According to Mexican immigration law, there are no restrictions on time away from Mexico for temporary or permanent residents of the country. Before 2011, a resident who was absent from Mexico for more than 2 years in the last 3 years or more than 5 years in the last 10 years could lose his immigration status. But in 2011 this provision was repealed. Now a resident of Mexico has the right to stay abroad as much as he wants.
But there is another limitation. You are unable to enter Mexico with a migration document that has expired more than 55 days ago.
In most cases, the Mexican adult permanent resident card does not expire. This means that such permanent residents are indeed able to be absent from Mexico without restrictions and without fear of losing their status. But a minor permanent resident card, and also a temporary resident card, always has an expiration date — he is indicated on it. Children under 3 years of age are issued a permanent resident card for 1 year, from 3 to 18 years old — for 4 years. A temporary resident card can have a validity period of 1 to 4 years.
To summarize, if your Mexican resident card has an expiration date on it, the last date you must return to the country without losing your residency status is — 55th day from the date of expiration of the card. Within another 5 days, you must submit papers to the National Institute of Migration to purchase a new temporary resident card or, if 4 years have passed since the temporary residence permit was issued, to obtain permanent resident status in Mexico. If you meet these deadlines, you will be fined for violating the deadlines for conducting migration procedures, and then you will be issued a new card for a new period. But if you apply to update your card on the 6th day after entry or later, your status extension will be denied.
In general, the migration service has the right to automatically cancel any migration document that has expired more than 60 days ago, except in a number of cases, for example, a family relationship with a Mexican citizen, pregnant, sick or elderly people, or a threat to life. In other words, even if you somehow returned to Mexico when those 60 days expire, your card and your status will already be canceled. It is not possible to restore the status; you are only allowed to start the process of obtaining a residence permit again.
If you did not manage to enter Mexico within 55 days of the expiration of your resident card, the problems can be quite serious. The passport control officer at a Mexican airport not only has the right, but he should refuse your entry as a resident. It is useless to explain anything to him. But you can enter as a tourist — then you will automatically lose your resident status.
How to enter Mexico with an expired resident card without losing your residence permit? There is no clear answer. You must have a good reason why you were unable to return to Mexico on time.
1. Contact the Mexican diplomatic mission. The consulate will not issue a new resident card, but may be able to provide a letter to the immigration office explaining why you were unable to return on time.
2. At the airport in Mexico, before going through passport control, find the office of the National Institute of Migration (INM). There, in addition, they can arrange entry for you with an expired card if there is a good reason. In any case, ask to receive an Acta de internación aérea, which you will then take to the INM city office as proof that you attempted to prepare entry into Mexico as a resident, but were processed as a tourist.
3. If you have managed to prepare entry into Mexico as a resident, go to the local INM office and submit papers to resolve the migration situation due to the expiration of the migration document. As we wrote above, the simplest — if your close relative — citizen of Mexico, in this case they have no right to refuse you. In other cases, you will either pay a fine for violating the migration regime or refuse to extend your status.
4. If you have lost your temporary resident status, do not despair. There are always prospects for re-obtaining a residence permit in Mexico.
We described the usual criteria for entering Mexico with a resident card in thispublications.