see $1800 month per person. Argentina has a rentista scheme that requires $800 a month in income to qualify for and eventually leads to citizenship. Well, Argentina had seemed like the best deal until I saw what Uruguay had to offer. $500 a month from external sources will get you permanent residence and you can turn it into citizenship in 3 to 5 years. That is one heck of a deal.

What about real estate prices in Uruguay? I am not sure how the real estate prices compare to other locations. Compared to real estate prices in Seattle, real estate prices in Austin, real estate prices in Orange County or real estate prices in Portland, I am sure the prices are much less. I guess that is a topic for further research in the coming days and weeks. Be sure to check back here.

Any comments on the situation in Uruguay? Let me know here.

Fancy A Salta Tour?

Trolling through the web, I like to find interesting posts, pictures and information about places in my future intended destination. I was so lucky to go across this blog of a teacher in Argentina. I particularly enjoyed his recent tour of Salta, Argentina. It offers a small glimpse into things in Salta.

IDL Scam?

Wanna know a scam going around that affects expats? Have I got one for you. When traveling outside of the US and Canada, many expats find themselves needing to drive. Since your US driver’s license, or UK driver’s license or whatever country, may not be valid in the country you are traveling in, many people need an International Driver’s License. This is a document that supplements your current driver’s license and is valid in any country that has signed the UN Treaty that governs its issue.

So where does the scam come in? Many individuals sell these international driver’s licenses to expats. They charge fees ranging from very little to upwards of $100 depending on who is trying to do the scamming. The problem is that they aren’t even worth the paper they are printed on.

The UN Treaty doesn’t define citizen rights but rather it is an agreement between countries. The treaty doesn’t define the requirements for obtaining the IDL supplement, this is left to individual countries to decide on their own. For US issued driver’s licenses, the State Department has the responsibility to issue IDL’s. They have delegated this responsibility to AAA and a lesser known auto club. These are the only valid IDL’s for US driver’s licenses.

This means that if you buy an international driver’s license off of the internet or Jose at the corner print shop, it is not valid. This could land you in some very hot water if you run into an official who is astute enough to recognize the difference. It might be as simple as trying to do a little explaining or paying a bribe or you could be talking jail time while they sort things out.

If you are already abroad, AAA makes it really easy to get the IDL, just send them a copy of your driver’s license, two photographs and the fee. A few dollars to AAA can sure save a lot of headaches later.

New Free Trade Shopping Experience In Chile

Free trade has many benefits especially for expats. A lot of times, visa requirements are diminished and expats can more easily open businesses in their new homeland. As well, expats have many opportunities to export to or import from their former homeland. Some enterprising Chinese businessmen have taken advantage of the Chile-China FTA by opening the Chinese Commercial Center, a brand new shopping mall in Santiago, Chile.

The new half-million dollar complex houses 54 shops that sells products from Wenzhou, China. This includes handicrafts, clothes, and shoes. I can only imagine how the locals will react to going to shop at a Chinese Shopping Complex, but time will surely tell, but nonetheless the local government in Santiago helped to make this project a reality. This is the 14th overseas shopping complex that its owners, businessmen from Wenzhou, have opened and the first such complex in Latin America.

Reference Article:
Chinese Shopping Complex opens in Chile