Your life changes and your document should change with it. You got married, you completed the four years, you were offered a job or you have a Mexican child: there is a procedure for all of that.
On completing four years as a temporary resident, or two if you're married to a Mexican citizen.
In the cases the law allows to be resolved inside Mexico, principally family unity.
If your card does not include authorisation to work and you obtain a job offer from an employer registered with the INM, or as a self-employed person if you register with the SAT as an individual with business or professional activities.
Birth of a Mexican child.
When you file matters as much as the documents you file.
We confirm your situation fits one of the routes that allow the change and that it can be resolved inside Mexico.
The date on which you would like to file the procedure is identified, always before your current card expires.
Apostilles and translations by an official translator in Mexico when foreign documents are involved. It is the slowest part, and worth starting early.
The application is filed, the INM assesses it and authorises your new immigration status.
Your biometrics and photograph are taken and your card is issued with your new immigration status.
The last column is where the surprises are. Other changes —going from visitor to resident without a family tie, for instance— require leaving and applying from a consulate.
| Situation | What you apply for | Possible from Mexico? |
|---|---|---|
| I completed four years as a temporary resident | Change to permanent residency | Yes |
| I married a Mexican citizen | Family unity; permanent after two years | Yes, in most cases |
| I got a job | Work authorisation | Yes, with a registered employer |
| My child was born in Mexico | Family unity | Yes |
Almost every change of status involves a foreign document: a marriage certificate, a birth certificate, a criminal record. And those documents need two things before they're usable in Mexico: an apostille from the country that issued them, and an official translation done here.
It is the slowest part and the only one that depends neither on you nor on the INM, but on a foreign administration working at its own pace. If you are going to need an apostille, ask for it as soon as you start planning your move to Mexico.
When the change is about being able to work, not everything is down to you. The company hiring you must be registered with the INM through its Employer Registration Certificate — and many small businesses in the Riviera Maya don't have one until they hire their first foreign employee.
It's a procedure we also handle, and it's worth starting in parallel with yours. Otherwise your file sits waiting on a document that isn't in your hands.
Marriage opens the family unity route and, for permanent residency, reduces the required temporary residency from four years to two. Exactly which procedure applies depends on your current situation.
In some cases yes, principally family unity. In others the law requires doing it from a consulate abroad. It's one of the questions where people most often go wrong after reading general information.
If you are a temporary resident and are not authorised to carry out activities, you have to apply for your work permit, and it requires the company hiring you to be registered with the INM with its Employer Registration Certificate. We also handle that certificate.
No, as long as the procedure is filed properly and on time. Letting the card expire before applying for the change does cost you the accumulated seniority.
An initial consultation tells you exactly which route applies to you and on what timeline. We reply in Spanish, English and French.
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