Does anybody have any experience doing the expat thing in Mexico?

Question

Looking for advice, tips, suggestions concerning retiring to Mexico. Is it a tedious process, or one that is relatively simple?

Answer 1

Some good answers here. The tedious part is CHOOSING. Another good source is   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MazInfo/

It is only about Mazatlan, but there are 2000 members and a few hundred are ex-pats living here. There are now about 8,000 foreigners living here. (A small percentage of the 500,000 residents)

Answer 2

Thought you might like a woman's perspective.  Yes, it is best to go to a consulate and get an FM# before moving.  They will give you a list of papers to prepare and take back to submit.  you need provable income of about $1200.00 a month.   FM3 needs to be renewed once a year t regional immigrtion office near you. Even if your Spanish is limited you can get by and learn over the next few months ( and years).  If you like hot, humid and beach...and a place with lots of gringos...will cost more.  Places in the mountains are cooler and more pleasant ( to me).  San Miguel, Lake Chapala, and beach towns have heavy gringo populations and are more expensive.  I perfer an area with just a few gringos, small town near a large city for conveniences, but prices are lower.  Best to bring personal possesions and sell or store your furniture there.  Can buy new for less than the movng expense.  Rents are about 1/3 of in U.S., utilities a small fraction of what they are in the states.  If I can be of any help, just email me.  There are many single women and many couples too living all over Mexico ( as well as single men).  Some people think it is so "brave" of a single woman to move here...but many of us have done it...no problem.

Answer 3

Yes, I did it 5+ years ago and love it here in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco. For info about the city see:

http://JaliscoRealEstate.tripod.com.  It is full of info and pics.

Answer 4

Do your research first to decide where you'd like to live.  Do you want beach or do you want mountains?  The more Spanish you speak, the cheaper you can live because you can pick a town like Guanajuato where the economy is not so influenced by the gringos.  You can get by with very little Spanish in San Miguel de Allende, but things are more expensive because of that gringo economy thing.  An option in the middle of those two are the towns along Lake Chapala--Chapala, Ajijic and Jocotepec.

So the tedious (but enjoyable) process is figuring out where you would like to live.  There are 31 states and each one is different.  I've been to 18 of the 31 states and I've narrowed my looking down to the towns I've mentioned here.  When my business sells, my first trip down there will be to an intensive Spanish school.  With better language skills, my options will be better.  Then I'll go to the towns I like and rent for a while to see if I fall in love with that area.

The process of getting the FM-3 is minor when compared to finding the right place for you.

Rolly Brook's website gives a lot of information on How to Move to México.  See the link below.

Answer 5

viva mexico

Answer 6

You take your passport, a certified copy of your birth certificate and $137 and walk into any Mexican Consulates in the U.S. and about 3 hours later you walk out with your FM-3 and you are a legal resident Alien in Mexico.... is that simple enough, he,he,he...

How well you will do depends on how well you speak SPANISH... if you have a good use of the language then life has never been so good... if you move to Mexico and can only speak the usual 20 words of Spanish that most AmeriKans know so they can think they speak it fluently... then you will have some problems.

The 2 best places for Ex-Pats are San Miguel de Allende (my personal favorite) or Guadalajara, which is where the largest AmeriKan Ex-Pat community is... last I heard it was close to 200,000 strong.

Answer 7

Charlie and Rhin are on the $$$. Research the spots that intrest you and plan on a little trip. Depending on how many cities makes your list depends on the time frame of your trip. Plan enough time to get a feel for the town Act like you live there - not a tourist. If you get caught up in the tourist mindset you overlook some things.

Find a good little place ? Stay a few days longer and look and talk to be people about properties and homes for sale.

This worked for me and simplified the transition as much as it could. I settled on Acapulco but have fallen in love and spend a great deal of time 30mins north at a place called Pie de la Cuesta. I kickin myself for not buying out there !  Now I spend 30 mins. each way to go see my boat , jetskii amd BEAUTIFUL beach. Lesson learned...........

Point is do your research and VISIT , The web is useful for some things but not really this.

Listen to Charlie on your FM3. You have 180 days to due it or return to states for a week and come back on a new tourist card and do it again in 6 months. I have some friends that do this.  Dont let that tourist card expire . Dont know why its such a BIG deal but they doont play and its a hassle to deal with. I havnt but just heard some stories and when I went to Immigration she smiled when she saw that I only had about 1 week left before mine did, Be forwarned on that.

Money is tax free , weather in Acapulco never changes. Houses are cheap , food is great and beer is cold.

Come on down - you wont regret it.

Answer 8

>>>> Is it a tedious process

The tedious process will be searching the Internet for more and more info ... and the numerous trips to different parts of the country to find what suits you