
Chile Wants Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses, Your Tech Entrepreneurs - davidw
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/10/chile-wants-your-poor-your-huddled-masses-your-tech-entrepreneurs/
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bilbo0s
"Chile Wants Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses..."

at the same time you have to

"invest $500,000 over 5 years..."

This is NOT an immigration program. It is a foreign investment program. One
modeled after the program that China used to lift hundreds of millions, and
counting, out of poverty. So it is to be lauded. At the same time, all Chile
will get out of the program is foreign investment. Without the fundamental
human capital advantages that China has, it will not become a powerhouse. This
is the point that many governments misinterpret. The goal of immigration is,
in layman's terms, to IMPORT MORE resources. The goal of foreign investment
is, in layman's terms, to provide easy access to EXISTING resources.

This is the reason that the global powers are betting on Brasil. It has the
most lax immigration program in South America. It has an EXISTING base of
companies for those immigrants to work in. And, the obvious, nothing attracts
human capital like naked, bronze women dancing on beaches with drums.

~~~
nico
I know for a fact it is not easy for Americans to immigrate into Brazil. I
have a few American friends who've tried and failed... Brazilians call it
reciprocity.

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bilbo0s
Well, we started fingerprinting them on entry to the US, and Brasil said "OK,
we'll go tit for tat". If you fly to Brasil you will find one set of rules at
Customs for Americans, and another for everyone else. That's just payback. The
fact remains that for the vast majority of global citizens, getting into
Brasil is far less painless than getting into, say, the UK or the United
States.

~~~
nico
I agree, but I'd say in Chile is about the same for everybody though (pretty
easy).

For example, my business partner is Colombian, he's been living here for 5
years now with no problems at all. First he had a Visa subject to work
contract, but then when we decided to start our company he only had to go
change his Visa status and apply for residence. Bear in mind Colombians don't
have such a good reputation, in fact in Chile they are the only ones who have
to present a Colombian police report of themselves together with their Visa
application :S

~~~
aditya
Would love to hear more about living and working in Chile. Are you chilean?
How hard is it to find smart people? Is there a local startup scene? Is all of
this government propaganda or is there really a thriving culture of risk-
taking and entrepreneurship? What about VCs?

~~~
nico
I am chilean, but just so you know a bit of my background, I went to Berkeley
and worked in San Jose at a company in the semiconductors industry.

There is a very good startup community here, there are regular events like
First Tuesday and DELM.

It is not hard to find smart and capable people, in fact a few Americans have
scolded me for stating the opposite in the past. There's a lot of potential
here, checkout bligoo.com, needish.com, betazeta.com, voxound.com, to name a
few.

Hvng trbl rplng on my cell

~~~
nico
Sorry, trouble with my bb.

The goverment is very serious about all of this and it is putting a lot of
money and effort into it. They are also putting good incentives for local
startups.

The biggest con about Chile is the small and underdeveloped VC scene, but in
spite of this, there's a good private investors scene, albeit not as
accessible. The chilean goverment is also backing VCs by actually giving them
money to invest.

I think you should seriously consider it.

More info? Check my profile.

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robotrout
Chile and Brazil have been on my radar for a little over 11 months now. Brazil
definitely seems to have the most exciting long term potential, with it's
large oil reserves and it's willingness to actually exploit them, it should do
very well as inflation kicks in from western government money printing. I have
not crossed Brazil off my list by any means.

However, Chile just seems to fit me better. I already have a little Spanish,
but no Portuguese. More importantly, though, I'm a mountain guy, not a jungle
guy. The scenery in Chile is comforting to a Rocky Mountain native.

Now ... I just have to convince the wife!

~~~
alecco
Argentina is cheaper and has the other side of those mountains ;) (Where I
live right now)

If you look for a local job, perhaps Chile is a better option. But if you want
low taxes for personal work and have foreign customers (web entrepreneur),
Argentina beats Chile hands down. There's a system called Monotributo where
tax is trivial and ridiculously low if your income is up to USD 52k/yr (very
good money if you live outside Buenos Aires.)

Oh, and Argentina's system of immigration is one of the most welcoming.
"Nearly a million permanent residency applications were filed from 2000 to
2008."

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Argentina#Legal_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Argentina#Legal_and_undocumented_immigration_in_recent_times)

My advice, stay out of the bigger cities and go to trendy small villages,
cheaper and safe. Return flight tickets to Buenos Aires usually are around USD
130 from almost anywhere.

Also, it's better if you can travel a bit around until you find the best place
in South America. In Argentina, 3G broadband costs about USD 45/mo (or less)
and you can use it in many places until you settle.

EDIT: The USD 52k/yr afaik is for each of you, and the taxes and things you
pay also can pay part of the private health insurance of your choice.

~~~
robotrout
A friend of mine lives in Argentina. It just hasn't captured my imagination
like Chile. Maybe I like the ocean too much. Maybe I'm too gun shy after it's
economic troubles. But I should visit him and get a better feel for it before
writing it off.

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quickpost
If anybody is looking into this, and might be interested in a "man on the
ground", let me know. My step-brother has lived in Chile for the past 10
years, running a non-profit. He has a Chilean wife and is 100% fluent in the
language and culture.

I'm sure he'd be open to consulting with a tech company as an interpreter,
etc.

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ccarpenterg
Chile is a country for cutting costs. That's true. But nothing more.

It is not a good country for startups. Tech and software industry is supine
because there are not hackers not even great programmers. It's hard to find a
programmer developing software outside the office. So even though is a great
place to be frugal the lack of an entrepreneurial network and advice is going
to set you apart.

And Viña del Mar is a great place but Pucón is the best with a lake, a river
and a volcano.

~~~
algorias
Hey, I take offense to that! I agree that Chile isn't exactly a tech hub, but
don't generalize.

Hackers and great programmers do exist here. It may just be harder to find
them. Ironically, a place like hacker news helps with that ;)

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zedwill
Working in Spain, I know of some companies which outsource to Chile's neighbor
Argentina, where labor wages are comparatively cheaper.

I think this will get more common in the future, and in time more and more
companies in Spain ill be hiring labor in Southamerica, as the english
speaking companies are doing with India.

Considering the poor incentives Spain is giving to entrepreneurship, I can
only hope my own country will look at chile's example and help our punished IT
industry.

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andrewhyde
I'd be up for a trip to check it out in January.

Anyone interested in doing a two week trip?

~~~
theklub
I'd be up for forming a group trip with the intention of some day moving there
at least for a little while. People immigrate to the US in groups why not
migrate from the US in a group.

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rdl
Chile seems like a great place to live while working on a foreign startup
(located in another, zero-tax jurisdiction). As a non-citizen tourist in the
country, you'd pay no income tax locally. I'd far prefer to live in Chile than
the zero-tax places (UAE, Panama, etc.) Of course, a totally virtualized
business could be run from basically anywhere on the same terms.

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davidw
I'd certainly like to visit Chile at some point. It has a wide range of
landscapes and in general looks like an interesting place.

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byoung2
The corporate tax in Chile is higher than in the US if you don't keep the
money there. That could be a dealbreaker for some.

~~~
nico
How much is corporate tax in the US? in Chile it's 17%

~~~
jbellis
15-40%
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_tax_in_the_United_Sta...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_tax_in_the_United_States#Tax_base_and_rates)),
plus state taxes as applicable.

~~~
nico
Looks like it's lower in Chile then (17% flat).

~~~
byoung2
<http://www.investchile.com/corfo_det_20080714144946.aspx>

It is 17% but...

 _"An additional tax of 18% is levied if companies distribute or remit
earnings."_

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mgh2
amazing, thanks for this information :) Being a native Spanish speaker, I am
glad that at last one of the Spanish speaking countries is starting to take
the lead for growth. FINALLY

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j0seph
seems like a very good deal to me if your willing to move and learn a new
language. After reading the article Chile is really giving allot of good
incentives for people to move and start companies. One thing that worries me
is that with these incentives seems like their will be allot of wasteful
spending and failed ventures.

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nico
I'm so happy about this news! sorry, but I can't help expressing my feelings
here. I'm really proud, and I hope I can help on this Chilean "mission".

Taking advantage of this comment: I'm going to startup school and also to
Traweln (<http://www.traweln.org/>), my contact info is in my profile.

