The process, without the mystery
From consulate appointment to card in hand
There are other ways to become a resident of Mexico, but this is the one most people take. Five steps. The first two happen in your own country. The other three are mine.
The standard route
Step by step
Book an appointment at a Mexican consulate
You apply at the Mexican consulate nearest to where you live now, not in Mexico. How soon they can see you varies a lot from one consulate to another, so book as early as you can. Before you go, make sure you know which category you are applying under, and which documents that category asks for.
Attend the interview and receive your visa stamp
The consulate interviews you about your finances and your plans. If they approve you, they put a resident visa in your passport, temporary or permanent, depending on what you qualified for. Careful with this one: it is a visa, not a residency card.
Enter Mexico and file the exchange — the canje
You have six months from the date of the stamp to enter Mexico and apply to exchange it for a resident card. This is where I come in. I prepare all of your paperwork and I submit it at the immigration office together with your stamped visa. One thing to watch: the filing has to be made within thirty calendar days of your entry, so tell me the day you arrive.
First appointment: your passport and the government fee
Immigration takes in the file and calls us in. This first visit is only two things: you show your original passport, and you pay the derechos migratorios, the government fee. No photographs and no fingerprints yet. I book the slot, I go with you, and you are out quickly.
Second appointment: biometrics, and your card
From there I follow the file. When immigration has authorised it I call you, and we go back for the second and last visit: your photograph, your fingerprints and your signature, and they hand you the resident card, about the size of a driver's licence and issued by the Instituto Nacional de Migración. From the day I file, the office usually takes ten to fifteen working days to get here.
The expedited route
Permanent resident card in three to four days
This one is for people who already hold a resident visa stamp and meet the financial requirement. Instead of finishing the exchange and then waiting to apply for permanent residency, I run the two filings one right after the other.
The exchange (canje)
We go to the immigration office and I submit all of your documents. Count on about three to four hours while they process the application. At the end they take your photo and your fingerprints, and they give you your temporary resident card.
Temporary to permanent
I submit your documents together with the temporary resident card they issued the day before. Immigration reviews the file and, if everything is in order, gives us a case number, the NUT, confirming the application is in process. After that you are free for the day.
Your permanent card
Usually it finishes the following day, but leave one extra day in case something comes up. We go back to the immigration office, they take your photo and fingerprints again, and they give you your permanent resident card.
Prerequisites
- A valid Mexican resident visa stamped in your passportIssued by a Mexican consulate, and still inside its six-month window. Verify the date before anything else.
- The financial requirement, one of two waysInvestor: an average balance held over the last twelve months. Employee, retiree or pensioner: steady monthly deposits over the last six months. The amounts are set by the authorities and revised every year, so ask me for the figures in force today.
- Your documentationA copy of both passports if you hold dual nationality, or your passport plus your current residency card from the country where you live.
Who does what
Your part is small, and that is the point
The point of hiring someone is not to have a second person waiting in the same line. It is so that nobody from your household has to wait in it at all.
What I do
- I prepare every formIn Spanish, in the wording immigration expects.
- I review your documents before filingMost of the problems can be avoided, and this is the stage where I find them.
- I submit the file and I follow itIncluding the trips back to the office to check how it is doing.
- I book both of your appointments and I go with youThe first for your passport and the fee, the second for your biometrics. Both short.
- I pick up your card and hand it to youAnd I tell you what comes next, and when.
What you do
- Send me your documentsPhotos or scans by e-mail are fine to start: mexicovisa@yahoo.com.
- Tell me the day you enter MexicoThe exchange has a filing deadline counted from that day. Do not let it pass.
- Show up twice, brieflyOnce with your original passport to pay the fee, and once for your photo, your fingerprints and your card.
Without a consulate
Two ways in that skip the consulate entirely
Not everyone has to leave Mexico and sit an interview abroad. There are two routes I file directly at the immigration office here.
Family unity
Are you the parent, the child or the spouse of a Mexican citizen? Or of a foreigner who already holds residency in Mexico? Then you may apply from inside the country. What matters here is the documentation that proves the relationship, and whether it is in the form the authorities accept.
Regularization
This is for a foreigner in an irregular migratory situation, usually because a document expired. Some conditions apply and not every case qualifies, but this route exists exactly for the people who assume their situation cannot be fixed. Usually it can.
Free, no obligation
Where are you in the process right now?
Tell me that in one line, and I will tell you the next step, the documents and the cost.
Not an e-mail person? Send a text message to +52 624 355 4306.