Universal Value Exchange

Brazil is considering dropping visa requirements for US citizens. Currently, if Americans want to go to Brazil, they need to pay $100 and get a visa. This hurts tourism and a bill in Brazil’s Congress aims to scrap visa requirements for American, Japanese, Australian, Canada and New Zealand. This move surely would open up the Brazilian market for expats and tourists from these countries.

It looks like the One Laptop-One Child initiative is going to get under way. It seems like it has been forever in getting off the ground. Usually when something take forever to get off the ground, it’s because of bureaucratic bumbling. Experience says the bureaucratic bungling and bumbling is the best way to kill an innovative product, but this product is still looking good for us expats.
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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 relatively mild climate akin to the Pacific Northwest. This is a video of Puerto Montt.
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I like good food and nothing is better than good asado. My mouth is watering every time I surf over to the Asado Argentina site. I sure I could get some deliveries of Argentine beef where I am, but about all I can get is corned beef. I guess I will lust over the net.

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.

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.

Salta seems to be interesting place to visit though reading Alex’s posts, it seems that the place is very cold in the winter, something that I find surprising, when I think of a desert area near Bolivia, I would assume it to be relatively the same weather year round. I sure guess I am wrong. I guess I need to do a bit more looking around the northwestern part of Argentina in my search.