Working in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is Argentina's commercial hub and economic heart.

Will you be working in Buenos Aires as an expatriate? Use our InterNations City Guide to explore the metropolitan region’s dynamic urban economy and its career opportunities, and get a quick overview of Argentina’s business etiquette for foreigners working in Buenos Aires.

Working in Buenos Aires has again become an attractive career option, thanks to the recovery of Argentina’s economy. We have described the country’s financial crises in the section on working in Argentina, but the nation seems to be on an economic upswing lately, although capital flight and inflation continue to worry experts. Expats keen on working in Buenos Aires will profit from the capital’s part in current and future growth industries.

According to recent predictions for Argentina and its commercial hub, Buenos Aires, the economic growth rate for 2011 was estimated at up to 9%. Major sectors like agriculture, transport and shipping, food processing, garment production as well as various manufacturing industries may have benefitted from this development. Unemployment figures being on the decline (less than 7%, according to somewhat controversial official figures), these fields offer new jobs to people working in Buenos Aires and the provinces.

Working in Buenos Aires: Growth Industries

The automotive industries, bio-technology, energy production (especially renewable energies), and IT/mobile communications are growth sectors with potential. Expatriates with professional experience in these fields have a good chance of working in Buenos Aires. The automotive industry in particular has a strong impact on Argentina’s export market, owing to increasing demand for automobiles from neighboring Brazil.

It is not only trade relations with Brazil that could be of interest to foreigners working in Buenos Aires. Argentina exports a great deal of goods to China, the EU (especially Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands), Chile as well as the United States. Expertise in commerce between Argentina and one of these countries may be your stepping stone to working in Buenos Aires.

Working in Buenos Aires: Legal Issues

Working in Buenos Aires requires you to have a work permit and a temporary visa for Argentina. In turn, this depends on your becoming part of an inter-company transfer to Buenos Aires or having a job offer from a company based in Buenos Aires. Without fulfilling these conditions, working in Buenos Aires is inadvisable, from a legal standpoint.

Said work permit is a special category of the permiso de ingreso (entry permit) from the National Immigration Office. If you are a resident of a Mercosur member state, you do not need one. In any other case, ask your employer in Buenos Aires or an Argentine immigration lawyer if they can help you to handle the considerable paperwork involved. (You can find further information on the permiso de ingreso in our article on moving to Argentina.)

Working in Buenos Aires: Urban Industries

If you have managed to find a position that entails working in Buenos Aires, you will be moving to Argentina’s unchallenged center of commerce, trade, and industry. The bustling harbor in the Puerto Nuevo neighborhood is the most important maritime port in the country: Related business provides a large number of jobs to those working in Buenos Aires’ shipping industries.

Furthermore, at least 50% of all industrial plants and factories in Argentina are located in Buenos Aires, especially the larger metropolitan region. Commercial areas and industrial parks are more likely to be found on the periphery of Buenos Aires, with agri-business, metallurgy, and petrochemical companies in the southeast, and printing and the textile sector more to the northwest.

Working in Buenos Aires: The Local Service Sector

Most expats work in Buenos Aires’ service industry. The city’s diversified service sector accounts for approximately 75% of the urban economy. In addition to the growing tourism and hospitality sector, the creative industries and, most importantly, finance and real estate are popular employment opportunities for foreign specialists and executives working in Buenos Aires.

The central business district houses Argentina’s stock exchange, the national bank as well as international banking firms such as Citibank or HSBC. San Nicolás is also home to global players like Microsoft or IBM, other important employers for expatriates working in Buenos Aires.