Mexico Expat Forum

Keeping a U.S. Address

6/12/2016 11:47 EST

We are planning on moving to Playa Del Carmen. We have been advised to continue to receive our mail in the states if only at a service that accepts and forwards mail. Is it necessary or even advisable to do this or should we have our mail forwarded directly to our Mexican address?

Thanks.

losciale1

6/12/2016 15:16 EST

Forget Mexican mail system,use a state side forwarding group at the least. . Our mexican mail is delivers by bicycle. He whistles, then tosses the article, like a frisbe hoping it lands on our porch

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Launia

6/12/2016 16:20 EST

Being retired in Chetumal QR since 2006, the mail box company in the US is forwarding us our mail once a month vis USPS registered to our Post office Box in Mexico. That was perfect.
Recently I read on some social media that in the future we would not be allowed to have a mail box in usa if we do not reside. I just find that very strange and unfortunate if this is true.
With my husband we have worked and lived on many continents over decades and thanks to our mail box we could receive our mail, such as IRS, banks etc. i cannot see the IRS sending mail in Mexico.

Launia

6/12/2016 16:27 EST

I agree with you with fhe mail delivery but with a mail box at the local post office it is a very good idea. I have one since 2006 in chetumal and I have never lost any mail. I do not use my key to the box, the postal staff knows me. That is a positive story. Not all are.

Cozumeldeb

6/12/2016 16:34 EST

You will never get a piece of mail forwarding from US...we haven't since 2001. Use a service, but what do u need address for? Medicare, taxes, most everything can be handled by email..Plus Playa crime is climbing by the day it seems, so better to not have anything in the open..this yrs rash of ATM skimmers ran wild between Playa & Cancun.

Launia

6/12/2016 16:38 EST

Agree with you that most legal stuff like for irs and banks and can be dowloaded from websites. Sometimes a mail box at the post office for 200 pesos per year, is worth to have, for getting other mail, bookx or whatever even if we download a lot of ebooks. Having a mail box in the states that can forward is reassuring for having an address there but it seems that might not be legal anymore., soon. Really our gov tries to keep us away....

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Stellabaldwin

6/12/2016 18:04 EST

Thanks.

JohnPS

6/12/2016 21:49 EST

I have clients in Canada and IRS sends mail to Canadian addresses. Why not Mexico? However, it might be received late or not at all in Mexico. Even my Canadian clients tell me that receiving mail from the States is slow. Expect even slower for mail to Mexico.

steve2021

6/12/2016 22:04 EST

If international mail forwarding services are illegal, the folks listed under "Mail Forwarding & Mail" in the Resources section on the left side of this page probably would know about it.

Kind of tough to assess something that showed up in a random social media site without seeing the original, but I can't find any hint that such a regulation either is in the works or already here. I can't say that it's an impossibility, but call me a skeptic.

Cozumeldeb

6/13/2016 07:00 EST

Canada is not considered a 3rd world country, Mexico, while making huge gains is still a 3rd world country..Amazon is shipping in MX now, many more foreigners are retiring to MX, loads of American manufacturing companies have been allowed to leave US...So maybe by 2050 u can mail a letter to MX, as i said earlier been their sice 2001, NEVER received any postal mail. Estafa, is their UPS, works well.

MsAlex

6/13/2016 09:47 EST

1. You are going to be amazed how little physical mail you will receive, or need to receive, once you move to Mexico.
2. If you have a relative in the US, use their address as your "US mailing address" for your banking and credit cards. Then once every blue moon, when a new card needs to be sent to you (since you can conduct all your "business" online), you have your relative send that occasional piece of mail to...
3. MailBoxesEtc. or iShopMail... these are two chains of mail service companies that have storefronts operating throughout Mexico (and especially anywhere there is a sizable gringo community). This is the way it works: Your local location of one of these companies provides you with their address in Laredo, Texas. That becomes your "US mailing address". Mail sent there via normal US mail is brought to your local MailBoxesEtc. or iShopMail location. If you pay for a private mailbox (which can run as high as $400US for 14 months of service at iShopMail in Riberas de Pilar at Lake Chapala, for example), when the mail arrives, it goes into your private mailbox, which you can check as often as you like. (BTW: Up to 3 different households can split the price of such a private mailbox.) If you do not pay for your own private mailbox (as I do not), the mail is received by the shop and sits in their "general" pile until you come and inquire whether they have received anything for you. (I make it a practice to request the sender to put my local phone number in parenthesis after my name when they address the envelope to me. Then I just hope the iShopMail person actually calls me, which they sometimes do. Since I need to do this so rarely, and since I'm advised by the sender that the item is coming, this isn't a big deal.)
4. When you do your taxes, use your actual Mexican address and file online. I do this and it's great that by doing so we're automatically excused from carrying US health insurance (since we don't live in the US). I've found that an online tax preparer called www.olt.com (which is free or almost free depending on options you select) has the right forms and I've used it for the last 6 years to file US taxes from Mexico. I either pay my taxes or receive a refund to my US checking account, which has been the same (in the US) for decades. No problem with that as all banking is online, and the bank has my address as being my relative's (per #2, above). Social Security checks get automatically deposited too, and you just use an ATM here in Mexico whenever you need money. Mexico is a VERY cash-based economy, so you'll find that in Mexico you almost always pay in cash, except for unusually large purchases which you can make with your US credit card. (I recommend Capital One Bank's Visa and Master Card credit cards because they're the only ones I know of who do not charge ANY foreign transaction fees.)
5. When it comes time to sign up for Medicare, you can use the same relative's address in the US, or another one's. (It doesn't have to be the same address you use for your taxes, or your banking.) In choosing a Medicare plan you can consider "Medicare Advantage" plans (like the ones offered by Kaiser Permanente in western states, for example) to control the expense of coverage you don't plan on using. (Since we "retired young" we carry an excellent medical insurance policy here with MetLife Mexico which now costs us about $4,000US a year, but goes up significantly each year as we get older. We're currently 62 and 67.)
6. One last piece of advice: before you spend a lot of money moving to Mexico, try house sitting -- even for as long as a year or two. Wherever you THINK you want to move to now, is likely to change. Think of the process of finding "the right place" as a search... which narrows as you learn what you like and don't like about different places. So do your "experiential research" before buying a house or moving all your things. One website you might try for such leads is www.housesitmexico.com.

Wishing you well on your adventure! :)

Alex

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MsAlex

6/13/2016 10:10 EST

One last thing about using the Mexican postal service: Christmas cards that have been mailed to us from the US in mid December, typically arrive to our home address in Mexico sometime in February. These are the only things that have been mailed to us at our actual address, and that's how long it took. They DID arrive. They weren't lost. But obviously the Mexican postal system isn't something you want to rely on.

And for the record: Mexico is a SECOND world country. First world = Developed. Second world = Developing. Third world = Undeveloped. By no stretch of the imagination is Mexico a Third World country, even with its poor postal system.

I hope this has been helpful.

We've been very, very happy having moved to Mexico. 'Hope you will be too.

:)
Alex

nelsonokelmgmailcom

6/13/2016 10:17 EST

I am in PV. I use MailBoxesEct. Mail goes to Miami and arrives at the store in PV within about one week. Secure and trustworthy. Using the Mexican mail system isn't even as good as a crap shoot. The monthly fee is about $40 US. I just consider it the cost of doing business. I do order some items from the US and if they are small and light it is not a killer. If I need a card replaced, or to receive an absentee ballot it is not a problem.

Launia

6/13/2016 11:33 EST

Having been an expat all my life and I am 70, iand now retired in Mexico, i read your message with attention and I will use some of your advises. But re family in the States caring for your mail, for myself may be not a good idea. I am not sure who want that burden. In Mexico for ten years with a box at the local post office for a few pesos per year has worked wonders. Re Amazon, just received a book very fast, but without telling me Amazin sent via dhl, which is okay but there is not delivery where my property is, which is okay as well because dhl keep the lackage at their office and nest time i will write their address on the order and dhl will call me or i will track. Same day i sent same book to my son in grand cayman, and to us in mexico. Amazon usa sent and it arrived here in two days and in grand cayman within a week.
Re health insura ce we have know and at 70 the Mexican private companies do not accept us anymore. So at 62 it is fine and it would be fine to be paying higher but at one point you might get rejected. Anyways thank you for all these infos.

snorkelmom

6/13/2016 22:36 EST

That was very helpful. I am going to keep that information. Thank you for posting all of that!

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