How to Obtain Residency in Mexico

Complete guide to obtaining residency in Mexico.

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What are the benefits of residency in Mexico? 

• An absolutely gorgeous country with mountains, beaches, and historical towns.
• A low cost of living; Mexico is competitively ranked in the Numbeo Cost of Living Index.
• Affordable, quality real estate.
• Geographic location – same time zone as the US and Canada, which makes it a great base for work.
• Possible to obtain residency in Mexico without triggering tax residency if you don’t spend more than half the year in Mexico and don’t have the center of your life interests there.
• Possible to obtain paper residency (maintaining residency with minimal physical presence, to use as a Plan B).
• International and bilingual schools.
• Affordable, quality healthcare.

What are the Residency options in Mexico?

You typically obtain a 1 year temporary residency. You must then come back to Mexico to renew it, at which point you are given a 3 year temporary residency card. After these 4 years, you can apply for permanent residency, which does not expire. As things stand, there aren’t any minimum physical presence requirements apart from being present in Mexico when applying for residency.

What documents do you need to obtain residency in Mexico?

It’s one of the core advantages of obtaining residency in Mexico – few documents are required. Depending on the visa type and where you are applying from, you need a variation of the below documents to apply for residency in Mexico:

• Passport.
• Proof of investment, economic solvency, work contract, or family ties.
• A bunch of Mexican Government forms to fill out and government fees to pay online.
• Marriage certificate.
• Birth certificate in some instances.

Take Note:

– All documents must be translated into Spanish. The immigration agent will take care of this.
– Documents from back home must be apostilled.
– Police background checks are not required for residency applications.

Can residency in Mexico lead to citizenship?

A resounding yes! If you obtain permanent residency in Mexico it can lead to citizenship.

• You must first spend 5 years in Mexico and already be on permanent residency.
• You must then simply demonstrate that you spent 18 months of the prior 24 months in Mexico itself.
• A Spanish exam and Mexican culture test must be passed, but you can easily study for them.
• Unlike countries such as Panama and Paraguay that are often touted as easy citizenship options but that are not, Mexico has a fair and transparent naturalization system. If you meet the criteria, you will be granted citizenship.

Get Residency in Mexico With Help From A Professional

How my immigration agent Sergei can help you obtain residency in Mexico

Sergei moved to Mexico 9 years ago with his family, obtained residency, and they are now all Mexican citizens. Needless to say, he has personal experience with the process 🙂

He helped my own family obtain residency in Mexico. If you hire him, he’ll ensure everything goes smoothly and that you don’t have to stress out over making mistakes and navigating the Mexican bureaucracy. He’ll tell you what he needs from you, and will then tell you where and when to go with which documents. His team will be with you on the ground in Mexico.

If you want to move ahead and obtain residency in Mexico, get in touch with Sergei through the contact form below.

Sergei also offers a consultation session for $250 to answer all your questions in detail in a 30 minute call, creditable towards his fees if you go ahead with his services.

Full transcript of “How to get Residency in Mexico”

LADISLAS MAURICE: Hello, everyone. Today, we shall be discussing how to obtain residency in Mexico, because there’s a number of pathways, as well as all the documents that are required. We’ll be discussing this with Sergei, my immigration agent here in Cancun as well as Mexico City. How are you?

SERGEI: Fine, thanks. Hello, everybody.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. Fantastic. Sergei, you’ve been in this immigration game here in Mexico for many years, yourself naturalized Mexican.

Residency in Mexico by economic solvency

LADISLAS MAURICE: If I were to come to you and I said, “Sergei, I want to become a resident of Mexico,” what are my options?

SERGEI: First of all, we will check the first option, solvency economic program. It can be income or savings. Let’s say that the numbers of income or savings this year almost like it was one year ago because of the difference of the currency rate. One year ago, it was $4,400 income for the last six months monthly income after the taxes. This year, it’s a little bit lower, like, probably $4,200, but I prefer tell the same numbers, $4,400, for sure. And for savings, it should be around $76,000, $78,000 for the last 12 months. That means that you should have this exact amount for whole the year in your bank’s accounts, brokerage accounts, or other accounts.

In this case, you can bring the bank statements to the Mexican embassy in your country where you’re a resident or you have the citizenship. And if they check everything is okay, you can get a special temporary residency visa. With this visa, you can come to Mexico, and here we will start the process. And usually, like, in one, two weeks, depends on the immigration office, you will get your plastic for one year.

LADISLAS MAURICE: So, your residency card?

SERGEI: Yes. And after one year, you can renew it. And most often, you can renew it for three years more.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Is there any minimum time required on the ground to be able to renew, to try to get that three-year residency after the one year?

SERGEI: No. No any special requirements. We try to fill up all the papers, like, for three years, and usually, they accept and they give the new plastic for three years.

LADISLAS MAURICE: The income, what sort of income? Can it be active income, as in a salary, or must it be passive, like in a lot of other countries?

SERGEI: They prefer active income. Even they can ask you to bring, like, official work letter from the company, sometimes. Of course, depends on the embassy. Before to start the process, we always check all the requirements really carefully. I help with the first stages with the processes outside.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Where you coach people, you say, “Cool, you’re going to go to this embassy, this is how you present your paperwork.”

SERGEI: Yes, that’s correct. Because, almost all the embassies are equal, but inside the embassy, they have different details that it’s better to know in advance. Because I had cases when the person was in the embassy, like, three, four times because he didn’t know exactly all the details. And only after he came to me and we fixed all the mistakes, and after, he got his visa.

LADISLAS MAURICE: It’s worth paying for a small coaching call that really is inexpensive, so that you avoid making two, three trips to the embassy or consulate, because this really happens in Mexican embassies and consulates abroad. The law is the same, but the interpretation of the law, like you’re saying in the different consulates, can be a bit different, and you can just waste so much time dealing with things that you could have prevented ahead of time. Let’s say, I do this. I do one year, I come back, you help me renew, I get three years. What happens after the three years?

SERGEI: In total, you will get for four years. And after four years, it’s almost automatically, we will renew it for the PR, for the permanent residency card. This will be the residency without the expiration date. For the adults, it’s for the whole life. And you have no any strict rules that, for example, one person asked me, “Sergei, is it true that every two years I need to come to Mexico?” I say, “No, no any rules.” Only if you will get a Mexican citizenship, yeah, every five years you need to show yourself inside Mexico, that everything’s okay, you are alive, everything is good, and you’re interested in this citizenship.

But with permanent residency, or even with the temporary, if you have for three years, in this case, it’s not mandatory to come every year to put the stamp or something like this.

LADISLAS MAURICE: This is really good. It makes for a fantastic Plan B, having a permanent residency card without any expiry date, without any physical presence requirements. Most residencies in the world have some level of presence requirements, even if, like, it’s a Paraguay, once every three years, etc. Here, you just you get it, and then you’re done. That’s very, very attractive. For Americans that want a Plan B or whatever, Mexico is just such a no-brainer, because they can literally just drive over and the card will never expire.

SERGEI: That’s correct.

Applying for Mexican citizenship as a permanent resident

LADISLAS MAURICE: And then after how much time may I apply for citizenship?

SERGEI: To be honest, for example, for Americans and Canadians, it’s not so important, because it’s not their goal. The most important for them, as you said, that it’s to have a Plan B. But if somebody wants to follow all the process from the very beginning to the citizenship, they should stay in Mexico for two years. That means, for example, if they want to make everything so quickly, too fast, the last year with the temporary and the first year with the permanent card, they should be here in Mexico.

LADISLAS MAURICE: How many days?

SERGEI: Two years, but in these two years, they have 180 days. It’s almost half a year for traveling, in total. They can travel every week without any problem, but in total, not more than 180 days. That is the most important requirement.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, so essentially, it’s five years of residency, you can apply for citizenship. It doesn’t matter whether it’s permanent residency only, or a mix of temporary or permanent, 18 out of 24 months must have been spent in Mexico. And then there’s a bit of a test as well?

SERGEI: After, when you will bring all the documents to the passport office, it will be like an exam. We will prepare the clients for this exam, for the questions, with the answers, of course. For the interview, we have special Spanish tutors, like, teachers, who can help with the Spanish language, like, Level A2, B1, and so on. And usually, we start this preparation, like, around half a year before the exam, because usually, to be not in stress, it’s better to start a little bit earlier. And half a year, it’s more than enough to prepare really well.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. And once you apply for citizenship, how long to actually get it? Because, I mean, Panama, you can apply, but you’re actually probably not going to get it.

SERGEI: The average period of time here in Mexico, it’s around one year. It can be nine months, it can be 12 months, a little bit more, depends on the office. In different passport offices, they have, sometimes, different timelines, different check-ins, verification of the documents, and so on. But the good news that you should not stay in Mexico after exam. You can pass an exam, and you can travel. And you will just need to check your email. If you have an invitation letter, you come back.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, cool. And it actually works in Mexico, people actually get naturalized, unlike in other Latin American countries, where people talk about getting naturalized, but actually never do. This is important.

SERGEI: Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, great. That’s economic solvency either through savings or through income. What are the other pathways to residency?

SERGEI: Let me say one important detail. When you will get your permanent residency, that doesn’t mean that you immediately should start this process for naturalization. You can start this process if you have this goal at the final, in 5, in 10, in 15 years. It’s a great opportunity, because if you will say not ready to stay here for two years now, but probably in the future, like, in 10 years, you understand that it’s a good idea to live here for some time, you can get your passport really easy.

LADISLAS MAURICE: It’s like a call option?

SERGEI: Yes.

Residency in Mexico by real estate investment

LADISLAS MAURICE: Great. What are the other ways to get residency?

SERGEI: The second option, it’s investment, when you buy property in Mexico. It’s not like so easy, like the first option, because you should invest, sometimes, for some people, it’s too much money. Now it’s, like, around $580,000 for the property. Or, in some consulates, they have this option, when you can open a company in Mexico, like a tourist, without any problem, and then you buy property on the company’s name, which is open on your name. In this case, you can buy property twice less for the price, like, $280,000, $290,000.

But not all the consulates have this option. That’s why we always try to check all the requirements in advance, and during the consultation with the client, we try to choose the best option in his particular case.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Great. And then for this, it’s the same pathway to permanent residency and citizenship as the first option, economic solvency?

SERGEI: Yeah. Absolutely, five years.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, cool. What are other ways to obtain residency?

Residency in Mexico by childbirth

SERGEI: It can be job offer. In this case, you can get a work visa in Embassy. The second option, it’s childbirth in Mexico, like, medical tourism. In this case, you will get PR immediately. You will skip this process with a temp residency card.

LADISLAS MAURICE: We did a whole bunch of content on this. This is actually Sergei’s specialty. That’s how he started his immigration business here in Mexico, is through childbirth. I went through the process myself with my partner. We had our daughter here, and that’s how I obtained permanent residency here, as well as my whole family. Immediately, boom, permanent residency.

SERGEI: Yeah. And the good news is that in two years after this PR, you can already start the naturalization process. You don’t need to wait five years like in the normal way.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Now I’m in a situation where, at any given point, I just need to stay 18 out of 24 months here in Mexico, and then I can apply for citizenship. I have this call option in my back pocket.

SERGEI: One of the options, it’s a marriage with a Mexican. If somebody who have here a person he falls in love, in this case, it’s like an easy way to.

LADISLAS MAURICE: And that’s also direct permanent residency?

SERGEI: No, two years of the temporary, and after immediately permanent and immediately to start the process with naturalization. Almost the same way like the childbirth, the same period of time, two years, but not the permanent, first of all, temporary.

LADISLAS MAURICE: There are 130 million Mexicans in Mexico, so there’s enough to choose from.

SERGEI: [laughs]

Residency in Mexico for retirees

LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. And then how about retirees? Because there’s a direct path to permanent residency, sometimes?

SERGEI: I had some cases, few cases, with a person who has 36, 38, 40 years old, and they got their PR visa. Yeah, a lot of consulates have the main requirement, it’s the age. If you’re 60 plus, in this case, you can start your process if you follow other requirements. In this case, we have the same requirements like for the temporary visa, income or savings, but income should be around $7,800 monthly. Usually, in this case, it’s your passive income, like, from the pension program. And you need to bring the special paper that will confirm that this is your pension income, not active.

And the most useful option, it’s savings. All my clients who were less than 40, they used this option with the savings. In some consulates, I even have the photos of their visa. I know which exactly consulate they used. In this case, it’s possible, and there were Americans, Australians, Germans, Switzerland. That means that almost in all the countries it’s possible to try. In the worst way, you will get your temporary visa, but it’s a good option, too.

LADISLAS MAURICE: And what’s the saving minimum?

SERGEI: Saving, it’s like around $290,000 in your account.

LADISLAS MAURICE: That you must have had for 12 months?

SERGEI: Yes, the same, one year.

LADISLAS MAURICE: And is it just cash or do, for example, a brokerage account?

SERGEI: Brokerage, too. And in some consulates, they have, like, a list of the different ways how you can present. But usually, yes, banks and brokerage.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay.

SERGEI: Not crypto. [laughs]

LADISLAS MAURICE: [laughs] All right, so no crypto, but people can pay your services in crypto?

SERGEI: Yeah, for sure, without any problem.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. And in the link below, there’s the list of all the documents that you need, because you also need to show some extra documents, birth certificates, marriage certificates, and the like. Most notably for Mexico, there is no need for a criminal background check.

SERGEI: No. Only in one option when you will follow for the naturalization process. But even in this option, you will receive these documents here in Mexico, not outside, not from your country. And we will have two different criminal records, local, for example, in Cancun or in Playa, and in Mexico City, like, for the whole country.

LADISLAS MAURICE: A federal one?

SERGEI: Yeah, federal. It’s correct.

How to contact Sergei

LADISLAS MAURICE: There’s a link below with all the information on how to obtain residency here in Mexico, and that’s the way that you can also get in touch with Sergei. Sergei can help you with the whole process from A to Z, so coaching you beforehand through the consulate appointments, preparing the paperwork. And then when you come here to Mexico, whether it be here in the Riviera Maya, in Cancun, or whether it be in Mexico City, then his team can take you to immigration, fill out all the paperwork. You just need to show up, and then you’ll end up with your residency card, so good service. And then childbirth as well, if you’re into that, there’s also a link below.

SERGEI: Yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: All right. Sergei, thank you very much.

SERGEI: Thank you, too.