Keys to work abroad and collect in dollars from Argentina

For those who work abroad, or on increasingly popular online platforms such as Twitch, OnlyFans, or they make investments or bets online. One of his most frequent headaches is like make money -particularly dollars- generated “virtually”.

platform only freelancers it is estimated that they are more than three million Argentines who carry out work abroad from the country. This number had a large increase in the quarantine caused by COVID-19.

“During the quarantine, the number of registrations expanded by 40% and the number of unique monthly users grew by 50%,” they revealed from Workana, outsourcing platform focused on the nomadic labor market in Latin America, which has 400,000 users in the country and more than 50 million globally.

For his part, since Freelancer.com, They agree that “there was strong growth in the creation of accounts. Before the pandemic we had 460,000 in Argentina and now we are close to 500,000,” they remark from the platform where 15,000 new jobs are posted every day, and in which, on average, a worker earns $167 per project finalized.

Another platform that began to gain popularity among Argentines is OnlyFans, which was promoted by various celebrities -such as Candelaria Tinelli- and influencers, thus gaining great prominence in the Argentine market, becoming a very profitable job.

How to collect in dollars in Argentina working abroad

All in all, the big question that arises now is… how to collect the income in dollars obtained abroad?

In a country where the gap between the official dollar and the blue dollar remains high, as a result of the exchange rate, how to charge and how much to calculate what we agree in foreign currency with the employer brings a lot of uncertainty.

To this, export withholdings are added and a great doubt appears: the declaration of money. What should be done with the dollars earned from work?

Today there are specialist lawyers and accountants who advise on the various collection modalities that are much simpler than most imagine, such as Luciano Pascual, who usually organizes Twitter Spaces talking about all these issues together with other “crypto accountants and lawyers”. The specialist assures that cryptocurrencies are the great solution to this dilemma. “We have to get rid of the fear of charging in cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. It is a global trend and in Argentina it is a great solution to safeguard the value of our work. And for this reason, more and more accountants are trained to advise on the subject for able to do it”, encourages Pascual.

Argensaldo, PayPal and other options to collect

To get dollars, there are currently different alternatives in the Argentine market, and this varies depending on the platform where it is charged. For example, the most popular is PayPal, which through the Argentine Fintech Nubi, allows withdrawals of dollars through the official exchange rate: For example: if US$2,000 is withdrawn, today $411,560 is obtained, which which is equivalent to a price of $205.78 per dollar.

There is also the option of using platforms that offer the P2P modality, an acronym for Peer to Peer (between peers), which is responsible for uniting buyers with sellers. In this way, a better exchange rate is obtained, but it is not exempt from scam or fraud risks for buyers. For example, PayPal has a money reimbursement option, which the counterparty can use up to 30 days after sending the money. “It is a great risk of the P2P modality by not knowing who the other person with whom you are trading is,” they say in the market.

For the withdrawal of money from Only Fans, for its part, the platform is commonly used Skrill, that has the option of sending cash directly to the bank account, a service for which it charges a commission of almost 6 dollars (for each withdrawal) and has a delay of up to 5 days. But, in addition, the conversion is made at the value of the official dollar, for which practically half of the value of the money is lost, taking into account the wide exchange rate gap that exists today in Argentina.

Skrill just like PayPal, you can also use a P2P platform. But the risk of using this methodology is that the Skrill account is for personal use and P2P trading is prohibited. In fact, it has algorithms to detect if shipments are made to people outside the country, or if a certain number of shipments are made, etc. In this way, Skrill can decree the permanent closure of the account.

Another solution that appears on the radar is ArgenBalance, that offers a service in the style of an exchange house. But, in addition to the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies, it focuses on the virtual balances in dollars of PayPal, Skrill, Neteller, AstroPay, Wise, Payoneer, among others. During the quarantine they had a strong growth in users, both online casino players and bookmakers, as well as Argentine professionals who worked abroad, who sought to collect their money generated abroad. “All transactions go through our account. This has the following benefits: you get your money instantly, when in other P2P platforms you have to wait hours and even days for them to connect you with the other party and be able to complete your operation”, says Gian Franco Avena, Director of Operations at ArgenSaldo.

In addition, “we offer a better quote, and also the possibility of collecting the money in cash for those who reside in CABA. In turn, the Skrill accounts that are used will remain ‘healthy’ since, when sending the money to our platform, they always interact with the same user, avoiding possible penalties”, adds Avena.