MOVING TO MEXICO FROM THE US: WHAT CHANGES AND WHAT FOLLOWS YOU
Most guides to moving to Mexico describe Mexico. This one describes what happens to the American life you are leaving, because that is where the expensive surprises are.
Three things catch people out more than anything else. Your obligation to file a US tax return does not end when you leave. Your Medicare does not come with you. And the US bank accounts you assumed would carry on working may not, once your address changes.
None of that is a reason to stay. It is a reason to sequence the move properly.
In this guide
1. What actually changes when you leave
The United States is one of very few countries that taxes its citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live. That single fact shapes most of what follows. You do not stop being a US taxpayer by moving, and you do not become one in Mexico instead. For a period you are dealing with both systems at once.
Alongside it sit three practical breaks. Medicare stops being useful the day you land. Financial institutions treat a foreign address differently from a domestic one. And the sequence of Mexican bureaucracy has dependencies that are not obvious from outside: your residency card gates your CURP, which gates your RFC, which gates your bank account.
What does not change is more reassuring than people expect. Social Security continues to be paid. Your US passport, credit history and investment accounts continue to exist. You can return whenever you like.
🏴 Viamexico Note This guide covers the American side of the move, which applies wherever in Mexico you settle. For the Mexico City side, our complete guide to relocating to Mexico City covers neighbourhoods, finding a place to live, getting around and cost of living in detail. The two are designed to be read together.
2. Your US tax obligations do not stop
You continue to file a US federal return every year you live in Mexico, for as long as you hold US citizenship. Most people who move abroad end up owing nothing, but the filing itself is not optional and the penalties attach to the failure to file rather than to unpaid tax.
Two mechanisms usually reduce the bill to zero.
The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion lets you exclude foreign earned income up to a cap. The IRS set that cap at $132,900 per qualifying person for the 2026 tax year, with a housing limitation of $39,870. A married couple who both qualify separately can exclude $265,800 between them. It is claimed on Form 2555.
The Foreign Tax Credit, claimed on Form 1116, credits tax you have already paid to Mexico against what you would owe the US.
What the exclusion does not cover is the part that catches people. It applies to earned income only, meaning wages and self-employment income. It does nothing for dividends, interest, rental income or capital gains. For a retiree living on investment income rather than a salary, the exclusion is largely irrelevant and the Foreign Tax Credit is the mechanism that matters.
Reporting your Mexican accounts is separate from paying tax on them. If your foreign accounts together exceed $10,000 at any point in the year, even for a day, you file an FBAR. That threshold is aggregate across all accounts, not per account, and it is crossed the moment you move money over for a rental deposit. Form 8938 under FATCA is a further requirement with higher thresholds, starting at $200,000 at year end for a single filer living abroad.
Deadlines shift. Americans living abroad get an automatic two-month extension to 15 June, with no form required. Interest still accrues on anything owed from the ordinary April deadline.
Your state may not let go. The federal exclusion does nothing about state income tax. Some states continue to treat you as a resident and tax your worldwide income while you live in Mexico. This is a question to settle before you leave, not after.
3. Medicare does not travel
This is the one that produces the worst surprises, because it is discovered in an emergency room.
Medicare does not pay for healthcare received outside the United States. The exclusion is built into the programme. There are narrow exceptions involving inpatient hospital treatment in Canada and Mexico in specific circumstances, and a limited rule for cruise ships, but none of them constitute coverage you can plan around.
What that means in practice:
Part A costs nothing to keep, for most people who have paid in for ten years, and it is worth keeping. It does nothing for you in Mexico, but it is there if you return to the United States for treatment.
Part B keeps charging you. It does not stop automatically when you move. Premiums continue until you actively disenrol, reported at $202.90 a month for 2026. Dropping it saves that money but creates a permanent late-enrolment penalty if you later return and re-enrol, so the decision turns on how likely you are to move back.
Medicare Advantage and Part D work differently. More than six months outside the United States can trigger automatic disenrolment, which is worth confirming with your plan rather than discovering later.
What replaces it. Most Americans in Mexico use a combination: a private Mexican insurance policy for major events, and out-of-pocket payment for routine care, which is priced very differently from the US. Voluntary IMSS enrolment is available to legal residents and functions as a safety net rather than a primary plan, with long waits and a process that requires Spanish.
Our guide to healthcare in Mexico for expats covers the options in full.
4. Social Security, pensions and getting paid
Better news here.
Social Security retirement benefits continue to be paid to US citizens living in Mexico, indefinitely, and can be deposited directly into a Mexican bank account or kept going into your US account. Hundreds of thousands of Americans already collect while living abroad.
The rules differ if you are not a US citizen. The Social Security Administration generally cannot pay retirement, survivors or disability benefits to non-citizens after their sixth calendar month outside the United States, though exceptions exist. If you hold a green card rather than citizenship, this needs checking against your own circumstances before you commit to anything.
A green card is not a passport. Lawful permanent residents who spend more than six months abroad risk losing that status. For a green card holder, moving to Mexico is a materially different decision from what it is for a citizen, and it should be taken with immigration advice on the US side as well as the Mexican side.
Private pensions and annuities generally continue to pay, though some providers are awkward about foreign addresses and some will not deposit to a foreign account. Ask before you move rather than after.
5. Your US bank accounts, cards and credit file
Nobody warns Americans about this and it causes more day-to-day friction in the first six months than anything except the language.
Changing your address to a foreign one can close accounts. Some US banks and brokerages restrict or close accounts held by customers with overseas addresses. Others simply stop sending cards. Policies vary by institution and are rarely published, so the only reliable approach is to ask each one directly, in writing, before you move.
Keep a US address if you legitimately have one. A family member's address is common practice. Using an address you have no genuine connection to is not something we would advise, and some institutions treat it as grounds for closure in itself.
Two-factor authentication breaks. A great many US financial institutions send verification codes only to US mobile numbers. Losing your US number can lock you out of your own accounts. Keeping a low-cost US number active, or moving it to a service that works internationally, is worth doing before you leave rather than from Mexico.
Your credit file freezes rather than dies. Without US credit activity your file gradually stops being updated. Keeping one US credit card active and used occasionally is the usual way to hold a score in place, which matters if you ever intend to borrow in the US again.
On the Mexican side, the sequence is fixed. Your residency card comes first, then your CURP, then your RFC, then the bank account. Each depends on the one before it. Our guide to opening a bank account in Mexico as a foreigner covers the documents and the banks.
Plan on managing without a Mexican account for the first several weeks, which means arriving with a funding method that works: a card with low foreign transaction fees, and a transfer service for larger sums.
6. Shipping, selling or starting again
Most people ship too much.
Furniture that suits a US house frequently does not suit a Mexican apartment, where rooms are shaped differently and built-in storage is rarer. Anything electrical needs checking, and large appliances are usually more trouble than they are worth to move.
The three-way test that tends to work: ship what is irreplaceable, sell what is heavy and generic, and buy locally what is cheaper to replace than to move.
What complicates a shipment. Bringing household goods into Mexico as a new resident involves a customs process tied to your residency status, so it is not a matter of hiring a mover and posting the boxes. Pets need documentation prepared well in advance. Firearms are a serious matter in Mexico and should not be brought under any circumstances. Prescription medication needs checking against Mexican rules, since some drugs sold routinely in US pharmacies are controlled here.
Cars are their own project. Importing a US vehicle permanently is a substantial undertaking with its own rules, and temporary import permits are tied to your immigration status. In Mexico City specifically, a car brings verificación emissions testing and the Hoy No Circula restrictions, and many residents conclude they do not need one.
7. Visas: The part that has to happen first
Americans can enter Mexico as tourists without a visa, and a good number of people arrive intending to sort residency out later. That does not work for the economic solvency route. The application starts at a Mexican consulate in the United States, before you move, and cannot generally be started from inside Mexico.
The sequence is: qualify financially at a consulate, receive a visa sticker in your passport, enter Mexico, then complete the canje at INM within 30 days to receive the card itself.
The financial thresholds are the part most people underestimate, and they changed basis in July 2025. Our guide to Mexico residency financial requirements sets out the current figures, our residency calculator allows you to check if you meet the requirements and our temporary residency guide covers the full process.
🏴 ViaMexico Note The most costly ordering mistake we see is selling the US house before securing the visa. Consulates assess your finances at the point of application, and a sale can change what your statements show at exactly the wrong moment. Get the visa first.
8. Your first 90 days in Mexico, in order
The dependencies matter more than the deadlines. Doing these out of order is what turns a three-week task into a three-month one.
| When | What | Why this order |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Canje appointment at INM to exchange your visa sticker for a residency card | A hard 30-day deadline from entry. Miss it and the visa lapses and you start again at a consulate |
| Week 1 | Mexican SIM and phone number | Needed for almost every appointment booking and delivery. Keep your US number running alongside it |
| Weeks 2 to 6 | Temporary accommodation while you learn the city | Signing a year's lease before you know the neighbourhoods is the most common regret |
| After the card arrives | CURP, your Mexican population registry number | Requires the residency card. Nothing downstream works without it |
| After CURP | RFC, your tax number, from SAT | Requires CURP. Needed for a bank account, a lease and most contracts |
| After RFC | Mexican bank account | Most banks want the card, CURP, RFC and proof of address together |
| Weeks 4 to 10 | Private health cover in place | Do not wait. Medicare does not cover you from the day you land |
| Weeks 6 to 12 | Long-term lease, with a fiador or lease insurance | Needs proof of address and usually the bank account. The fiador requirement surprises most Americans |
| Ongoing | Comprobante de domicilio, a utility bill in your name | Requested constantly. Getting one in your own name early removes a recurring obstacle |
Before you fly: confirm with every US financial institution what a Mexican address will do to your account. Sort your US mobile number. Speak to a cross-border accountant. Get your visa.
Our relocation services for retirees page sets out where we take this on.
9. How ViaMexico helps
We handle the Mexican side of the sequence and tell you plainly which parts of the American side need a specialist.
Confirming consulate requirements and preparing your financial documentation before you apply
Managing the canje appointment at INM and the CURP and RFC steps that follow
Accompanying you to the bank, which materially improves the odds of leaving with an account
Finding somewhere to live, including the fiador problem that catches most newcomers
Setting up healthcare, including private cover and voluntary IMSS where appropriate
Telling you when you need a cross-border accountant or a US immigration lawyer rather than us
READY TO START?
Getting the financial documentation right is the difference between an approval and a wasted appointment. We confirm the threshold with your consulate first, prepare the file properly, and tell you before you book if the numbers do not work.
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Generally only where the income arrives in a joint account you both hold. Two separately held incomes cannot simply be added together. The principal applicant meets the 680-day threshold and each dependant adds 220 days on top, so a couple should plan on 900 days of UMA, around 105,579 pesos a month.
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Not directly. Consulates assess income and balances rather than net worth, and they do not run an affordability calculation. Debt matters only where servicing it visibly reduces the net income you are presenting.
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The most recent statement should generally fall within one month of your appointment. Because appointments are frequently booked months ahead, this usually means requesting a final statement shortly before you travel rather than assembling everything when you book.
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No. Temporary residency renewals are handled by INM inside Mexico and do not repeat the consular solvency test. The financial assessment happens once, at the consulate, at the start.
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That is not a problem. Present statements in their original currency and let the consulate convert. Applicants who convert figures themselves, particularly into pesos, create a discrepancy against the consulate's own calculation and invite questions.
RELATED GUIDES
Internal Revenue Service, figuring the foreign earned income exclusion, 2026 figures: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/figuring-the-foreign-earned-income-exclusion
Social Security Administration, payments outside the United States: https://www.ssa.gov/international/payments.html
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, services not provided within the United States: https://www.hhs.gov/guidance/document/services-not-provided-within-united-states
Lineamientos generales para la expedición de visas, DOF, 25 July 2025: https://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5763837&fecha=25/07/2025