Though I have written a lot on the issue of expatriation to Mexico, one of the most common questions from the “younger crowd” is, “Can I find work?”.
This is, in a way, a pathetic commentary on life in America. Younger people, though those I know will not admit this, are wanting to escape America for the simple reason that, well, life really sucks in America. And, they want out at increasingly younger and younger ages.
“Can I get a job and support myself?”, is what one young woman recently asked me via email.
I answered, “Yes. No. Maybe. I don’t know. Could you repeat the question?”
The ambiguity of my silly reply is rooted in the following.
The Mexican law says you cannot work in Mexico as a foreigner if you would be taking a job away from a Mexican national. And, if you find work in Mexico that no Mexican national can do, then you must obtain a work visa. The consequence for not following the rules would be deportation at the very least and maybe even a jail term at the very worst.
Now, for the truth:
Americans are working in Mexico (I know a lot of them) without work documents and are doing everything from teaching English to working as delivery people.
Let’s go over this one step at a time.
1.If you had an accounting degree, had worked at Sony in their accounting department, and had a lot of experience handling multi-million dollar accounts, you could be in big demand in Mexico. The reason is that more and more Mexican businesses need English speakers to conduct business in English with America and the rest of the English-speaking world. Let’s say that there was a Mexican national who had the same credentials and who had a 85%-95% English fluency rate. The chances are of you getting that job would be slim