Between January and February of this year, the Ministry of the Interior (Segob), through the Unit for Immigration Policy, Registration and Identity of Persons (UPMRIP), registered an entry into Mexico of almost 75,000 foreigners with US visas, which represents an increase of 85% compared to the same period in 2022.
The UPMRIP updated the document “Impact of migratory facilitation measures for the entry into Mexico of foreigners who require a visa”, which systematizes the measures to expedite the air migration flows of those who wish to enter the country regularly, for this reason said record was obtained.
The Segob explained that these actions allow foreigners who require a visa to enter Mexico without being bearers of this document, as long as they have any of the following: Electronic Authorization System (SAE) for tourists, business people and visitors without paid activity permit from Russia, Ukraine and Türkiye; Permanent residence card for foreign population living in USA (USA), Canada, Japan, Schengen area; members of the Pacific Alliance (NATO) and Travel Card for Business Persons (ABTC).
The report “Impact of migratory facilitation measures for the entry into Mexico of foreigners who require a visa” indicates that the increase was 85% in relation to the previous year because in 2022 the income of 40 thousand 527 was registered, while in 2023 it was 74 thousand 955.
In addition, it reflects the number of events from January-February 2023. The total number of air tickets of foreign people who entered Mexico amounted to 3 million 739 thousand 641, which means an increase of 23.4% compared to the same period of the previous year. , what happened with 3 million 29 thousand 417.
Other notable revenues were those from Brazil, with 36 thousand 633, which represents 31.6%; from Guatemala with 11,482, which represents 15.3%; and China, with 7 thousand 49, which is equivalent to 9.4 percent. What translates into a better image of Mexico before the world, since it has a positive impact on industries such as tourism or commerce; however, there is the possibility that another phenomenon is accentuated.
It is about gentrification, a phenomenon that occurs in the main cities of Mexico and affects the original inhabitants of said localities, because with the presence of the so-called “digital nomads” the costs of basic inputs, as well as that of rents, skyrocket, thus displacing these people.
According to the academic Luciana Boldrini and Matilde Maliziathe term gentrification is understood as the processes of renewal of urban centers through material —property, buildings— or immaterial —economic, social and cultural— transformations, which are conducted by private agents or are the work of the State itself.
That is to say, it is an urban transformation where the interest of the market is prioritized by increasing the construction or rehabilitation of luxury buildingsshopping centers or spaces for “access to culture”, on, for example, the right to property.
This means that when a city goes through this process there is a displacement or substitution of the population that resided there by population with greater purchasing power, what cause the rents, the foodhealth services increase their costs and are only affordable for a minimum percentage of society.
In Mexico City, for example, the neighborhoods Rome, Countess and Juárezof the mayor’s office cuauhtémoc, gentrification has manifested itself thanks to the presence of digital nomads, which caused the locals to move to the peripheries of said colonies or to Mexico City itself. To this must be added the inflationary phenomenon in relation to the property that unleashed the so-called Real Estate Cartel in the mayors’ offices Benito Juárez and Miguel Hidalgo.
