Here’s the process we went through to get residency. I was granted permanent residency, and my wife was granted temporary residency. Below you will find the entire process that we went through to gain our residency. The process took about 2 months, but a month of that was setting up our initial appointment in Seattle.
Here is the link for the requirements for obtaining temporary residency in Mexico:
You can find some good information on this blog for temporary residency as well. CLICK HERE
Day 1: Emailed the Mexican consulate in Seattle at visas.seattle@sre.gob.mx for an appointment.
Day 2: Received this email back from the Mexican consulate:
“Good morning,If you want to apply for the permanent/temporary Residence Visa, you have to bring the next documentation:
*Valid and current passport and 1 copy (just the information page)
*Visa application duly completed (this can be found on the website of the Consulate of Mexico in Seattle)
*1 photo passport size
*Proof of income from social security (Last 6 months) if you’re retired
*If you’re working, last 6 months of pay stubs.
*Bank statements from checking and saving accounts (last 6 months).
*Photocopy of the Deed of the properties in Mexico letter size (Fidecomiso) (if needed).
*Original Marriage Certificate and 1 photocopy
*Visa Application Fee of $36.00 dollars (cash, credit or debit).
*If more than one person will apply for the visa please notify.
*Appointment required.
*Valid and current passport and 1 copy (just the information page)
*Visa application duly completed (this can be found on the website of the Consulate of Mexico in Seattle)
*1 photo passport size
*Proof of income from social security (Last 6 months) if you’re retired
*If you’re working, last 6 months of pay stubs.
*Bank statements from checking and saving accounts (last 6 months).
*Photocopy of the Deed of the properties in Mexico letter size (Fidecomiso) (if needed).
*Original Marriage Certificate and 1 photocopy
*Visa Application Fee of $36.00 dollars (cash, credit or debit).
*If more than one person will apply for the visa please notify.
*Appointment required.
We only issue visas Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Please let me know which date and time you want in order to set up the appointment.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’re eligible, the Visa will be ready 4 business days after you apply.”
Between our schedule and the Mexican consulate’s limited appointment available, it took over a month to get our meeting.
Day 36: We met with Michelle at the Mexican Consulate in Seattle. Her first question to us asked why we wanted residency, and if we wanted temporary or permanent. We said that we wanted to set up our home base in Mexico, spend more time there, and buy a car. We would like permanent, but were okay with either. She said that she would request permanent, but let them know we are okay with temporary.
We gave her a copy of our fideicomiso, passport copies, marriage license, two applications (one for each of us – very simple to fill out), as well as bank statements provided by our bank, and proof of employment. I also gave her printouts of some financial interests. She said that everything helps. Any printouts need to have your name on them, but she took everything we offered.
She asked us to pay the cashier at the cubicle next to her, and said it would take about 30 to 40 minutes, and then she’d call us back. We paid the $36 each, then waited for her to call us. When we came back she took our photos and fingerprints. She had to hold onto our passports, and said to come back the following Tuesday between 3pm and 5pm to pick them up. The whole process took less than two hours.
Day 43: I went back a week later. Ali had to work, and fortunately we both didn’t need to be there. I waited about 45 minutes. As soon as Michelle called me, she turned around and left for another 15 minutes. She came back with the passports. She told me we were all good for permanent residency, then gave us the following advice:
We must enter Mexico within 6 months. Within 30 days of entering the country we need to go to immigration. Take copies of all the same docs we gave to her a week earlier, just in case they ask. Once we get the residency cards, we will have to make sure to always have them when we enter or leave Mexico. Make a copy of the residency visa in case we lose our passports.
Each of our passports had a Mexican visa in it that allowed us to enter for the next 6 months to continue the residency process.
Day 50: Entering Mexico for the first time we entered on the side of Mexican residents, not tourists. Much quicker line! We did put tourism as the reason for visiting on the customs form, but I think you’re supposed to check “other” in the future. We were given 30 day visas.
Day 57: We went to INM (National Migracion Institute). The woman gave us several things to fill out while we were there and a few other forms to fill out online, print and bring back. She also told us to go to any bank and pay a Visa Fee, make copies of our passports and visas. Lastly we needed color visa photos, similar to passport photos, except they take front and profile photos. Lots of places in town take these photos, so it was quite inexpensive and easy.
Online, I went to: https://www.inm.gob.mx/tramites/publico/estancia.html
Under “Qué deseas hacer?” I chose the option “Canjear o reponer documento migratorio”
Below that for “Especifica” I chose “Canje de FMM por Tarjeta de Visitante o de Residente”
It’s a fairly easy form to fill out, and you can print it after you are done.
Day 60: We went to CitiBanamex in Centro. I paid 4,828 pesos for the permanent residency fee and Ali paid 3,961 for the temporary residency fee. At INM they were very helpful in reprinting and filling out our documents correctly. The bank messed up my receipt for payment by reversing my first and last name. It’s difficult to understand, but the last name goes first, then the first name and middle name. They did Ali’s correctly. We had to leave INM and go back to the bank. The bank said that we could wait two weeks and then they could give us a new receipt, or I could pay the 4,828 pesos again. It took 15 minutes of arguing with them before they finally took care of it and gave us a new receipt. I was about 3 more minutes of arguing away from taking another 5,000 pesos out of the ATM to continue this process. They tried to blame us since we signed the receipt. But they never told us to review the receipt, and even if we did there was no way to know if it was correct or not. It helped that they had done Ali’s correctly, so we could prove that they did each receipt differently. Afterwards we ran back to INM and they finalized the process. The woman told us to come back in a week and everything should be ready.
She also asked for our original marriage certificate. We told her we didn’t bring it to Mexico. She said that it was okay, but when Ali renews her residency next year we need to bring it.
Day 66: We received an email telling us to come back in, and we had to follow a link and a password provided in the email to fill in more info online as well. A fairly easy process.
Day 70: We stopped back in to INM at 11:30am. It was real busy as there was only one employee, instead of the normal two, and it was a Monday after the 3 day weekend. There were only about three people in front of us, but each person takes 30 minutes or an hour to process whatever they need done. Finally at 1:15pm the woman was ready for us. Over the next hour we signed a bunch of documents, with a few 10 minute breaks as she waited for people in the unseen back room to print out more paperwork for us. We had to get old school fingerprints of all 10 fingers on three separate pieces of paper. Not sure why on earth this would ever be needed. Perhaps they have a Sherlock Holmes in the back with a magnifying glass poring over unsolved crimes and comparing the fingerprints pulled from crime scenes to those of gringos with residency in Mexico. Our last 10 minute break waiting for documents had her come out with two residency cards. It was a super exciting moment as we saw them sitting a few feet from us. Finally we have residency! Because Ali has temporary residency she will have to come back to INM within 30 days of her expiration (one year from today) to renew. We aren’t sure if she’ll be able to jump from temporary to permanent. From the sounds of it she may need to have four years of temporary before becoming permanent. Another guy waiting in the room had a temporary residency. He came in a day after his card expired and had to go through the entire process again, wasting all the fees he paid from the previous year.
We aren’t totally sure why she was granted temporary residency. It may be because we just got married, the Mexican condo isn’t under both of our names, our finances are mostly separate, or some combination of the two. In Seattle we were told that she would get a two year residency and then could convert to permanent. But another expat said that she would renew next year for an additional three years and then could transfer to permanent then. But we’ll hope she can convert to permanent next year.
The lesson is, it’s a lot of work and Mexico doesn’t mess around, but it’s totally worth it (now that we’re done)!