How to get a work visa and apply for a residence permit in Mexico based on an invitation to work

Acquiring a work visa and temporary resident status in Mexico based on an invitation to work — a fairly common immigration practice in this country. The status of a resident of Mexico with a work permit provides the prospect of not only staying on Mexican territory for a long time on legal grounds, but also ensuring one’s economic independence in the country through work.

Acquiring temporary resident status by invitation to work has its subtleties. In addition to this article, you can also get answers to the main questions about obtaining a Mexico work visa from thispublications

It is wrong to think that you can come to Mexico, open a company here, invite yourself to work and, on the basis of this, obtain resident status with a work permit. You will be refused even at the stage of accepting documentation for a Mexico visa. In this case, you are required to apply for a temporary residence permit as an investor and business owner, and not as an employee. This is a completely different type of residence — based on economicsolvency.

It is incorrect to believe that temporary resident status with a work permit can be obtained by being an individual entrepreneur (Sole Proprietorship, SP) in Mexico, or that having received such status through an invitation to work, one can immediately begin to engage in individual entrepreneurship. First, you cannot engage in any economic activity in Mexico without first obtaining resident status with a work permit, and even more so without this status you cannot become an SP. Secondly, having received such status as a hired worker by invitation to work, you do not have the opportunity to immediately refuse such work and engage in individual entrepreneurship, otherwise you risk losing your status as a temporary resident of Mexico. Even in a year or two, when you have to renew your temporary resident status, you may be asked to confirm the basis for acquiring such status based on an invitation to work. If you intend to work in Mexico as a self-employed person, you will need to establish residency status for another reason, say family reunification without a work permit, and then apply for a permit to engage in gainful economic activity (work).

Employer initiative

You must obtain a package of documentation, including an invitation to work, from your future employer. You can enter Mexico with an electronic permit or a tourist visa, find an employer here, and receive an invitation to work from him. But then you are required to leave the country and obtain a temporary resident visa from any of the Mexican consulates in any country in the world. Or you can receive an invitation and documentation to submit to the consular department for a work visa remotely, without first coming to Mexico.

Where to find an employer in Mexico? This issue is always resolved individually. For example, in Cancun they have the right to hire you in a hotel or travel company even without knowing Spanish, if they are interested in you as a «sales» or with the receptionist, especially when serving Russian-speaking travelers. In this case, the company has the right to take over the process of obtaining temporary resident status for you or deduct the costs of obtaining this status from your salary.

How to find a job in Mexico, we told in thispublications.

In addition, you have the opportunity to offer to «buy» job invitation. You will be provided with a package of documentation from INM, according to which you yourself open a work visa and receive the status of a temporary resident with a work permit, or they will accompany this process. Such offers usually involve meeting the right people at the INM office or lawyers. Such proposals carry both risks and chances, depending on who is offering what. In particular, there is a risk that the company that «invites» to hire you, in fact has no right to hire foreigners.

Under any circumstances, formally the initiator of your receipt of temporary resident status with a work permit is always considered to be your future employer, and not you. For this reason, the process of obtaining such status begins in Mexico, by submitting the following documents to the territorial office of the National Institute of Migration (INM) by the employer:

• Extract from the register of employers of Mexico (Constancia de Inscripción de Empleador).
• Original and copy of the employer representative's identification card if the representative is Mexican, or a resident card if the representative is non-resident.
• The original official invitation to work from the employer, indicating the occupation code according to the National Classification of Occupations (Sistema Nacional de Clasificación de Ocupaciones), developed by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), duration of work, address of the workplace, salary and deduction amounts from it.
• A copy of the job applicant's passport.
• Confirmation from INM that the applicant has no other open procedure for acquiring immigration status in Mexico.

Most often, INM does not require the employer to justify inviting a specialist like you to work. A work permit does not imply verification by the migration service of certificates, licenses, permits, diplomas, or the acquisition of an opinion from the immigration authority on the level of competence or existing abilities that are required of a foreign person to perform the functions offered by the employer. Work permits are issued by occupation that corresponds to the classification of the National Classification and Labor System published by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography. This means that it is enough to confirm the level of education, but not professional skills. In other words, having a diploma is always enough, but if a foreigner does not have a diploma, obtaining permission from the INM may be more difficult.

To confirm professional skills, it is often enough to provide:

• original diploma of education with apostille,
• or a duplicate / notarized copy of the diploma, with an apostille stamp, if it is not possible to affix an apostille to the original,
• or a certificate of acquired skills with an apostille,
• translation of this document into Spanish, certified by an official translator in Mexico.

Specific standards depend on the employer. Apostille on documents and certified translation are not always required.

Once the INM has approved your work visa, it issues an authorization (autorización de visa por oferta de empleo) to the employer containing a unique number of steps (NUT). This is the main document that will be required to apply to a diplomatic mission and obtain a work visa.

Do you want to get a Mexico work visa? We can help. More details — Bylink

Requirements for the employer

Mexican legislation imposes certain criteria on companies hiring foreigners. In particular, the company must operate for at least three months from the date of commencement of activity, undergo an inspection and acquire a permit to accept foreigners. For a number of professions, the company must comply with a quota for hiring foreigners from the total number of employees or from the number of employees of a certain category/profession.

Before submitting a request to INM for a work permit for the employee being hired, the company must purchase an extract from the employer register of the Constancia de Inscripción de Empleador. To receive it, the company must submit the following documents to the National Institute of Migration:

• Bidfor inclusion in the register of employers for hiring foreigners, filled out online, then completed
• Company registration documentation
• Confirmation of name and legal address, no older than 30 days
• Taxpayer Identification Number (RFC)
• Tax report (for the last reporting period and for the year)
• Power of attorney or extract from the charter on the legal representative and his powers
• List of foreign workers, their nationalities, positions and terms of work

In this case, the company must have at least 5 employees — Mexicans, except where the law specificallyprovidesquotas for the admission of foreigners to certain positions or types of professions.

If the employer is an individual entrepreneur, the documentation you should have is the following:

• Certificate (certificate) of registration of an entrepreneur with a photo
• Confirmation of name and legal address, no older than 30 days
• Taxpayer Identification Number (RFC)
• Tax report (for the last reporting period and for the year)

The procedure for obtaining a work permit for a foreign worker as an individual entrepreneur has its pitfalls and in fact looks more complicated than receiving a corporate invitation to work.

All company information submitted to INM must be no more than 30 days old. In case of any changes in the company details, change of legal representative, change of employee status (hired, fired), the company is obliged to notify INM about this within 30 days.

As a rule, obtaining a work permit for foreigners takes up to several months, although the INM regulations state that the permit must be granted within the period10 working days. Permission price — no payment.

Purchasing a work visa

Once you have received the original job offer and INM authorization from your employer, you must apply for a work visa at any Mexican consulate abroad by scheduling an interview and providing the documents and proof provided to you by the employer.

You do not have to go to your country of citizenship to obtain a work visa. You can fly to any country neighboring Mexico. For example, people most often travel from Cancun to apply for work visas to the Mexican consulates in Havana, Guatemala or Bogota. You can choose any other Mexican consulate abroad. How to choose a diplomatic mission of Mexico to obtain a work visa, we described in thismaterial.

From the moment you make an appointment for an interview at the Mexican consulate, it can take from several days to a month before you are invited to such an interview. Sometimes in groups on social networks (not only Russian-speaking ones) it is possible to find data on how long it takes to wait for an interview in a particular country.

Submitting documents for a work visa is always personal.

Documentation required to obtain a Mexico work visa:

Officials of the consular department have the right to request any additional information from the applicant to clarify the details. The diplomatic mission will never check the professional skills of the visa recipient, but will look at the diploma and similar documents.

The current tariff for obtaining a Mexican resident visa (visa fee) can be found on this page.page.

The work visa is affixed to the applicant's passport. Visa issuance period — by law up to 10 days, but most often on the day of the interview, maximum 1-2 days later.

Applying for a temporary resident card in Mexico

The following describes the standard process for obtaining residence permits based on special types of visas issued by Mexican consulates abroad.

After receiving a work visa, its holder is required to enter the country within 180 days (the validity period of the visa). Upon arrival you will be issued a migration cardFMM, in paper or electronic form. It is important that the Mexican immigration officer indicate a period of stay of 30 days (which he must do when he sees your visa), and not 180 days, like a tourist.

Upon arrival in Mexico, you are required to submit documents for temporary resident status and a temporary resident card to the regional office of the National Institute of Migration (INM) at your place of residence within 30 days, not counting the day of entry.

In Cancun, INM's office is located at Av. Carlos J. Nader, Supermanzana 5, Centro, 77500 Q.R. Reception hours — from 9:00 to 13:00 on weekdays. .

For the coordinates of the offices of the National Institute of Migration (INM) in different states and cities of Mexico, seelink.

You can sign up to submit papers to the selected migration service office online by following thisinstructions. Registration times (queue) vary by state, but usually do not exceed several weeks.

Documentation required to obtain a temporary resident card:

Photos are not needed; they will be taken at the migration service office when issuing a resident card.

In some cases, INM may require proof of residential address. Usually it is enough to show a utility bill (electricity) or a rental contract.

After receiving the papers at INM you will receive a confirmation. This is a document with a unique number (NUT — Número Único de Trámite), according to whichtracking pageYou can track the status of your application for residency status. In addition, you have the right to find out the status of your application directly from the INM office.

From now on, you no longer need to worry about your Mexico work visa expiring. You have applied for temporary resident status, received confirmation of this, and on this basis you are in Mexico legally. Moreover, even before submitting documents to acquire temporary resident status, you can begin working for your employer.

It usually takes 5 to 15 business days before your application for residency status is approved. Usually — does not mean always, but as a rule, now migration processes are carried out very quickly.

If the wait is prolonged and you need to temporarily leave Mexico, strictly follow the specificprocedureregistration of an exit permit, the exit itself and subsequent entry into the country. Otherwise, you risk losing your Mexican resident status before you even receive it.

Confirmation of your application approval will be displayed on the tracking page or in an email sent to you. You will be asked to select a date and time to visit the INM office to be photographed, biometrically submitted, signed, and purchased a Mexican Resident Card.

Since in most cases there are long queues at INM offices, we advise you to arrive early. You should have with you:

• Confirmation from INM containing NUT;
• Passport.

In general, there is often confusion in INM offices, and documentation may get lost. In this regard, we suggest that whenever you visit the INM office, you always have with you a complete set of papers with copies: both those that were previously submitted and those that were given to you.

Most often, a resident card is issued on the day of visiting the INM office after signing additional documentation. However, in some cases they may ask you to come back for the card in a couple of days.

A first-time Mexican temporary resident card is always issued for a period of 1 year. However, in the case of obtaining a residence permit based on an invitation to work, you will be given a card for as many years as you have a contract with the employer and for how many years he will obtain permission for you from INM. We proceed from the fact that most often this is exactly the year.

In the future, temporary residence can be extended for 1, 2 or 3 years (in other words, the maximum period of a temporary residence permit is 4 years), and after 4 years, obtain permanent residence in Mexico. After another 1 year, you are allowed to apply for naturalization.

How long must you live in Mexico to acquire citizenship — see bylink

Family

The spouse of a temporary resident of Mexico, his minor children and parents, in addition, can obtain a residence permit in Mexico — read about itHere. There are two ways to do this: contact the consulate to purchase a resident visa together with the main recipient of a work visa, or, upon arrival in Mexico, contact the migration service on the basis of the so-called “family reunification.”

Sample letter to exchange a resident visa for a resident card

Important Notes

When renewing a temporary resident card obtained on the basis of an invitation to work, you will need to re-confirm that you are in Mexico under such an invitation. Usually, confirmation from the employer that you work for them is sufficient.

That is, the rules for extending temporary resident status must be exactly the same as when you received this status. This means that you are not able to change your temporary resident status, obtained through an invitation to work, to «self-employed» or any other. To obtain any other status in Mexico, you must meet certain criteria that apply to obtaining the relevant status.

If you change employer, you must notify INM.

Although your employer cannot voluntarily revoke your residency permit, if you lose your job, you may lose your status in Mexico. At the same time, the law proceeds from the fact that the requirements for issuing temporary resident status to you upon invitation to work are no longer valid. In this case, you need to find a new employer as quickly as possible.

If you need assistance in obtaining a work visa and residence permit in Mexico upon invitation to work, contact us. We organize the entire process from acquiring a visa to obtaining a Mexican resident card.