# Moving to Mexico with a 1-year-old



## Lun (Dec 12, 2012)

Hi everyone!

My partner and I are planning on moving to Mexico next year for a year or so and are in need on some advice.

Ideally, we wanted to live somewhere a bit out of town, maybe close to San Cristobal de Allende or on a farm somewhere. We will be taking our 1-year-old with us so we want it to be a safe place, somewhere that is not too hot and not too expensive - we will be living on a budget. 

Where should I start looking? Where can I find rental property?

Thank you!

Edit - I'm not 100% sre if my memory serves me correctly, but I might be thinking of San Miguel de allende, not san christobal - which has the steep hill in the middle of the town?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Lun said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> My partner and I are planning on moving to Mexico next year for a year or so and are in need on some advice.
> 
> ...


Haven't been to San Miguel de Allende. San Cristobal de las Casas has no hill in the middle of town.

You can find rental property by visiting and looking for "Se Renta" signs in the neighborhood you want to live in. Most rentals are not announced on the internet or other realtor lists. Internet listings are aimed at foreigners and/or are expensive.

You can stay away from the heat by staying away from the beaches.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Lun said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> My partner and I are planning on moving to Mexico next year for a year or so and are in need on some advice.
> 
> ...


The first question you should be asking, if you haven't already investigated before posting here, is do the three of you meet the qualifications to live in Mexico for a year. There is a current discussion on this forum regarding very recent changes to Mexico's immigration regulations. No need to plan to move to Mexico, even for a year, if you won't receive a visa.

Secondly, "safe" and "living on a budget" mean different things to different people. They're subjective determinations. 

Thirdly, my suggestion is that you begin your location search (after you resolve the immigration question) by reading several of the most popular guidebooks for Mexico ... cover to cover. I'd start with the _Lonely Planet Mexico_ guide. Read, also, Carl Franz and Lorena Havens' _People's Guide to Mexico_. Then read a year or two of the archived discussions here on EF and visit similar expat-in-Mexico general interest webforums and do the same thing. After all of that reading you should be able to start a list of possible destinations and you can then zero-in on them and continue your research. 

Fourthly, once you have familiarized yourself with regions, locations, climate, etc., you can post specific questions about which some of the good people here may have specific knowledge (i.e., say, the top 3 or 4 possible destinations).

Lastly, make a familiarization trip or two to check-out your list of finalists.

You'll probably need to possess a reasonably good ability to communicate in Spanish, if you want to live outside of the most popular English-speaking expat places.

Your greatest hurdle in the process, as I see it at this point (and not knowing your entire "story") is the immigration matter.

Oh, one more thing: if you and your partner are not both of the child's birth parents then you need to familiarize yourself with regulations regarding entering Mexico with a child, and permission from both parents.

These are my suggestions.

Best of luck with your research and, hopefully, eventual one-year stay in Mexico.


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

Lun said:


> Hi everyone!
> 
> My partner and I are planning on moving to Mexico next year for a year or so and are in need on some advice.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure that I would describe San Miguel or San Cristobal as "having a hill in the middle of town". Both have slopes but San Miguel more pronounced near centro.
We rented 4 years in San Miguel on the hill overlooking Parque Juarez which is great for small child as wonderful play area but we were 155 steps and a sloping road above the park. We thought that San Miguel was a great & easy way to "get our feet wet in Mexico". When we decided to buy/build we started looking outside of town. Found some great farmland north of San Miguel near Atotonilco. At the time we thought a little too remote as 20-25min drive to San Miguel and opted instead to live in Mineral de Pozos, about 45min, that had some 3K people with about 50 full/part time gringos.
If I were you all, I would start in San Miguel on 6 mo tourist visas. I'd get a short term place so that you can look around for options for 3mo-1year.
Drawbacks to this are that you will need drive to the border within 6mo(pretty easy days drive one way) and that short term rental could be a little high but hopefully lets you get a good price where you want to be.
It took us 4 years to decide we wanted to stop renting and get our own place but not usually that long for most people.


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## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

Longford said:


> Oh, one more thing: if you and your partner are not both of the child's birth parents then you need to familiarize yourself with regulations regarding entering Mexico with a child, and permission from both parents.
> 
> These are my suggestions.
> 
> Best of luck with your research and, hopefully, eventual one-year stay in Mexico.


THIS. Our first time in MX, my youngest was 16. I'd been told that we needed his birth certificate, but wasn't told (and didn't ask, because I didn't know I needed to) what was needed because my husband is not his birth father.

Now, all of you, including your baby, need to have passports, BTW.

We got to the desk at the airport, and found we needed a notarized permission letter from his father. It was about 4:45 am. 

We called, he grumbled, but got there about 6:15, in time to scramble for a different flight, and the airline had a notary who came on duty at 6 AM. 

During the wait, feeling frustrated over the whole thing, I muttered to my husband, "I should have told her he was dead." The airline clerk heard me and commented, "Then we'd need a certified copy of the death certificate."

Moral: anytime you go to another country, whether you're planning to be there for a week or for the rest of your life, do your homework.


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