Moving to Mexico requires some cash as well.
New Residency Income Requirements
Most people who move to the country for the weather, culture, or lower expenses are coming on a non-working visa, which means they must show the means to support themselves. For most retirees, that’s relatively straightforward. Technically the requirement is an income of $2,000 per month for one person or $2,500 for a couple. This normally equates to some kind of pension or IRA/401K regular withdrawal in addition to Social Security, but I’ve heard many cases where the income requirements were softened for retirees who could also show some assets in terms of savings or real estate.
In case you’re wondering, that monthly amount is calculated to be roughly 400 times the
daily minimum wage for Mexico, which is between 63.77 and 67.29.pesos (about $5).
For those who are not retired, requirements are the same on paper but consulate or embassy personnel seem to be requiring a higher income level. This often comes out to $2,500 per month for a single person, then $500 for each dependent. The local consulate or embassy apparently has the latitude to demand more, however, as the one where I started my process (in Orlando, Florida) wanted to see a bare minimum of $4,000 a month flowing through my checking account for myself, my wife, and my daughter and mentioned at one point that we were okay since my income was “more than $5,000 per month.” Whether this was the result of inexperience with the new laws in a little-visited consulate or a liberal interpretation of the rules, I don’t know. As the laws are written, showing assets of more than $126,000 is supposed to suffice in lieu of a steady income, but in my case neither retirement savings accounts nor real estate owned outright in Mexico seemed to factor at all into the decision.
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/living/articles/gaining-legal-residency-in-mexico.shtml
