FAR AND EXPENSIVE
Ukrainians do not travel to Argentina for back-and-forth earnings. First, it is far and expensive; second, although wages there are higher than in neighboring Latin American countries, they are lower than what people earn in Europe and the USA. The minimum wage in Argentina is 372 pesos per month (for the sixth year running, the Argentine peso and the US dollar are at a 1:1 exchange rate). The average earnings of a newly arrived worker are 500-600 pesos ($500-600); a turner or a mechanic, for example, can earn 3-4 pesos ($3-4) per hour, and a farm laborer even less.
For such money, going to Argentina for a year or two makes little sense. So in most cases, labor migration from Ukraine to Argentina automatically implies permanent residence.
UNEMPLOYMENT
It is clear that no one is specifically waiting for Ukrainian workers in Argentina. There are plenty of energetic people with hands and brains there, despite the fact that the brain drain of native Argentines to the USA and Canada continues. But in exchange, hands and feet – unskilled labor from neighboring countries – are “flowing” into Argentina.
Fish seek where it is better, and people seek where there is work. Currently being the most stable country in Latin America, with higher wages than its neighbors, transparent borders, and no language barriers for Latin Americans, Argentina attracts many migrants from its near abroad – Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile. In the unskilled labor market and industry, due to nearby “guest workers,” prices are certainly driven down, and unemployment rates, on the contrary, are rising: for several years they have fluctuated between 12 and 18 percent.
CRITERIA
Nevertheless, Argentina, whose population is 97 percent considered “non-indigenous” as it consists of European immigrants and their descendants, does not intend to abandon the influx of new labor from Europe. If you look at the territory of the former USSR from the foothills of the Andes and from Tierra del Fuego, Ukraine is also perceived as Europe.
In addition to “Europeanness,” the selection criteria for admitting foreigners who will work for the benefit of Argentina are age, health, and a certificate of good conduct, i.e., documentary evidence that you have not been prosecuted.
As for health, Argentina imposes the same requirements on potential immigrants as were once imposed on all Soviet specialists going on foreign assignments. Everyone who has expressed a desire to go live and work in this country undergoes a medical commission: tests for AIDS, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, drug tendencies, blood pressure, heart, fluorography. A person with sciatica will still be allowed into Argentina, but with uncompensated heart disease – no longer.
The absence of a criminal record is confirmed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. To ensure this does not happen in the future, Argentine immigration services take your fingerprints. The age limit equals the boundary of working age: 55 years regardless of whether you are a lady or a gentleman.
The optimal age for labor immigration to Argentina, as well as to other countries, is up to 30 years. If you are lucky, you can find a job in your specialty obtained in Ukraine; if not, it is not too late to retrain, radically change your professional interests, and find yourself.
ORIGINS
However, embarking on these searches, one must not forget where you came from.
The concept of “immigrant” as such does not exist in Argentina. You can meet the indigenous people of this land – Indians – only in remote areas; all the rest of the population are descendants of Spaniards, Italians, Danes, English, Irish, Germans, Austrians, French, Greeks, Yugoslavs, Poles, Armenians.
But – not the Spaniards themselves, Italians, Danes, English, Irish, Germans, Austrians, French, Greeks, and not even Yugoslavs, Poles, or Armenians. So no one will look askance at a newcomer just because he is a “stranger.”
LABORERS
When planning to work in Argentina, it is good to have – on hand or transferred to an account in a local bank – several thousand dollars. For a family of three – husband, wife, and child, it is better to stock up on at least $10,000, although some leave with $2,000-3,000, and for others $80,000-90,000 is not a limit. No one will look into your pocket, but having money with you is necessary.
Unlike other “open” countries, there is no specific program for accepting immigrants in Argentina. No benefits, privileges, or loans are paid to newcomers, so you will have to settle on the new continent entirely at your own expense. It will take at least six months to find the first suitable job.
Newspapers are full of invitations to work as a loader, on a construction site, or harvesting crops (apples, citrus fruits). But it is better not to respond to these calls. Of course, there is hope that, seeing your white face and hands without calluses, the employer – a farmer or the owner of a small construction company – will turn you away, reasonably assuming that you will work for a day or two and then either get tired, bored, or simply collapse. But if you are not refused, you risk completely undermining your health within a week or two, without even having time to get medical insurance.
First, it is somehow unbecoming for Europeans to work as laborers in Latin America: Bolivians, Paraguayans, Brazilians, Chileans are employed in auxiliary jobs. Second, unaccustomed, a foreigner will certainly not cope with the pace and specifics of agricultural work in the fields of Patagonia. Compared to locals who have worked on plantations since childhood, a white person is uncompetitive – he will only exhaust himself and earn three to four times less. Payment is piecework, but you will not be able to do too much. Moreover, even if, by intensively picking oranges and sacrificing your health, you earn, say, $1,000, that is only for a month – and what then?
PATIENCE
If you are not a highly qualified specialist who will be eagerly hired in your specialty, then it is better, upon arriving in Argentina, to lie low for a while and take a pause. To start, you can enroll in free language courses, although you should, of course, start learning Spanish at home in Ukraine. After language courses, you can enroll in some professional courses, for example, computer, accounting, medical, or office management.
Of course, it is not at all certain that along with the certificate of qualification you will also get a job, but daily lessons side by side with Argentines help you learn the language – in real time and in professional application – and besides, by communicating with classmates, it is much easier to understand the real situation on the labor market.
A person who values himself as a professional must be patient, learn not to despair, and be prepared to receive refusals.
Immigrants whose professional activities are related to language are in a particularly vulnerable position: philologists, historians, philosophers, and other humanities scholars. The professional prospects of teachers and educators of any profile are uncertain, but not for ideological reasons – foreigners, they say, have no place in school – but also because of language.
Architects and designers have few chances to find employment in their specialty – there are too many of them, and construction in Argentina has slowed down in recent years.
The future looks brighter for those with education in the exact or natural sciences: physicists, chemists, engineers, programmers, electronics specialists, as well as people with secondary specialized education who can work with their hands: mechanics, technicians of various profiles, electricians, turners. At first, such a craftsman will work for an employer, but after some time he will be able to open his own business.
LANGUAGE
In Ukraine, Spanish is not considered an exotic language. However, Ukrainians with knowledge of Spanish find it much easier to find work now not in a Spanish-speaking country, but in Ukraine. As for translators, this profession is not widespread in Argentina.
In most cases, those who can communicate not only and not so much through language have no problems finding suitable work. Our musicians, dancers, and variety artists find decent jobs in Argentina.
The profession of security guard has become promising. There are many security companies, some with a long history, who guard their reputation and hire new employees only after a long check and rather cautiously. Foreign origin can play a dual role here. On the one hand, hiring a person who has no relatives or connections in Argentina as a security guard is scary; on the other hand, maybe it is good that he has just arrived and is not yet connected with anyone in this country. Moreover, it is clear that within 2 years, a newly minted immigrant awaiting citizenship and a blue Argentine passport, which will give him the right to visa-free entry to many countries of the world, is doomed to law-abidingness and will try to prove himself in the best light.
The immigrant doctor stands apart. He has no professional future until he has a license to practice medicine. And it is given only to those who have graduated from a local – Argentine – medical school. You can be a famous professor and give lectures to students or perform demonstration operations, but you will not receive money for this, and you will not be allowed to open a private practice until you obtain an Argentine diploma.
You can overcome the “ban on the profession” only by repeating the usual path of an ordinary Argentine with higher education. First – exams in gymnasium, the usual school set: Spanish language and literature, history and geography of Argentina, as well as jurisprudence – the laws of Argentina and generally accepted legal norms. Then – exams on the entire university course.
The history of recent immigration to Argentina knows only one case where this was done externally. One of our neurosurgeons, who knew Spanish very well, worked at a university, and his colleagues from the department met him halfway, passing all exams and tests without being too picky.
PRICES AND SALARIES
In Argentina, the minimum wage and the subsistence minimum are equal – 372 pesos ($372). The lowest-paid workers (errand boy or ordinary worker) earn $3-4 per hour; the employer has no right to pay anyone less. Of course, no one works for this money, but $500-600 is a common amount for a minimum wage. The average salary is $800-900. The highest, naturally, has no limit.
Among the highest-income sectors are computer specialists and programmers: a beginner, provided he is a good specialist, can quite start with a salary of $1,500.
When starting a job search, it is not at all necessary to focus on salary. A good computer specialist, engineer, lawyer, architect usually does not work for hire, but starts his own business, where incomes, naturally, are completely different.
FARM
In the capital, the choice of vacancies may be wider, but in the provinces, where there are fewer competitors, there are much more opportunities for private entrepreneurship.
Among the new areas that hold great opportunities for successful employment, it makes sense to take a closer look at northern Patagonia – the provinces of Neuquén and Río Negro, the cities of Cipolletti, Roca, Regina. Contrary to the unambiguous and unattractive associations for our ears (Paganel’s disappointment and the “sweatshop system on the plantations of South America” familiar from school are well remembered), Patagonia is a rather nice place. The hottest time here is January; the climate of this area resembles Crimea, although snow, of course, does not fall. Despite constant winds, everything grows by itself – and farmers grow apples, pears, grapes. Nearby there are mountains – tourism is developing. Oil and gas deposits have also been discovered here – their extraction and processing are underway. So a resident of this area has at least three spheres to apply his strength and professional skills: agriculture, service, and extractive and processing industries. Both specialists in mining and oil and gas processing, and hotel employees, cooks, pastry chefs – and simply enterprising people ready to start their own business – are needed.
And someone who wants to radically change his life can buy a farm here. A small farm 20-30 kilometers from the city – with a house, electricity, an artesian well – costs $20,000-30,000, cheaper than a good three-room apartment in the capital.
• It is worth noting that there are still enough farms in the country that have not been reached by universal electrification – the distances are too great. Therefore, when building a house, farmers use diesel generators to obtain alternating current, or install wind turbines. So all the benefits of civilization can be obtained even in the most remote hinterland.
You, as a novice farmer, do not necessarily have to keep cows or goats: livestock farming is not for everyone, and to make it profitable, you need hundreds of hectares. But a good orchard can fit on 5-10 hectares. For the first time, you can hire a laborer. In the Patagonian climate, no special knowledge or experience is required for successful gardening, and when everything ripens, you can sell the crop on the vine: the company that buys it from you will itself take care of harvesting – with the help of the same seasonal workers, among whom there may be guest workers.
Small farms usually cooperate and sell their products wholesale. Argentina is not threatened by a crisis of overproduction due to the difference in seasons. When it is autumn there, fresh Argentine fruits are in demand in springtime North America and Europe. And what is not exported is immediately processed into concentrated juice, which Argentina traditionally exports to the States and Europe.
DAILY ROUTINE
The working week in Argentina is 44 hours – 5 nine-hour working days. In some industries, say, construction, where the work is heavy and the working day is an hour shorter, the missing hours are made up on Saturdays, working until noon. All work beyond this is considered overtime. On weekdays, overtime is paid at time and a half, and on Saturday afternoon and Sunday – at double time.
In manufacturing and construction, work starts at 7-8 a.m.; offices and official institutions may open at 10 a.m. There is no siesta as such in Argentina. The lunch break is short, and many, trying not to stretch the working day, work without a break at all, snacking on the go.
After a year of work, a person is entitled to a two-week vacation. Worked 5 years – add another week to the vacation, 10 years – two weeks, 15 – three, and so on.
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