Latest news about us! - Marge

This morning Eric and I received our temporary resident visas! We met our lawyer at INM (Instituto Nacional de Migracion) at 9 and left 15 minutes later with our green cards! What a huge milestone! Am so relieved and happy! Our temporary resident visas allow us to stay in Mexico for a year. At the end of a year we'll be eligible for a 3-year temporary resident visa. At the end of that time we'll be eligible to apply for permanent residency.

For people qualifying for temporary residency using retirement income, you must provide proof of Social Security, pension or some other retirement-type income. Possibly assets (for example, owning property in Mexico) reduce or eliminate the income requirement. Don't know. all I know is the path we took--having a regular, monthly retirement income. The amount of income required varies--I believe a couple needs to show at least $1,200 per month each approximately at this time (though possibly one of the two can have a smaller income). This amount varies depending on the dollar/peso exchange rate.

In the next few days we will enroll in Seguro Popular--Mexican Universal Health Care; health insurance the Mexican government offers for citizens and temporary and permanent residents. Because we are both over 60 we will pay nothing! Seguro Popular has no exclusions related to age or preexisting conditions or anything else. Everyone is covered--though hospitals are not always well equipped for everyday-type medical care. We'll use Seguro Popular for catastrophic coverage, anything requiring hospitalization or chronic care, and, since high quality medical care is so inexpensive here, we'll pay for all other care out of pocket.

I've been treated by a pulmonologist at a hospital emergency room here in Puerto Vallarta twice so far (for complications from influenza) and the total bill for each visit was about $200. Yes, you read that right!! We are so thrilled to be living in a country where free (paid for by taxes) and inexpensive medical care is available for all!

Another happy milestone is that my intensive Spanish class started last Monday. Class is 3 hours, 3 days a week (plus at least 3 hours of homework per day) for 3 weeks. Really enjoying the class! Very hard! I should be studying now! Also enjoying meeting others who are learning Spanish.  Very much looking forward to being able to communicate better in Spanish.

There have been many moments of worry as we figure out how to live in Mexico and where to live, and all the rest. I am very happy that we are starting to get these issues resolved. We have figured out how to handle banking, how to learn Spanish, how to get medical care, where to live, and have found a place to live and rented it (huge!!!), have received temporary residency in Mexico (also huge!), have figured out how to buy groceries (yes, there are differences!) and have bought groceries and many other things even with almost no Spanish, have tried a lot of different foods that I've never eaten before at a lot of different restaurants and eaten at lots of taco stands on the street, have driven all over this area and taken long trips to the central highlands (very, very fun!), have learned how to drive in Mexico (very different!!!), Have encountered lizards and possibly a small scorpion (killed it), and have been sick and were able to get care, and a lot more!