Hi Carol, The amount of monthly income that Mexican consulates request for residency qualification is higher than most people living in Mexico spend on living costs. The two figures are not correlated.

This article shares some additional insight: https://www.mexperience.com/qualifying-for-legal-residency-in-mexico-in-2024/

Hi Carol, The amount of monthly income that Mexican consulates request for residency qualification is higher than most people living in Mexico spend on living costs. The two figures are not correlated.

This article shares some additional insight: https://www.mexperience.com/qualifying-for-legal-residency-in-mexico-in-2024/

Rosalind, my relatives and I are checking out living in Mexico but became discouraged when we saw the government wants you to receive $4k/mo for a temporary visa visa and $7k/mo for a permanent visa. This is contradictory to people like yourself living on much less. If we had that much income we wouldn’t be moving! Thanks

John, why does it say the Mexican government wants you to have over a 4k/mo income for a temporary visa and 7k/mo for a permanent visa to emigrate to Mexico from the U.S.? How do so many there say they are living on much less a month? I don’t get it. Thanks.

You’re obviously just making up stuff as you go along because no one is being displaced. There is room for everyone and believe me, there isn’t a single local in the Mexican town where I live who was dying to pay $1,855 USD per month to live in my little condo. There are places across the street for less than half of what I pay. Get a grip on reality before you start inventing facts and accusing people of harming others while lying about them.

Hi Eric,

My wife and I have been researching several places to retire in outside of the US. Unfortunately, pretty much any location you choose for the weather, affordable health insurance, and overall lower cost of living than in the US is going to have these effects.

We live on the West Coast and have no plans of retiring here. Too many people, too expensive, and just too plain ‘ol crazy to be living here. But this is really the same thing happening everywhere else. People keep moving here, rent and housing costs keep climbing, and people either born here, or that work for local governments / schools, can’t afford to stay.

Thank you for clarifying the requirements. This is still quite a bit higher than many other countries we have been researching residencies for.

That many people are meeting these requirements? Or is there another way so many expats are living in Mexico?

Hello Marc,

The figures you quoted above are to qualify for Permanent Residency right away in 2024.

You can apply for Temporary Residency first, and after four consecutive years of holding Temporary, you can exchange that for Permanent. The amounts of income or savings/investment required to qualify for Temporary are lower.

You can learn about the current income or savings needed on this article:
https://www.mexperience.com/financial-criteria-for-residency-in-mexico/

And you can learn about the difference between Temporary and Permanent on this article:
https://www.mexperience.com/difference-between-temporary-and-permanent-residency-mexico/

So, I looked up the requirements to retire in Mexico for a US citizen, and you either have to have nearly $300,000 in your banking account over either 6 months or a year, I forgot exactly, OR if you have a monthly income of $7,300 a month.

How are there so many people retiring in Mexico with these requirements? The main couple in the story moved there because they could not afford to retire in San Diego. If they could not afford to retire in their own home, there is no way they have $300,000 in the bank or an income of $7,300 a month.

Hi Mary, I stumbled upon your experience living in Mexico and found it inspiring. My wife (a teacher), children 3 and 6 and my self a home builder are looking for a lifestyle change focusing more on working to live opposed to living to work.

Would the idealistic home town of yours be one of which a young family could put down roots and build a life? Any advice you could share would be wholeheartedly appreciated.

David

Puerto Vallarta. It’s amazingly beautiful, warm all year, cheap to live, and has a big community of ex-pats. You can live there without even learning Spanish, although I would definitely recommend learning a basic amount of the language. One thing I’ll tell you is it’s very important to make friends around your age that can help you and give advice. Best case scenario you make friends with a native person who’s bilingual that can help you out with finding a place at a good price. I moved there with 4 other family members and they had already vacationed there many times and had friends that made the transition far easier than it would’ve been if I went alone.