Guides

Guides

Your phone in Mexico: keep your plan from home, or get a Mexican number?

US plans that include Mexico are built for trips, not for living here. When a Mexican prepaid line makes sense, what it costs, how to buy and register one with a passport, and how to keep your home number alive for bank codes.

Guides

Just moved to Mexico? What to set up in your first two weeks

The paperwork has its own guides. This one is about everything else: a Mexican phone line (which now has to be registered), internet, water, gas, paying bills, the apps everyone uses, and what to do when you need a doctor.

Guides

The constancia de situación fiscal: the SAT document everyone asks for

Landlords, banks, employers and notaries in Mexico ask for your constancia de situación fiscal. What it is, how to download it free from SAT, and why nobody can refuse you an invoice without it.

Guides

Taxes for Americans living in Mexico: what still goes to the IRS, and when Mexico counts you

The IRS keeps taxing you after you move, Social Security stays US-only, and Mexico taxes your worldwide income once your home is there. The exclusion, the FBAR, the treaty and Mexican tax residency, explained.

Guides

Predial: the property tax you can cut by paying in January

Predial is the yearly property tax every owner in Mexico pays to the municipality, foreigners included. What it's based on, who pays, the early-payment and senior discounts, and how to pay it.

Guides

The CFE bill: cheap electricity in Mexico, until you hit DAC

Household power in Mexico is subsidized up to a limit. Pass it on a 12-month average and CFE moves you to the DAC tariff, which can triple the bill. How the tariffs work, what DAC costs, and how to stay off it.

Guides

Buying property in Mexico as a foreigner: the trust, the notary and the real costs

Foreigners can own property in Mexico, through a bank trust near the coast and borders and outright elsewhere. The restricted zone, the fideicomiso, what the notary does, closing costs, and the checks that protect you.

Guides

Where in Mexico can you fly home nonstop?

Pick your home airport and see every place in Mexico you can reach without a connection, which airlines fly it, and whether it runs all year or only in winter.

Guides

Mérida vs Querétaro: two of Mexico's safest cities, two very different lives

Both are far safer than most of Mexico: Mérida's homicide rate is about Toronto's, Querétaro's about Los Angeles'. The bigger differences are heat, altitude, water, flights home and how much Spanish you'll need.

Guides

Renting in Mexico as a foreigner, minus the scams and surprises

How long-term renting works in Mexico for foreigners: where listings are, what landlords ask for, what goes in the lease, the bills you'll pay, and the scams to avoid.

Guides

Flying your dog in from the US? There's a new certificate (and other pet rules)

Mexico checks pets on arrival rather than asking for permits in advance, but the rules depend on where you fly from, and dogs coming from the US now need a screwworm certificate. What SENASICA asks for, and what the airline asks for on top.

Guides

Always choose pesos, and other ways to stop losing money at the ATM

Most of what people lose on money in Mexico goes on three things: accepting the machine's currency conversion, ATM fees on both ends, and cards with foreign transaction fees. How to avoid all three, and how to move larger amounts.