151. 3 Things You Must Do Before Moving Abroad

In this solo episode, I'm breaking down the three action steps I wish I had before we made the move to Mexico - the same ones that helped our family go from dreaming about life in Mexico to actually living it. Whether you're thinking about moving abroad for a year or permanently, this episode is your reality check and your permission slip all in one.

For detailed show notes, visit vivalamami.com/episode151

What You'll Hear:

• Why immigration paperwork is the very first thing you need to tackle before anything else
• How to honestly compare your current cost of living to your potential expenses abroad
• Why moving countries magnifies who you are, and what happens when you don't have emotional clarity before you go
• Resources to Help You Get Started

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• How to Get Dual Citizenship digital products
• Moving to Mexico Discord Community
• 1-on-1 Move to Mexico Consultation
• Living in Mexico Series with my husband
• Cost of Living Comparison Website

Transcript

Jessica 0:00

what I want you to do is to stop overthinking it and start evaluating this like a grown woman. With options. Okay? And so know that you do have options. Know that this is always a possibility, like, trust me, I never in my life did I ever think that I will move back to Mexico. Never. But just the way that life gets you and treats you sometimes. I mean, we had to figure out a solution and a way to do something for ourselves. Welcome to the AMI podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Cuevas, and on today's solo episode, I have some strategies to share just because I have received a lot of dms, a lot of questions about how we made it possible to move to Mexico. am. So excited to share with you sort of like three action steps that you can take before you make the official move. And I think these three action steps will also help give yourself permission in order to make this possible. And so I'm going to speak mostly in the context of moving to Mexico just because that's the only experience I have. That's basically where my family is right now at this moment. But if you are someone who is thinking about going abroad somewhere else, I hope that some of these tips can work for you as well, because in general, these are some steps that anyone should take, especially if they're thinking about moving abroad outside of the us. But before we delve into the conversation, I really want you to do me a favor. If you can please rate and review the show. That way people like you can find us on the podcast and wherever they listen to podcasts. I would also love it if you subscribe to the YouTube channel, just because I am trying to find different ways to. have a broader platform and that way people can find Viva la. I truly believe in the power of community and as part of us as Latina moms, I really wanna be intentional in who I am reaching out to. And my hope is to continue to grow this platform so that way mamas wouldn't be lost in their motherhood journeys. So please, please, please write and review the show and also subscribe to the channel. You can also follow me on Instagram and TikTok, where I share a lot of information as it relates to motherhood, but especially as it relates to our life in Mexico right now and ever since I've shared on social media about our life here in Mexico. Like I said, I have received a ton of questions, at least based on these three action steps that I'm going to share, it's relevant to the majority of the questions and information I have gotten from my followers and people who, have reached out to me. So the first action step that I really want you to take is to check your legal status before you. Spiral. Okay. And the reason why is because it does make it a lot easier once you are living abroad. Now for those of us who are US citizens, a lot of us have utilized our US passport as a gateway and as a door and as an opportunity to. Go anywhere. Having a US passport in itself is a privilege just because there aren't some stringent things that you have to go through in traveling. The majority of the countries in the world, I mean, obviously if you wanna go to China, Russia, Cuba, I mean, that makes things a little bit complicated, but for the most part, you don't necessarily need a specific visa, or if you do have a visa, they're not as complicated as if you had a Mexican passport and going to the US because it, it's pretty challenging. So with that, it almost puts this into a mindset of like, oh, well I can go anywhere. And yes, you get to choose wherever you wanna move abroad, but when it comes to moving abroad, you wanna make sure that you go through the legal things as it relates for you to just like live abroad because. If you don't get to work on this first, I mean, how are you going to be able to live abroad? Let's just face it. And I know that many of us are inspired by all these digital nomads. You know, the ones that started it all during the pandemic osa, but in reality, these people have been going from one place to the other. They haven't really established themselves. If you want that lifestyle, great. Good for you. But in the context of this episode is. For those of us who want to move somewhere outside of the United States and live there at least for a year, if not permanently. So if this is you, then you definitely wanna make sure that you get things settled. This could be if you are eligible for dual citizenship, or do you qualify through your parents or lineage also, would you need temporary or permanent residency if in case your family isn't from that country? So there's a lot of nuances there that you wanna make sure that you have all the documents right, and that all these documents, will give you that sort of access for you to live abroad. The reason why this should be, uh, the first step is because once you get through the paperwork, it's going to feel a lot easy. And I share this a lot in my how to get dual citizenship in Mexico course where I talk about how oftentimes people have hit a wall once they want to start the citizenship process, because it takes a lot of paperwork, it takes a lot of. commitment to get through this process. And this is also relevant to looking into a specific visa or if you are looking into temporary or permanent residency. Like there are specific nuances to each and every process. And once you get through this, you're going to. see the light at the end of the tunnel and you're going to be able to proceed with the next step. So this should be the very first step just because this kind of gives you the open doors to the possibilities in you actually making this a reality for you to move abroad. if in case you are a child of Mexican born parents, and if you have not yet gained your dual citizenship, I have two digital products. One is my Eide, which is kind of like a checklist of the things that you need to get done in order to gain dual citizenship. And this is sort of like if you wanna work on your own, but if in case you want a more. Step-by-step process where you need someone to show you, then I have my digital course. And within the digital course, it is bundled with the egu. And so this is all for those of you who haven't yet gotten dual citizenship. So go to my website, which is ami.com/shop. These digital products are located in my shop page. I will also provide you the link in the show notes and in the description of this video. That way you get to have direct access to the links. The next step is pretty hefty, and I think it's a very, very important one. And this is all based on the majority of the concerns that I have received from people who want to move to Mexico or just wanna move abroad but feel that they are restricted. Because they don't know where to go from here, and that is money. And so what I want you to do is to literally run the numbers. And don't romanticize your potential move abroad. And the reason why is because we have to be realistic in terms of how much you are able to afford based on either your current situation or based on a potential situation that you may encounter that may limit. The amount of money that you're making. And so the majority of the questions that I've received is people asking me, well, how do I find a job? Where can I make money while living abroad? I've shared that in a previous episode as part of my living in Mexico series that I've had with my husband, Alex, because obviously he's a. An important aspect of our move to Mexico and we shared how you can make money while living abroad. And so I will link the whole series so that way you can binge watch or binge listen, if that's a word. with regards to all of these different nuances about our move to Mexico, but one of them is definitely how can we essentially afford living in a different country? And one of the things that we've definitely shared. Is that we have three different sources of income. One of them is through Alex's job, which, um, he was able to keep just because his company is internationally based. So meaning that they have different offices around the world and. His position has always been remote so he can basically work from anywhere. And my job, like I haven't yet gotten a full-time job. In fact, that was one of the reasons why we decided to move to Mexico. I couldn't find a full-time job in the United States. Like it took me over a year and I had still not found a job. And so that's almost like my way of figuring out like what are the next steps? What is something that we can do different And. Plan D was us moving to Mexico, and it literally came to fruition. So with me not having a full-time job, I mean, I've come to realize that it's okay because right now I'm in a season of just being the primary caregiver, right? I pick up, drop off the kids to school. help them with their activities and things like. That obviously Alex is involved, but just because he has a traditional nine to five, he doesn't have as much flexibility. So at least we have this one parent that is able to do that. And just because the way that Mehi Mexico is very flexible, it's very like centered around family and especially the student's schedule that you just need someone in your village to look after them. And I'm that person, but even though I don't have a full-time job. I have been pretty fortunate to find freelance work, temporary work, contract jobs, you know, just like jobs that essentially make money, where I am able to gain skills. I'm still adding that into my resume, but that I don't have to fully commit to like 100% and in fact. what I have found is that there's a lot of jobs out there that are either 10 99 that are contract based, that are freelance based, that, that are not your typical nine to five W2 jobs because those, first of all, are very hard to find if you wanna find a fully remote position. And second of all, if you are moving abroad, like it doesn't make sense to be taxed so much money out of your paycheck. Because of like insurance, because of, all of these like taxes that you have to pay in your state. Like, you know, that is not necessary. So if I were you, I would look for a non-traditional part-time 10 99 contract type job where the company doesn't have to commit so much in paying you on these benefits. And so there are ways to find jobs like that. And then of course the other source of income that we have is through our investment property. So three years ago we bought a, uh, multifamily home in Chicago where we house hacked for a little bit just to like try to make ends meet and save and all of that. And also that gave us the opportunity to dream big and to really think what are the next steps? And through this investment property we've been very, very lucky that we have been able to afford living here where we're at in, because what we make out of the rent, I mean, we do build income out of that. Whatever we get from that, we pay that towards the rent in this house. So that's what makes it a little bit smart. I would say that if you have other sources of income that is not your traditional nine to five, you never know how it much, it'll help you to fund your expenses. Either in Mexico or, or at a different country. So one of the things that I want you to do is to calculate what those expenses are like how much are you spending right now in the us? Anywhere from living expenses to medical, to debts, whatever it is, and then figure out how realistic it would be to potentially convert that into the expenses that you would have abroad. And in the show notes, I'll be sharing, a website that helps you compare the cost of the city that you're currently living in, if it's in the database and the city that you wanna move to. And again, that's if it's in the database, but for the most part, this is intentionally for. People that are expats. Right? But I'm taking that over ha ha. And, uh, reclaiming it and want to reclaim it really for anyone who wants to move abroad. And I think that we should have that resource and that way we can access it and figure out what is the realistic cost of living for that specific city that you wanna move to. And so I think you have to definitely compare the cost of living. where you're at right now versus where you wanna move to in Mexico or wherever you wanna move to. And so think about it, it's not about romanticizing, you know, this isn't about escaping your current situation. Like you need to come to the reality of like, okay, there's a reason why we wanna move to X country. How is this going to be possible? And a lot of the times it's the financial part where it can deter people away from moving or it can inspire people and motivate them, to move forward in, in this process. so I want you to write down your current monthly expenses and how would that translate into your potentially new expenses in the city and country that you wanna move to. The third action step is that I want you to be clear on why you want to leave. And a lot of times things run through our heads, right? And sometimes we're not really practical in our way of thinking, and sometimes we're a little bit more reactive and we just say like, oh. hate it here. I can't stand it here. I just wanna move. And then you go through this rabbit hole of just like trying to figure out how to literally move tomorrow to a different country. And honestly, it takes time. Like for us, it took us five months to move to Mexico I feel like it took us pretty a quicker time than compared to other families like some families, it takes them half a year, it takes them two years. So it all just depends. And so sometimes the feelings that we're feeling right now can dictate our actions and sometimes these actions aren't sustainable. And so I really want you to delve deep and. You can write this down, you can talk to someone, whatever it is, but I really want you to sit down and think, why is it that you wanna move to Mexico or to whatever country that you wanna move to? Like, think about what are you moving toward? Is it. To have more time with your kids? Is it to have this cultural connection with your roots? Is it so that, um, you can have this level of financial freedom or financial flexibility? Is it so that you can have a slower lifestyle and not hustle every day because that is so toxic in the us? Is it so that you can raise bilingual kids or bicultural kids? And so these are some questions that you should think about. Like what is your true reason behind your wanting to move to Mexico or a different country moving countries magnifies who you are. If you don't know your why. Relocation will feel chaotic and it will feel like you are lost. It'll feel like you still don't have the sense of belonging, and so you just wanna make sure that you are making the right decision, not just for yourself, not just for your family, but it's also like your purpose. Like what is your purpose? What is your one year goal, your five year goal, what's your 10 year goal? And you don't have to answer that. From the get go, but whatever you're reflecting on, whatever your true meaning behind your reasoning as to why you wanna move to Mexico, it can help you spark kind of like that, plan those goals so that you can reach them. And so after this episode, I want you to write down why you. Are moving to Mexico. So start writing. I want to move to Mexico or whatever country because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I can't answer that for you, but if in case you do need support, I know that it can be isolating. I know it can feel overwhelming. I have a free Discord group available for anyone that is interested in moving to Mexico. This is for those of us who are trying to reclaim our roots, who wanna reverse migrate, who wanna go back to the motherland, where our family came from, or for those of you who just don't wanna be a part of these expat Facebook groups that I have shared a lot on social media about, but essentially this group is an open community for anyone who needs assistance, who wants to feel inspired, who wants to connect with other individuals who have also been a part of this experience? There's a mix of people that want to move to Mexico and the ones that are already in Mexico so we can share this wisdom and knowledge and experience and that way we can inspire each other and uplift each other to live in the motherland. and so the link to join is in this episode, and that way you can join our Discord group. Today I gave you three things that you should consider before making the move abroad or the move to Mexico. And so what I want you to do is to stop overthinking it and start evaluating this like a grown woman. With options. Okay? And so know that you do have options. Know that this is always a possibility, like, trust me, I never in my life did I ever think that I will move back to Mexico. Never. But just the way that life gets you and treats you sometimes. I mean, we had to figure out a solution and a way to do something for ourselves. Like I didn't wanna be stuck in a one bedroom apartment. I didn't wanna feel like this level of distress. I didn't want to just miss out on my kids' first few years of life. Like I knew that I wanted something and that was to live in a country that really respects families that really. Centers families and so. I knew that Mexico was going to be the best option for me and my family at this given moment of time. And you know, initially we shared about us moving to Mexico for a year, but honestly we wanna live here for a couple years. This could be, you know, during our kids' primary school years or until they reach high school. I don't know. I don't know how that looks like, but I know that we're here and we are doing the best that we can to not just sustain ourselves, but also. To have a little bit of clarity and that's what I want. Like if you know that you've always wanted to make this move for whatever reasons, you definitely have to have the legal clarity. You have to have the financial clarity, and you have to have the emotional clarity as well. And so if these three things can really inspire you to. Proceed in the next steps of your move. Like it's possible. Trust me, it will be possible if in case you want a more personalized approach in your potential move to Mexico Then I am offering a one hour one-on-one consultation to move to Mexico. And so this is for anyone who needs that individualized attention, who wants to have a conversation, who wants accountability. And so I am here to offer this, to give you this opportunity to talk to me, and I can provide you with a step-by-step roadmap for you, and that way you can make this move to Mexico a reality. If you wanna learn more about my one hour one-on-one consultation, you can click in the link in the show notes or in the description of this YouTube video, and that way we can start this process. I am very excited for you. There's a reason why you decided to pick this episode, and that way you can feel inspired and really realize and know that. There's so many people behind you. There's so many people who are in the same boat as you. I was one of them, trust me, and I kind of wish I had the resources, like the ones that I'm sharing right now to you, but I hope that this serves as permission for you to go and live outside of the United States, especially if there are reasons Behind why. So I hope this episode was helpful for you. As always, please rate and review the show, share this with an Amiga, and if in case you need that support, know that all these resources that I mentioned are in the show notes and description. Alright, AMI, well, thank you so much for listening, s in the next episode.