I estimate that 50% of the foreigners
who moved to Mexico
with the intention of living here forever
end up moving away for good within five years.
These are the reasons why.
The first reason is police corruption.
Thankfully in my four and a half years
living in Mexico,
I've never dealt with any of this,
but I am aware that it happens,
and for some people it's just too much,
like they have bad experiences with police,
and they decide to get the heck outta here.
Now, I am aware that it happens more often
in certain places of the country than in others.
For example, it happens a lot around Mexico City,
and in the Riviera Maya,
like the Cancun to Tulum corridor.
The next reason foreigners leave Mexico
is because they came here
with a limited budget and then they realized
that they don't have the budget
to pay for health expenses
out of pocket here.
Whereas if they go back home
to where they're from,
they have health insurance
provided by their government.
So for some people,
the cost of healthcare is too much
to allow them to stay in the country.
Although on this topic,
I would like to say that the cost
of healthcare here is so much cheaper
than in other places.
For example,
if you wanna have a baby in the US,
you're gonna be paying something like 20
or 30,000 US dollars.
If you wanna have one here in Mexico,
it's gonna be like $1,000 or $2,000 dollars.
If you want to see a specialist
here in Mexico,
you can usually get in that same day
or if not, that same week,
and a specialist usually costs about
800 pesos,
which is 40 US dollars give or take
depending on the current exchange rate.
Reason number three is work-related,
and that is simply that their company
transfers them to a new location.
The fourth reason is insecurity in Mexico.
Now, thankfully, in my four and a half years
living in the country,
I've never felt unsafe,
but I know for a fact
that this isn't the case with everyone.
In fact, I was in an Uber just yesterday,
and I was talking to the Uber driver,
and he said he recently moved here
from Mexico City
because of the insecurity in Mexico City,
and I asked him,
"Oh, is that because of robberies?"
And he's like, "Well, robberies and extortions,
and kidnappings."
Just way too much bad stuff happening,
and he didn't feel comfortable
living there anymore.
Now, he's a Mexican who just decided
to a different Mexican state.
However, this does apply to a lot of foreigners
who come to Mexico as well.
They come here and they just don't feel safe
so they head on back to where they came from.
The fifth reason.
This is one that I hear about happening a lot,
and that is simply a friend
or family member gets sick,
and then they go back to where they came from
to take care of that person.
The next reason is the kids want to move back.
I've seen two different YouTube videos
where the woman was a single mom,
and ended up moving back to the country
that they came from
because the kids wanted to move back there.
In fact, I just saw one today
where she has three kids,
a couple of them are teenagers,
and the two oldest ones
really wanted to go back to the US.
So that's what made them leave Mexico.
The seventh reason is mask requirements.
It is currently June 2022,
and still, throughout almost the entire country,
you have to be wearing a mask to get in a taxi,
to get in an Uber,
to go into any business at all,
and for some people,
this alone is enough reason
to move somewhere else.
Number eight is another pretty common reason,
and that is people leaving the country
because of the loss of their partner
whether that's through a breakup
or from them passing away.
But yeah, after the loss of a partner,
a lot of people decide that the best option
for them is to go back
where they have a better support system.
And on a similar relationship topic,
number nine is that they find love,
and they end up leaving Mexico
to go somewhere to be with their new partner.
You might be thinking,
"I can't believe you haven't talked about
X, Y, or Z."
Well, that's probably because
it was in part one that we made
on this topic a couple of years ago.
So if you haven't seen that video,
you can click on that right up here.
Another reason a lot of foreigners
leave Mexico, specifically Canadians
is because they leave in the spring
or summer to go back to Canada,
and enjoy the nice summer weather there,
and also continue to get their healthcare,
and they have to spend six months
in the country every year
to continue to qualify for that,
if I understand that correctly.
But yeah, that's a really common reason
for people to leave for at least
part of the year.
Number 11 is they find better income sources
outside of the country,
and decide that they'll live a better quality
of life elsewhere.
Another reason people leave Mexico
is because they lose their income source
that they had working remotely
or whatever they were trying to do
to earn an income in Mexico
didn't pan out.
For example, a while back,
China changed their laws,
and a lot of people living in Mexico were earning
an income online teaching English
to Chinese students.
Well, after this law change,
they could no longer
teach these Chinese students,
so a lot of these foreigners living in Mexico
lost that very important source of income,
and then ended up leaving the country.
A lot of foreigners when moving to Mexico
have this picture in their mind
of this perfect life that they want to live,
and oftentimes that means living by the beach
or living right on the water.
Well, many of them have never lived
on the water before or in a climate like that.
And after a year or two of living in Mexico,
they realize, "Oh, my gosh.
I cannot stand this weather.
I thought I was gonna love it,
but I hate it,
and I need to move somewhere else."
Now, some of these people find another place
in Mexico that has a better climate,
like here in Queretaro for example.
It's right in the center of the country
at about 6,100 feet of elevation.
So the weather is perfect year round.
So some people choose another place in Mexico
after finding out they hate the beach weather.
However, some just end up heading back
to where they came from
or going somewhere else.
Another reason is a lot of people
come to Mexico hoping to make a career
out of vlogging or doing something similar
like I'm doing,
and then after a while,
they decide that they're just
not making enough money doing it
or that their expenses are way higher
than they thought it was gonna be
because this equipment is expensive.
Travel is expensive.
So the costs of doing it really add up.
Reason number 14 is that a lot of foreigners,
and retirees come here on a fixed budget,
like they're on Social Security
or they're on a pension or something like that.
And prices here in Mexico have increased a lot
over the last several years,
especially in certain tourist destinations
where a lot of foreigners live.
So there's quite a few people who have decided
that they can't quite live the life they want
on their budget,
and they go seeking out another cheaper country.
After I tell you number 15 on this list,
I am going to link to part one of this video,
which has many more reasons
why expats leave Mexico.
And honestly,
they're probably even more important
for you to know than the reasons in this video.
So click on that video after you hear number 15.
And the last reason is Mexico's
crackdown on immigration.
A lot of foreigners have either been
living here illegally
or just being a perpetual tourist,
and going in and out of the country
every six months or so,
and getting a new tourist card
that's valid for 180 days.
Well, Mexico has changed those policies
quite a bit and at the same time,
the financial requirements
for residency in Mexico
have increased a lot,
which have caused quite a few people
to leave the country.
If you wanna see part one of this video
that was recorded a couple of years ago,
it's just as relevant today as it was then.
So click on that video.
There's lots of important reasons
that you might want to know about
if you see Mexico in your future.