Americans, the migrants with the largest presence in Mexico

Mexico is the favorite destination for its northern neighbors. And not only as a tourist spot, but also as a residence. Americans are the largest group of migrants in Mexico. This is a decades-old phenomenon.

The proximity of the southern neighbor, familiarity with the language and greater buying power are strong incentives for more than 700,000 American citizens to live in Mexico. The numbers have skyrocketed since 2019, as a result of the pandemic.

Mexico hardly imposes any restrictions on foreigners with money. The country is also attractive to remote workers. What began as a tourism destination has ended up becoming a massively popular place to live.

American citizens don’t require a tourist visa to enter Mexico and they have the right to a stay of up to 180 days per visit. There are also visas issued for temporary residents, which offer the opportunity to live in the country for a longer period of time, so long as the total is less than four years. The number of visas issued in this category has doubled during the last two years.

Within the total number of Americans residing in Mexico, there are also irregular or undocumented migrants. There’s no exact record of how many migrants are currently in the country with an irregular immigration status, but there is data on the returns that are carried out and the immigration procedures that are opened. Mexico’s Migration Policy Unit reports that, over the last 12 years, the deportation of individuals who hold U.S. citizenship has been implemented in 14,538 cases, with clearer increases between 2015 and 2017.

Additionally, from 2012 to 2024, 18,421 U.S. citizens have been registered as having been subject to an administrative immigration procedure. This determines the situation of foreign persons and defines whether they must leave Mexico, or the conditions under which they may remain.

The nearby destination

Mexico is a country that represents a viable option for American migrants. According to Doris Speer, president of the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), people choose it because they can be close to their families, as is the case with retirees, or because they’re able to work from home. Additionally, Spanish is already a language that’s widely spoken in the U.S., so many people who have learned it choose to move south to take advantage of their fluency.

The U.S. government doesn’t have an official number of how many of its citizens live overseas, because it argues that it doesn’t have sufficient tools to count those citizens who live outside the country. However, the Organization of American Citizens Abroad (ACA) estimates that there are approximately six million who reside outside the country. For its part, AARO comes close, with an estimate of 5.5 million. And, according to the latter, about one-fifth of Americans abroad reside in Mexico.

According to the 2023 National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID), 1.2 million migrants reside in Mexico. About 70% of these individuals are Americans. And, while other nationalities are beginning to have a greater presence, those who are originally from the United States continue to be the most common residents.

The number of migrants of all nationalities in the country has increased over the years, nearly tripling over two decades. And, in the last three censuses, the United States represents the country that contributes the most people to this statistic, according to the census conducted by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). This information doesn’t categorize people according to whether or not they have a residence permit. Rather, it simply counts whether they live within the territory.

While some areas of Mexico City — such as the Roma and Condesa neighborhoods — are known for the presence of Americans, the number of residents is lower in the country’s capital. States such as Baja California, Chihuahua, or Tamaulipas each exceeded 80,000 American inhabitants in 2020, according to data from the latest available census.

Regular migration

According to the sites that make recommendations for living in the country, travelers who don’t require a visa can leave the territory shortly before completing that period — approximately six months — and re-enter. But subsequently, the duration of the permit that the immigration authorities issue could be shorter.

If foreigners don’t leave the country on the established days, they will have an irregular immigration status. There are also visas for temporary residents, which offer the opportunity to live in the country for more than 180 days, but less than four years.

This visa can be processed through a Mexican consulate in the country of residence of the person who intends to migrate, or within Mexico itself. One must demonstrate a series of requirements to obtain it.

The number of temporary visas and their renewal has increased from 2021 to 2023, coinciding with the Covid-19 pandemic, which allowed many people to work remotely, a trend noted by Speer at AARO.

Permanent residency cards — which allow foreigners to live in Mexico indefinitely — have also become more prevalent. These permits require proof of four consecutive years of living in Mexico, or of being retired with income from abroad, among other possibilities. Since 2020, their issuance has continued to rise. But by 2023, the total number of American citizens who received them decreased. Since 2014, 72,291 have been granted in total.

Migrating south

When Donald Trump was leading the polls, American actress Eva Longoria declared that she wouldn’t live in the United States if he were to win. The same was said by Barbara Streisand and Cher, among other celebrities. But they weren’t the only ones who had such a reaction.

According to Google Trends in the United States, the idea of moving to another country has been a recurring thought. The website, which measures the number of times people search for certain terms during various periods, determined that, in the last five years, the number of times users explored the idea increased significantly on election day. Shortly after Trump’s second inauguration, searches increased again.

Among the words that have been inserted into the Google search engine, the phrases “living abroad,” “best country to live in” and “moving to Mexico” were compared. All of them have growth peaks related to political issues. Other increases were observed during the Capitol Hill assault, or when Roe v. Wade was struck down by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

Although the searches were significant, Speer says that, so far, the reasons for migration that have been recorded have more to do with factors other than politics, such as job opportunities, family reunification, studies, the desire to live in more affordable places, or love.

Speer says that it will be necessary to wait in order to see if people are willing to move out of the U.S. Up to the time of her interview with EL PAÍS, shortly before the presidential elections, her organization hadn’t observed a significant number of Americans relocating for political reasons.

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