Have you been wondering how to move to Mexico in 2025?
Maybe you’re dreaming of a fresh start south of the border but aren’t sure where to begin. The process of getting residency must be complicated, confusing, and expensive… right?
Well—yes and no.
I was approved for Mexican residency at the beginning of 2025, and I can tell you that if you take it one step at a time, it doesn’t have to be difficult! That said, not everyone is eligible to apply, and certain parts of the process can feel overwhelming.
But don’t worry!
In this post, I’ll break down the five key steps to getting Mexican residency in 2025. Follow these steps, and your journey to a new life in Mexico will be so much easier and less stressful.
I’ll even share important tips that can help increase your chances of getting approved!
Step 1: Understand Your Path to Residency
If you’re wondering how to move to Mexico by getting official residency, know that the most common way for foreigners to do so is through financial solvency (also known as economic solvency).
This is when you show that you have enough financial resources to support your life in Mexico, either through your savings & investments or through your monthly income.
Remember that there are two types of residency visas, and it’s likely that you can only apply for one of these:
- Temporary Residency: typically meant for those below retirement age, including digital nomads, remote workers, or individuals who can’t otherwise prove retirement status. This residency visa is usually granted for one year, but can be renewed up to four years total. After four years, you can get the permanent residency visa.
- Permanent Residency: typically meant for retirees or those who can prove retirement status. Most Mexican consulates will only consider granting the permanent visa if you are 62+ years old (exact age varies) and receiving social security or pension income. Once granted, the permanent residency visa doesn’t need to be renewed.
Another big difference between the two visas is that the financial requirements for those applying for permanent residency are about 3x more than what’s typically needed for the temporary residency.
- Temporary Residency: approximate amount needed to prove financial solvency through savings & investments: $69,000. Approximate amount needed to prove financial solvency through monthly income: $4,300
- Permanent Residency: Approximate amount needed to prove financial solvency through savings & investments: $273,000. Approximate amount needed to prove financial solvency through monthly income: $7,100
The residency visa that you will apply for simply depends on your age and financial profile. Neither is necessarily better or worse than the other.
Remember that the residency application process starts at a Mexican consulate in the US. Once you determine which type of visa aligns with your situation, you’ll need to check if you meet the specific requirements of the Mexican consulate you plan to apply to.
Prefer watching a video on How to Move to Mexico in 2025? We talk about the steps to getting residency on our YouTube channel 👇
Step 2: Research Your Consulate & Verify Eligibility
When figuring out how to move to Mexico in 2025, one of the most frustrating parts is that financial requirements can vary significantly by consulate.
The consulate closest to you might have higher requirements that can put you our of reach of being eligible. While another consulate across the country could have much more reasonable financial requirements.
That’s why it’s crucial to research what the exact financial-solvency requirements are at your preferred consulate to see if you are even eligible for Mexican residency.
Here’s how to do it:
- Find your nearest consulate using this official list or by Googling ‘Mexican Consulates Near Me.’
- Check the consulate’s website for financial requirements under the “Visas” section. If it’s in Spanish, look for Visas Para Extranjeros or Servicios Para Extranjeros. ‘Extranjeros’ translates to ‘foreigners,’ so what you are looking for is visas – or services – for foreigners.
- Note: the consulate website’s URL must include sre.gob.mx, indicating an official site of the Mexican government.
- Find the link for either Temporary or Permanent Visas. You may need to scroll to the bottom of the page or scan the page to find these links.
- Click into the link to find the specific details related to financial solvency amounts.
- If your meet the requirements, that’s great! If your local consulate’s requirements are too high, you’ll want to start thinking about applying to a different consulate that allows out-of-state applications.
- If the financial criteria for proving financial solvency in’t listed on the website, try emailing, calling, or if it’s a smaller consulate close to you, you can even try walking in to ask.
Pro tip: most consulate’s websites are slightly different from each other. Don’t be thrown off if what you are looking at is different from the photos above. The general steps are similar.
✅ I know this can be a lot to take in. But get our free Mexican Residency cheat sheet to keep you on track and help you avoid costly mistakes. I promise it’s packed with great tips!
Step 3: Understand Next Steps & Create a Timeline
Once you know you’re eligible to apply, you want to understand the official steps to getting approved for residency. Each step either has to-dos that could take time to resolve, OR specific time periods to complete.
Here are the official steps to residency coming your way and how long each could take:
Booking your consulate appointment
- Depending on the consulate, making an appointment can be as simple as writing an email, or it can take navigating online systems searching for open dates. Once you have applied, you can expect the granted an appointment in a week, or up to two months. This depends on how busy the specific consulate you’re applying to is.
Key tip for success: Different consulates have different procedures for booking appointments. Some require emails, others use Whatsapp messenger, and others use online portals. Double-check their process before trying to make your appointment. Also, appointment availability varies. Some consulates only release new appointments on specific days, and slots fill up fast. Ask your consulate when this date is and be persistent!
Attending the consulate appointment and interview
- This is the first official step to residency. If approved for residency, most consulates issue your visa permit the same day.
Key tips for success: The name on your financial statements that you’ll present during this appointment should match exactly to how it is in your passport. If there are discrepancies (e.g., Robert Smith vs. Bob Smith Jr.), get them corrected before applying. It could take a full statement cycle for a name change to be reflected on your financial documents. Take this into account when creating your timeline.
Complete the residency process in Mexico
- Finalize the visa process in Mexico. Once you receive your visa permit, you have 180 days to enter Mexico to finalize the process at a Mexican immigration office (INM). This is the final step is when you’ll get your official residency visa card.
Key tips for success: the process of converting your visa permit to a visa card is called ‘canje.’ When entering Mexico for the first time with your visa permit, you absolutely must get stamped into Mexico as ‘canje’ or you risk terminating your residency application. Make sure to inform the immigration agent that you are entering Mexico for canje and they’ll know what to do.
Mini step: create a timeline & make your appointment
Now that you know what’s coming your way, it’s important to create a timeline for your residency process.
Remember to think about any changes that need to be made to your financial statements, and consider if you would be able to travel to Mexico within 180 days after being approved for the visa at a US consulate.
Once you’re timeline is in place and you’ve decided to move forward with your residency application, you can go ahead and book your appointment with a Mexican consulate in the US.
Remember to use the appropriate communication method to book your appointment that the specific consulate requests (email, Whatsapp, etc.). Otherwise they will not respond.
Step 4: Prepare for Your Consulate Appointment
The next step in figuring out how to move to Mexico in 2025 is preparing for your appointment.
This is typically when the nerves come into play. But don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be a scary process!
What to bring to the Mexican consulate:
Once you have an appointment, you’ll receive a list of required documents that you are required to present. The exact documents can vary by consulate, but typically include:
- Valid passport & copies.
- Visa application form filled out and signed.
- One recent color photo with white background (about passport sized).
- 12 months of financial statements when proving financial solvency through savings & investments, OR –
- 6 months of proof of income of income when proving financial solvency through income.
How to prepare your documents to improve your chances of being approved:
The appointment confirmation you receive from the consulate will also state how the documents should be presented. For example, for my appointment with the Miami consulate, the email stated the following:
- “For applying through savings and investments: All bank statements must be original. If you use paperless banking you must have your statements stamped by your bank. We do not accept simple prints from downloaded bank statements.”
- “For applying through employment income: Applicants proving economic solvency through employment must provide a letter signed by a supervisor and addressed to the Consulate General, printed on company letterhead providing the following information:
- Visa applicant’s full name, position and seniority within the company.
- Monthly salary.
- Explicit agreement with the applicant’s plans to reside in Mexico and work remotely.
- A photocopy of the letter’s signatory ID must be provided as an attachment to the letter. The name and signatures must match in the letter and the ID provided.“
Pro tip: the extent to which the consulate will enforce requirements such as those listed above varies. However, it is advised you do your absolute best to do things how they’re specified by the consulate. Contact the consulate if you anticipate any major difficulties in getting any of the above.
What to expect during the interview:
During the appointment, you’ll present your documents for review. If you have the necessary financial status to be eligible, then you will proceed to an interview to discuss your motivation for seeking Mexican residency.
Be prepared to answer why you want Mexican residency—“I love tacos” is not a valid reason!
If approved, you’ll often receive a visa permit in your passport. However, this again varies by consulate, and some consulates can take up to 10 days to return your passport with the visa permit.
But now that you have been ‘approved,’ the process still isn’t done! You now have 180 days to enter Mexico to complete your residency application.
Step 5: Finalizing Your Residency in Mexico
Remember – this final step in the process is called Canje.
Canje is when you exchange your temporary visa permit (a sticker in your passport) for an official residency card. This step takes place at an immigration office in Mexico, known as INM. (Instituto Nacional de Migración)
The paperwork, and potentially all of the communication at the INM office will be in Spanish. If you make errors in your paperwork, it is possible that you are sent out of the INM office and asked to make a new appointment.
For this reason, it is common for foreigners to hire an immigration facilitator to support with this bureaucratic stage of moving to Mexico.
Fun fact: canje means ‘exchange’ in Spanish. This process is called canje because you are essentially exchanging your unofficial residency status to the fully approved and official status 👍
What You Need to Do for Canje:
- Enter Mexico within 180 days of getting your visa permit.
- At immigration, tell them you’re entering for canje and show the visa permit in your passport. You absolutely MUST be stamped into the country as ‘canje’ or you risk having your residency request terminated.
- Make an appointment at an INM office within 30 days of entering Mexico. To clarify, you need to make an appointment, not necessarily attend one. Appointments can be made online for most INM offices.
- Complete the canje process at an immigration office (INM). Ideally this happens in the city where you plan to live so you don’t have to process an address change at a future date.
- If you are using an immigration facilitator to support with Canje (we totally recommend you do), they will make the appointment and handle all paperwork. The cost of a facilitator is about $200-$250 USD.
- You will process a final payment and your biometrics at the INM before getting your residency visa card. Payment required at the INM in 2025 is in the amount of $5,570 MXN, or about $275 USD.
And that’s it!
Can You Do Canje Without a Facilitator?
There is no requirement to use an immigration facilitator to support with canje. But we think that it’s money well spent.
The entire canje process, from booking an appointment in the online portal, completing to paperwork and the appointment at the INM will be in Spanish. And if you make any mistakes in your application, you may be asked to come back on another day with the forms corrected.
This is a stage where Mexican bureaucracy can be tricky and frustrating.
If you are not using a facilitator, you will need to make the appointment yourself using the contact information shared by the immigration agent letting you into the country.
Final Thoughts: How To Move to Mexico in 2025
Getting Mexican residency isn’t difficult if you know what to expect and take things one step at a 🇲🇽. Small mistakes can easily turn into big mistakes, so it’s important to stay organized!
To make things easier, remember to download my free Mexican Residency Cheat Sheet—it’s a quick 5-minute checklist that keeps you and track during each stage of the process and helps you avoid mistakes that could cost you time and money.
It’s super helpful for anyone wondering how to move to Mexico!
Feel free to reach out with any questions. We’re here to help you make your dream life in Mexico a reality 🇲🇽
Gracias!
Gordon & Aimara