How To: Mexican Residency Process

There are steps to this process once you are in Mexico:

1. INM for Resident Permit Card

2. Aduana for TIP Extension

3. Hacienda for Work Permit (easier to wait and do this once you have a Mexican employer)

Process: Part 1 - USA Go to the Mexican consulate website here. There is a lot of information here, but I am going to boil down the important items. Make sure you scroll all of the way to the bottom of the website to get all of the information available.

1. Permanent/Temporary Resident requirements

2. Link to the Visa Application

3. Import of Household Goods

4. Pet Information

COVID sucks, but it has had unexpected benefits such as seriously abbreviating the months-long processes of red tape!

The first thing you will do is fill out the Visa application. You will need to gather the last 12 months worth of all statements that you have to prove your fiscal solvency and income. I had to generate 12 months of statements from 4 financial institutions (Pro tip #1 - go ahead and print all of them at this time; you will need them later). I sent an e-copy of all of them to my contact at the Raleigh consulate. There were several emails to clarify some points and then after a couple of weeks I was able to set a meeting to go to the consulate in person.

You will have to take a physical copy of ALL of the statements that you initially provided electronically. Pro tip #2 - take a permanent marker and mark out all of your account number and any other information you don't want in circulation. We didn't realize it, but they do not give this information back, nor do they shred it. It is actually sent to the government in Mexico through some elite and secure consular process. Had I known, it would have looked like a redacted FBI/CIA document. I turned on alerts and check all of my accounts daily just to make sure everything is okay.

Pro tip #3 - When you go to the consulate, make sure you get EVERYTHING done at that one time. You should do your visa AND your household goods then and there! Do not walk away without your Import of Household Goods or you WILL HAVE TO GO BACK and do it. Unfortunately, they do not prompt you or walk you through any of this. So, if you don't know, you are destined for a second visit.

Obviously, I did NOT know about it. Our houses were already sold, we had scheduled to have the contents of the house removed, and I learned about the Import of Household Goods (IHG). I freaked out! I called the consulate and the man who signed my Visa called me back. After a lot of discussion, we realized that we did not need an official one, which meant we did not need to spend another day at the Consulate in Raleigh! *PHEW* Everything we were taking was considered personal effects and did not need to declare any of it (clothes, shoes, Fire tablet, Fire TV, Kindle, two laptops, vitamins, books, jewelry, etc). While we still had to make an inventory of everything for crossing the border, we did not need to official IHG. In our inventory or personal effects, we did have 3 electronic items: a blender, a stereo, and a TV. These are treated a little differently so for those three items (since we had them for longer than 6 months and did not have their receipts) I had to write down each device including the brand name, model, and serial number. In the end, though, due to weight restrictions on the car, we ended up giving away the stereo and the TV. So, we the only electrical item we took was the blender.

Pro tip #4 - Put on makeup/brush your hair/wear something nice. The "passport" pictures that you take with you are for the paperwork that gets sent to Mexico. They will fingerprint you and take another picture of you right there. That photo is the one that will be on your visa. So look nice!

Alright, that was a lot. You would think that is the end of it. You would be wrong. That is only the USA side of the process. Once you hit Mexico, you get to start round two!

Process: Part 2 - Mexico Once you get to Mexico, you have 30 days to finalize your Visa at INM. Because you have to do your TIP within 15 days and this is a prerequisite, if you are extending you TIP then you only have 15 days to do this. Pro tip #5 - INM opens at 9am and closes at 1pm so get there EARLY!

Here is a link to their address: Migration's national institute Aquiles Serdán, Playas del Sur, 82040

Remember how I mentioned that COVID has expedited notoriously slow processes?? This is another one. This process used to take 3-6 months. Now, it can be done in 1-2 days! Be prepared, though, they are long, tedious days.

Pro tip #6 - Hogla is the BEST resource for any expat! I had no idea what paperwork I needed or what needed to happen, but I knew I just needed to talk to Hogla. Go to her BEFORE you head to INM, explain what you need and she will get all of the appropriate paperwork for you! Don’t go to INM first and wait only for them to send you to her anyway. Make sure you have your passport/visa, FMM, license, and your address. For ~$500/person she does it all: papers, more PHOTOS, and copies of all the paperwork

Here is a link to her address: Hogla @ the Mini Store 318 Aquiles Serdán

Holga will ask you several questions and complete multiple papers for you. She will fill provide you with a complete packet including copies of:

1. Formato Basico

2. Forma Migratoria Multiple (FMM)

3. Passport

4. Visa

5. Aviso de tratamiento de datos personales y notifiaction electronica

6. Instituto Nacional De Migracion Presente

7. Formato para Solicitar tramite migratorio de estancia

Since I don't know if these are the official names of these documents, I have included pictures.

Once you go in INM, they will give you a number. They will take all of your paperwork and you will wait. And wait. And wait. They will call you to the front and will provide you with a payment paper to take to the bank to pay the fee for the resident card. The cost is $4271 pesos per person.

At bank you will get proof of payment which you will sign and then take BACK to INM. So, head back to INM early, get a number and wait.

You will have to go up to the front a few times. You will receive a Clave Unica de Registro de Poblacion (CURP), which is similar to our SSN.

Then they will take your fingerprints and take MORE PHOTOS. appointment. Pro Tip #7 - Look nice for this appointment because the photos they take of you will be the equivalent of your drivers license. It will be put on your Residente Temporal card that you must keep on you at all times. I was not expecting this and will suffer the ramifications of this for the next year... Pro tip #8 - While you’re waiting, go to Hogla to do the TIP Extension paperwork. Work smarter not harder! Make sure you read my blog on the TIP and TIP Extension process!

Hope this helps!

Take a leap - choose JOY!