animeinme
7/27/2015 09:40 EST
Hello all!
I am a US citizen and my wife is a permanent resident with a UY citizenship. We have a 6 month old son who is also a US citizen.
We currently live in North Carolina and we both want to move to Uruguay for a better family life for our son. My wife's family and childhood friends are there. My wife has a nursing degree from UDELAR Facultad de Enfermeria with contacts. So it should be fairly easy for her to work. We have a place to stay there in Pocitos MVD rent free. We have savings. We would have a property here in the USA we would be renting for 900-1000USD monthly.
So my questions are:
With rental income from the states, how easy or difficult will it be transferring money regularly from the states to UY?
My wife hasn't lived there in almost 3 years, how is city from a safety standpoint nowadays? And for kids?
We want to send our child to the german school in MVD. Colegio Aleman. We've heard this is one of the best schools in the city. Does anyone have experience sending their kids there?
Should my wife get a US citizenship before moving back? How easy would it be to for her come back to the states in the future if for some reason we wanted to?
I can read and write a little bit of Spanish. I imagine living there I would pick it up fluently in a year or two. What would job options for me be like if necessary? Are there any income options that don't require Spanish?
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edykizaki
7/27/2015 11:54 EST
I don't have the answer to all your questions but I wanted to address a couple that I have input on...
With rental income from the states, how easy or difficult will it be transferring money regularly from the states to UY?
-it is easiest to take it out by ATM card, but we experimented with wire transfers too... if your bank lets you do online wire transfers it would be easier but our BofA is stingy with how much you can do online so it ends up costing a lot to do wire transfers. I think if we'd had more time to research it with banks before we left the states it would have been easier to work it out better, because each bank has their own policies about the fees. Some credit cards are good for a cash advance and others charge too much; one of my bankers here said to me it seemed her customers paid less by getting cash advances (then you can just pay it off out of your account in the states) but when I tried it, it seemed to me to cost more. I probably have a more expensive deal with my credit card than she did. So... research on that end for the best deal transferring, check all the charges!
My wife hasn't lived there in almost 3 years, how is city from a safety standpoint nowadays? And for kids?
It's safe, although Uruguayans feel it's dangerous. But, I have heard there were very few murders ever in the past and there is about one a day here now. Here" being the whole country... this is just something I heard, you would have to research. At the zoo there is a magnificant new park the kids love... this is a country that loves children, as far as I can tell, although the nursery school teacher I teach with is a bit scary with them...
We want to send our child to the german school in MVD. Colegio Aleman. We've heard this is one of the best schools in the city. Does anyone have experience sending their kids there?
-I have heard it's really good and then someone else said she took her child out because it's not a good school culture now and very status conscious, if you don't drive the right car people are cool to you... I don't have any personal experience.
About the citizen thing, I'm pretty naive about the politics compared to some of my friends, but there seem to be many advantages to NOT being a US citizen, as well as the advantages to being one. It's a choice but you should understand the implications. I don't know if it would affect her banking choices since the IRS requires paperwork, but perhaps if she has the Uruguay citizenship she can just avoid all that. If your wife would like, PM me and I'll put her in touch with my Spanish teacher who's a Uruguayan married to a US citizen and just back after 13 years in Los Angeles. She might have great advice about that, is very well connected, and lives in Pocitos too.
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letsmove
7/27/2015 19:00 EST
Another way to get cash from the states is to use your stateside debit/ATM card. Get a BROU account, go into the branch office and present your Debit/ATM card to the teller and ask for the amount you are allowed to debit from your stateside account. Avoids multiple ATM fees.
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crazyfarmer
7/28/2015 11:53 EST
If you get an account at Sun Bank, you can pay a $25 monthly fee, and they credit all ATM charges back to you including the charges from here.
You can also get a Charles Schwab about that does something similar.
I would recommend that she not become a US citizen, then don't tell the banks that she's married to you. Otherwise, most of the banks will refuse to open an account for her. BROU will still do it, but it's a paperwork nightmare. Within the next few years. I would expect it to become impossible for US citizens (and maybe anyone) to take money out of the US regardless of the method. So get your money out while you can. I'd recommend selling your place up there also since getting rent money out will be impossible soon.
When I arrived 3.5 years ago, I pretty much didn't speak any spanish. I'm good with languages. But I didn't take any classes here. I'm not really fluent yet. But I can handle most situations and talk around the words I don't know. I still get in trouble in certain situations so I bring my daughter if I think that will happen. I generally understand about 90% of what educated people say to me and about 50% of campo-speak. Anyway, expect more like 3 to 4 years to learn the language.
brian
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ismael
8/2/2015 14:56 EST
crazyfarmer: Even if she acquires the US citizenship, since she's an Uruguayan citizen, she will not be required any documentation (the only thing she will need is an utility bill in her name, or she can go to the police station with two witnesses and get a certificate that will also satisfy the requirement) to open a bank account, regardless of regulations (which may or may not apply, I would need to investigate that), the bank will simply not ask any questions.
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ismael
8/2/2015 15:03 EST
Also, for US citizens, banks just don't like the costs associated with the bureaucracy, but generally you should not have problems opening accounts, it just takes a lot of time and patience, and filling a huge stack of forms... and youl need the help of an accountant on both sides to devise how you have to pay your taxes, but basically you pay the difference.
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