Detailed guides and helpful connections that enable you to plan and realize your relocation to Mexico

Mexperience provides in-depth insights and local knowledge with extensive articles, guides, and cross-references and connections to help you discover more of Mexico, consider your lifestyle options, define your intentions, make a plan, and help you to avoid making material mistakes with your Mexico lifestyle plans.

Our guides are written by people who know Mexico intimately, are continually revised and updated—and are free to access.

Mexperience helps you through every step of the journey

Our detailed guides and insights offer you complete information throughout every step of your journey:

• Discovering the benefits and opportunities Mexico offers to live and work or retire.
• Detailed insights that help you to consider whether Mexico is right for you and your partner—and family if relevant.
• When you’ve determined that Mexico is right for you, we offer lots of practical advice to help you plan your lifestyle in Mexico.
• Mexperience also helps you to plan your move, settle-in to Mexico, cultivate your social and community networks and helps you learn how adapt to the country and its culture.
• When you’re settled here, our up to date articles and monthly newsletter help you to cultivate a fruitful home life in Mexico.
• Our homestead articles offer practical advice to help you manage your home in Mexico and its dwelling spaces.
• Our insights and local knowledge also help if you’re living in Mexico now but want to revisit your intentions and need guidance to help you settle, adapt, and reform your plans.

Take the next step: start here

Mexperience offers extensive insights, local knowledge, and connections to help you plan and realize a relocation to Mexico, whether you’re single, a couple, or a family.

Begin your journey

Our Mexico Living & Lifestyles guide connects you to in-depth articles and information about living in Mexico. It’s continually updated, helping you to make considered choices and useful connections.

Help with lifestyle planning

Our regularly-updated section about Lifestyle Planning in Mexico shares insights to help you make informed decisions about your lifestyle choices in Mexico.

Calculate your living costs

Our detailed guide to the cost of living in Mexico helps you calculate a personalized budget based on your life stage and lifestyle choices.

Consider places to live in Mexico

We publish guides to help you consider places to live in Mexico, whether you come to live, work or retire.

Obtain your Mexico residency permit

Our detailed guide to applying for residency in Mexico shows you every step needed to qualify and apply for legal residency in Mexico

Real estate and property rental in Mexico

We publish a detailed guide to real estate in Mexico that shares practical insights when you’re buying, owning, renting, and selling property here.  We recommend you rent a house first before you buy, unless you’re familiar with the area you’re moving to.

Learn how to keep in touch when you’re in Mexico

Our comprehensive guides describe how you can keep in touch when you’re in Mexico.  Our local insights include learning about Mexico cell phone plans, how to dial phones, connecting to internet services including satellite services, and also learn about post and couriers… and the cost of utilities and communications.

Cultivate your home life

When you’ve made the move and you’re living here, our regularly updated articles about cultivating a fruitful home life in Mexico will give you insights, inspiration, and ideas to make the most of your everyday lifestyle.

Manage your money & finances in Mexico

We publish detailed, updated, information about managing your finances in Mexico, including bank accounts, money exchange, and money transfers.

Homestead care and management

Whether you’re renting a home or have purchased a property here, our regularly updated guides help you manage your home and dwelling spaces in Mexico, with tips and local knowledge to keep them well maintained and secure for you and your family.

Learning and improving your Spanish

We encourage you to learn Spanish to help you make the most of your experiences in Mexico.  We connect you to language courses, and our in-depth PinPoint Spanish series helps you to learn about the nuances of language usage in Mexico.

Driving, road trips and running a car in Mexico

Our guides and articles about driving and taking road trips in Mexico help you to prepare your longer road trips as well as dealing with everyday driving matters.

Free Monthly Mexico Newsletter

Sign-up to our free monthly newsletter about Mexico that is filled with inspiration, meaningful knowledge, helpful connections, and tips for better living, lifestyle, and leisure in Mexico.

Discover even more of Mexico

Our Discover Mexico section provides a constantly updated stream of articles and guides that share knowledge and keep you updated about opportunities in Mexico.

Factors that influence commitment levels

As we describe in our continually updated guides about living and retirement in Mexico, how much time you spend living in Mexico, and how much commitment you make to cultivating a lifestyle here will depend on many things and is ultimately a personal choice that you will probably have determined when you were defining your intentions and identifying the key factors and other matters that will influence your choices about moving to Mexico.

As noted in our guides referenced above, the key factors that influence these choices include:

• social and family ties you have in your home country;
• the attachment (or otherwise) you feel to your home country;
• the physical distance between Mexico and your home country;
• your financial resources and personal energy levels required to move twice a year; and
• your offspring’s perceptions if you have children.

These factors are addressed in detail in our guide to living and retirement in Mexico, and although they are not the only influencers, they are the principal ones which most foreign residents face as they make their choices regarding a move.

Practical matters to consider as you prepare to return to Mexico

If you are one of many foreign residents that shuttles between your home country and Mexico each year —or if you intend to do this as part of your planned lifestyle— there are several practical matters to consider as you prepare for your re-arrival to Mexico.

Your visitor or residency permit

If you use a visitor permit to reside in Mexico part-time, note that border officials appear to no longer be giving 180 days stay by default.  They can still give 180 days maximum (by law) but in many cases people are begin given fewer days—sometimes as few as 10.

If you reside in Mexico even for a few months a year, we recommend you consider applying for a residency permit that will make your border crossing smoother and prevent you from having to leave the country if your visitor permit is not issued for the length of time you intend to overwinter in Mexico.

Renewing your temporary residency

If you hold temporary residency in Mexico and you intend to keep your residency status in Mexico, you will need to renew it before its expiry date.  Residency card renewals must be done in person, in Mexico—they cannot be filed by proxy.

Your arrival in Mexico is an ideal moment to check the expiry date on your residency card(s) and file your renewal (or exchange to permanent residency) as appropriate.  If you need assistance with your renewal process or exchange to permanent, our associate can help.

Vehicles you might bring

If you intend to drive your US or Canadian plated vehicle to Mexico, consider whether you will need a Temporary Import Permit (TIP), and whether you need a TIP or not, you’ll need to purchase a vehicle insurance policy that covers your vehicle while its in Mexico.  Read our guides to driving and road trips in Mexico for insight and advice about driving here.

House and home

If you own a home in Mexico, you’ll need to talk to your local contact or agent about ‘reopening’ the property for your return if it has been left vacant in your absence.

As we remark in our guides to home maintenance and security, it’s not advisable to leave your property unattended for months.  If it has been rented out, you’ll need to liaise with your agent or the tenants to organize the checkout and hand-back, review of the property’s condition, and return of the deposit, etc.

If you rent a home while you’re in Mexico, you’ll need to liaise with the owner or the owner’s agent you are dealing with about arrangements for you to take possession of the property during the lease period.  And it’s also important to know who is renting your home while you’re away.

Health matters

If you plan to be in Mexico for a defined period up to 90-days then a short-term trip protection insurance could work well for your stay.

If your stay in Mexico will be for longer than 90 days and less than 180 days, then an extended stay emergency and medical expense coverage will help to mitigate the cost of unexpected medical emergencies, and also includes medical evacuation to your home country in severe circumstances.

Language skills

Being able to speak at least some Spanish will materially improve your lifestyle experiences while you’re in Mexico, even if you’re only living here part of the year.  There are sensible reasons for investing time and effort to learn (or improve) your Spanish, and there are courses online and in classrooms that can help you to do this.

Travel and leisure opportunities

Part-time residents in Mexico may opt to take advantage of their presence in Mexico and consider some travel and leisure opportunities that are close-by.  You can browse custom leisure tours offered by travel experts that know Mexico intimately here on Mexperience.

Miscellaneous practicalities

The guide to living and retirement sets out the plethora of practical matters and details which need to be considered as you move from one place to another. Many of these matters are relevant whether you move to Mexico full-time or part-time—the principal difference is that if you are living here only part time, you’ll effectively be managing lifestyles in at least two different locations simultaneously.

Practical matters as you prepare to leave Mexico

If you intend to leave Mexico for a defined period each year and return months later (or next season/year), the key matters for you to consider prior to your planned departure date from Mexico will likely include:

• ensuring your Mexico visitor permit has not expired if you don’t have a residency card (you’ll need to pay a fine when you leave, if you overstay your visitor permit date);
• if you have a residency permit, you need to ‘check out’ at the airport or other port of exit when you leave Mexico;
• if you own a house here, ensuring that your Mexican home is properly cared for in your absence, or if you plan to rent it out, ensure that you know who’s renting your home;
• if you drove a foreign-plated vehicle to Mexico outside of one of the defined Free Zones (and thus have a Temporary Import Permit—TIP), make sure you stop at the Banjercito border offices and cancel your TIP.
• if your insurance policies are not annual, be mindful of the policy expiry dates and create a reminder for yourself to restart them for your next return to Mexico.

Resources for Living & Lifestyle in Mexico

Mexperience offers you a comprehensive online resource of information and local knowledge to help you discover Mexico, explore choices, find opportunities and plan a new life in Mexico.  Our resources include:

• Detailed guides to living and retirement in Mexico that are continually updated
• Insightful articles about living and lifestyle in Mexico
• If you’re planning your initial relocation to Mexico, browse article on our Lifestyle Planning section
• Our Mexico Home Life section contains a wealth of local knowledge to help you settle-in and make the most of your lifestyle in Mexico.
• Our section about Home Stewardship is packed with practical advice for managing your home and dwelling spaces in Mexico.
• A regular Mexico Newsletter you can subscribe to for free

Comprehensive and detailed guide to living and cultivating a lifestyle in Mexico, continually revised and updated. Free—no payment or subscription needed.

Complete and detailed guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico that’s continually updated

Our extensive guides and articles offer insights to anyone exploring prospects for living, working, retirement and cultivating your lifestyle in Mexico.

They provide practical insights, incisive local knowledge, and meaningful guidance that helps you to discover opportunities, consider your choices, and make informed decisions.

Discover what lifestyles Mexico offers, identify opportunities of interest to you, weight up the compromises, consider your options, and plot a course based on the things that are important to you.

Guides to lifestyles in Mexico, for all life stages

Our continually-updated guides help you to begin weaving together the key components which create a workable and realistic lifestyle plan in Mexico, whatever planning stage and life stage you are in presently:

• To those considering a move to Mexico, whether you are single, with your partner, or a family with young children, Mexperience helps you to discover the country and evaluate living and lifestyle choices available here.  Our guides also offer thoughtful guidance about setting out your intentions and reshaping your situations.
• To those planning their retirement or seeking a place to retire, Mexperience guides provide specific guidance about matters related to retirement planning and retirement lifestyles, as well as the practicalities of retiring in Mexico.
• When you’re already living in Mexico, our guides and articles provide practical insights that help you to settle-in, adapt, and cultivate your new lifestyle here day-to-day.
• Regardless of your life stage, the information we publish provides meaningful insights about the essential day-to-day practical matters of living in Mexico, adapting to the country, the climates and culture, and more—with extensive cross references and links to further information and helpful contacts who can help you to realize your Mexico plans.

Planning or redefining your lifestyle in Mexico

Obtain practical insights, get incisive local knowledge and meaningful guidance that helps you to consider opportunities, weigh up your choices, and make informed decisions about planning or redefining your lifestyle in Mexico.

Mexico as a place for your retirement

We publish comprehensive information to help you plan a retirement here, whether you’re planning ahead or already retired and considering Mexico as a potential retirement haven.

Exploring locations and finding a place to live in Mexico

Our extensive articles help you to consider key aspects as you explore your options and make choices about your lifestyle and potential location types in Mexico.

Getting your residency permit for Mexico

Mexico’s immigration laws are reasonable and allow non-Mexicans with the financial means or family roots, and/or skills, to live here legally. We publish extensive knowledge to help you, including:

Moving and settling-in to life in Mexico

When you’ve decided to move to Mexico and made key decisions about where and how you’ll live, there’s the move a period of adapting and settling-in.  We publish extensive guides and articles to help you settle.

Learn how to keep in touch when you’re in Mexico

Our guides include detailed information about how to keep in touch when you’re in Mexico: by phone, by internet, as well as using postal and courier services here.  Our local knowledge helps you to choose a mobile phone plan, explore choices for high speed internet in Mexico (even if you live in a remote area) and our cost of living guide includes a section about the cost of communications services.

Detailed insights into the practicalities of living in Mexico day-to-day

Our articles and guides also include comprehensive insights about day to day living in Mexico that help you to plan your lifestyle, settle-in, and make the most of your life and activities in Mexico.

Mexico’s living costs and managing your finances

Financial considerations are an important aspect of any move.  Mexperience helps you to calculate your cost of living in Mexico and offers practical tips for managing your money and finances here.

Mexico as a place for working-age professionals

Working-age professionals, especially those plying a trade in the knowledge economy, are also considering Mexico as a base to live and work.

And more… resources for Living & Lifestyle in Mexico

Mexperience offers you a comprehensive online resource of information and local knowledge to help you discover Mexico, explore choices, find opportunities and plan a new life in Mexico.  Our resources include:

• A regular Mexico Newsletter you can subscribe to for free
• Regularly-updated articles about lifestyle planning  in Mexico
• Insights about day to day living with Mexico Home Life

There are lots of good, sensible reasons for moving to Mexico, but it takes consideration, research, and a plan to make your move a success.

When you’re seeking a change of lifestyle in Mexico you’ll find a wealth of knowledge here on Mexperience to help you consider your choices along with helpful connections that can assist to make your plans a reality.

Research and plan your move to Mexico

Stories of foreign residents who have moved to Mexico successfully are most often characterized by people who made an effort to research and make considered choices.

For those willing to make a plan and see-through the ‘sales pitch’ promises of pipe-dream lifestyles abroad, the benefits of meaningful residency in Mexico are real and tangible. Mexperience living and lifestyle guides and articles show you how.

Mexico lifestyle planning

Mexperience can help when you’re exploring prospects for living and working or retirement in Mexico.  Our extensive resources help you discover practical insights, incisive local knowledge, and meaningful guidance that helps you to consider opportunities, weigh up your choices, and make informed decisions.  Start by reading these key articles, and connect to our free and comprehensive guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico for more detailed insights…

• Motivations for moving to and living in Mexico
• Approaches to choosing or changing your lifestyle
• Living costs in Mexico
• The journey to finding your place in Mexico

Free Guide: Guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico 

When you plan to retire in Mexico

Mexico continues to be one of the most popular countries in the world for American and Canadian retirees, and there is an increase in people from other parts of the world considering Mexico fore retirement too.  We publish comprehensive information to help you plan a retirement here, including:

• How to know if Mexico is right for your retirement
• Key benefits Mexico offers retirees
• Approaches for retirement lifestyles in Mexico
• How much money you need to retire in Mexico
• Regularly updated articles about retirement in Mexico

Free Guide: Guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico includes sections about planning and realizing your retirement in Mexico.

When you plan to work in Mexico

Working-age professionals, especially those plying a trade in the knowledge economy, are also considering Mexico as a base to live and work.

Free Guide: Read our guides and articles about Working & Self-employment in Mexico

Mexico visas and residency permits

Mexico’s immigration laws are reasonable and allow non-Mexicans with the financial means or family roots, and/or skills, to live here legally. We publish extensive knowledge to help you, including:

• A detailed summary about how to apply for residency in Mexico.
• Learn about routes to obtaining legal residency in Mexico
• Regularly updated articles and insights about obtaining and maintaining your residency status in Mexico.

Free Guide: Guide to Immigrating to Mexico

Finding a place to live in Mexico

When you move here, you’ll need somewhere to live. Whether you plan to rent or buy a home here, Mexperience offers a wealth of helpful insights and practical local knowledge.

Our extensive articles help you to consider key aspects as you explore your options and make choices about your lifestyle and potential location types in Mexico.  Key articles to read about this include:

• Influencing factors as you search for a place to live in Mexico
• Matching your location with your lifestyle needs
• The charms & compromises of living in the Mexican countryside
• Discover places for living, working or retirement in Mexico

Free Guide: Our Guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico includes sections about short-listing locations, guides to places for living in Mexico, and helpful insights to help you choose your location based on your life stage and lifestyle needs.

Free Guide: Our extensive Guide to Real Estate in Mexico includes insights about buying, renting, selling, and managing your residential home in Mexico.

The practicalities of living in Mexico

Our articles and guides also include comprehensive insights about day to day living in Mexico, including:

• Renting, buying, owning and selling a home in Mexico
• Driving and bringing foreign plated cars to Mexico
• Moving your personal goods to Mexico
• Living with pets in Mexico
• Learning or improving your Spanish
• Managing your health and well-being
• Getting essential insurance coverages

Home Life: Regularly updated articles in our Mexico Home Life section offer tips and insights about day-to-day living here.

Home Stewardship: Articles and guides in our Home Stewardship section help you manage your house, home, and dwelling spaces in Mexico.

Free Guide: House Maintenance and Security in Mexico

Free Guide: Driving & Road Trips in Mexico

Managing your finances and living costs

Financial considerations are an important aspect of any move.

• We don’t recommend you plan a lifestyle here solely based on living costs, but they are a key factor to consider and our guide to the cost of living in Mexico will help you to map-out a detailed budget based on your individual life situation.
• Learn about Mexico’s currency.
• Browse our regularly-updated articles about money, banking and finances in Mexico to get practical insights into managing your money.

Free Guide: Money, Finances and Banking Services in Mexico

Free Guide: Learn about Living Costs in Mexico

Mexico is an ideal place to spend your leisure time

When you’re living here, you’ll enjoy direct access to the enormous choice of leisure opportunities Mexico offers.

• Our guides and articles about travel experiences in Mexico provide inspiration and advice for spending your leisure time.
• Our travel partners can help you arrange custom travel tours, with itineraries created by people who know Mexico intimately.

Mexico Assistance Services bridge the gap

To help you take the next steps and bridge the gap between your planning and making those plans happen, we also offer a selection of Mexico Assistance Services that connect you to service providers and local professionals that can facilitate your endeavors and help you to realize your plans.

Resources for Living & Lifestyle in Mexico

Mexperience offers you a comprehensive online resource of information and local knowledge to help you discover Mexico, explore choices, find opportunities and plan a new life in Mexico.  Our resources include:

• Regularly-updated articles about lifestyle planning  in Mexico
• A regular Mexico Newsletter you can subscribe to for free

Creating a realistic and workable lifestyle plan

Mexperience offers comprehensive local knowledge to guide you through every stage of your relocation to Mexico, and continues to help after you make the move and settle-in to Mexico.  We also connect you to helpful contacts who can facilitate your plans.

This article outlines key factors to consider as you think about a move to Mexico—whether you’re moving alone, with your partner, or with your family.

The factors summarized in this article are an integral part of our continually-updated and free guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico.

Our guides, articles, and monthly newsletter are written by people who know Mexico intimately, are continually revised and updated—and are free to access.

Foundation work for your Mexico lifestyle planning

Some people move to Mexico on a whim (with varying results); however, when you look under the hood of the stories about people who have made a beneficial move to Mexico, they tend to be underpinned by the presence of a lifestyle plan.

When you’re considering a move to Mexico it makes sense to take a step back and:

• consider your approach to a lifestyle in Mexico;
• define your intentions and know what’s motivating you to move here;
• be mindful about where in Mexico to live, taking care to match your true needs with the locations you consider;
• consider the requirements for legal residency;
• plan to deal with essential matters related to settling-in and adapting to a new culture and lifestyle in Mexico: by yourself, or with your partner or family.

Free Guide: Guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico

Retirement planning in Mexico

If you plan to move to Mexico to retire (or to eventually retire here), you ought to consider matters related specifically to retirement planning and retirement lifestyles in Mexico.

Although retired people don’t carry the challenges and stresses of a working life —holding down a job, raising children, and keeping wolves from the door— retirement does bring other challenges.

Becoming informed by using practical guidance to help you make constructive plans, identifying and mitigating the risks associated with retirement abroad, and learning about key elements which often underpin a fruitful and abundant retirement lifestyle in Mexico can help you to make better choices.

Free Guide: Our Guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico contains sections specifically about planning and realizing a retirement in Mexico.

Discovering places to live in Mexico

The place where you decide to live is a personal choice; it’s also subjective, and important.

Where you choose to live in Mexico can make or break your lifestyle plans and aspirations, so taking time to pause and consider your needs in relation to a place is sensible and preferable to making an impulsive decision based on assumptions which are often conceived in haste and based on limited knowledge and experience of a location and its attributes.

Matching your needs with your location is one of the cornerstone choices you will make as you plan a move to Mexico, and Mexperience offers insights and local knowledge to help you make considered choices.

Free Guide: Our Guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico contains insights to help you consider your choices about location and accommodations when you relocate to Mexico.

Practical essentials for everyday living in Mexico

When you have committed to the move and find yourself in Mexico, you will face an entire raft of practical matters which are relevant to everyday living here, regardless of your life stage and other circumstances.

These include things like finding a property to rent or buy, adapting to local climates, keeping healthy and well, engaging with the language, keeping in touch, getting around using transport options, caring for your pets, as well as wide assortment of everyday practical matters like tipping and bargaining, and the water supply—to name a few.

Free Guide: Our extensive Guide to Real Estate in Mexico includes insights about buying, renting, selling, and managing your residential home in Mexico.

Taking this pathway to adaptation is necessary and, although at times it may be challenging and confusing to you, it will form an essential part of your overall experience and provide a foundation from which you will learn to cultivate a fruitful lifestyle here.

Free Guide: Our Guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico includes sections about settling-in to Mexico, adapting to your new environment and lifestyle, and finding balance and purpose.

When you’re settled, there are always day-to-day matters to contend with, that will form part of your new lifestyles and life experiences.   Mexperience offers ample insights to help you navigate these stages of change and transformation in your lifestyle.

Home Life: Regularly updated articles in our Mexico Home Life section offer tips and insights about day-to-day living here.

Home Stewardship: Articles and guides in our Home Stewardship section help you manage your house, home, and dwelling spaces in Mexico.

Connect to additional resources to help you plan and realize your relocation to Mexico

Knowledge, resources, and helpful contacts will play a defining role in your lifestyle planning and move to Mexico.  Mexperience helps you on your journey to discovering opportunities, making informed choices, and turning your lifestyle plans into reality.

• Our Mexico Lifestyle Planning section contains articles and guides to help you plan a new lifestyle, or consider how to reform an existing lifestyle here
• Discover Places to Live in Mexico helps you find and compare key locations across Mexico—from the most popular, to new emerging areas as well as places off the beaten track
• The Mexico Home Life section provides practical insights that help you to cultivate your lifestyle in Mexico every day
• Register for our free monthly newsletter about Mexico

Free Guide: Our Guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico is comprehensive and continually-updated.  It contains detailed knowledge and insights to help you consider your choices and form a plan based on your intentions and individual circumstances.

Obtaining assistance

Our associates provide helpful assistance services which provide key support for your Mexico lifestyle plans.  These include:

• Immigration assistance when you need help with your with your residency permits.
• Insurance services – mitigate the effects of unforeseen events with coverages for your vehicle, home, health and travel.
• Professional services – when you need counsel or advice about property, commercial or legal matters in Mexico.
• Spanish language study – obtain help when you want to learn or improve your Spanish.
• Leisure time – with Mexico on your doorstep, our travel associates can help you see more of it with carefully crafted custom tours that help you to make the most of your leisure time.

When you’re thinking about moving to Mexico but have questions about how suitable Mexico may be, places to live, and key things to consider, a Mexico Lifestyle Consultant offers a structured conversation to help you define your intentions, set a clear direction, and help you to begin making informed choices.

Save time, gain valuable lifestyle insights

This lifestyle consultancy service is carefully structured to assist in your lifestyle deliberations and planning:

• Helps you to consider choices and the groundwork needed to plan for living, working, or retirement in Mexico.
• The consultation saves you valuable time by focusing on matters related to your specific circumstances.
• You’ll get unique insights into the options and choices available for different lifestyles in Mexico based on your intentions and goals.
• Learn about the everyday practicalities of moving and adapting to a new lifestyle and culture.
• The consultation may also help you to avoid making material mistakes commonly encountered by those seeking a lifestyle abroad.

Consultations formed around your individual needs

Our Lifestyle Consultants are long-term expats who know Mexico intimately.  They themselves have made the journey of moving to Mexico and have assimilated their life situations to Mexican ways and customs. They provide meaningful insights and guidance based on decades of experience living and working in Mexico.

About your personal consultation

Our Mexico Lifestyle Consultants offer personal consultations by telephone or video call for US$119 per hour.  There is a one-hour minimum fee and any time over one hour is billed precisely as used.

During the call, the consultant will take time to learn about your situation, your plans and intentions, your timescales, and will also take detailed questions you want to ask and address concerns you want to discuss.

The personal consultation helps to identify important aspects about your situation, address potential issues, and answer specific questions or concerns you have regarding a move to Mexico.

Benefits of a lifestyle consultation

These lifestyle consultations are ideal when you’re contemplating a move to Mexico and you want to talk to someone with direct experience of having made the journey through a carefully structured consultation that will:

• Help you to identity your priorities and define your aims and intentions.
• Consider realistic and viable options, based on your life stage, lifestyle choices, and intentions.
• Help you to consider whether Mexico is a good fit for you alone, or with your partner and/or family as relevant.
• Address any specific questions or concerns you have in regard to moving to Mexico to live, work, or retire.
• Help you to compile a shortlist of potential locations that may suit your lifestyle needs if you’re not yet sure about where in Mexico you want to live.
• Help you to consider the groundwork needed to plan the move, and adapt to a new lifestyle abroad.
• Share helpful local knowledge and valuable advice based on practical real-life experience of having moved to, settled, and adapted to Mexico.

Most consultations don’t last longer than an hour, but if your situation needs more time, or you would like to return another day for further conversations with your consultant, you may hire them on a per-hour basis.

Request your personal consultation

To request a consultation, complete the short questionnaire below that will help us to learn about your needs and refer you to an appropriate consultant.

After we review your request, you’ll be introduced to the associate we refer you to who will contact you personally to request payment for the one hour consultation, and schedule your meeting at a mutually-agreeable date and time.

In this fifth and final part of the series we explore the need to develop cultural awareness as you settle-in and adapt to your lifestyle in Mexico.

Getting to know Mexico well and becoming intimately involved in the country and its ways is a skill that can only be truly developed with the experience of having lived here for a good while, and taking the necessary care to observe, acknowledge and learn about the local environment you have adopted as your home—whether you live in Mexico full-time or part-time.

However, some background research into Mexican culture, how its society is structured, and learning about the country’s social etiquette can help you to show up in Mexico better prepared for everyday social and business interactions.

If you plan to work in Mexico, whether under the auspice of a formal employment contract or working independently, you’ll also need to familiarize yourself with Mexican business etiquette.

If you’re planning to call Mexico home, it’s worth getting an understanding of how the social fabric is structured. Understanding how the government is structured, the basic principles of the country’s legal and judicial systems, how the police and military operate, how religion is practiced and so on, will help you to get a broad backdrop to this country and its social norms.

Understanding social etiquette is vitally important when you are in the throes of adopting a foreign country as your home. Behaviors which appear irregular to you may be quite normal in Mexico; and vice-versa. You can avoid potential embarrassment and social faux pas by becoming familiar with local social etiquette.

For example, understanding how the social structure is organized, the formalities of language use in everyday situations, the expected use of professional titles, the appropriate way to greet people, how to dress, dinner table manners, giving gifts, time-keeping and a miscellany of social etiquette practices will help you navigate the everyday nuances of Mexican culture and social traditions respectfully.  You can find further insights on all this on our guide to social & business etiquette—see the Resources section below.

If you plan to conduct business in Mexico, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with a further set of rules—those concerning business etiquette. As we described in part four of this series, doing business in Mexico is distinct to doing business in the USA, Canada and western Europe.

Moving to a foreign country to live is challenging enough. Adopting that country and embracing its culture and ways is a life-skill that requires a degree of presence and observation, patience, understanding, and acceptance. In these respects, kindling your relationship with Mexico will be like kindling a relationship with any other. Patience and tenacity will also be required, because even in laid-back, easy-going cultures with a great climate, life is difficult sometimes.

Today, an unprecedented number of Americans and Canadians —and an increasing number of Europeans— are not just talking about moving to Mexico, they are actively pursuing those plans.

Foreigners who come to Mexico without the open mindedness, flexibility and patience required to adopt a foreign country will almost certainly find themselves increasingly frustrated, agitated, and may end up leaving—but it doesn’t have to be this way.  For those who come to know these lands, and who are willing to assimilate the culture with its foibles and graces in equal measure, Mexico provides foreign residents with one of the most unique and rewarding living locations the world has to offer.

Resources for developing cultural awareness

Learn more about settling-in and developing your network of contacts in Mexico.

• Finding your place in Mexico
• Adapting and settling-in to your new lifestyle
• Cultivating your social and community networks
• Mexican Spanish language use in everyday situations
• Guide to social & business etiquette
• Latest articles about Mexican culture and local customs

Even if you plan to live in an area of Mexico that is settled by large foreign expat communities speaking English, you will still need to learn some Spanish to get by on a daily basis, and especially if you want to get the most of your experience of being in Mexico.

Spanish is Mexico’s official language, and is spoken by over 450 million people in over 20 countries world-wide. By being able to understand and speak Spanish, you will gain access to the culture in a way that you would otherwise not be able to benefit from by having everyone else speak to you in English.

Furthermore, many of the people you will need and want to interact with regularly may not speak much English, if any at all. On a daily basis these could include the local shop keepers and market traders, the gasoline station attendant, the bank clerk, your maid and the gardener.

People who provide essential services on an ad-hoc basis and who also may not speak English include the plumber, the car mechanic, the electrician, or the local doctor.

It’s inconvenient having to ask someone to translate for you all of the time. It’s also good manners to demonstrate at least a modicum of skill in everyday use of the local language. Spanish is a phonetic language, so it’s easy to grasp the basics and you can start learning right away, with online lessons.

Resources for learning Spanish

Mexperience offers guides with insights, a series of articles about the use and nuances of Mexican Spanish, and connections to language lessons.

• Our Learning Spanish guide is an integral part of our Living & Lifestyle section, where you can learn about how Spanish is used in Mexico, as well as the reasons why Spanish is such a great language to learn.
• Our PinPoint Spanish series of articles helps you to learn about the context and nuances of Mexican Spanish in everyday usage.
• Connect to people who offer Spanish Lessons so that you can accelerate your learning.

In this second part of the series, we explore the need to develop flexibility and patience as you settle-in and adapt to Mexico.

For a variety of reasons, which include bureaucracy, ceremony, and cultural habit, some situations which develop in Mexico could appear quite frustrating to unwary foreigners.

Sometimes it’s because one is “used to” things, especially supposedly simple things, happening differently (usually more quickly) than they might do in Mexico. Sometimes, the lack of something you really need or would very much like within a certain time frame can lead to frustration, inconvenience—or even loss.

If you plan to live in Mexico, you’ll need to develop degrees of flexibility and exercise a generous helping of patience with yourself and with others; not just from time to time, but as a matter of course. If you don’t have a naturally flexible character and cannot come to find the patience in yourself to adapt, you might discover Mexico to be a very challenging place to live.

Many foreigners who have settled in Mexico and now make this country their home share stories about how they moved away from stressful lifestyles to find a more agreeable rhythm in Mexico. They describe how the process is almost cathartic, but only as and when they accepted how Mexico is and let go of once habitual demands which appeared to plague their thoughts. This transformation is narrated quite well in Tony Cohan’s popular book On Mexican Time.

Foreigners who come to live in Mexico and cannot find peace with how things are here usually begin to display impatience, frustration, and anger which can sometimes even lead to lack of general respect in formal or informal situations. Inevitably, these frustrations fall on “deaf ears” when dealing with most people.

Moreover, although Mexicans may not outwardly react to antagonistic behavior, the ultimate outcome in a situation could be made worse for the person exhibiting a low mood, through deliberate obstruction —or perhaps total rejection— of his or her wishes: not because it is impossible to fulfill them, but as a response to what is deemed impoliteness.

Remaining calm, allowing matters to take a natural course, being flexible with your plans and expectations, and exercising patience are noble pursuits anywhere you live, and in Mexico they are particularly helpful in everyday situations.

Being a foreigner in a foreign land means playing by your host’s rules. Given that there are an estimated one million foreigners living in Mexico full or part-time suggests that the rules and customs are not that difficult to adopt, and may indeed harbor some inner value.

Resources for adapting to Mexico

Mexperience’s extensive and continuously-updated guide to Living & Lifestyles in Mexico is packed with helpful insights and local knowledge to help you settle-in to Mexico.  Here are some chapters from that guide, relevant to adapting:

• Adapting and settling-in to your new lifestyle
• Finding purpose, routines and balance
• The journey to finding your place in Mexico
• No Hay: learning to assimilate impermanence

In this third part of the series we explore the need to develop negotiating and bargaining skills, for use everyday.

Negotiation, trade, and bargaining are woven into the fabric of Mexican culture. In 1520, Hernán Cortés wrote to Emperor Carlos V of Spain describing Tenochtitlán as a city with “many plazas, where there are continuous markets and dealings in buying and selling”. These and other records show how Mexicans have been avid traders for many centuries.

Five hundred years later, whether you’re buying a piece of land, a home, a car, or a kilo of limes at the local market, you will need to exercise some negotiation skills, lest you may pay more, and possibly a lot more, than you need have.

How you negotiate (or bargain) will depend upon the precise situation you find yourself in. In most circumstances effective negotiation will require the use of Spanish —a notable exception being real estate purchases— so a basic conversational level of the language, as described in the first article of this series, is a prerequisite.

There are some places and situations where bargaining is not practiced in Mexico. These include the local supermarkets, department stores, and gasoline stations. Bargaining is not generally practiced at tienditas (family-run corner stores) and it’s not practiced at pharmacies.

Restaurants and comedores don’t usually bargain, either; although they might agree to a large group discount or special offer if you talk with the manager or owner before your intended arrival.

Situations where bargaining is practiced (and sometimes expected) include shopping in open-air food markets, flea markets, art and craft markets and fairs; and buying from ambulant vendors on the street and on public transport.

If you board a local taxi cab that isn’t metered or doesn’t charge a zonal fee, you should always negotiate your price beforehand. Many people are now using App Cabs which offer fixed pricing for fares in advance of the journey.

More formal situations where price negotiations are often entered into include the purchase of a vehicle (new or used), the purchase of jewelry or very fine clothing from a specialist suppliers, the bulk purchase of almost anything from a trade supplier, hand-made furniture bought locally, as well as land and property—whether for purchase or to rent.

When you have lived in Mexico for a while —and especially when you have lived in one place in Mexico for a while— you’ll notice that the prices asked for many local things you buy every day can be very elastic indeed. There are prices for ‘locals’ and prices for ‘tourists’—whether the tourists are foreign or Mexican.

Traders everywhere are alert to an opportunity. They will always try to make hay while the sun shines. With some experience of living in a place, you’ll learn what prices should be for things like a taxi cab ride, a kilo of meat or fish, a bagful of oranges, a hat or walking stick, a stack of fresh corn tortillas, and so on.

How? You start talking with people locally, you hear and see what others are being offered and gradually you get to know. Eventually, you might become sufficiently experienced and not have to ask the price for something you buy regularly; —for example, the fee for a local cab ride to a regular destination— you know what it should be and hand over that amount of money.

The acid test is to hand over a coin or bank note that requires some change in return and see how much comes back. In fact, this level of local economic intimacy is a gauge for you—the more you buy without the need to ‘negotiate’ the price, the deeper you have become entwined in, and part of, the local community.

Resources for bargaining and negotiating

Learn more about Mexican culture and traditions, including about negotiating, bargaining and shopping in Mexico:

• Guide to social etiquette and local customs
• Latest articles about Mexican culture and local customs
• Learn about tipping culture in Mexico
• Discover Markets & Shopping in Mexico

In this fourth part of the series we explore the need to create a network of contacts and become good at networking.

When you are living in Mexico, one of the most important day-to-day skills you’ll need to develop is that of making contacts and networking in your local community.  Contacts fall into two broad categories: social contacts and trade and/or business contacts.

In social terms, Mexico is an easy place to meet and make new friends locally.  Mexicans are exceptionally social.  They are open, some will speak English (possibly quite well), and getting involved socially is never difficult in a Mexican town or city.

Check notice boards at coffee shops, internet cafés, and book shops for advertisements and classified ads to find out what social events are happening locally. Many local groups also have Facebook group pages. In addition to making new local friends, you’ll also find that there are many networks for foreign residents and related social events happening in Mexico.

If you’re planning to work in Mexico, or run your own business here, building trust networks is vital to your commercial prosperity.  After living here a while, you’ll notice that Mexicans will be weary of dealing with others they don’t know well. You must allow space for a social and non-commercial relationships to kindle before you can move on to discussing business matters. Business relationships may develop faster if you have been referred to someone, or someone else is referred to you by a common contact.

This work of relationship-cultivation and network development is important whether you’re looking for a housekeeper, an electrician or plumber, a builder, a lawyer, a service supplier, or a business partner.  You can go out and seek people to work with at random, but many people who know Mexico don’t do that initially—they always prefer a referral.

This ‘personal’ approach is all part-and-parcel of building your networks in Mexico.  You need to have the confidence to talk with people and ask questions, and be open about your needs and intentions with others.

When you find a good plumber, a good gardener, a good carpenter, et al, you’ll keep in touch and, ideally, you’ll give them a bit of work —however small— on occasion, so that when the big job you need doing comes up, the person knows who you are.  Referring a known ‘good contact’ to someone else, helps the person in need, helps your contact to secure more work, and he/she will remember you for referring them.

To start developing your contacts and building your networks in Mexico, you need to get out into the community where you live and get talking to people.  You may already know some foreign residents who live locally, and they can usually offer referrals to people they already know.

Sooner or later you’ll need to start making your own contacts.  Good places to start include local coffee houses, restaurants, the Zocalo (town center), local shops and boutiques, and local workshops where you may see furniture makers, carpenters, stone masons and others plying their trade. Some places in Mexico, like Ajijic in Lake Chapala have established community centers like the Lake Chapala Society that provide a helpful hub for contact gathering and real social networking.  Using online resources like Google, Reddit, and Facebook can also help you to find contacts and communities of interest locally.

Building contacts and networks in Mexico is a real and tactile activity that is enjoyable, and rewarding.  Although initial contact might be through Facebook or email, there is nothing virtual about developing contacts at a local level here.  The personal aspect of relationship cultivation —meeting real people in real places instead of posting updates on a computer screen— is one of the many nuances which make Mexico an attractive place to be for foreigners who call Mexico ‘home’.

Resources for contacts and networking

Learn more about settling-in and developing your network of contacts in Mexico.

• Adapting and settling-in to your new lifestyle
• Cultivating your social and community networks
• Finding and hiring house-keeper and other domestic workers
• Practicalities of finding a house rental
• Working and self-employment in Mexico

The annual survey is a barometer of current perceptions as expressed by Internations’ members who are primarily foreign expats situated across the world, including those in Mexico.

Measure twice, cut once

These surveys help to raise awareness about certain places and offer some helpful snapshots concerning the current mood among those seeking or living lifestyles abroad, and the criteria measured for selecting the best destinations —quality of life, ease of settlement, and cost of living, etc. —are valid and universal attractions of living anywhere.

Moving overseas is a significant commitment of yours and your family’s time, resources, energy, and emotions, and your reasons for moving to any place abroad ought to be considered with careful deliberations founded on your core lifestyle intentions.

Consider what you’re seeking from a lifestyle in Mexico

Mexico offers genuine substance and value to foreign residents, and to figure out what you’re seeking from a new lifestyle here, it’s helpful to define your intentions and consider whether Mexico is right for you—and your partner and family, if relevant.

To achieve this, you need to step back from the idealistic portrayals often espoused by those ‘living the dream’ narratives so often seen published and:

• take a mindful pause and define your lifestyle intentions;
• consider what matters are important to you and those close to you;
• overlay those things with what Mexico offers for living and lifestyle; and
• consider how you’ll navigate the compromises you’ll inevitably have to make when you come and live here.

Lifestyle planning requires focus and support

You can never plan for every potential outcome, but having a clear idea about your core intentions will give you an anchor that you can return to through the inevitable periods of uncertainty and doubt that will arise as you move and settle-in to a new and different life situation in Mexico.

The matter of considering and defining your lifestyle intentions, and how Mexico does or does not fit well with those, is an important and substantial subject that is covered in-depth in our detailed articles about living and retirement in Mexico—see links below to get started.

A wealth of local knowledge, resources, and connections

When you’re exploring the possibilities that Mexico offers, Mexperience provides a comprehensive online resource that enables you to discover opportunities and temper the unbridled enthusiasm that’s sometimes painted by idealistic notions of living abroad.

The information we publish and share helps you to make considered choices, formulate a plan, and shows how you can realize that plan through constructive and sustainable changes in lifestyle.

Begin exploring your choices for a new and different life in Mexico:

• Key factors to consider as you plan your lifestyle in Mexico
• Latest articles and insights about Mexico lifestyle planning
• Key resources for planning a new lifestyle in Mexico
• Exploring potential locations to live in Mexico
• Learn about acquiring legal residency in Mexico
• Our Home Life section shares detailed practical insights about day-to-day living matters in Mexico

Obtaining assistance

Our associates provide helpful assistance services which provide key support for your Mexico lifestyle plans.  These include:

• Immigration assistance when you need help with your with your residency permits.
• Insurance services – mitigate the effects of unforeseen events with coverages for your vehicle, home, health and travel.
• Professional services – when you need counsel or advice about property, commercial or legal matters in Mexico.
• Real estate assistance – when you need help finding a property in Mexico.
• Spanish language study – obtain help when you want to learn or improve your Spanish.
• Leisure time – with Mexico on your doorstep, our travel associates can help you see more of it with carefully crafted custom tours that help you to make the most of your leisure time.