You came to Mexico to have a baby here. The child will immediately receive Mexican citizenship, and the parents and other relatives — Permanent residence in Mexico. We usually advise staying in Mexico for 2 months after giving birth to slowly complete all the paperwork, but many want to return home faster.
The two longest processes are associated with acquiring a Mexican passport for a child and a foreign passport from the parents’ state. These passports can be issued in parallel. A Mexican passport can be obtained in any city in Mexico where there is a passport office, foreign passport — only at the consulate of your country, that is, in Mexico City. In order for a child to leave Mexico, they must have at least one of the passports.
The child received only a Mexican passport
By law, a Mexican citizen can only leave the country with a Mexican passport. If he is accompanied by at least one parent, no matter what nationality, no other permissions are needed for the child to leave Mexico.
But here another problem may arise. How can a child get into a country that requires a visa for Mexican citizens? Parents should find out the conditions for entry of Mexican citizens into a specific country, and then plan the route.
For example, you are planning to go to Russia. If a child has both parents — Russians, he is already automatically considered a citizen of Russia, and this only needs to be formalized accordingly. Such a child does not have the opportunity to obtain any Russian visa. In other words, a Mexican passport alone is not enough for a child to enter Russia. Parents must register Russian citizenship for their child at the consulate, obtain a foreign passport, and then the child has the opportunity to enter Russia without a visa as a Russian citizen. Instead of a foreign passport, it would be faster to obtain a certificate to return to Russia; it is issued in 1 day. But the Russian consular department in Mexico will refuse to issue such a certificate to the newborn and will force you to wait for the passport to be ready.
Sometimes we hear stories that Russians flew to Russia with a Mexican child and somehow negotiated entry at the airport, saying that the baby would not be denied entry. We will not evaluate the reliability of these stories. It is enough that they contradict the criteria of Russian legislation.
If the child has at least one parent — not a Russian, the child has the right to obtain a Russian visa at the Russian consulate in Mexico City and use it to enter Russia. Already upon arrival in Russia, parents have the opportunity to obtain Russian citizenship for their child.
But there are many countries where Mexican citizens have visa-free entry. In particular, parents — Russians with a residence permit in the EU have the right to bring a child there with a Mexican passport without any problems. Visa-free entry even into Belarus upon arrival at Minsk airport. Therefore, it is easier for citizens of Belarus who gave birth to a child in Mexico to bring him into their country using a Mexican passport, and then deal with the procedure for obtaining Belarusian citizenship for the child.
The child received only a passport from the parents' state
The child has a Mexican birth certificate, which confirms his Mexican citizenship and is considered a document by which the parents have already received permanent resident cards in the country. And the parents do not plan to stay in Mexico to wait for citizenship. They decide not to waste time getting the child a Mexican passport. In addition, the child’s passport will only be valid for 3 years, then it needs to be renewed. Based on the birth certificate, the child has the right to obtain a passport at any time both in Mexico and at one of the Mexican consulates.
A child is able to leave Mexico using the passport of the parent's country of nationality if he is accompanied by at least one parent of the same nationality. Legally, this is incorrect, since, as we said, a Mexican must leave the country only with a Mexican passport. But the migration service at the airport will not find out whether the child has Mexican citizenship, although it is understandable, in other words. The Migration Service will not prevent the departure of a baby born to foreigners. Since the child has not been granted entry into Mexico, parents must visit the migration service office at the airport before departure. There you will have to explain, for example, that you need to leave urgently and there is no time to obtain a Mexican passport. Parents will be asked to pay 983 pesos (2026) for the preparation of a one-time immigration form for the child, after which the entire family can receive boarding passes and proceed to boarding.
Under any circumstances, except for the child’s passport, the parents must have the child’s birth certificate to travel. Whether it needs to be translated from Spanish into any language depends on which country you are traveling to. Most often, a simple translation without certification is sufficient. For those reading the birth certificate outside of Mexico, it is important that the first and last names on it match the first and last names on the child's and parents' passports.
So, a child’s departure from Mexico is possible only with his own passport. It is not possible for a child to leave Mexico using a birth certificate. Whether a child needs to obtain both a Mexican passport and a passport from the parents' country of citizenship depends on which country the family is going to after leaving Mexico. Ideally, of course, it is better to purchase both passports.