MEXICO CITY.-Roberto comes from Orensea Spanish town in southeast Galicia, and a renewable energy businessman who has lived in La Condesa for three and a half years, one of the settlements of the Mexico City preferred by foreigner who live and work, either remotely for their country, or in companies established in the Country.

Although he is a businessman, Roberto does not use a car to get around. Your company’s office is located at Paseo de la Reforma Avenueso from the countess to this destination there are a few kilometers and you travel by scooter.

“It’s very good (the Condesa neighborhood), has many strangers, green spaces to walk, it’s quite safe, well connected and it’s close to my work. I don’t have a car, I travel by scooter. During these years, I moved around by bicycle and scooter; they are short spaces,” he says in an interview for Grupo Healy.

Rents in La Condesa, he comments, are similar to those paid in a city like Madridas well as other expenses. Roberto receives a salary in pesos and not in euros, but his salary It’s not much different from the one he won in Spain.

THEY LOVE MEXICO

Like Roberto, who preferred to omit their surnames, thousands of foreigners of different nationalities live temporarily or permanently in CDMX and they settle in settlements such as Condesa, Roma Norte, Roma Sur, Narvarte, Del Valle and more recently in San Rafael or Santa María la Rivera, considered more popular until recently.

According to the Immigration, Registration and Identity Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior, in the period January-August 2022, the entry of foreigners with a visa into Mexico increased by 64.7% compared to the same period of 2021, with an entry of 13 million 753 thousand 31 people and during the same period there is a increase by 252.9% in the income of the population who used the American visa with 243 thousand 481 thousand.

The United States Department of State indicates, in a statement issued in September of this year, that 1.6 million Americans live in Mexicotheir main foreign destination.

FACILITIES

Sara Tyler, an entrepreneur from the United States, has run her publishing business from Mexico for years and is part of a group of about 13 thousand foreigners who moved to the country.

Tyler makes dollars and his money goes further, including running his online business from Mexico.

“My business is registered in Florida, USA. I have no rent charges because everything is online, I only have employees who work for me, ”he says.

CDMX is the preferred destination for young americans who are looking for a large connected city, with services and a diversity of leisure venues such as bars, restaurants and nightclubs, he adds.

THEY ADAPT TO FOREIGNERS

In the Roma Norte and Condesa districts, establishments such as cafes and restaurants they have adapted to the clientele; Some have even been adopted as a meeting place for foreigners of different nationalities.

Some already manage their menu in English, such as a popular café located on Calle de Colima in the Roma district, and where the waitress communicates perfectly in English with an American restaurant.

Elena, captain of the waiters at Santas Conchas -a breakfast establishment specializing in shellfish- says that in her year in the job, she’s seen how it gets bigger and bigger the assistance of foreigners at the establishment located in front of one of the most emblematic places of the Condesa district: El Parque México.

“It has increased, they come from everywhere. Many are already residents; They say they like living here, it’s quieter in their country,” says Elena.

The young woman assures that she had to attend Canadian, German, French, Chinese and Korean.

Many say it’s cheaper in Mexico and they come to help, improve Mexico,” he says.

Elena points out that it is not necessary for the restaurant staff to speak 100% English, but the basics must be able to converse with foreigners, because most speak fairly good Spanish.

GENTRIFICATION?

Adrián Hernández Cordero, a sociologist at the Autonomous Metropolitan University who studies the phenomenon of gentrification, points out that what is happening in settlements such as Roma Norte, Roma Sur and Condesa, It’s not necessarily gentrification.

“Colonia Roma and the Countess they were never colonies of popular status, It is a condition for gentrification to exist, it is a phenomenon whereby there is a low-income population situation for a higher-income social class, usually the middle class,” he explains.

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Hernández Cordero indicates that in the colonies preferred by foreigners, something singular happened during the pandemic: Eating establishments, cafes, bars and hostels have increased, contrary to what happened in popular neighborhoods such as Portales.

“In the cluster formed by the Roma and Condesa neighborhoods, in 2022 we found 1,207 establishments. In 2010, we found 1,071; there are 116 more. In Roma and Condesa there are 4.5 more restaurants and bars than in an average neighborhood,” he said.