If you came to Mexico as a tourist and then wanted to acquire resident status, then it is possible to do this without leaving the state only in a limited number of cases. Most often, they are associated with family ties to a citizen or resident of Mexico. You are allowed to marry a Mexican, find a close relative, or have a child in Mexico. Wealthy retirees — recipients of large pensions or owners of substantial bank savings — in addition, you have the right to apply for residency status while already in Mexico. And of course refugees. Moreover, it is only possible to obtain refugee status in Mexico while already in the country.
We will talk about some cases related to family ties. This is one of the most popular and easiest ways to obtain residency status in Mexico. Of course, not counting the fact that you need to have these family ties. Girls come to Mexico and find suitors, arranging their personal lives and getting the option to stay in the country. Couples come to Mexico to give birth and become parents of a Mexican citizen. And someone who already has relatives in Mexico does not want to start applying for a residence permit at the Mexican consulates, but plans to apply for resident status upon arrival in the country.
The guest state visa has one important feature. Its validity period is limited to 180 days. Now, during the epidemic, it is allowed to extend the guest sovereign visa for another 180 days without leaving Mexico. In normal times, a tourist visa cannot be extended.
To get married, you must have a valid tourist visa. We are referring to the FMM immigration form that every visitor to the state receives upon entering Mexico. If the FMM has expired, you have the right to refuse to register your marriage. Let us remind you that when registering a marriage in Mexico, non-residents must provide a valid migration document. You can read on the Internet that someone was detained on an expired state visa. We do not recommend hoping for this, since the requirement to have a valid FMM when submitting papers to the Mexican Civil Registry Office (Registro civil) by foreigners can be found on the website of any municipality in Mexico.
Further, when submitting papers for a residence permit to the National Institute of Migration (INM), you are also required to submit the FMM migration form. If it is overdue, but not more than 60 days, you can be asked to pay a fine. The fine for 2021 is set at 1792 — 4481 MXN, at the discretion of the migration service officer. Typically, the amount of the fine depends on why you violated the immigration regime and did not leave Mexico after your visa expired. In practice, a fine is not always issued. Sometimes they conduct a preventive conversation with the offender, sometimes they ask to bring two guarantors from among the citizens or residents of Mexico, sometimes they require additional documentation.
If you violated the migration regime for more than 60 days, the situation will be more complicated. The Migration Service may refuse to accept documents for the acquisition of residence in Mexico and require you to leave the country or issue an increased fine. But almost always, when it comes to a family connection with a Mexican citizen (not with a resident), in particular, when marrying a Mexican or having a child in Mexico, the migration service makes concessions. Under any circumstances, the solution to the issue will be related either to the convincingness of your explanations or to money, but you will not be denied a residence permit. We know of cases where, after a very significant delay, illegal parents were asked to leave the country (as paradoxical as this may sound, because the child is a citizen of Mexico), but the intervention of a lawyer easily corrected the situation.
Therefore, try not to violate the migration regime, but know that there are no unsolvable situations.
Another reason to change your status in Mexico from traveler to permanent resident — have a good pension. Good — that's more than 44,810 MXN per month (2021), or something around $2,350. Or you need to have savings of at least 1,792,400 MXN ($94.3 thousand), but still be a pensioner. In most cases, such a pension is available to citizens of neighboring countries in North America, the USA and Canada. Most of them seek to first purchase a resident visa from the Mexican consulates in their country, and only then enter Mexico, confident that residency status is in their pocket. But Mexico warmly welcomes future residents of the state with such financial security. For this reason, cases of refusal of a residence permit are possible only when the pension falls slightly short of the established minimum.
And finally, if you planned to acquire refugee status in Mexico and did not submit documents to the National Commission for Assistance to Refugees (COMAR) within 30 days after entry, refusal to open the stages of recognizing you as a refugee is guaranteed. COMAR is a much more bureaucratic structure than INM, there are many requests from refugees, and violations of the requirements of the law on refugee recognition cannot be allowed.
Is it possible for a traveler to obtain residency status in Mexico without leaving based on other reasons? For example, you have good earnings abroad or you bought a home in Mexico. This is not provided for by law. You are required to leave the country and begin the process of obtaining a residence permit at the Mexican consulate abroad. However, the coronavirus epidemic may make some adjustments. A legislative conflict requires consideration of requests from foreigners, taking into account the fact that traveling during an epidemic can be dangerous. If your lawyer can justify that leaving Mexico to apply for a resident visa at the consulate could pose a threat to your health, you will be given residency status in Mexico without leaving. We know of such cases, and they are not isolated.
You can find basic publications on the topic discussed on our website using the following links:
- Residence permit bymarriage,
- Residence permit for relativesconnections,
- Permanent residence by birthbabyin Mexico,
- Permanent residence for the wealthypensioners,
- Permanent residence forrefugees.