defecting!!!!

BEAST!

alright dudes, i think this is my first question here (and ever in life probably!!!)

i have this strong urge to move to mexico....probably outside either guadalajara or mexico city, small pueblo but close enough to the city that i can go there when necessary

so, has anyone ever moved to another country? or does anyone know someone who has moved to another country?

i need some advice on how difficult this is, what i need to think about, problems i'll run into, and most importantly, crap! what am i thinking?!?!?!? keep in mind that i know nobody there (although some of my friends have grandparents around the guadalajara area) and would be going it alone

Doc

It's a fine idea. Make sure to pack some bottled water because the water is different in mexico and it can take upwards of a week for your body to adjust to it.

Pheezer

Okay, so do you speak the language? Have you looked at what it takes to get a work visa? How about housing? Do you have any savings?

You should have your first month's worth of expenses completely saved up for in advance. If you can't find work within a month, you might want to reconsider your odds of making it there in general.

Improvolone

Marry someone who was born a Mexican citizen to get the right to own land there. Even if they are an American citizen, Mexico still recognises their birthright.

BEAST!

i would not say my spanish is amazing...surely not fluent, i can get by OK with the basics, but i'd for sure take classes until the move and also after the move

everything i see seems to say a work visa sucks to get in mexico, i was hoping someone here would know for sure how difficult that is

i'm a programmer currently, i could easily have some side jobs into the US that would pay for my expenses down there, and if that were the case all i'd need would be my FM3 i think....i have a little savings, still paying off some student loans though...is that an issue when moving to another country?

as for housing, i don't know how to go about looking for something like that from here....i already tried craigslist and there's basically nothing that would help me on there..haha

thanks for thoughts so far

Joe Camacho MKII

Improvolone wrote: »

Marry someone who was born a Mexican citizen to get the right to own land there. Even if they are an American citizen, Mexico still recognises their birthright.

You actually just need to be mexican to own land in the "restricted area" which is 100 kms at borders and 50 kms at beaches. You can own land and properties as long as you subject yourself to the "Calvo clause", which is just formality these days.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me about México.

Don't worry about the language, I have a girl friend that had her japanese boyfriend come to live here, he speaks close to nothing of spanish, but he gets by just speaking english.

Specially if you want to live at a place like Guadalajara, most people should know english, of course if you manage to crash at a no-name slum, not so much.

Another thing, Guadalajara, Monterrey and México City (D.F., Federal District), are the most expensive places to live, so think about it before jumping the border, you might want to come and try your luck and fnd a job first (Although keep in mind that you don't need to save much, a regular month salary for an entry level worker with a bacherlor's degree is about 700 U.S. Dollars a month)

I live at Hermosillo, Sonora, so I can tell you a lot about the North, not so much about the south.

Doc

Joe Camacho MKII wrote: »

I live at Hermosillo, Sonora, so I can tell you a lot about the North, not so much about the south.

Nice; my aunt and uncle retired to Kino Bay. It's a nice place.

Joe Camacho MKII

BEAST! wrote: »

i would not say my spanish is amazing...surely not fluent, i can get by OK with the basics, but i'd for sure take classes until the move and also after the move

everything i see seems to say a work visa sucks to get in mexico, i was hoping someone here would know for sure how difficult that is

i'm a programmer currently, i could easily have some side jobs into the US that would pay for my expenses down there, and if that were the case all i'd need would be my FM3 i think....i have a little savings, still paying off some student loans though...is that an issue when moving to another country?

as for housing, i don't know how to go about looking for something like that from here....i already tried craigslist and there's basically nothing that would help me on there..haha

thanks for thoughts so far

Well, I'm not sure about the working visas, I actually know the other way around (Requirements for US working visas for mexicans, heh), but I'll ask around, I have friends working at S.R.E (Secretary of External Relationships) and a I have a cousin working at an American Consulate.

Well, I dunno about your student loans, but keep in mind that school here is cheap as hell, specially public schools, so loans aren't that expensive here, but if you want to pay your student loans with your mexican salary, you might find yourself in trouble if you get a minimum wage job. (I repeat, the average salary for a month of work, minimum wage and with a bachelor's degree is about 700 US dollars).

And yes, you can be notified of lawsuits in the US here in México, as long as they can find you.

About housing: I have friends at Panamerican Univeristy (UP, in spanish Universidad Panamericana) and Autonomous University of Guadalajara (UAG, in spanish Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara), I can ask them about websites where you could check for apartments or houses for rent, if you wish, I know they found their house like that.

Doc wrote: »

Joe Camacho MKII wrote: »

I live at Hermosillo, Sonora, so I can tell you a lot about the North, not so much about the south.

Nice; my aunt and uncle retired to Kino Bay. It's a nice place.

It really is, an Aunt used to have a house there, we used it during Saint Week (Mexican's equal to Spring Break), I might go in a couple of weeks to this year's Saint Week actually, it's really fun, if a bit hectic, lot's a underage girls and boys, lot's of beer, lot's of parties.

Kino Bay, San Carlos New Guaymas and Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point for American tourists) are filled with retired Americans, which are able to own properties at beaches thanks to Trust Companies.

BEAST!

Joe Camacho MKII wrote: »

Don't worry about the language, I have a girl friend that had her japanese boyfriend come to live here, he speaks close to nothing of spanish, but he gets by just speaking english.

Specially if you want to live at a place like Guadalajara, most people should know english, of course if you manage to crash at a no-name slum, not so much.

Another thing, Guadalajara, Monterrey and México City (D.F., Federal District), are the most expensive places to live, so think about it before jumping the border, you might want to come and try your luck and fnd a job first (Although keep in mind that you don't need to save much, a regular month salary for an entry level worker with a bacherlor's degree is about 700 U.S. Dollars a month)

I live at Hermosillo, Sonora, so I can tell you a lot about the North, not so much about the south.

i would moreso like to live towards the south, but there's still a possibility of further north...good to hear that my broken spanish wouldn't be too terrible, although i for sure would like to get away from using english while there at some point, i think that's important

Joe Camacho MKII wrote: »

Well, I'm not sure about the working visas, I actually know the other way around (Requirements for US working visas for mexicans, heh), but I'll ask around, I have friends working at S.R.E (Secretary of External Relationships) and a I have a cousin working at an American Consulate.

Well, I dunno about your student loans, but keep in mind that school here is cheap as hell, specially public schools, so loans aren't that expensive here, but if you want to pay your student loans with your mexican salary, you might find yourself in trouble if you get a minimum wage job. (I repeat, the average salary for a month of work, minimum wage and with a bachelor's degree is about 700 US dollars).

And yes, you can be notified of lawsuits in the US here in México, as long as they can find you.

About housing: I have friends at Panamerican Univeristy (UP, in spanish Universidad Panamericana) and Autonomous University of Guadalajara (UAG, in spanish Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara), I can ask them about websites where you could check for apartments or houses for rent, if you wish, I know they found their house like that.

i'm not totally sure I'd need a working Visa luckily because i SHOULD still have income coming from the US (which should be ok with them i'd guess? i'm taking money from another country and putting it into mexico so why wouldn't they like that? ha)...but i'm going to continue looking into what i'd need for this..sounds like i'd need a company to sponsor me at this point though

I'm totally done with school though...i got my bachelors in computer science in late 2003, and have been a programmer for like 3 years now, so i'm not completely entry level....but if i WERE to work in Mexico I didn't even THINK that it would suck paying back my student loan because of the pay differences..thanks for that, gives me something else to think about now

that would be great if you could find out about a housing website though, that is my biggest worry at the moment and having a way to look into it online would be a huge load off my shoulders

thanks a lot for all the help so far

Thanatos

BEAST! wrote: »

i'm a programmer currently, i could easily have some side jobs into the US that would pay for my expenses down there, and if that were the case all i'd need would be my FM3 i think....i have a little savings, still paying off some student loans though...is that an issue when moving to another country?

Here's the issue with student loans: cost of living in Mexico is way cheaper than it is up here, so you get paid a lot less for doing the same work. This normally isn't an issue, because it just means that while you get paid less, everything you buy gets cheaper. The problem is that your student loans aren't going to be getting any cheaper.

BEAST!

Thanatos wrote: »

BEAST! wrote: »

i'm a programmer currently, i could easily have some side jobs into the US that would pay for my expenses down there, and if that were the case all i'd need would be my FM3 i think....i have a little savings, still paying off some student loans though...is that an issue when moving to another country?

Here's the issue with student loans: cost of living in Mexico is way cheaper than it is up here, so you get paid a lot less for doing the same work. This normally isn't an issue, because it just means that while you get paid less, everything you buy gets cheaper. The problem is that your student loans aren't going to be getting any cheaper.

haha, yes, this was brought up by Joe Camacho at some point in his huge post...i had not even thought of this because i seem to be an idiot......i will make sure this is either paid off beforehand or that i am making enough before the move that i KNOW i can comfortably pay it off..

thanks for the help, it's all a bit overwhelming so i'm bound to miss some obvious simple stuff

Gafoto

Have you thought about just visiting for an extended period of time before deciding to go whole hog?

Joe Camacho MKII

Alright, I'll try to find one of my friends on msn to ask about the housing websites, I hate it when people are online and they don't respond.

In the mean time, I would recommend you that if you wish to come here, eventually you will need to translate your Bachelor's degree, your birth certificate or any other document. I have heard that thanks to NAFTA you might not need to do this anymore, but it's better to be sure, right?

Get an apostille from all your legal documents, birth certificate, elementary school, middle school, high school, bacherlor's degree, etc. In case you need a translation, you need the apostille for legalization purposes.

I have done a couple of legalizations of american birth certificates for nationality purposes (Mexicans that have their kids in the US, and they want to enroll them in school here, with the benefits of being mexicans) and they need the apostille (And a translation, but you can do it yourself) to get their mexican birth certificate.