Question Tech Instructor Perspective: teaching in USA or in Mexico?

[runsongas]

@MidOH well that wasn't expats or tourists, but local cartel on cartel violence. Mexico hasn't gotten quite as bad as like Haiti or El Salvador yet.

@Underwater Tourist there definitely is a fairly large market for people traveling to QR for cave training, but also a commensurately large group of established instructors in the PDC/Tulum area that anyone setting up shop would have to compete with. The increase in insurance cost shouldn't really affect full time instructors (which it seems a large proportion if not the majority of tech instructors are), but more so the part timers teaching ow on weekends locally who have either more lucrative jobs they could be doing with the time or aren't training regularly enough to justify the increased expense.

 

[BoltSnap]

You keep making all these broad statements about the law, but your only source is "a lawyer once told me." Don't worry, I'm not in a hurry to follow your legal opinion.

I am not sure of you want from me? Do you want me to send you the transcripts of my meetings with international lawyers and other agencies?

Do what you want, I was giving you advice based on my personal experience. If you get pissy and upset with somebody telling you that it isn't clear cut as you think it is and proceed with caution, the heck with you. I won't do it again.

 

[Underwater Tourist]

@BoltSnap @VikingDives it probably depends on your residence somehow


@VikingDives do you mind sharing how much you pay in total for insurance living and working in Mexico? It would be interesting to compare to US based instructors especially once the costs go up for them

 

[VikingDives]

@BoltSnap @VikingDives it probably depends on your residence somehow


@VikingDives do you mind sharing how much you pay in total for insurance living and working in Mexico? It would be interesting to compare to US based instructors especially once the costs go up for them

I'm in New Mexico, which is just to the left of Texas... I'm old, but I wasn't here in 1848 when we were part of "old Mexico."

I don't know what insurance rates here are, but I'd be interested in the answer too. Maybe @oya could answer the question were he so inclined.

 

[GDHLEWIS]

Just got curious about something on the back of the instructor crisis thread

Given the rising US insurance costs and just the US being a more expensive country than Mexico, is there a point at which it just becomes cheaper and more enjoyable to only teach in Mexico?

Naturally that only applies to east coast tech instructors

I assume if you don’t teach in the US, then you wouldn’t have to buy US insurance to begin with? So you can get some other, presumably way cheaper, policy?

Insurance required will be based on the legal requirement of the country you wish to operate in, From the several Instructors I know have said the insurance needed to operate in the USA is generally a fair bit more expensive that what they need to operate in other parts of the world. In the end everyone should get the best insurance they can reasonably afford. I know at least two instructor friends who have said they wont teach in the USA due to Insurance costs.

Any instructors able to get insurance quotes for America and other countries to share ? Would be interesting to see the cost differences

 

[kensuf]

Maybe if you were conducting business in the US and then traveling to another country to do the training, but if I'm living in Mexico, doing business in Mexico and one of my American students dies, I can't see the US courts having any jurisdiction over me...

@Underwater Tourist Lots of west coast and Southwest instructors go to Mexico too.

My understanding is the issue is if you have any remaining assets in the US.

 

[sea_ledford]

When I worked in the Caribbean and Bahamas, I still had to have standard American liability insurance. That was directly related to the propensity of Americans to sue and the percentage of divers that were American. I certainly didn't have any assets at the time, in the US or whatever country I was living in, unless you counted my prize possession freediving fins.

In order to get lower rates for insurance (or not need it at all), I would have had to be someplace far enough away from the US to only have a small fraction of US based clients. Indo was the typical example given at the time.

This was all in the late 90's so not a direct relation to today, but I can't imagine that insurance requirements have gotten MORE relaxed in that time.

 

[rjack321]

@Underwater Tourist there definitely is a fairly large market for people traveling to QR for cave training, but also a commensurately large group of established instructors in the PDC/Tulum area that anyone setting up shop would have to compete with. The increase in insurance cost shouldn't really affect full time instructors (which it seems a large proportion if not the majority of tech instructors are), but more so the part timers teaching ow on weekends locally who have either more lucrative jobs they could be doing with the time or aren't training regularly enough to justify the increased expense.

You can't just starting teaching in Mexico, you need to emigrate and get a work permit. Those existing instructors do not take kindly to the fly-in, fly-out instructors teaching and poaching their business without work permits.

As a student you don't want a non-local cave instructor anyway.

 

[runsongas]

I read the question as deciding whether to move to Mexico and live/teach there permanently or semi permanently

 

[ajchapman]

I know nothing about insurance requirements for US citizens, but note that the GUE standards include requiring instructors ...

Carry instructional liability insurance and annually provide proof of the policy.
i. Instructors in the following categories must carry US-based liability insurance, as recommended and approved by GUE HQ.
1. ALL instructors of any nationality teaching in U.S. territories.
2. ALL U.S. citizens teaching U.S. citizens in ANY location