New Aussie Looking for Info on Cancun

Hi Sean,

I moved your topic to the Cancun forum for better interaction and views.

Please can you give us more details about the Information you are looking for? Thank you!

Regards,

David.

Hi David,

Thank you for your help and for ensuring my topic found the right home

I am looking for information about the process to get permanent residency in Mexico, specifically Cancun.

I would like to get an idea of any hints or tips that people have found that would make the process as efficient and economical as possible.

Thank you again

Warm regards,

Sean

Hi Sean, I currently live in Mexico in San Miguel de Allende a beautiful colonial city with around 8000 expats and heaps to, I have been here for a few years now but always return to Oz once a year and will be back on the1st Oct in Sydney, I note you are from the Gold Coast somewhere so if you wish to have a coffee and a chat I will be on the coast for a wk or so in Nov.
Robyn

Hi Robyn.

Thank you for your reply

Yes, that would be fantastic!

Thank you very much for the offer to meet up. I will be 100% candid with you that my wife and I are still relatively young to be considering our retirement (I am 42 and my wife is 39), but we are intrinsically planners by nature and want to ensure that we are well informed and prepared when putting together our "golden years" plans

I mention this as I wouldn't want you to be shocked when you meet us and wonder what madness has overcome us to be considering our retirement being that we are maybe 20 odd years away from starting our Mexican journey.

I would like to give you a quick insight into why we are looking at Cancun and hopefully when we meet we can have some key points to discuss.

My wife and I were both born in Australia, however, my wife's family are Italian. My family are mostly Australian, for a few generations, with some English and Irish thrown in as well. Being that my wife's family are from Italy, it has always been a goal of mine to learn Italian. Being that the majority of Mexico speaks Spanish means that I am well placed to learn Spanish and in turn get a better handle on Italian given the similarities through the base language of Latin.

We also currently live on the Gold Coast and and just love the climate here. With Cancun being a little hotter (more humid) than here we feel that we would just thrive in the environment, weather-wise. Not to mention the amazing coastline and coastal activities that we enjoy so much here on the coast.

We have always wanted to both explore and visit a lot of places in the USA and being so close, as well as part of the same mainland, we are quite excited about being able to take road trips into the US and take the time to explore the USA the way we have always wanted to.

Lastly, we are very drawn to the affordability of Mexico over Australia. We are just amazed at the costs of housing and general expenses and although we know that many, many things can change in 20 years, we love to dream of a place like Cancun where we can spend our days learning a new language, learning about the local culture and associated Mexican ways and enjoying a lifestyle akin to what we have loved here in Australia for so long.

Thank you again Robyn for your willingness to both reply and touch base when you are back here in Oz. I will PM you my contact details and hopefully will hear from you when you on the GC.

Talk soon and take care.

Warm regards,

Sean

Hi! My husband has already retired to Cancun, and in a few years I will join him. He has gone through the process and gotten his temporary residency card, which he will have to do every year. You cannot even start that process until you are actually in Cancun and you may not leave the country until the card is issued (took about 3 months). We purchased a condo on the lagune and love it. Housing prices are good, but buying stuff like furniture/appliances is as expensive as in the US. Utilites are about the same cost. My husband FINALLY, after a year of searching, has found a Spanish teacher. If you do not speak Spanish now, I suggest you go ahead and start learning. You will not get along very well if you do not speak Spanish, as the natives (and rightly so) will not respect a person who lives in Mexico, yet doesn't speak Spanish. You will also be charged much more if you are not fluent. We love Cancun, we love the people, the water is second to none. It has grown massively in the last 25 years... Not the quiet destination it used to be. Heck, there are tons of Walmarts! If and when you and your wife ever get to Cancun, message me and we would be happy to meet up and share what we have learned.

Hi, Thank you so much for your reply. I see you are from Lakewood, is that Lakewood Colorado? I have some very close friends that are from there, although they have since moved here to Australia. They still have family in CO. They used to live in Morrison although I believe their parents and siblings live in Lakewood.

I very much appreciate your feedback. I will definitely take on board your advice and begin to hone my Spanish. My wife is Italian so I have been slowly learning to speak a little Italian over the years. Being that Italian and Spanish are so close due them both being derived from Latin, I am hoping that if I become fluent in Italian that the shift to Spanish will be much less difficult.

Thank you again and when we do eventually get to Cancun I will touch base and gratefully accept whatever advice you could impart.

Take care

@abzloot

A bit off topic but it seems that other Gold coasters are looking for greener pastures. One on this forum looking to retire in Thailand, and myself living in Laos but on Gold Coast at present.  Have also noted others over the time I have been on this forum. 

Good luck with the Mexico move.

Hey stumpy,

Yeah, I think it has a lot to do with the cost of living in Australia and in particular regional centres like the Gold Coast where the cost of living exceeds the ability to earn through limited employment opportunities.

As you would know, the Gold Coast is primarily a tourist driven economy and the biggest employers are The Gold Coast City Council and Jupiters Casino. That is the local government and gambling industries respectively and the overwhelmingly largest industry is tourism but the pay is limited. The reason I mention this is that the cost of housing, rentals, and general living expenses are very high here compared to other major centres where the ability to earn as a ratio of the living expenses marginally more reasonable.

From what I have seen our dollar will go a lot further in Mexico than here in Australia and there will be no trade off in terms of quality of natural beauty. I love the GC but I will not retire and be forced to live week to week where there are other options.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, very much appreciated

Agree with all you stated in your reply.

Have you looked into pension payments for retirees living overseas. Seems the Govt is looking to tighten up on this in the future with a view to cutting it if you spend too much time away. I have not checked it all out myself so all info I have is second hand at moment.

@stumpy

No, I haven't looked into it but I am not looking towards relying on a government pension anyhow. My intentions are to have enough super and assets to sustain my retirement.

If I end up being entitled to any govt. pension it would be a bonus.