Video Notes for 'We Moved To Mexico: Cost Breakdown'
Guest Post by Dani a.k.a. Wifey.
Video Links: YouTube | Rumble | BitChute
We're happy to report we have now successfully completed the process to become temporary residents in Mexico! We have these cute Residente Temporal cards to prove it.
Some of y'all have expressed interest in learning about the costs associated with moving to Mexico, so I've created this brief overview.
First, I should make an important note that the biggest "expense" associated with moving has been the sudden and unexpected farewell to our homestead, our beloved flock of hens, and our friends in New Orleans. I could calculate exactly how much of an income loss we took, based on photography gigs lost due to the mandates, and AirBnB bookings we had to cancel due to the house sale. But please understand it's absolutely impossible to put a true cost on losing one's home, pets, and livelihood. Not to mention the stress and grieving process.
That being said, here are my calculations and brief explanation of the process:
IMMIGRATION DOCUMENTS:
$275 ($135 each) - US Passport Renewal for 10 years**
$90 ($45 each) - Temporary Residency Visas from New Orleans' Mexico Consulate**
$60 ($30 each) - FMM Temporary Visa from INM at the border for 30 days**
$405 ($200 each) - Residente Temporal ID Cards from the INM in Puerto Vallarta for 1 year**
$380 ($190 each) - Immigration Lawyer's Fee***
$100 - Various Passport Photos, Copies of Documents, Prints, and Parking at Gov't Offices
NECESSARY PREPARATIONS:
$0 - Opening two new Bank Accounts, which don't have international fees****
$100 - "Digital Nomad Mailbox" street address / mail forwarding for 1 year**** www.iPostal1.com
$65 - Verification process (Online Notary) and 10 pre-purchased Mail Scans****
$1 - USPS Change of Address to new forwarding address****
$4 ($2 each) - Opt-Out from "Junk Mail" lists for 10 years **** www.DMAChoice.org
$0 - Opt-Out from "Pre-Screened Loan or Credit Card" lists forever **** www.optoutprescreen.com
MEDICAL/HEALTH PREPARATIONS:
$225 - Final appointment with my Lyme Doctor for a "clean bill of health" + prescriptions
$315 ($150 each + postage) - Hair Mineral Analysis per our twice annual schedule
$225 ($75 x3) - Covid Antibody Tests
PREPARING OUR CAR FOR THE TRIP:
$100 - Oil Change
$225 - Tune-Up and 1 New Tire (thanks to them running over a nail during test drive)
IMPORTING OUR CAR:
$440 - Mexico Car Insurance for 1 year (Note: We received $175 refund for canceling US policy)
$380 - T.I.P. Temporary Import Permit (Note: $320 of this is a "deposit" returned upon exit)
$40 ($20 each) - International Drivers Licenses for 1 year
THE DRIVE DOWN:
$125 - Dash Cam
$95 - GPS
$175 - Gas
$125 - Tolls
$215 - Lodging (New Orleans; Houston free, [we stayed with friends]; Santa Rosa $50; Monterrey $37; San Luis Potosí $31; Mexico City $60 [We stayed 6 nights, but is was $60/night]; Tonalá, outside Guadalajara $36)
Let's look at necessary vs. optional expenses:
** The bare minimum needed to spend (per person) on the immigration process is $430.
*** Adding an Immigration Laywer makes the total (per person) $620.
**** Adding our recommendations for mail forwarding adds an additional (per family) $190.
Notes about Importing a Vehicle:
Bringing our car added an expense of $1,920 for pre-trip car preparations, int'l drivers licenses, dash cam, GPS, gas, tolls, lodging, car insurance, and TIP. $320 of that is the TIP deposit, which will be refunded upon exit of the country. Not all of the expenses listed are required. However, the biggest benefit of bringing our car is: this allowed us to bring a decent amount of belongings, and saved us from the expense and stress of getting important items here another way. If we hadn't driven, we would've incurred the cost of plane tickets, extra bag fees, and purchasing suitcases. And obviously, having a car has its own added benefits for exploring a vast new country, and seeing a variety of landscapes, cities, and villages.
Notes about Upcoming Expenses:
$300 - Approximate cost to move my photography business to Mexico (accountant, lawyer)
$3,000-4,500 - Approximate cost to have our pallet of belongings shipped to Mexico or Japan
Notes about Driving:
It was highly recommended that drivers take a few things into consideration when planning their route: 1) it's generally more safe to drive inland rather than coastal roads, 2) only drive as far as you can during daylight hours, and 3) take toll roads, when given the option. Due to the prevalence of police officers soliciting bribes for real or imaginary driving offenses, it's also recommended to have a highly visible dash cam, with an attention-getting cord hanging in the front window, which might deter them from corrupt behavior. We've already been pulled over two times; the first time we had the dash cam, and the officer waved us on; the second time we did not have the dash cam, and the officer solicited a bribe in lieu of a ticket. So, do with that information what you will!
Notes about Lodging:
We chose our AirBnBs based on 1) proximity to places we wanted to see, 2) proximity to our driving route, and 3) parking on premises. We didn't want to fully unpack and re-pack our car at every stop during such a stressful trip. Fortunately, many homes have small gated courtyards, which are used as an extension of their living space and/or parking. So we only booked places which included something better than street parking, which only made it necessary to unpack the very important items, just for my own anxiety levels. It's important to note that, while we thought our Toyota Camry was a "small car" it was often just a few inches away from not fitting in the garages! Don't even ask about the parking garage in Mexico City, haha. This country is designed for really small vehicles, and if we stay, I hope to eventually trade in our car for a "Vocho" VW Bug (amazingly, produced in the classic style until 2002!) and a scooter. I was pleasantly surprised that my motorcycle endorsement was transferred over with my international drivers license.
Notes about Cell Phones:
Our cell phones cost $60 ($30 each) per month. MetroPCS has the option of adding "Unlimited Mexico & Canada" for $10 ($5 each) per month. This has worked perfectly, and gives us unlimited calling and texting to and from US or Mexican phone numbers, as well as unlimited data. It's a steal. It's possible that MetroPCS will only allow us to use this plan for six months, at which time, we'll have to figure out another option. Most people seem to use WhatsApp, or switch SIM cards to a Mexican card, or purchase a phone that allows you to use two SIM cards.
Notes about Bank Accounts:
We learned during our honeymoon to Montreál that many US bank accounts will charge fees for use outside the country. After doing a lot of reading about bank accounts, we decided to open two new free accounts: We use SoFi for their international debit card (no fees for using at the store) and Charles Schwab for ATM cash peso withdrawals (ATM fees are automatically reimbursed at the end of each month). So far, it's worked great!
Let's look at our timeline of events:
We started this process suddenly in September 2021, as the threat of a national vaccine mandate ending Evan's career (after the New Orleans vaccine mandate had already effectively put an end to my career) was the final straw pushing us out of America. Prior to this, we had discussed the possibility of retiring in Japan, or raising children in Japan, but hadn't even considered moving to Mexico. Over the course of 2020 and 2021, Mexico started looking better and better because the country was 1) almost entirely mandate-free, and 2) accessible by car.
Evan gave notice to his employer, with his last day being one month prior to our planned move date. I continued to pare down my list of photography gigs in Orleans Parish (which would require running the risk of not having a negative PCR test on time, and therefore a real chance of not being "allowed" to perform my contractual obligations). Any that I could, I gave away to other photographers. The remaining gigs caused an immeasurable amount of stress.
We immediately started the process of listing our beloved homestead for sale. I lost track of the high percentage of showings that turned into offers, but it was something like 75%, and we received a half dozen offers over the course of the listing. Our second almost-buyers were absolutely perfect for our homestead, and we were really sad that they were unable to complete the loan process. Fortunately, we were able to get another buyer very quickly, and even though the close date was extended, it only ended up postponing our move date by three weeks.
During this time, we completed the arduous process of separating all of our belongings into three categories: 1) stuff to sell, 2) a small amount of stuff we can live without for 1-2 years, which went into long-term storage, and will eventually be shipped to us at our final destination in Mexico or Japan, and 3) the absolute bare minimum of stuff we need to take with us in our car.
The first step of our immigration process was to apply for one year Temporary Residency visas at our local Mexico Consulate in New Orleans. We printed and completed the necessary paperwork from their website, brought our financial documents, passports, and additional passport-sized photos. After a few hours at the consulate office, we walked out with our visas in hand. The visas were good for one border crossing, which must happen within six months of receiving the visa.
We crossed the border early December 2021. Looking back, I can say it was a pretty comical experience. It was not what we expected... We didn't talk to a single person. Nobody stopped us to say "hola", nobody looked at our car or belongings, nobody even checked if we had passports or visas!!! We just... drove across a practically unmonitored border. In fact, if we hadn't known from weeks of meticulous research that we were required to seek out an INM office to receive additional visa paperwork and a Banjercito to purchase a Temporary Import Permit for our car, we would've simply driven right past! The man selling peanuts on the side of the road saw us panicking (ok, saw me panicking) and told us where to go! We spent nearly two hours at this location, while the INM man and the Banjercito man argued over the correct way to process our FMM and TIP. We left feeling confused, only to be greeted immediately upon entering Mexico by some unbridled horses just chilling by the road.
We had planned to vacation in Mexico City for one week while we took care of the next steps of the immigration process with INM, as this process must be completed within 30 days. Upon arriving in Mexico City, we learned that all INM offices have a two week closure from December 18 to January 3, effectively reducing our 30 days to 10 business days... We also learned that the Mexico City INM did not have any available appointments until February... well after our 30 days. So after a few days of frantically trying to figure out how to complete this process without getting deported, while simultaneously finalizing our house sale, we decided to contact an immigration lawyer we found on a Facebook group. She was able to "pull some strings" and got us an appointment in Puerto Vallarta for December 17, the day before the INM offices close for the holiday. Her nominal fee was well worth the stress relief. Then, all we had to do was to wait patiently to pick up our ID cards three weeks later, then have our car's TIP extended by the Aduana. That's it! Now we can contact an accountant and start the supposedly simple process of moving my photography business to Mexico.
Looking forward, I hope to take this opportunity to shed some of my rigidity, and learn how to be flexible. It seems like we would be well-suited for house-sitting, which would give someone the peace of mind that their home, garden, and pets will be well cared for, in exchange for accommodations! We have our first house-sit tentatively scheduled for April. We hope to see as many different parts of the country as we can, through house-sitting and hopping around to furnished short-term rentals. Having some garden responsibilities would hopefully lessen the feeling of loss, and allow us to get our hands back in the dirt. We plan to live as frugally as we can, which is not proving very difficult. After we have a few months' of expenditure data, I plan to write a detailed post about the cost of living here. My estimate is that we'll be pretty far below $1000 per month for all living expenses. Which is good, because we don't have jobs! Ha. And of course we'll continue trying to start our family, praying for our first Baby Benton, and many more Baby Bentons to follow. And in the meantime, we'll decide if we want to raise them on a new homestead here in Mexico or in Japan.
As always, please let us know if there are any specific areas you'd like more information about. I'm considering making upcoming blogs and videos on the topics of: the New Orleans mandates, our homestead, and how we lived in our home for five years while breaking even on home income vs. home expenditures.
Thanks for reading and watching the accompanying video. If you're also considering becoming an expat, in Mexico or elsewhere, in order to escape the mandates or for any number of other reasons, I hope this helped. Adiós!
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