Visa & Immigration Basics

Mexico offers several residency routes — financial (based on income or savings), family-based, employer-sponsored, and a few others — and the right one depends mostly on your situation and finances. As a general guide for 2026, Temporary Residency requires roughly $4,400 USD/month in income or about $70,000 in savings; Permanent Residency requires roughly $7,400/month or about $290,000 in savings. Routes based on marriage to a Mexican citizen, a Mexican-born child, or employer sponsorship can waive the financial requirement entirely.

The process has two hard deadlines that trip up newcomers more than any paperwork: you generally have 180 days from consular approval to enter Mexico, and 30 days after entry to complete your residency card exchange ("canje") with INM. Miss either window and you restart the entire process. Which consulate you use for your initial visa appointment also matters more than most people expect — processing speed and approval consistency vary noticeably by location.

This is general information to help you plan, not immigration advice — always confirm current requirements with INM or your consulate before scheduling anything. The Paperwork guide in our full Relocation Guide Collection walks through all the residency routes in detail, current INM fee schedules, and which consulates tend to process fastest.