All Mexican Temporary Resident Cards and Minor Permanent Resident Cards have an expiration date. When the card expires, you should get a new card for a new period. If you do not renew your card on time, you will lose your residency status in Mexico. It is impossible to restore resident status after loss, but it is possible to acquire it again.
Temporary Resident Card
A temporary resident card is always issued for the first time with a validity period of 1 year. Exception — temporary resident card for marriage to a Mexican citizen, which is valid for 2 years. The card was issued immediately for 4 years under the migration settlement program, but this is also an exception. After a year, the card can be extended for 1, 2 or 3 years.
For how many years to renew the card, most often it’s not up to you to decide. More precisely, you will have the option to express your desire to renew the card for a maximum period of 3 years. It is impossible to say in advance whether the migration service will accommodate you.
In some cases, in order to renew a temporary resident card, standards must be met (there must be a reason). Most often, they are the same as for purchasing a residence permit. If you have a residence permit based on family ties, you should preserve these ties (most often we are talking about preserving the marriage). As a student, he should continue to study at a Mexican university. If you have a residence permit by invitation to work, you should continue to work as an employee. At the same time, the period for which your resident card for work will be extended depends on the desire of your employer, since formally he is the initiator of the extension of your residence permit. If he renewed his contract with you for 1 year and you want a card for 3 years, you will still only get a card for 1 year.
We advise you to constantly probe the prospects for extending your contract with your employer. After termination of the contract, the employer is able to send a notice of your dismissal to the migration service so that you do not hang on his «balance sheet» foreigners. You may not be able to find a new employer before your resident card expires. This will lead to loss of residence permit. Another danger — Having received a letter of dismissal from the employer, the migration service has the right (but is not obligated) to send you a request to reconfirm the conditions for stay.
Shouldn'tprovide no confirmation when renewing a resident card obtained on the following grounds: economic viability (income or savings), settlement program.
4 years — This is the maximum duration of a temporary residence permit in Mexico. After their completion, you can, without any conditions, obtain permanent resident status (PR) in Mexico and, accordingly, a permanent resident card. Simply because they lived in the country for 4 years as a temporary resident.
Purely theoretically, if after 4 years you do not want to acquire permanent residence, all you have to do is leave the country.
Permanent Resident Card
An adult's permanent resident card has no expiration date, meaning it is for life, but a minor's card — has. Usually for children this period is limited to 3 or 4 years, after which the card needs to be renewed, in other words, get a new one. And so on until adulthood (18 years old).
Special case — when you change your card because the conditions of your stay in Mexico have changed. Let's say you received a temporary resident card, and then gave birth to a child and have the right to change it to a permanent resident card. Such a change in migration status gives you the opportunity to begin the procedure for obtaining Mexican citizenship not 5 years after obtaining a residence permit, but 2 years after changing the residence permit to permanent residence.
After marriage to a Mexican, the card may not be changed, but a new period until the acquisition of citizenship — 2 years — will be counted from the date of marriage, more precisely, from the date of notification of the migration service about such a marriage.
It is possible to renew any Mexican resident card no earlier than 30 days before its expiration date, and no later than 60 days after its expiration date, and in the latter case — with a fine. After 60 days, you lose any option to renew, in other words, you lose your residency status in Mexico. The period -30/+60 days should include the date of receiving an appointment to visit the migration service office, and not the date of issuing a new card.
You can only purchase a resident card in Mexican territory; therefore, if you do not live in the country, you will have to come to renew it.
The process for renewing/purchasing a new card is largely the same as what you went through when you first received the card. You open the procedure on the migration service website, prepare a package of papers, pay fees, sign up for a visit and come to the migration service on the appointed day to receive a new card. The sequence of actions is always the same, only the list of required papers changes depending on the type of card and the reason for its issuance. The steps for each reason are described in separate publications on our website. In addition, this one will be useful for readingarticle.