- Hello, Tangerineys,
from Santiago de QuerÃ©taro, Mexico.
Recently, there've been some major changes
that might just mean the end of Mexico travel
as we know it.
And I'm gonna get to that in a little bit,
but first, I need to grab some dinner here
at my favorite taco joint in Queretaro.
Tacos El Guero always gets super busy
so I try to get here early.
I got here at like 6:30 today,
they open at 6:00.
By 7:30, this place is gonna be packed
for the rest of the night,
and there's gonna be a line out the door
to get a table.
(speaking in foreign language)
(waiter speaking in foreign language)
(speaking in foreign language)
(waiter speaks in foreign language)
Oh, no I didn't.
(waiter speaks in foreign language)
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(waiter speaks in foreign language)
(speaking in foreign language)
For dinner, I got a four tacos.
Unfortunately, they didn't have my favorite one
available tonight,
which is the tongue tacos, the tongue tacos,
the tacos de lengua.
So I'm just gonna have to make due with what I have here
but, still everything I've tried here has been really good.
(light upbeat music)
All right, I'll start with the chorizo.
(light upbeat music)
Oh,
that has some spice.
Oh, that's way spicier than before, ooh!
Does a lime make it less spicy or more spicy?
Does that do anything?
I'm gonna try it. (chuckles)
(light upbeat music)
Okay, more bearable with the lime.
And to drink, I got the water with, what is it?
Lime and chia seeds.
They're pretty good.
I usually get the cucumber and mint option,
but they didn't have that tonight either.
I swear Tacos El Guero is probably the fastest
taco restaurant I've ever been to in Mexico.
Every time I come here,
I can't believe how fast the food is in front of me.
Like, this time it probably took them 60 seconds
from the time I ordered to the time I had my plate.
So freaking fast.
Okay let's try the tripa.
They say this as healthy because you have like
all the nutrients from the intestines.
So you just,
I just can't think about what I'm eating.
I'm eating a taco, that's all I can think. (chuckles)
(bright music)
And as long as I don't think about the intestines,
I actually like it. (chuckles)
Well, aside from my mouth being pretty hot,
because I think they made the sauce a little spicier
than normal.
This was really good.
I'm still a little upset I didn't get my
tacos de lengua that I always get.
But all the ones I did order were 12 pesos, a piece,
the tacos de lengua that I like are more expensive at 25,
but I think they're definitely worth the price.
Tacos El Guero is in one of the more humble parts
of the city.
But because of its close proximity
to one of the richest parts of the city, Campanario.
You see all these fancy cars outside like, Audi
and Mercedes, BMWs things like that.
Because it's a very popular place
for both the well-off and everyone else.
Now I'm taking a quick Uber to Centro.
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from our life in Mexico.
So, why do I say this might be the end of Mexico travel
as we know it?
Well, for a long, long time now, many years
it's been the case that you can come to Mexico
and get 180 day tourist permit without having to
fill out any visa form in advance or anything like that.
And then, when your 180 days was up,
you could just go do a quick border run and come right back
and get another 180 days.
And people would do that for years and years and years.
Well, now that's gone away.
But not only has the, been able to renew that go away like,
coming for 180 days and then leaving and then coming back.
But also people aren't even getting 180 days.
And in a lot of cases,
they're only getting as many days as they can prove
they have a hotel booked for.
So, what do these changes mean for people coming to Mexico?
Well, if you,
if you want to do the trip that Maddie and I did,
when we first came to Mexico.
You really wouldn't be able to account on doing that,
because, we've hardly ever had a few nights ahead booked
for our Airbnb or a hotel.
We were often booking where we were gonna stay that day.
Now, since a lot of people are only getting,
however many days they can prove
that they have a hotel reservation for.
That, like, doesn't allow anyone who wants to, like,
let's say, come for a week and have a hotel book for a week.
And then go to their next destination.
But maybe they don't know where they're gonna stay
in their next destination yet or something like that.
So basically if you wanna stay in Mexico
for an extended period of time as a foreigner,
your only option now, is to go through the process
to get residency.
Either that, or just overstay your tourist visa
and be illegal in the country and risk deportation
if you get caught.
But, at the same time that they're basically
forcing everyone to get residency.
The requirements for residency just got much, much higher.
So the financial requirements for residency
are a function of the minimum wage in Mexico.
So say for example, they might say, okay,
you need a 500 times the daily minimum wage and saving
or something like that.
So, as the minimum wage goes up,
so do the requirements to achieve residency.
Well, at the beginning of 2022, they just went up again
and they've been going up substantially every year
for the past six years or so.
And in 2022, they went up 22%.
So since the minimum wage increase on January 1st
from about 140 pesos a day to 173 pesos a day.
So, now if you want to get temporary residency,
you need already 43,000 in savings and investments
provable over the last 12 months.
So that had to be your minimum balance
over the last 12 months.
Or 2,600 in monthly income over the last six months.
Now, if you wanna be a permanent resident,
you either need $173,000 in savings in investments,
or about 4,300 in monthly income.
And according to one website, I came across,
they were predicting that next year in 2023,
that the minimum wage would increase to 215 pesos a day.
It would mean another more than 20% increase.
And so, if that's true in 2023 to get temporary residency,
you're going to need a monthly income of more than $3000.
And to put this in perspective of just how difficult
these residency requirements are getting.
In 2018 when we came to Mexico,
you needed about 1,300 a month in income
or about $20,000 in savings.
So, since then, they've literally doubled,
the requirements have doubled in four years.
And they're on pace to do that again.
The music and the Plaza got really loud and kind of ruined
the audio for this part.
So I'm gonna try to re-record this.
But to start the process for the most common way
to get residency,
you have to go to a Mexican Consulate outside of Mexico.
And at the same time,
they're basically forcing everyone to get residency
who wants to be in Mexico for any extended period of time.
Well, the consulates have no more appointments available
than they did before.
So, these consulates are getting super busy
and it's really hard to get an appointment.
And people are flying across the country
just to get an appointment.
And at the same time,
fewer and fewer people are able to qualify
for residency every year because,
the requirements are being raised so quickly.
You know, it's kind of crazy that
to get temporary residency today in 2022,
it takes $2,600 in monthly income
when $1,800 in monthly income puts you in the top
1% of earners in Mexico.
So you literally have to be well into the top 1%
to be even be able to qualify for temporary residency.
And that's not even talking about permanent residency.
But the system was put into place when the minimum wage
in Mexico was much, much lower.
So, when they tied it to the minimum wage,
these financial requirements in my opinion
were fairly reasonable.
But now after a number of years of really big hikes
in the minimum wage,
now, the requirements are just that much more difficult.
Now these numbers that I just gave you,
they aren't set in stone,
but they are pretty close to what you need.
However,
to know the exact number of what you're going to need,
you're gonna have to contact a Mexican Consulate near you,
or the one you get an appointment at because,
each different consulate
has different financial requirements.
So, what do I think the result of all these changes
in the immigration policy is going to be?
Them not giving 180 days anymore and only giving
a couple of weeks in many cases.
Well, honestly, I think it's gonna create a lot more
illegals in the country.
Before the system was pretty simple.
If you didn't wanna get residency,
you just had to leave every six months or so.
But now that's not really an option.
So, I think there'll be a lot more people who are deciding.
Hey, I'm just not gonna leave.
And I'm gonna have, I'm going to lose my tourist visa,
or I'm just not going to care about it.
And hope I don't get stopped by immigration.
And if I do get stopped, well then,
I get deported and I could get a
free plane ride back to my country.
Now I'm not saying that's what you should do by any means.
I'm just like trying to think of how this might play out.
What other consequences might it have?
Well, I think we're gonna see a lot fewer
digital nomads here.
And a lot fewer like extended stay travelers
who were hoping to stay for a few months and
a travel around to see various places.
Even if you do qualify for those residency requirements,
a lot of people say, "Oh yeah,
it's super easy to get residency."
Well, I mean, the process is pretty straightforward,
but, it's still quite a bit of work
to go through that whole process.
Like, you might have to plan a trip across the country
or from Mexico to the US.
And then you have to get a whole much documents in order,
you have to contact your bank and get like
certified letters, depending on the consulate,
saying that you own the account or whatever.
There's quite a few requirements that you have to
bring to that consulate appointment.
And everything has to be an order
if you want to get approved.
So, yeah it's not the easiest task.
So, yeah I think it will...
A lot of people just won't wanna go through that
even if they do qualify.
There are a lot of people in the US and Canada
who want to leave their country,
whether that's them seeking a cheaper life,
a different culture or something else.
And I think Mexico is the first choice
for a lot of those people.
Largely due to the proximity to their country.
It's just reasonably easy to get to
in a pretty short flight.
But with these new immigration changes, well,
I see more and more people choosing other countries,
whether that's another country in Latin America
or South America,
or a Southeastern Asian country like Vietnam or Cambodia
or something like that.
I think we're going to start to see a lot more foreigners
choosing to not go to Mexico if immigration doesn't change
these policies soon.
I think another result of these changes will be more people
seeking out loopholes in the system.
For example, I've heard of this service that
someone will have shell companies
and whoever wants to get residency,
they'll hire that person on as an employee.
And then that employee to this Mexican company
can get residency pretty easily.
So, with whether people can't get an appointment
at a consulate or they can't qualify for the
new financial requirements,
or they just don't want to go through that process
and getting all their documents together.
To do that, well, I think you'll see more and more people
seeking out services like this one.
If you're wanting to come to Mexico
or another Spanish speaking country,
the single best thing you can do for yourself
is to start learning Spanish.
Our favorite program is called "Rocket Languages".
It's not only a great value,
but it's also a really thorough course.
And no matter what type of learner you are,
it has something for you.
Personally, I'm an audio learner.
That's my strength I love audio books.
And "Rocket Languages" has these audio lessons
that get you speaking in full sentences pretty quickly.
And the single most nerve wracking thing
about learning a new language,
is speaking these brand new words to total strangers.
It's a, it's a really hard hurdle to get over,
but when you can start speaking full sentences out loud,
as you're doing these audio lessons,
it really helps to get over that hurdle.
So if you'd like to check out that program,
you can go to TangerineSpanish.com.
That's our affiliate link, and it will take you right there.
Again, that's TangerineSpanish.com.
And you can start a no credit card required free trial.
So you can see if it's right for you,
before you give them any information.
If you're wanting to get residency in Mexico,
I highly recommend using the help of a specialist.
They usually charge about $200
to help you through the process.
And that usually involves helping you make the appointment
at the consulate,
making sure all your paperwork's filled out correctly,
going to immigration for you.
So you don't have to make a bunch of trips there.
You will have to make one trip there in Queretaro.
But the guy I highly recommend his name's Mario.
He goes above and beyond.
He's super professional speaks perfect English.
Anyway, I'll leaf has information
down in the description below.
I don't have any kind of financial relationship with him.
I just highly recommend him.
So, yeah, if you're want to get residency in Mexico
and you're gonna come to Queretaro definitely
look for Mario.
And finally, the last thing I think might result from this.
If Mexico sees a huge drop in tourism
and extended stay travelers,
and they realize that,
hey, there's a lot of people who wanna come to Mexico
and can easily afford it, but they can't get residency,
so therefore they can't come to Mexico
for an extended period of time.
Well, maybe that will result in a policy change.
That's my hope, that's what I hope will come out of this.
But, until then we gotta deal with what we have here.
Thank you guys for watching.
On the screen here is another video I made recently
so you can watch that one.
Until we see you next Saturday morning, but before you go,
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