Hi everyone! I was an occasional lurker when I lived in Mexico from May '06 until May '09, and I always loved the great info and advice available, and I'm hoping you all might be able to offer some more of that great advice. I met my Mexican fiance (who is now my husband) in Cancun, we have a son together who was born in Mexico, and we have another one on the way. I brought him into the U.S. on a fiance(e) visa and we just found out his conditional permanent residence was approved. When I was living in Mexico I worked in timeshare for brief periods of time, and I realized after much torture that it just wasn't for me. I have my bachelor's in history and since I moved to Mexico pretty much right out of college, I don't really have much experience in any fields other than timeshare, although I am interested in teaching, I have no experience in it at the moment and I know that the INM can be particularly hard on people that don't have experience and/or some sort of degree in whatever they plan to do in Mexico. So, this is my situation, my husband worked in maintenance in Cancun and that's what he plans on sticking with (maintenance or some kind of construction/plumbing/electrical work, all of which he's great at). We are in the U.S. right now but coming to the realization that going back to Mexico might be the better option for us. With 2 kids and not a whole lot of money, it's going to take forever for us to get anywhere here. We're currently residing with my mom and it's NOT a good situation for us to be in (for reasons that I won't get into). We don't plan on going for another couple of years, at least until he gets the conditions lifted on his permanent residence. My husband is working and we are saving almost all of the money he makes so that when we move we have a small nest egg. Another benefit is that we will be close to my husband's family, who live in Yucatan. When I moved to Mexico a few years ago, I was single and really didn't have too much of a plan other than to get a timeshare job and kind of live wherever I needed to live, etc. This time, since we have lots of time to plan, I want to make sure we do everything right. I had a nightmare of a time the first time I went down with immigration because of the people at my job who were handling my paperwork, and I paid a large amount of money to a lawyer who got me out of the mess. I DON'T want that to happen this time around. So I guess my question is, what general advice do you have for my particular situation as far as prepping to move back down? I would be willing to teach English, but how would be the best way to prepare for that in the next 2 years so as to minimize potential problems with the INM? Seeing as how at the moment I'm not in the best financial position, if I decided to do something freelance, what kind of things would I need to prove economic solvency (as in, if I wanted to write or do graphic design or something similar)? Thank you so much in advance!
To the best of my knowledge quite a few English teachers dont have a formal qualification, the fact they speak it as a mother tongue is sometimes enough. Something like a TEFL qualification might well help you, given you are planning ahead a couple of years. However, English teaching jobs are not easy to come by and not very well paid, maintenance type jobs for your boyfriend are also low paid. To be frank and I dont mean to sound condescending but if you're struggling financially in the US then you may find it even more difficult in Cancun. It is possible to live here cheaply, thousands do, but its likely not to the standard you're used to in the States. It could be a very testing time. State education here for your kids is not great and private schools are expensive. Not sure what you mean by doing something 'freelance', presumably either it would be a business you'd need to set up here, or one where sufficient income comes from outside of Mexico to qualify you for Rentista status. The most important thing is to arrive with enough money to last you at least 3 months with enough left over to return home and pick up where you left off if the need arises.
Thanks for the info! I guess what I mean when I say that we are struggling here financially is that where we are currently living (in the NE U.S. close to a fairly big city), the rent is very high. My husband speaks just a little English, so his options for jobs are kind of limited and low-paying. So, at the moment, we are living with my mother and saving our money in the hopes that something better comes along. Jobs are so extremely limited here for everyone, including me, and the unemployment rate is very high. Before we left Yucatan my husband bought a piece of land in his hometown. What our ultimate goal is to build a house on that land and live there, but I figured it would mean that I would have to work some in Mexico, at least for a few years, until I could legally (by immigration standards) freely live in Mexico as a citizen. I'm not sure how quickly that would happen, considering my husband and both of my children are Mexican (the first being born in Mexico, the second being Mexican by virtue of his father's citizenship). So we didn't actually plan on settling in Cancun permanently, just kind of using it as a stopover on our way back to Yucatan. I wouldn't plan on using the money I made in Cancun for anything other than to pay the rent/utilities/food, etc., and the money we save up here would go to building the house in Yucatan and helping us survive the first few months in Cancun and as emergency money "just in case".
Steve is right. If you are struggling in the US, it will be harder here. We moved here with a large amount of savings and we've still found it to be difficult to live here. You can live more cheaply here, but your standard of living will be much reduced. Think about your kids. If you can't afford to place them in private school here they will have to go to public school. From what I've seen public schools here barely have chalk and blackboards. And they have no extra teaching resources at all. In parts of Yucatan the schools don't even have qualified teachers, they just have a low paid assistant and the students are taught remotely, via a satellite feed. Your child won't learn to his best ability if the teacher isn't even in the building. In the US public schools are in MUCH better shape and have many more resources. And you have well-funded public libraries there, and good science museums there. Don't limit your children's future opportunities by coming here and sending them to terrible under-funded public schools. If you can't afford private school for them here then don't move here.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that you're right. In order for my kids to have any sort of decent education while still trying to financially keep our heads above water will be very difficult in Mexico. Here the kids can get a great education and we won't have to pay an arm and a leg for it. I guess it's a matter of looking for a cheaper place to live in the U.S. than where we are living now. It just seems overwhelming sometimes with the cost of living being so high and having so little money. I think we can still build a house in Yucatan, and we'll just spend time visiting my husband's family. I owe it to my kids to make sure they get the best educational opportunities.
If your husband has a green card then you have a huge advantage. Spend some of your savings on getting him some really good English instruction. Being bilingual and having a green card will make him very employable as a manager of employees who speak no English.
Limejello: Are you me? I'm a little bit freaked out...you seem to be living my life, sans the children. Moving back to Cancun could cause a sticky situation with his permanent resident status, especially since he is in the two year conditional period. If you were to return to Mexico, you run the risk of his not being granted admission back into the US. I think (and don't quote me on this) that you are able to remain outside the US for 6 months before they consider that you have abandoned green card status. Some people do spend lots of time living outside the US and have no issue re-entering but it's a bit of a crap shoot. I also brought my husband in under a fiance visa. We're just now in the process of lifting the conditions for his ten year green card. He is also from a small village in Yucatan (where his dad has land for him) and we also live in the NE fairly close to a big city. Added: and since you live near a big city, take advantage of the free English classes offered! I'd be happy to talk with you further since I have both gone through this on a personal level and also do this for my job (workforce development with disenfranchised populations).
Sure sounds to me like some pretty good advice being handed out here. I'd like to second what gbchayctca said about the green card status: even after the conditions are lifted, if you stay out of the U.S. longer than 179 days, as I understand it, you're being admitted to the U.S.- on the green card- becomes conditional (you can be refused admission to the U.S. even though you hold a green card).
Gabacha: Ha ha! Yes, it does seem like we live this strange kind of mirror-image life, although I think you're a couple years ahead of me. I noticed the blog link you have at the bottom of your post, and I'm sure I've read your blog before (you're hilarious, BTW), but it was when I was a VJ junkie right before my husband's interview in Juarez. I was soaking up all the K-1 info I could. I'm hardly on VJ anymore, mostly because it seems to be frequented by super-snarky people who have nothing better to do than put other people down. That's a great idea for my husband to take English classes, I'll have to find out more about that and see what's available in my area. I know on the off-chance that if we were to decide to move back to Mexico, it would be after his conditions are lifted. Since we only received the CRIS email about 2 days ago that his conditional GC was approved, that won't be for at least 2 years. Part of me craves to return to the small-town Yucatan life that I got used to living there (bathing with a bucket, waking up to the roosters crowing at 4:30 AM, and all the other fun stuff that comes with it!)But I think Rivergirl is right, we really need to think about our kids and their education and what would be better for them. Rivergirl: I agree with the advantages that being bilingual could present, I'll have to talk to my husband about that. He's definitely interested in learning a specific trade and specializing in it, like being an electrician or carpenter or something. He could make great money here if he did that and worked with people who spoke no English. V: I didn't know that. I guess if we were to move we'd have to wait until he's a citizen. I think it would be silly for him to throw away something that so many people would pay dearly for: the advantage to live and work in the U.S. legally.
