Mexico City may be enjoying its moment in the World Cup spotlight, but another story is unfolding beyond football. A steady stream of Americans are packing their bags for Tulum, Merida and Guanajuato. In today’s episode, Mona speaks with Juan Felipe Sanchez of Mexico Business Lawyers about why Mexico has become such an attractive destination for Americans to relocate and invest.
Having practised Mexican residency, real estate, and business law since 2007, Juan Felipe explains the real reasons behind the southern migration, including how remote work has changed the game and how 350k can buy you a foothold on the Mexican coast. Most importantly, he reveals the truth behind Mexico’s property myths (no, you don’t need to be Mexican to own beachfront real estate!).
For anybody planning their retirement, weighing up a second home or looking for the practical guide to temporary and permanent residency south of the American border, this episode offers a first-hand briefing from someone who’s lived and practiced it for nearly two decades.
“I think that’s the two biggest myths that are out there. The one is that you cannot own property in Mexico and the second one is that you will lease it for 99 years. For some reason that’s out there, but it’s not true at all.” – Juan Felipe Sanchez
Juan Felipe Sanchez
With over 18 years of experience in the field, Juan Felipe brings a wealth of knowledge and a deep understanding of Mexican legal frameworks. His expertise spans a broad range of services, including business law, property law, and international transactions, making him an invaluable asset for foreigners looking to navigate the complexities of the Mexican market.
Juan Felipe’s journey in the legal profession is marked by his dedication to providing honest and efficient support to his clients. With a focus on expert legal guidance, he holds a Master’s degree in Legal Consulting from the Universidad de Monterrey. His commitment to excellence and his client-centric approach ensure that each client receives personalized and effective legal solutions tailored to their specific needs.
Throughout his career, Juan Felipe has helped numerous international clients establish businesses and purchase properties in Mexico, always prioritizing transparency and thoroughness in his work. His leadership and strategic insights have not only resolved complex legal challenges but also facilitated seamless transactions, fostering trust and long-term relationships with clients from around the globe.
Juan Felipe’s vision aligns perfectly with our firm’s mission: to support and empower those who seek to grow their businesses and investments in Mexico. Under his guidance, our legal team is equipped to handle every aspect of your legal needs, ensuring a smooth and successful experience from start to finish.
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Transcript
This transcript was produced using AI and subsequently edited for style and clarity. The edits do not alter the substance of the speaker’s remarks
Mona Shah (0:59 – 1:40)
Hello, everyone. The 2026 World Cup put Mexico City on screens everywhere, a cosmopolitan capital of skyscrapers, world-class restaurants and packed stadiums. Behind the postcard is a real market shift.
There’s a growing number of US citizens who are actually pursuing temporary or permanent residency in Mexico. And whether it’s for a retirement or for remote work, or even for business. So today to chat with me about this phenomena is Juan Felipe Sanchez of Mexico Business Lawyers.
Welcome, Juan.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (1:40 – 1:43)
Thank you, Mona. Thank you so much for having me. I’m very happy to be here with you.
Mona Shah (1:44 – 1:51)
You’ve advised international clients on residency, real estate, and business in Mexico since what, 2007?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (1:52 – 2:01)
Yes, yes, yes. Around that, around that. About 2006, 2007, I started my practise, which has always been related with cross-border matters.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (2:01 – 2:03)
And until today, yes.
Mona Shah (2:04 – 2:06)
Are you based in Mexico City or are you based in the US?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (2:07 – 2:16)
I’m based in Tijuana, actually. I am based here, very close to California. And this is where I have my main office and address, yes.
Mona Shah (2:17 – 2:34)
Tijuana’s a hop, skip and a jump from California. But you know, Juan, until recently, I didn’t even realise that Mexico is commonly ranked, what, around 12th of the largest economies in the world? With modern hubs in Mexico City, Monterey, et cetera.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (2:35 – 3:00)
Yeah, yeah, that’s correct. I mean, we have, you know, one of the largest economies, also very tied to the US and like Mexico City, Monterey are maybe the top two most important ones. Tijuana as well, I think maybe in the top five on the economy of Mexico.
Also, you know, we do a lot of trade with the US and do the geographic allocation of it.
Mona Shah (3:00 – 3:35)
Right. Yeah. Well, I always knew that, of course, because there is a special treaty between Mexico and the US being neighbours.
But again, I did not realise just how much migration goes south rather than north. But here’s my first question for you. And I’m sure this is really what our listeners really want to know.
Why are people actually moving? I mean, you’ve been doing this since 2007, and you’ve seen your client base evolve. What is actually driving the move south right now?
Is there a change? Is it since COVID? Have you seen any changes?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (3:36 – 4:17)
Definitely, definitely we’ve seen changes since COVID. I mean, Mexico is always going to be open and very friendly to US citizens or maybe also from Canada. They want to move, either retire over here, or they want to have their beach house or their vacation home down Mexico for other reasons.
But since COVID and when we all started to realise that we could be working anywhere. I mean, if there’s some work that you have, if you have your computer and an internet connection, you can be doing the same thing as anywhere in the world. So that increased a lot the interest.
Yeah.
Mona Shah (4:17 – 4:39)
Yeah. Yeah. You’re right.
You’re right. There has been a rise of digital nomads and they’ve made it to Mexico City. I think regions like Yucatan Peninsula, they’ve become particularly popular, right?
And I know a number of professionals who basically earn foreign salaries and they’re paying local prices, which means that they have the financial advantage.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (4:40 – 5:01)
Yeah, that’s correct. I mean, in Yucatan and Merida, that’s a really popular place right now. It’s one of the safest places in Mexico and it’s attracting a lot of expats, a lot of people over there.
I mean, the weather is always warm and nice over there. So that’s one of the places also that has been having a lot of attraction in the past years.
Mona Shah (5:02 – 5:07)
So would you say that one of the primary drivers really is a significantly lower cost of living in Mexico?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (5:08 – 5:36)
Yes, I think it is. I think it’s the living costs also. I mean, we got to ask also since COVID that, you know what, I may as well go and find a place down in Mexico, like a beach house.
I would love to be having a place by the beach. And the price, if you compare it with what will be in any other places, like for instance, California, which is the closest state that we have, it could be significantly cheaper.
Mona Shah (5:37 – 5:52)
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I can see that, you know, the geographic proximity and then you have beautiful landscapes in Mexico.
You want the beaches of Cabo, the highlands of, how do I pronounce it? Guan, Guanugo? Maybe I’m pronouncing it incorrectly.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (5:52 – 5:53)
Guanajuato?
Mona Shah (5:53 – 5:56)
Yeah, that’s it. Yeah.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (5:57 – 6:09)
No, no, it is, you’re right. I mean, in Guanajuato, so it has one of, I think it’s the third now, the largest expat community in Mexico. Also like going to those places, it’s…
Mona Shah (6:09 – 6:11)
It’s a slower pace of life though.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (6:12 – 6:40)
It is. It is. Yes, yes, it is.
And the last time that I was there, it was very nice to see a lot of like maybe US citizens. You can tell that they were not original from Mexico, from that city, but they were like carrying grocery bags and living their life over there, on the street, walking around. And it’s an incredible sight.
And I was very happy to see that community grow and evolve in that way.
Mona Shah (6:41 – 6:47)
But let me ask you, though, if you don’t speak Spanish, is it difficult to sort of manoeuvre?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (6:47 – 7:35)
I think that in Mexico, if you don’t talk Spanish, there’s ways to go around. I mean, for instance, in the most popular places, at least that they have a big expat community, there’s a lot of people speaking English, a lot of expats or a lot of people from there that they’re trying to, or speak a little bit of English and you can build your life over there. And more so in the popular places for expats.
But it’s still, I think that it’s easy. It’s easy. It’s friendly.
I think Mexico has always been a friendly country, receiving people from all over the world. And even though that some of them, they not manage to speak that good of fluent English, it goes around. I mean, they make it work.
They make it work somehow.
Mona Shah (7:36 – 7:47)
But tell me, are you just seeing, I know you see snowbirds, so snowbirds we describe as Canadians, so Americans and Canadians, you do see, but do you see any other nationalities?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (7:48 – 8:15)
We do see a little bit, yes, we do see people from Europe. I think people from Europe are more attracted to the Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Tulum region. That’s where we had clients more over there.
But yes, yes, they’re still interested. They’re still attracted to the beaches and the warm weather probably all year round.
Mona Shah (8:16 – 8:22)
Yeah. So tell me, how much typically is the cost of a beach house in a beach in Cabo, for example?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (8:23 – 8:47)
I think that someone can get a place, a property for around $350,000, $400,000 and up. I mean, it will depend on the location, the building, how close to the ocean or sometimes their walking distance. But I think something like that, an investment can start from that point.
Mona Shah (8:48 – 9:05)
Well, I do notice though, there has been a lot of sort of, I would suggest it was myths out there that you have to be Mexican to own property and you can only rent if you’re not Mexican. But I think that’s not correct, right? Can Americans or others actually own property in Mexico?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (9:06 – 10:13)
Yes, yes. And that’s a great question and I get asked that all the time. And the answer is yes, you can buy and you don’t have to lease the property.
I think that’s the two biggest myths that are out there. The one is that you cannot own property in Mexico and the second one is that you will lease it for 99 years. For some reason that’s out there, but it’s not true at all.
I mean, you can buy. The coast of Mexico and the borders of Mexico, they’re 30 miles inland from the coast and about 60 miles south of the border or north, depending on which border, that’s restricted to Mexican nationals to own. But the way that is structured, if someone not from Mexico wants to buy property in that restricted region, is that we need to set up a Mexican entity, which most of the times is setting up a Mexican trust or a Mexican corporation that will hold the title and any buyer will have 100% control of either that trust or that Mexican entity.
Mona Shah (10:14 – 10:27)
Interesting. So if somebody wanted actually temporary residency or even permanent residency, is that based on purchase of property? Because I know you did mention at one point that you have to invest.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (10:28 – 10:54)
Yes, yes. And buying property can be a way to have a temporary residency or permanent residency eventually. And the rule of thumb is that if you are investing in real estate about $350,000 or up, you’re eligible to pursue the temporary residency and eventually the permanent one too.
Mona Shah (10:55 – 11:02)
Ah. And what is the difference? I mean, how long does it take to get permanent residency and do actually get citizenship as well?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (11:03 – 12:04)
Yes. I mean, the path that most people go is that the first residency by investment or through a job offer or for expats, for instance, or digital nomads, is that you get the temporary residency first for one year. Everybody gets that first for one year and that can be renewed up to four years.
But after year two, everybody has temporary residency, could be eligible to pursue the permanent one. And the permanent residency will be, you know, permanent residency for more than four years. They’re now eligible to pursue Mexican citizenship.
So that’s the path that people may, if the end goal is to get Mexican citizenship, that will be a path that will be the most common one to pursue.
Mona Shah (12:05 – 12:18)
And how long do you have to be in the country? I mean, do you have to live in the country permanently or can you just come and go? Say you work in California and you want to be a nomad in Mexico, but you decide you want temporary residency because you like it so much.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (12:19 – 13:24)
Yeah, there’s no requirement to be in a specific amount of time in Mexico. You can come and go. You don’t need to stay in Mexico for a certain amount of time.
And that’s very friendly to people that can come and go. For either temporary or permanent residency, you’re, everybody’s free to come and go. And sometimes we get that question or sometimes we get that ask, like, I need the residency.
But technically, any tourist can be in Mexico for up to 180 days. If someone wants to stay more than that, that’s where they need to get the temporary residency. If they’re going to stay for a month or a bit more than that, they can do that with no legal requirement to pursue that.
But also, it brings some other benefits to have temporary residency. Some clients pursue that even though that they may stay a bit less than permitted as a tourist. But that’s, yeah, most people come and go for that purposes.
Mona Shah (13:25 – 13:50)
Right. Well, for our listeners who have a business idea rather than a retirement plan, what are you seeing that they actually set up in Mexico? Because we’ve already discussed that.
I mean, it’s the 12th largest economy. But how are you seeing people coming in now in 2026 and setting up a business or perhaps expanding their business?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (13:51 – 15:14)
Yeah, yes. And the two most common things that we deal right now, it’s either they want to set up a real estate business or they want to have a portfolio of real estate down here and rent it out. We have many families or private investors that they have their own portfolio of assets.
But other than that, when someone wants to expand their business and to start operating in Mexico or, you know, selling their product or maybe expanding through an acquisition process to buy a competitor and expanding that way into this region, that’s the two most things that we’ve been seeing lately. That expansion or growth of their own business into the Mexican territory or Mexican market, that’s really common for us to help them. And that’s where we will try to make them feel at home and see us not just their attorney who’s drafting their purchase agreement, for instance, but more so than their local ally, that we put together the team that they need, the cross-border expertise that they need.
And so the learning curve of doing business down here will be flat as much as possible. And we can get to the goal line also as efficiently as possible as well.
Mona Shah (15:15 – 15:31)
Well, that’s good to know. But of course, labour is much cheaper in Mexico. So anything with operations, do you see that, like mini factories or any kind of operational business, which is producing something, for example, are they moving to Mexico more?
Juan Felipe Sánchez (15:32 – 16:27)
Yeah, I mean, we have clients from IT companies, from travel agencies. We just had a meeting with manufacturers, with a manufacturer down in Monterey, that they moved their whole operations down here. So it can be widely leveraged, that cost of labour and also having bilingual employees as well down in Mexico.
And train also. There’s part of Mexico that they have been focussing on developing really good universities and training their own persons. So that creates this kind of formula that a businessman will like to profit from, to getting good labour, lower cost and well-trained.
Mona Shah (16:29 – 16:57)
Well, I mean, this all sounds wonderful. I really can’t wait to go and visit some of the places that we’ve been discussing. But we cannot do a podcast about moving to Mexico, really, without addressing what I know many listeners are thinking.
What about security and cartel-related violence? It’s in the headlines constantly, Juan. I mean, are the media pictures accurate?
Is it misleading? You know, please.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (16:58 – 17:04)
Yes, yes. And that’s also, I’m really glad that you asked that. And I get that question asked all the time as well.
Mona Shah (17:04 – 17:04)
Yeah.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (17:05 – 19:08)
Because, you know, yeah, sadly enough, I mean, bad news travel fast. And sometimes those news are, they’re perceived in many ways when someone it’s from not this country and maybe perceived differently. But I think that, first of all, I would like to always say that there is this world related with drug trafficking and it has, you know, its bad side.
But as, you know, in Mexico, I see it two ways. That it stays with people that it’s related or involved in that type of life. Right.
And with someone that is not related, someone who’s coming down to Mexico to do business or to vacation or to live part-time down here, they will be probably more than safe. I always tell them, I mean, like any other big city in any other country, there’s places that you just don’t go. And there are other places that if you stay there, you will be more than fine.
You will be, I mean, you will be, you know, safe anywhere else. I’ve been living in Tijuana for the last 10 years. And I think maybe Tijuana has one of the worst reputations because of that reason.
But that’s a world that it’s parallel and difficult to merge with normal life. I mean, for this 10 years that I’ve been living here, I never felt in any way in danger or nervous or anything like that. But I do not relate or or be related in any way in that type of world that it does.
It’s very dangerous. It’s very real. It’s very out there.
But staying in a safe place and in the right places of town, Mexico is a beautiful place to be.
Mona Shah (19:09 – 19:29)
Oh, yeah. What is it? They say they come for the cost of living, but they stay for the way of life.
Yeah. Yeah. And if you directly compare Mexico, going to Mexico to, say, buying citizenship in the Caribbean, you can do a lot more in Mexico than you can in the Caribbean.
There is just more to offer.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (19:29 – 20:28)
Yeah. And we have a big, big country. I mean, we have a lot of coasts, and it varies from the coast where Cabo is or Vallarta.
And if we go south to or the other opposite in Cancun or Tulum is different or Oaxaca. Oaxaca, we have plenty of clients right now that they want to move there. Everything has its uniqueness and things to offer.
And as you mentioned, in a world like Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, those are places that are inland and they’re beautiful towns. They also, for people that they don’t, the priority is not to be close to the ocean, but to be in a peaceful town and with great quality of life. That’s also an option.
I mean, we have many places that can offer different type of things for different needs that our clients may want.
Mona Shah (20:29 – 20:54)
Right. Yeah. No for retirement, for sure.
The dream home in Mexico where you can always get help and staffing and people to work in the house so easily. But it’s not a fantasy, is it? It is a process and we are seeing more and more.
Well, Juan, I’m sure there’s going to be lots more to discuss on this issue. And I thank you for giving our listeners your insight.
Juan Felipe Sánchez (20:55 – 21:13)
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate you, the invitation and sharing this time with you and for your listeners. Always, always happy to help them or if they’re interested in Mexico, think of us as a resource and someone that will always be happy to help in any way.
Mona Shah (21:14 – 21:28)
Absolutely. Yes. Getting the right counsel is very important in all places, but especially in a place like Mexico.
But thank you so much, Juan Felipe Sanchez. Until next time, this has been Global Investment Voice.