Considering moving family to Mexico

[cassiereroni]

Ok, do you have to have an income? What if you have enough money to where you don't have to have an actual income, in order to have enough to live on?

Originally Posted by circle110

I can see one problem already.
Minimum monthly income for an FM3 is ~$1200 USD plus ~$600 for each dependent. That comes out to $2400 per month for the three, so an income of $1500 a month won't even come close to the mark.

I have no "income" but I do have a No Inmigrante - Lucrativa visa. Instead, I have always just shown a financial statement with a sufficient balance on it (more than a year's income requirement) to satisfy INM.

[Isla Verde]

Originally Posted by GringoCArlos

I have no "income" but I do have a No Inmigrante - Lucrativa visa. Instead, I have always just shown a financial statement with a sufficient balance on it (more than a year's income requirement) to satisfy INM.

I have a No Inmigrante-Lucrativa visa and pay monthly taxes on the money I earn in Mexico as a free-lance English teacher. However, I have never had to present a financial statement to INM when applying for annual renewals of my visa, just proof that I'd paid taxes the month before.

[circle110]

Yes, lucrativa is different than rentista. For my rentista they wanted to see those monthly statements and nothing else would make them happy, even showing a balance in an account statement equal to well over a year's requirement.

However, we don't know if the OP will qualify for a lucrativa. I am in the process of changing my FM3 rentista to luctrativa and they are asking for evidence of expertise in a field -- they will accept a degree in my case. I don't know if cassiereroni has what they will want to see. If not, then rentista may be her only option unless she perhaps wants to start a business.

[mickisue1]

The biggest issue that I can see, and that you really want to investigate before you even start to investigate the steps to take to get settled in MX, is that you are taking care of children who have living parents.

The US government, and the individual states, frown on moving minor children out of the country without the (notarized) permission of the parents.

Find out what you need to do to obtain acceptable permission from the boys' mom and dad, or you WILL be stopped at the airport or the border, and not allowed to take them out of the country.

My family nearly missed out on a vacation in MX, when I had received bad information on what was needed to take my youngest, 16 at the time, with us.

Take to your social worker, and start that part of the process. Expect it to be onerous, it nearly always is.

[maesonna]

By the way, the “lucrativa” and “rentista” mentioned above describe types of visas. Lucrativa refers to a working visa, and rentista refers to being supported by income from outside of Mexico.

[conklinwh]

I think that lots of good focus on sources and amount of income, schooling and especially taking children out of the country without father and maybe without mother.
I went back and read the base note. Sounds like today disability payments and some government aid as father can't pay support.
In reading further, it sounds like key event is possible "settlement" which could be a disability settlement but not clear.
Sounds like this plus small social security will be the primary financial basis. I wouldn't think that this would be enough in terms of income for a family of 3 or 4. Other thoughts, I believe the children's subsidy could well be a state subsidy that requires a viable address in that state. Also, the mother's income even though her payments go to the state could be a problem without a working visa.
Not sure if possible, but I might take advantage of the kids being out of school to visit one or more places to see if even an option.

[mickisue1]

It isn't necessary for the children to live in a particular state to collect child support from a parent who lives there.

And, if the father has an income of any size, and has not waived parental rights, he is obligated, and can be compelled (intercepted tax returns, mandatory payroll deduction, etc) to pay support, along with whatever is paid by the mom.

The state itself won't pay if the kids are in MX, though.

States only pay for kids who live within their borders.

As some of the posters here know from personal experience, you can collect SSDI in another country, and if the mom and the grandma both collect it, they are eligible to do so in MX.

Another thought that I had, later last night, was that, if the OP's husband is deceased, she is eligible to collect SSI based on either her earnings or his, just not both, assuming that she's over 62. She may want to check into that, as it appears that he had higher earnings than she did during her working life.

I wish her all the best, as it seems that she is trying to make a better life for herself and her grandkids than she was able to do while their mom was growing up. Good luck.

[conklinwh]

What I was reacting to was comment in the base note that she receives public income for the kids because the father pays no support. My concern was that this might be state based public income.

[mickisue1]

I understand, there was also a comment that her daughter occasionally pays something, but it goes through the state.

That, and, of course, the fact that even a parent who is unwilling to pay child support is legally obligated to do so. I'd rather not dredge up the memories what it took to get my kids' dad to understand that fact.