The largest and most noticeable influx of Korean immigrants to Argentina began in the 1980s. The total number of migrants between 1965 and 1985 only amounted to roughly 6,000, but began to increase sharply after that. By that time, South Korea was a modern and industrialised country, but the sharp recession provided a significant push factor for overseas migration; the signing of the Acto de Procedimiento between the Argentine and South Korean governments that year established and outlet for that migration. Obtaining residency was not cheap; businesspeople who sought to establish themselves and obtain a residency permit had to invest US$100,000. The population peaked at an estimated 50,000 individuals in 1996.