In a world where so many countries are closing borders and shutting people out, here’s one that’s doing the opposite
Lesson summary
Well hello there and welcome to Plain English lesson number 304. I’m Jeff; JR is manning the controls behind the scenes. The full lesson can be found at PlainEnglish.com/304.
Coming up on today’s lesson: a country that’s proactively attracting new residents with lower barriers to citizenship and a media campaign based on its stability and competence. The expression is “fed up” and we have a quote of the week.
Uruguay is open for business (and new residents)
It’s a small country bordered on both sides by big neighbors, without a major financial center or tourist attractions. It rarely makes the international news; its most well-known president was famous for driving his own old car to work. Its big advantage is that it’s pleasant, well-governed, stable, and welcoming to all kinds of people. And tiny Uruguay is welcoming foreigners with open arms. In fact, they’ve attracted thousands of new residents just since the coronavirus pandemic has started.
It all started when Luis Lacalle Pou, the country’s newly-elected president, said that Uruguay would benefit from another 100,000 to 200,000 people. The whole country’s population is just 3.5 million, a little under half of whom live in the capital, Montevideo. So an additional 200,000 residents would be a big deal.
Look around the world and countries are shunning outsiders: it’s as true in America as England as Poland. So why does Uruguay think it needs more people? Here’s one good reason: Uruguay has a generous welfare state—meaning, it offers good government benefits. To sustain spending like that, you need a growing population. Japan offers a cautionary tale for what can happen if the total population does not grow over time. Japan finds itself with an ageing population and not enough younger workers to replace those who are retiring: it’s hard to support relatively expensive older citizens if there aren’t a lot of younger, productive workers to pay for it.
One way to forestall this problem is to accept immigrants, but that—I don’t need to tell this audience—is not something every country is prepared to do. Japan has been less welcoming to immigrants and has aged rapidly. The United States, if it’s not careful, may repeat the mistake. Europe has done a little better. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are welcoming to foreigners and have seen their populations grow much quicker than Japan and US have.
Uruguay is getting ahead of this problem. Their population grew at half the rate of neighboring Brazil and Argentina; their fertility rate is lower than that of their neighbors; and their population is ageing faster than other Latin American countries. Uruguay doesn’t have any major international cities, it isn’t a natural-resource powerhouse, it hasn’t hosted a World Cup, and it doesn’t have the kind of international heft of its neighbors: without glamor and exposure, it makes it hard to attract immigrants from abroad. But Uruguay is being smart: they have recognized their strengths and are exploiting them.
Why would someone move to a tiny country at the bottom of South America? Let me count the ways: Uruguay has a stable society, is a well-governed democracy with peaceful transitions of power, and is welcoming to all kinds of people. In the age of coronavirus, that counts for something. It has charming colonial towns, pleasant beaches, vineyards (and good wine), and a beautiful, tranquil countryside. Uruguay doesn’t have the corruption of Brazil, the revolutionary fervor of Bolivia, the fiery socialism of Venezuela, the financial instability of Argentina, the drug wars of Colombia, the violence of Mexico, the culture wars of the United States, or the punishing climate of Canada. Its residents are Catholic, but are welcoming to all kinds. Uruguay was the first country in Latin America to legalize marijuana use and gay marriage—and guess what? Society has not fallen apart. Oh and by the way, it managed the pandemic extremely well and had the lowest death rate in all of Latin America.
Competent governance and stability alone aren’t enough to attract new residents. So that’s why Luis Lacalle Pou, the president, implemented new immigration policies aimed at attracting new residents. Specifically, the reforms lowered the amount of investment a foreigner needs to make to qualify for residency. Now, a prospective resident needs to buy property worth just $380,000 American dollars—down from almost $2 million before. Business owners qualify for residency after investing the equivalent of $1.7 million American dollars—down from over $5 million before the reforms.
It’s becoming logistically easier to immigrate, too. Prior to the recent reforms, if you wanted Uruguayan residency, you had to spend 183 days out of every year in the country. Now, that’s just 60 days. This makes it easier to transition from, say, neighboring Argentina, over a period of years, without having to abruptly move full-time right away.
Argentina is Uruguay’s main target: Argentina’s population is 13 times larger than Uruguay’s and many of Argentina’s businesspeople are fed up with the roller-coaster that is their country’s politics. New taxes on wealth—and the threat of more to come—have pushed thousands of Argentines to move to Uruguay. Real estate agents in the tony beachside city of Punta del Este say the housing market is on fire. President Lacalle Pou was all to happy to give interviews in Argentine media, showing off Uruguay’s advantages. Over 20,000 people have applied to move from Argentina to Uruguay this year alone.
Next travel destination?
I have been fascinated by Uruguay for a long time. I had the opportunity to go in 2012, when I was in Argentina, but I didn’t go—and I regret it. Uruguay just seems like an extremely sensible, reasonable place to live. It might not have the excitement of other places, but sometimes stability is what you want. The last few days I’ve been reading more about Uruguay and the travel destinations there. That might be my first trip once international travel is safe again, who knows.
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