Growing up, I used to visit Mexico, but when I really fell in love was when I visited Querétaro in
2019, that's when I knew I wanted to move down here.
I'm part of a reverse migration of people that are moving to Mexico and other lower cost countries
to achieve the American dream.
My name is Isaac Galvin.
I'm twenty three years old.
I moved from Port Arthur, Texas, to Querétaro, Mexico, and I live on about fourteen hundred dollars a month.
Growing up in Lufkin, Texas, it wasn't that exciting in the U.S.
my stepdad is a combo welder and my mom is a stay-at-home mom.
Since my stepdad is a combo welder, he was trying to get me to learn how to weld and trying to get me in the refinery
fields. And when I was 18 and 19 years old, I did work in the refineries as a pipe-fitter helper, but that
line of work wasn't really for me.
When I was living in San Antonio, Texas, I was working two jobs that paid ten dollars an hour each.
I was living paycheck to paycheck.
I've always had the dream of working online and be able to move abroad and work remotely.
So I researched what skills I could learn and I came across web development, and that's when I started
to teach myself how to code and now I currently work as a web developer.
I found my job on a Mexican job site board.
They were looking for someone based in Mexico, but I applied and I told them that, you know, currently I was in
Texas, but my goal was to move to Mexico.
And, you know, I got the job two three months later of saving, I moved to Mexico.
So my biggest charges here in Mexico is my rent and my car payment, which combined
is much less than what I used to pay in San Antonio, Texas, living with a roommate.
The cost of living in Mexico is much more cheaper than the U.S., you know, rent is cheaper, the cost of food
is cheaper. Entertainment is cheaper.
For example, a movie ticket here costs you two to three U.S.
dollars. And in the U.S., it's about 15 U.S.
dollars. On average, I spend around one hundred and ten U.S.
dollars a month on groceries.
I spend about eight dollars a day on food because I eat out a lot.
For comparison, a typical Mexican meal like tacos or typical like Mexican
food will cost you around three four U.S.
dollars. And to go out to a restaurant, including drinks, is around 10 to 15 U.S.
dollars. I
save about four hundred U.S.
dollars a month, and I hope that I can be able to chip off my debt over the next years.
So I currently make 12 U.S.
dollars an hour, $12 an hour here in Mexico does get you pretty far.
Based on the amount I earn right now and my cost of living, it is easier to either
save or pay down my debts.
But right now I am pushing more towards my savings.
So my startup costs when moving here was my flight, which was around two hundred and eleven dollars.
I spent four days in an Airbnb, which was about one hundred and thirty four dollars.
My first month's rent and my deposit here came out to a total of about seven hundred and fifty
U.S. dollars. Getting my feet off the ground here was much easier than I expected.
I have my dual citizenship from my mom, which I applied for earlier in twenty twenty one, but it
was much easier than I thought it was.
I just needed my parent's birth certificate and IDs.
The challenges for me living here in Mexico for the first time living abroad was
opening a Mexican bank account, getting my Mexican driver's license, getting my
my Mexican voting ID, getting a car, which was a much lengthier
process than what I am used to in the U.S.
and the U.S. you could get a car same day.
Here, it took me almost two months.
I feel more fulfilled here in Mexico because I don't have the pressure of having to earn a lot of
money in order to survive in order to live on my own.
You know, I am much less worried about money now, and I do feel more satisfied
with where I am.
So the reason why I decided to move to Querétaro was because it's a clean city, it's a safe
city, and I have some family down here, so I wanted a soft landing and ultimately I wanted
to connect, you know, to my roots, to my Mexican heritage and learn more about my own culture.
So I feel more connected to my, my Mexican culture now living down here in Mexico than living
in Texas.
There's much more of a rich Mexican culture, and this is the experience that I wanted.
This is what I wanted to connect to.
People here are much more warm, they're welcoming, it's much easier to make friends.
My parents have been supportive of my move.
I didn't really have to fight them on on moving to Mexico.
I've been slowly planning it in their head for like over like a year or two.
Ever since we visited Querétaro in 2019, like I told them, I'm going to move to Mexico and then
slowly over the years, like it just been planting it, planting and planting it in their heads.
And by the time you know it happened, I didn't take them by surprise.
They're happy for me to finally fly out the nest and start my own life.