Why Moving to Canada Is a Bad Idea for Americans | Moving Abroad Tips - Entrepreneur Expat

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
With all of the politicalturmoil in the US since Trump
got elected and even before, somany Americans have been asking
us, how can I move to Canada?
They think that Canada is likethis dream place free from all
of the politics of the US andwith more freedoms and uh,

(00:20):
better lifestyle and all ofthese other things.
And frankly, they might be alittle bit misguided in a lot of
ways.
If you're thinking, well, I canjust go to Canada to escape all
of the totalitarianism going onand all these other things that
are happening.
Right now in the US you mayactually want to think about a
different place, perhapssomewhere in Latin America,

(00:44):
especially Mexico.
And in this video we're gonnatalk about why that might be a
smarter move.
I'm Justin and on this channelEntrepreneur, expat.
We discuss everything to do withliving the life of your dreams
abroad, moving to anothercountry and establishing your,
your life there.
Having an an amazing life in adifferent country and building a

(01:05):
location, independent incomestream so that you can do that
as well as helping people.
Are already well offfinancially.
Perhaps they're retired or theyhave remote businesses, figure
out all of the differentlogistical concerns for actually
making that move happen.
So if that's something you'reinterested in, subscribe to this
channel so that you don't miss asingle video.

(01:26):
Give us video a thumbs up sothat we can reach even more
people and hit that notificationbell because you don't want to
miss our content coming outevery single week.
And another resource that wehave is our Moving to Mexico
Guide absolutely free.
You can just go to entrepreneurexpat.com/mexico to download
that guide.
If you want to learn a littlebit more and join our email

(01:48):
community.
And if you're ready to takethings to the next level and you
want our support actuallyrelocating to Mexico or
elsewhere in Latin America, justgo to entrepreneur
expat.com/consult and we canhelp you there.
So as you could imagine, sincethe election and beyond, Google
searches for things like move toCanada have been spiking and

(02:11):
even refugee claims by Americansare now up.
Uh, but right now we're gonnatalk about a smarter play
potentially, especially forbuilders, which is Latin
America.
If you're looking to reallybuild businesses, if you're
looking to build connections, ifyou're looking to have a better
lifestyle than you could in theus.
Free from a lot of the chaos anddrama that the United States

(02:32):
has.
Uh, Mexico and Latin America ingeneral is a very good place.
Now, of course, this is notlegal or tax advice.
We are just sharing our opinionshere.
As always, consult with yourattorney.
Consult with professionals likethe ones that we connect you
with, in our different consults.
So make sure you book thatconsult if you are interested in
digging deeper into the financesand legality and all of that.

(02:56):
So according to Americans.
Canada is sort of like thatobvious North star in terms of
like, Hey, we, we want to leavefor greener pastures.
But if you actually value speed,if you value lower overhead, and
if you also value proximity toUS time zones, Mexico and Latin
America tend to win a lot on thefriction, the cost, and the

(03:20):
speed.
So let's talk about a few ofthose things.
Uh, number one.
Canada, they, there used to be alot more immigration pathways to
Canada than there are now.
They've been, uh, definitelylimiting their immigration
recently, especially from the usYou, you typically need to, if
you're gonna immigrate therelong term, you've gotta have a
job, you've gotta have a largebusiness, you've gotta be able

(03:42):
to sponsor yourself.
Versus in Mexico you can get avisa in as little as 90 days
just by proving income orsavings.
Specifically, if you've gotaround$4,200 per month USD as of
2025, uh, then you can qualifyto get a Mexican residence
permit as long as that income isverifiably remote.

(04:02):
So it's not like a job that youhave to be there.
You actually have to have aletter from your employer
stating that you can workremotely from Mexico or a
location, independent business,or something of that nature.
Uh, now of course, loweroverhead.
Uh, life here is a lot cheaperin Mexico than in the United
States.
We save, depending on the citythat we're living in, at any

(04:24):
given time, anywhere between 20up to 60 or 70% In terms of our
monthly overhead It's verycomfortable.
For a couple or a small familyto live for under two or$3,000
per month in Mexico and livefairly well.
Uh, of course you're also closeto US time zones now, uh, Canada

(04:45):
obviously has this as a similarfeature, but if you're going to
somewhere like, uh, SoutheastAsia as an expat or even Europe
or the Middle East, you'd haveto tend to deal with time zone
issues and things like that.
But Mexico and Latin America areof course positioned in a way
where time zone is not really anissue.
Now I wanna talk about one of myfavorite topics, which is this.

(05:06):
This idea of soft freedoms.
Soft freedoms have to do withhow easy life actually feels to
operate, having fewer of thosetiny rules that kind of slow you
down.
And the reality in Canada isthat a lot of this
administrative burden, uh,stacks up.
You've got things like GST andHST, registration for taxes.

(05:27):
Once you cross$30,000 a year in,uh, taxable supplies, you've got
payroll remittances, you've gotslips, you've got a lot of, uh,
a lot of drag for freelancersand small businesses, uh, to do
business there.
Versus in Mexico, you can have asmall business up and running at
as little as 15 to 30 days, andwe have.

(05:47):
Friends that have done it.
Of course there are things youhave to do like set up your,
your FACTA and your taxinvoicing systems and things
like that, but it's a lot morepredictable.
It works and it's much quickerto start a business here.
Uh, in addition, when you lookat sort of the day-to-day, you
just don't have the governmentsurveilling you, you don't have
the government breathing downyour throat.

(06:08):
You don't have a lot of thelockdowns and all of the.
The, uh, withdrawal of freedomsthat you do in places like the
US and Canada and Mexico is veryneutral.
Like they're not involvingthemselves in any wars, uh,
around the world like the USdoes.
And like Canada is kind ofsecond handedly involved in as
well.

(06:29):
So there are a lot more neutral.
You have a lot more softfreedom.
The day-to-day quality of lifeis, is a lot better.
Uh, by the way, it's a lotwarmer too.
You know, talking about those,those sorts of little things and
quality of life.
Um, the, the day-to-dayexperiences, the, the weather is
significantly better as well.
Um, so here, like where we livein the lake chip area, it's in

(06:51):
the, the seventies pretty muchall year round, sometimes up
until the, into the eighties,but it's like pretty much
perfect weather just about yearround.
So.
You don't have to worry aboutbeing too cold to leave.
Things are also a lot closertogether in Mexico.
So unless you live in thedowntown of a major city in

(07:11):
Canada, which comes with allsorts of issues with, uh, crime
and, and so many other things,you're not really gonna able to
walk to things similar to theus.
Uh, cities and towns and suburbsare like kind of spread out, so
you have to be in your car toget absolutely anywhere versus
in Mexico.
You tend to have things muchmore closer together.

(07:33):
Now let's talk about taxes.
Canada's marginal tax rate hitsaround 53.5% in the big
provinces.
There's also capital gains taxesin Canada that they are now
planning to hike in January of2026.
They're just getting worse andworse.
These taxes are going up everysingle year in Mexico.

(07:54):
If you're not a tax resident, asin, if you don't live there more
than 183 days per year, and yourcenter of vital interest isn't
in Mexico, you don't have to paytaxes at all on your worldwide
income.
Now the letter of the law saysthat if you're there longer, you
have to pay taxes on the moneythat you make from overseas.
But the reality on the on theground here is that most expats,

(08:16):
if they're making money, let'ssay from a US employer or a US
business of theirs, they'retypically just declaring and
paying taxes in the US andthey're not really being asked
to pay taxes in Mexico.
So your tax rate issignificantly lower versus if
you go from.
The US to Canada, you might bepaying, if you're making a
hundred thousand dollars, youmight be paying three, five,

(08:38):
$6,000 or more every single yearin extra taxes to Canada because
of the increased marginal taxrates there.
As I mentioned earlier,residencies is a lot easier.
It's also a lot cheaper.
You don't need to spend as muchmoney on attorneys.
There's a lot more affordablelegal services and things like

(08:59):
that here in Mexico.
If you are interested inlearning more about that and you
are interested in maybe taking alook at what, what it would look
like to become an expat inMexico, you can go to
entrepreneur expat.com/consoleand my team can discuss your
individual situation, yourunique situation with you to
help you figure out, uh, thebest way to do it.

(09:21):
And, um, like I mentionedbefore, the big thing is really
lifestyle.
Uh, the lifestyle here is somuch better.
It's more relaxed, it's nicer.
There's a ton of beautifulbeaches everywhere.
Another thing that I really likeis that it's a great springboard
into the Spanish speaking marketacross the Americas, so you can
access 600 million or more.

(09:41):
Spanish speaking people aroundall of Latin America.
It's a great home base.
There's a lot of really coolbusiness opportunities.
And now of course there aredifferent trade offs.
Of course, you need to, uh, setup your, your ura.
There are certain, bureaucraticred tape that maybe will take a
little bit longer to handle interms of getting your things set
up in Mexico.

(10:01):
But.
Obviously it, it is cheaperoverall.
You're saving on cost of living,you're probably gonna save a lot
on taxes as well.
You're gonna have a betterlifestyle.
So overall, we really, reallylove Mexico.
My wife and I have been livinghere for over three years, and
we like it a lot and we hereevery day that Canada is getting
more and more totalitarian.
It's getting more and moreexpensive.

(10:22):
The crime rates are going up andexactly the opposite is true.
On all of those counts, uh, herein Mexico and in a lot of places
in Latin America.
So, like I mentioned, don'tforget to subscribe to this
channel.
Hit that like button, hit thatnotification bell and grab our
Free Mexicoguide@entrepreneurexpat.com
slash Mexico or schedule aconsult with our team.

(10:44):
If you're ready to take thatnext step, just go to
entrepreneur expat.com/consult.
Thanks so much for being anamazing part of this community,
and see you again next time.

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Why Moving to Canada Is a Bad Idea for Americans | Moving Abroad Tips

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