And how can I do it too?
Aside from “why did you move to PV?” this is the #1 thing I am asked by tourists I meet and chat with, which is a lot – I’m a classic extrovert, and about 60% of my last “real job” was talking to strangers and making them feel comfortable and welcome, so this is kind of ingrained. Old friends and random strangers alike have been grilling me with increasing frequency about How I Did It, and today seems like a really, really good day to answer that question for anyone who wants to get the hell out of the US for reasons I won’t get into here, but they rhyme with shmabortion shmights.
In 2015, my partner and I decided to stop visiting Vallarta and just live there already. The whole story can be found in the “About Us” section of this site, but the short version is this: we found our magic formula for making a living, and we made it work. Our only regret is that we didn’t take this leap sooner.
So just what is that magic formula? There are a few different routes one can take.
Retire here.
Honestly, this is the easiest one. You show immigration that your retirement earnings or pension qualifies, they approve you for a visa, you find a place to live and buy a plane ticket. Done. For the rest of us, it’s a bit more complicated.
Get sponsored by an employer here.
This is much harder than it looks. You can’t just roll up to a retail store and apply for a job. You have to have some specialized skillset that justifies hiring you, a foreigner, for a job that a national might not be able to do.
I came from a background of Arts PR/Marketing and running theater companies, so I pitched a new position to a local (English-speaking) performance group who needed help. It was a long, arduous process but I eventually got that work visa. The gig only lasted one year, but I was able to transfer my permit to the international school where I currently teach acting and I will soon have my permanent residence. Teaching (in a school or ESL) is probably the most common way to get sponsored by an employer, but there are a lot of hoops to jump through.
Start a business
Hugely complicated, but definitely a possibility. Unless you are just buying an already-existing business, obviously you will need a financial cushion and/or investors to get started. I am the last person qualified to give advice on this, so I won’t say anything else about it.
Work remotely
Heeeere we go. In addition to teaching, I also work online as a freelancer for clients all over the world, which makes up the bulk of my income. Figure out a way to make a living by working online. You do have to meet a certain threshold of economic solvency, currently about $2500 USD/month. This amount is calculated based on the current minimum wage for Mexican nationals, so it can fluctuate. The pandemic forced a lot of workplaces online, and the good ones have stayed there. If your job has gone remote, see if they have any restrictions about where you can live.
If that’s not a possibility, all is not lost! There are many platforms where remote workers can find jobs, and more are popping up all the time. This is a great time to find online work. I know people who tutor or teach English online, people who do online customer service, transcription, do art commissions, travel planning, and more. Freelance platforms like UpWork and Fiverr (where I do editing work as LittleRedPen) are great if you can make them work. Flexjobs is a website where employers post all kinds of part-time and full-time jobs. There are so many possibilities out there, you just have to find the right one for you.
Between editing as LittleRedPen on Fiverr, teaching part-time, and other freelance projects, I have carved out a livable income stream for myself. I work a fraction of the time I used to, and definitely make way less money than I used to… but because of the cost of living here, I am actually in better shape financially than I was back in the US.
Read that again. I work less, and make less, but actually have more. And that’s what I mean by “the magic formula.” Yours won’t be the same as mine, but if you can figure it out, you will be all set. I am far from an expert on remote work or being a digital nomad, but if you want to learn more, feel free to reach out to pick my brain or bounce ideas off of me. I feel like I’ve discovered the secret to life, and I want to help anyone I can find theirs.
If I can do it, you can do it. Now go do it!