Immigration

Applying for Mexican Visas

The Immigration Office in La Paz is located at 1177 Olachea near the cross street Colosio, Garzas Agrícola. They are quite helpful and English is spoken. The office hours are 9 am to 2 pm.

You may choose to apply for your visa in person, or you may hire a representative to advise you, make the application on your behalf, and do all of the paperwork.

If you are applying for temporary or permanent immigrated status, upon acceptance you will receive a plastic card that looks like a driver’s license. This card enables you to pass through Mexico’s borders as if you were a Mexican national.

Vistante – Visitor Permit for Short Term Visits

Mexico is in the process of changing its process for tourist visas. As of September 2022, immigration offices are starting to only stamp and date your passport and not issue a permit document. However, as with many government offices in Mexico not all immigration procedures or offices are the same. If your passport was only stamped you may later need to obtain a paper visa.

This permits up to 180 days as a tourist in Mexico and cannot be renewed.  Upon its expiration you will need to leave the country.  There is a fee of about US $38 for this permit. The fee is included in the price of your airline flight (under taxes and fees). If you arrive by road or by boat you must visit an immigration office to get your passport stamped and pay for the immigration fee. Be sure to let your crew know that if they are flying into Mexico via Tijuana and walking across the CBX bridge they MUST stop at immigration to obtain their passport stamp.

Visa de Residente Temporal – Temporary Resident Visa

The Temporary Resident Visa is intended for people who wish to live in Mexico for more than 6 months and up to 4 years. The Temporary Resident Visa is a renewable long term permit which gives non-immigrant temporary residency status, can give work permissions, and allows unlimited entries to and exits from Mexico.

One of the criteria that the Mexican authorities require for the issuance of a Temporary Resident Visa is that the applicant prove that they have "sufficient funds to sustain themselves while in Mexico" and/or a proven steady income.

The Temporary Resident Visa cannot be issued in Mexico; you must apply in your home country of residence. There are two exceptions to this:

  1. If you have close family in Mexico
  2. If you apply for residency on humanitarian grounds, then you are able to change your status from visitor to resident without leaving Mexico

When applied for in your home country they process and preapprove the application. When you arrive in Mexico you have to register at your local immigration office within 30 days to acquire your Visa. The immigration office will require your passport be stamped for a 30 day tourist limit. This is issued to you when you first enter the country. Stop in at immigration at the border to obtain one.

Once applied for and granted, the Temporary Resident Visa may issued for up to 4 years (or yearly, with annual renewals required in Mexico) and after this four year period, it cannot be renewed: at the end of the four year period you must apply for a Permanent Resident Visa or leave the country.

Visa de Residente Permanente – Permanent Resident Visa

The Permanent Resident Visa is intended for people seeking permanent residency status in Mexico or those who may seek eventual Mexican Citizenship.

To apply for and be granted this visa, the applicants must:

  1. Have certain family connections in Mexico, or
  2. Apply for retirement status and prove they have sufficient monthly income (or substantial assets) to support themselves, or
  3. Have 4 years of regular status as Temporary Resident (2 years if legally married to a Mexican spouse or permanent resident) or
  4. Be granted residency on humanitarian grounds

I just got my Permanent Resident Visa and this is what I did to get it:

The first thing you need to do is apply for permanent or temporary residency at a Mexican Consulate in the United States. I tried very hard to get an appointment in San Diego  https://consulmex.sre.gob.mx/sandiego/index.php/visas?id=455. I emailed visas@consulmexsd.org many times over a month and a half and was not successful. Finally, I drove to Yuma with all of my papers and got the visa without an appointment. Arrive when they open though because if you have issues she only works till about 2 pm.
As far as the required papers they really only wanted:

  1. Passport and copy
  2. Letter to the the embassy saying date and port of entry into Mexico, requesting a Permanent or Temporary Visa and your address in Mexico
  3. 6 months past bank statements showing the automatic deposit of income like Social Security
  4. A printed Google Map showing where you will live in Mexico
  5. One photo 4.5 x 3.5 cm. I had mine taken at FedEx in Yuma.
  6. Non-refundable processing fee of $36

I had two problems. They did not like that my bank statements went to a PO Box and the name on my passport is Patricia and my bank statements say, Patsy. But the gal in Yuma spoke great English and was very helpful. With a couple of phone calls to the bank and a few faxed documents (sent to Staples in Yuma), I was good to go. She will put a sticker on a page in your passport. When you go through Mexican customs on your way south you MUST STOP AND GET A 30-DAY VISA. (passport stamp) There is no charge.

When you get to where you will be residing (for me La Paz) go to  immigration  and they will give you a list of things to do. For one thing, you will need to get a CURP number. It is like a USA tax ID number.  Immigration  will also have you complete an online application in Spanish. Google translated the page for me so it was pretty easy. They will want you to pay the fee at a bank. Once you have everything go back to  immigration  with the bank receipt, copies requested, printed online application and copies if requested and anything else they may have wanted. They will take your fingerprints. Then you wait… like two weeks for an email that says the application is finished.

Then all you do is go in and pick up your card.

Patsy Verhoeven
s/v Talion
2019

If your goal is to seek long-term residency in Mexico, or to become a Mexican Citizen, you should apply for a Permanent Resident Visa.

Mexican Citizenship

Acquiring Mexican Citizenship (naturalization) is an involved process. As a minimum you must have applied for, and been granted, permanent resident status, although exceptions to this rule may apply, depending upon a variety of circumstances: marriage to a Mexican national, for example, might enable naturalization with a shorter qualification period.

You will be asked to undertake an exam, which you must pass, in order to acquire naturalization/citizenship. The examination is of a “multiple choice” type, comprises of some fifteen questions, and is not hard—although you will need a basic grasp of the  Spanish language  to pass it.