· Miko Borys · life in mexico · 9 min read

Detailed Guide to Getting Mexican Temporary Residency

This covers the finer details of getting temporary residency as a U.S. citizen.

This covers the finer details of getting temporary residency as a U.S. citizen.

Below are detailed notes that you won’t find in the tens of other great basic guides.

This is meant for people going the “DIY” route who are not using a lawyer or other professional to do the paperwork and appointment setting for them.

For reference, getting a professional’s help might cost between $3,500 - $8,000 mxn.

Overview

  • Useful for staying in Mexico over 180 days at a time.
  • Necessary if you want to do anything serious like operate a business, get a driver’s license, or open a bank account in Mexico.
  • You are first given 1 year of temporary residency, after which you can apply for up to 3 more years. After 4 years of total temporary residency you are generally eligible for permanent residency.

Economic Solvency Requirements At-a-Glance

  • Make above approximately $2,500 USD a month or have at least approximately $45,000 USD in a bank account. 2023 guidelines have raised this average, but there are still consulates following the old guidelines.
  • Passport photo 39x31mm (⚠️ not the same as the Mexican passport size of 45x35mm)
  • Filled out visa application form
  • Application fee, approximately $50 USD

Steps

Part 1 (Outside of Mexico)

  1. Pick the right consulate

    The process and specific requirements for getting a visa are not completely uniform between consulates. In general, you are expected to have a certain income to get residency, but the dollar amounts vary widely by consulate. The choice of consulate has perhaps the biggest effect on your success, and unfortunately how a particular consulate might favor you is largely opaque.

    If you want to keep things simple, go with one of the consulates on our green list and skip to step 2.

    Picking Your Own

    Complete list of consulates in the U.S.

    We can use some heuristics to aid you in your choice. The ideal consulate:

    • Doesn’t require you to live in the vicinity.
      • Some consulates require you to live in their vicinity if you want them to serve you (e.g. the Santa Ana, CA consulate which asked me to prove my Orange County residency via my bank statement). But it seems many others do not care, and thus you are free to apply for visas at different consulates or ask multiple different consulates for appointment availability simultaneously.
    • Doesn’t require you to have multiple appointments.
      • Some consulates will want to do a paper check first, then have an interview a few weeks later. This is much slower than a 1-and-done appointment
    • Gives you the visa quickly.
      • Officially, granting a visa can take 1-10 days. Ideally you want the visa the same day as the appointment, so you don’t have to come back. Google reviews can be a good indicator for this.
    • Has good reviews on Google.
      • Try searching “visa” in the Google Maps reviews. There you can get an idea if the consulate is friendly and organized in regards to foreigners getting visas.
      • I’ve seen reviews where people said X consulate rejected them, but they went to Y consulate next and were accepted.
    • Has plentiful appointment availability and is responsive.
      • None of the consulates I contacted picked up their phones. About 30% responded to my email asking for an appointment.

  2. Make sure you meet the requirements for the given consulate.

    Akin to their varying processes, each consulate webpage is slightly different, but most have a page for “visas” under which you might see “temporary residency”. They generally have their specific requirements listed there in Spanish and English.

  3. Schedule an appoinment at the given consulate.

    Appointment availability can change day-to-day. Oftentimes visa appointments are scheduled in at least 4 different ways depending on the consulate.

    • Method 1: Mexitel Online

      This tends to be the least efficient and have the least chance of success for actually getting an appointment, because you have to enter in all your information from scratch for each consulate you check before seeing the appointment availability schedule.

    • Method 2: Mexitel Phone System

      I was wrong, this is the least efficient and much worse than the online system. Very painful. I called and the operator told me every consulate I asked about had no availability. I’m almost positive he was not even really checking, but just telling me anything to get off the phone. Just for kicks I started going down the list of every single consulate to see how far he would go. We did over 15 where he told me “no availability at all”. I asked him how people get visas. He said just try calling again tomorrow 🤦. I only used the phone system because one consulate told me to call and not use the online system 🤷

      phone procedure
      1. press 2 for English
      2. press 1 for calling from US
      3. zip code *
      4. press 1 for correct
      5. press 1 to schedule appointment
    • Method 3: Email

      Pretty lucky if you get a response. And if they let you schedule appointments via email.

    • Method 4: 3rd party calendar system

      Some use 3rd party online calendar software to schedule appointments. The consulates with these systems are ideal because you can see the availability right upfront before putting in all your info.

  4. Prepare forms

    For economic solvency, bank statements must have account number visible!

  5. Wait for and receive visa in your passport from the consulate

    Cool. Now you’re down with what you need to do outside of Mexico.

Part 2 (Inside Mexico)

  1. Border Control at the Airport

    Definitely do not mess this part up.

    You need to queue in the correct line when you arrive at border control in the airport. Make sure to go to the “residents” line (if there is one) and show them your visa when you get in.

    They should give you exactly 30 days of permission to go visit the residency office on a FMM (Forma Migratoria Multiple). Hold it with your sweaty hands tight, you’re going to need this later. They stamp right on top of the visa.

    If you go through border control and they give you a regular up to 180 day visitor permit, you f’d up. Do not pass GO and start the whole process from zero.

    Note: PVR did not have a separate line for residents when I landed, it was a single line for everyone. I had my passport open to the visa page and made sure the border control was fully aware of it. I pointed at it and said look here, I have a visa, I’m getting temporary residency please see this very carefully.

  2. INM (immigration) office steps in Mexico

    Choose an immigration office near you in Mexico.

    Immigration offices near Puerto Vallarta:

    Once past border control in Mexico, you have 30 days to apply to convert your Temporary Resident Visa into a Mexican Temporary Residency Card. It is the card which allows you to live in Mexico long-term, not the visa itself. Note you just need to start the “canje” process within 30 days of landing. My appointment was on day 28/30 which was fine.

    That said, the Puerto Vallarta INM office was booked 2 weeks in advance, so make sure you don’t delay next steps after arriving in Mexico.

    A Mexican Temporary Resident Visa takes about 10 – 15 working days to be processed, starting from the day you submit your completed documents at the National Immigration Institute.

    For people doing this solo dolo, you will need to go to immigration office 2-3 times after arriving in Mexico. First to set an appointment (if the online appointment system is down). Next your appointment to trade in your forms. And lastly to pick up your card when it’s ready. I’ve separated each visit into steps 9 – 11.

  3. INM Form Preparation

    Requirements to prepare for the appointment in step 10:

    • Formato Básico (must be printed, filled out by hand and in Spanish)
    • Copy of your passport (no fingers allowed in the copy)
    • Copy of the visa in your passport
    • Formato para solicitar tramite (below)

    Sign on the front of the INM office door with QR code link to the micrositio

    1. Go to the microsite (it’s the link on the QR code in the image above) https://www.inm.gob.mx/mpublic/publico/inm-tramites.html

    2. “Trámites Migratorios”

    3. “Expedición de documento migratorio por canje”

    4. “Solicitud” First part of the "solicitud" form

    5. After filling out this form you get a “numero de pieza” and “clave” which is necessary to schedule an appointment.

  4. INM Visit 1: Walk-in Appointment Setting/Document Checking

    If you’re able to book an appointment online (not available as of February 5, 2023), and you don’t have questions about the paperwork in step 8, you can technically skip this step.

    Be aware that the online system is not always working hence this step may be required to set an appointment.

    Note: If you are setting an appointment in-person, first prepare all the documents then go in to set the appointment.

    Process if Booking Online
    1. Put in your numero de pieza and validate it
    2. Next, your número de documento is your passport number
    3. Go through the steps it directs you to, verify, continue etc.
    4. Schedule an appointment

  5. INM Visit 2: “El Canje” (appointment required)

    ⚠️ You must wear a dark colored shirt with sleeves for your photo.

    The process for this appointment is called “el canje” (exchange in English). This is the only step in part 2 that needs an appointment.

    It’s recommended to come before your appointment time and ask them to do a quick review of your documents to make sure you have the correct ones.

    During your appointment, they’ll ask you to fill out some more forms online while you’re there, so bring your smartphone. Additionally, they’ll send you some emails and ask to confirm that you’ve gotten them. You’ll know you’re near victory once they take your photos and your fingerprints and finally give you a stamped document.

    Once you have the stamped document you’re done with this appointment and need to wait approximately 2 weeks before you pick your residence card up.

  6. INM Visit 3: “Tarjeta” - card pickup

    No appointment necessary, just come back 2 weeks after step 10. You need to bring two things:

    1. Your passport
    2. The stamped document from your previous visit.

    They give you your residence card. Verify the info. It will expire 1 year from the date you entered Mexico.

    🏁 You’re finished!

Consulates Database

Good Ones

🟩 Las Vegas, NV

  • Organized and responsive
  • 1-and-done appointment (⚠️ only 1 hour in my case)
  • Don’t care about lack of NV residency
  • [email protected]

🟩 Houston, TX

  • Respond to email in 1-3 days
  • Appointments are only set up 12 business days in advance
  • [email protected]

🟩 McAllen, TX

  • Lowest economic requirements

🟩 Phoenix, AZ

  • Low economic requirements

🟩 Atlanta, GA

🟩 New Orleans, LA

🟩 Detroit, MI

🟧 Boston, MA

  • Responsive via email
  • Medium appointment availability
  • Only for: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
  • [email protected]

🟧 Denver, CO

  • Low economic requirements
  • Must live in Colorado

Bad Ones

🟥 Santa Ana, CA

  • Seem to do everything in their power to not give visas 😕
  • Need multiple appointments
  • Disorganized
  • Need to live locally
  • Will ask for more documents during the process
  • [email protected]

🟥 Tucson, AZ

  • Does a separate document check and interview appointment
  • Must make appointment via Mexitel phone system
  • [email protected]

🟥 New York, NY

  • Unresponsive
  • Low appointment availability
  • Higher economic requirements

Misc. Resources

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