How To Retire in Mexico


How to retire in Mexico

To retire in Mexico, one option is to apply for a temporary resident visa at a Mexican consulate in the U.S. This visa grants a one-year residency and can be renewed for three more years.

As of January 2019, retirees seeking this visa must show a savings balance of $27,000 or proof of income from a foreign pension or investments of $1,620 per month over six months.

Alternatively, you could apply for permanent residency immediately. You’ll need to show you had monthly income of $2,700 or savings of about $108,000 over the past 12 months.

Married couples should add another $540 to the monthly income requirements for both visa types.

36 Comments on How To Retire in Mexico

  1. otoh … just declare yourself a member of a cult & have a few run-ins w/ the local cartel … & voila! room for new wives!

    quick & easy riddance to those bitchy-whiney ones

    what? …. I was the only one thinking it?

  2. It’s almost like they’re saying they want to make sure you won’t be a burden to their country.

    That’s racist.

    Wait – you’re telling me it’s Mexico doing all this?

    That’s racist of you.

  3. About 10 years ago an acquaintance at work took
    early retirement with his Spanish teacher wife
    and moved to a Mexican town about an hours drive
    SW of Mexico City. They had vacationed there a few
    times and loved it, singing its praises to all.
    They moved there, rented a house in the suburbs and
    signed up for the inexpensive health care. Within four months they were back in the States looking for work.
    They fled their home after the police chief was
    murdered and a few weeks later a car with a headless
    corpse in it was parked in front of their house
    as what they figured out was a warning.
    You can keep Mexico. No, thanks.

  4. After 26 wonderful years of retirement in Mexico in a rented condo, with housekeeper and frequent weekly restaurants and entertainment my brother and his wife began to show infirmities and were taken over by one of the many caregiver families who keep them in a room and fed to stay alive while they take my brother to the bank monthly and clean him out. As hostages they may live for quite a while and even fret about being behind on caregiver payments…Facebook is allowed and you would not want to mess with the “deal” with the locals..Not a bad trade off .

  5. Anonymous at 10:48 pm
    “Only Mormons are stupid enough to give it a roll”

    The poorer ones.
    The rich ones have Islands as playgrounds.

  6. Doctor Moreau

    It didn’t work out well. I’ve sold “Arms” to that community. Lot’s of them moving to Salmon Idaho. I have no problem with them. I’m a simple man married to one woman that drives me fucking nuts at times. If you can handle more than one, you’re a better man than me.

  7. You have no rights in these third world shitholes. They resent you taking up their beachfront property.

    Here is an old story:

    And a few years ago when they wanted to relax the laws:

    Same thing with Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua.

    All it takes is one election to get some AMLO, Bernie Sanders, Kirchner, Chavez in who makes you, the evil outsider, stealing their sacred land of historic importance, environmental watershed, etc. and you are SOL. Especially if you’re old. Want to spend your golden years fighting for your house in a foreign court. You’ll be dead before it gets through their courts.

    We tried to enforce personal guarantees on Mexican nationals who provided opinions of counsel affirming the validity of the guarantees and were basically told to get fucked. Run up years of legal fees pursuing it for no sure thing. Outside of your all inclusive vacations, give or take a roofie rape or murder, these countries are unsafe for foreign investment unless your crystal ball lets you know when to escape and you’re willing to cut ties.

  8. Hypocrisy in immigration policy is universal in Latin America.

    Expat retirees are becoming a major economic stimulus and a major pain. What money they bring in often does not compensate for the demands they put on local infrastructure, particularly healthcare.

    It makes perfect sense to put restrictions on immigration, but every country, communist to conservative, still insists that the US is obligated to accept immigrants without restriction. Third world logic.

    Latin America has tremendous potential, but it has a long way to go before it will equal the US. You cannot move there and assume that everything will be the same as here, or the same as vacationing. There are still a lot of expats who do quite well, and there are always horror stories. Read a newspaper from there and it will be full of horror stories that the locals live with everyday. Expats should never feel they are immune to the same risk. Read the entire newspaper and you will see people living happy, successful lives — but the risk is always there.

    The LeBarons have lived in Mexico for almost 100 years. They have been aware of the deteriorating security situation in the border region for some time. One of their clan was murdered a few years ago for speaking out too much.

    No one likes to admit that things are changing for the worse. Look at any relatively large city in the US and consider how quickly things have gone downhill, while the people simply cope rather than act. They pretend a normalcy that does not exist and ignore the new normal they see but refuse to react to, hoping that it will just go away or that someone else will take care of it.

    With or without immigration, our society has experienced significant decay since Obama was elected. It was not happenstance. It was planned and executed, brilliantly. Things did not play out as they had anticipated. Obama was not allowed a third term, and Trump won. We are unlikely to be allowed another chance.

  9. Everywhere the Catholic church was dominant in the past is now in some respect economically or socially defective. Look and see.

  10. If you choose to live there you’re putting not only yourself but family back in the states at high potential risk.
    Anywhere down there you as an american are thought of as nothing more than a source to exploit. They have a million different scams including contacting your relatives to request money that you still “owe” after they’ve bled you dry.
    To them you are just a sucker. Despite the outwardly friendly behavior they resent you and hate that you come to their communities and have money to live better than they can.
    To repeat: They hate and resent you and any interaction from them will be predatory despite the warm and friendly outward appearance.

  11. In his book “Roughing It” Mark Twain writes of his
    visit with the Mormon Leader, John Smith. He was
    at first titillated with the thought of multiple
    wives and the luck the men had to have that many.
    After he left, he wrote about after seeing the women
    he was struck with how kind and good the Mormon men
    must have been to marry so many.
    Great Book about the 1860’s West if you have not read it.
    Project Gutenberg offers it as a free download.
    If you can put a few bucks in the PG bank to help.

  12. “he was struck with how kind and good the Mormon men
    must have been to marry so many.”

    Yeah, kindness and goodness is why they did it. Right.

  13. The migration to Costa Rica is the same way.
    As an example of how you’re treated one guy who rented a property down there from what seemed like a very sweet and friendly couple. The couple invited him to a very exorbitant meal they had prepared especially for him that had been prepared by the wife. He enjoyed the meal very much and thought how wonderful the couple was for the gesture. After the meal and pleasant conversation he bid farewell for the evening and as he was leaving the wife handed him a bill for the entire meal.
    That’s how they are.

  14. Just don’t live close to the border where the Carel activity is the highest. Central Mexico is best. The high mountain areas are cooler and there are many small towns that are away from the tourist areas and are cheap places to live.

  15. You go Billy. (I say while carving the pike that will hold his head) We’ll see ya later 😉

    If you think Mexico is nice, wait until you try Syria. Great beaches, friendly people, halal diet. You’ll just love it! (I say while carving another pike)

  16. Many parts of Mexico are breathtakingly beautiful, from the mountains to the beaches it has many options.
    The only glaring problem with the country that has been marring it’s appeal is that it’s populated with Mexicans.

  17. No Latin American country can be a trusted environment for Americans. Not even Costa Rica, long considered to be the best place in Latin America for Americans to expat to.

    They hate us, folks. Stay in a safe community in the US. Not Chicago or Baltimore, of course.


Comments are closed.
