It seems to us that many do not fully understand one essential condition when marrying a Mexican citizen for the purposes of obtaining a residence permit and Mexican citizenship: the marriage must be maintained until a permanent resident card or citizenship is received, and the Mexican spouse must be personally present at all procedures.
If you think that it is permissible to get married, acquire a residence permit on this basis, immediately get divorced and keep the residence permit, you are mistaken.
You have registered your marriage with a Mexican citizen. To obtain a residence permit, you contact the migration service. In this case, the presence of your spouse is mandatory. Moreover, the migration service has the right to arrange an on-site check to check whether you live together. You passed the first stage successfully and as a result received a temporary resident card in Mexico for 2 years.
If your legal status in Mexico is enough for 2 years, and you are not going to renew it — right to divorce. Divorce will not lead to cancellation of the card; it will continue to be valid until the end of its validity period. But you do not have the opportunity to extend it.
After 2 years, you should again contact the migration service to renew your temporary resident card or apply for a permanent resident card (your choice). As we said, if you get divorced before this, you will not have the right to renew your resident card or obtain permanent residence. Even if you get divorced and immediately register a new marriage, including with the same spouse, you are able to extend your residence status, but this will be considered a new residence permit, and the countdown to permanent residence and citizenship will start from scratch. Moreover, this new period will most likely be longer than 2 years, which is due to the peculiarities of renewing a resident card and applying for citizenship.
If your Mexican spouse is not able to come with you to renew your residence permit, you will not be given a new resident card in addition.
After a divorce, you will be able to extend your residence permit without loss on only one basis — if you give birth to a child in Mexico.
Have you received a new resident card? Now wait a little longer, collect your papers and apply for Mexican citizenship. Again, your marriage must remain valid, and your Mexican spouse must accompany you to submit the papers.
If you do not plan to apply for citizenship 2 years after issuing a resident card for the first time, and permanent residence is enough for you, you have the opportunity to get a divorce. You will no longer be deprived of your permanent residence in Mexico, you do not need to renew your permanent resident card, and under any circumstances you will be able to apply for citizenship on a general basis 5 years from the date of residence.
Now a few caveats.
If you just arrived in Mexico, immediately registered your marriage with a Mexican citizen and immediately went to the migration service to purchase a resident card, the migration service has the right to ask you to wait 60 days after the marriage before applying for the card. They simply won't accept your papers. Such a waiting requirement is not specified in the regulations, but is widely used in the state of Quintana Roo.
To obtain your first-time resident card, renew your card, and apply for citizenship, you will need a recent, certified copy of your Mexican marriage certificate. It can be prepared in any registry office (Registro civil) of the state where your marriage was registered. A copy older than 3 months will no longer be accepted. One way or another, it will be sent back to the Registro civil for verification, and the resident card will be issued only after a few months. If you need to leave Mexico before receiving your card, apply for a 60-day exit and entry permit from the immigration office.
When applying for a resident card for the first time, representatives of the migration service will conduct an interview. They will ask the spouses cross-questions about their dating, marriage and life together. The interview is conducted to check whether the marriage is fictitious, so you need to be prepared for it.
The Migration Service is able to carry out an on-site check at the address of the spouses to check whether they live together. Visits are unannounced at any time (but not at night). If the spouses are not present, neighbors have the right to be interviewed.
How to obtain resident status in Mexico by marriage to a Mexican, we described in thispublications.