Thousands of Americans are migrating to Mexico at rates not seen since records were kept in 2010, to the extent that temporary residence permits in the country increased by 85 percent compared to the year before the pandemic.
Mexico has granted 8,412 permits to Americans through September, compared to 4,550 in the first three quarters of 2019, according to a report by the National Migration Institute ( INM ).
However, that number may only be a fraction of the influx of American expats, as Mexico has said for years that the true number of Americans moving to its shores has always been an underestimate. This year, more Americans received permanent residency, too, up 48 percent from 2019 to 5,418.
What started as an escape during the pandemic for Americans seeking affordable destinations with few COVID-19 restrictions appears to have staying power. The increased presence of Americans, many of them remote workers, has implications for everything from the tourism industry to real estate prices.
Unlike Mexicans in the United States, Americans can work in Mexico for up to six consecutive months on their tourist visas as long as they are paid abroad. And, although technically not allowed, many choose to return to the US for a short period and then return to Mexico and renew their six-month period in the country and continue working.
In general, 10 million American tourists arrived in Mexico by air through September, which represents an increase of almost 24 percent over the same period in 2019, according to the Center for Research and Tourism Competitiveness of the Anahuac University. Until August of this year, international tourists, in general, spent $17.7 billion dollars in Mexico, 13 percent more than in the same period of 2019, according to the Ministry of Tourism.
Many of these migrants stay for weeks or months to work remotely, but there are no official numbers on the total because it is a “population that tends to be too mobile to be quantified,” said Ariel Ruiz Soto, an analyst at policies from the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute.
The main destination for these American migrants is not a paradisiacal beach, but the country’s capital, Mexico City. Until September, 1,619 permits were obtained in this city. That already represents more than the 1,417 for all of 2019.
The surge in longer-staying Americans has sparked concerns among residents about the rising cost of living, especially in some of the historic neighborhoods that have become their top destinations in Mexico City. Social networks are full of complaints about so-called digital nomads and their alleged impact on rising rents.
In the leafy and walkable neighborhood of Condesa, one of the favorites of wealthy foreigners, apartment rentals increased between January and June by 32 percent, according to a report by the real estate platform Propiedades.com. Annual inflation nationwide stood at 8.7 percent in September.
Last week, the Government of Mexico City announced a partnership with Airbnb and the UNESCO office in the country to promote the capital as a destination for remote workers. The head of government, Claudia Sheinbaum said that the economic benefits of the influx would reach communities beyond the traditional tourist centers.
“Now what we want is to push it even more,” Sheinbaum said at a news conference.
Tenant rights groups called the partnership with Airbnb part of “aggressive touristization” on the part of Mexico City and demanded that the rental company be regulated, according to a statement.
Canadians are not far behind
The population of Canadians has also grown in Mexico. As of September of this year, 2,042 Canadians have obtained temporary residence permits across the country, an increase of 137 percent over the same period in 2019.
The US State Department said this year that 1.6 million US citizens live in Mexico and that the country is the top destination for American travelers. Mexico’s 2020 Census counted 797,266 US citizens in the country, including 471,998 US-born children between the ages of five and 19.
The preference of many Americans is due, in part, to decades of aggressive courtship by Mexico, Ruiz Soto said.
“Mexico’s immigration system is designed to attract US citizens as quickly and easily as possible,” he said. In opposition to that, added Ruiz Soto, “the US immigration system is intended to deter Mexicans seeking to enter the country irregularly.”
Thousands of Americans are migrating to Mexico at rates not seen since records were kept in 2010, to the extent that temporary residence permits . . .
