Explanation of Mexico's New Immigration Law Summarized in Everyday Terms Robert Hoare - San Felipe Life
go to original October 29, 2012

The regulations for the new Immigration Law for Mexico were published on September 28, 2012. This will affect all foreign residents, and soon-to-be residents, in Mexico.

Quick Summary

• No more FM3 or FM2. Just a 1 to 4 year temporary resident visas (working or non-working). After 4 years this leads to a permanent resident visa with the right to work.
• Should be possible to apply direct for permanent resident in some cases, without a temporary resident visa beforehand.
• Ownership of real estate above a certain value can qualify for a temporary visa, without requiring specific income, which can then be converted to permanent residence after four years.

Sources

You can download pdf's of the full texts in English (unformatted, poorly translated), for the Regulations and the immigration Law to which they apply.

Purpose of the Law

The main purpose of the law is to protect the rights of migrants, especially women and children, and to allow for more humanitarian family reunion. If you have a partner or child who is Mexican, or if you are a refugee there is a lot in the law that addresses your rights.

For clarity, I've limited the discussion below to those who do not have Mexican family, and who are not refugees, and who are not students. I've also not gone into detail about how working visas will work as a lot of that, such as points system, is still to be defined.

The law consolidates and simplifies rules that were scattered around other laws (and repeals those). It certainly seems like it's going to be much simpler. It does remain to be seen if it will be implemented like this, or if local rules will be added!

The article numbers below are those from the regulations (and law), so you should check my summary with the real documents if you need to know the exact wording.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, nor have anything to do with immigration, so there are likely to be errors in this summary. Plus, of course, the actual way these rules and laws are interpreted may vary depending on which immigration office, which person, and what phase of the moon it is.

Article 93

The article 93 in the regulations describes the procedure at land borders. It requires passports (and visas, where applicable) to be checked on entry, including for pedestrians and people in private cars. Maybe this won't be implemented immediately, but when it does it might add delays at the border.

Article 101-106

The issuing of visas at consulates is described. Ten year multiple entry 180-days per entry visitors visas are also mentioned, but unless something has changed, visas are not required for visitors from major Western countries, so this doesn't really apply.

There is no mention of any changes to the FMM or FMT, which were often called “tourist visas” but were actually entry permits (issued without visas for people from low-risk countries). So for most tourists from the US and Canada it is likely the existing FMM will continue as at present for trips up to 180 days.

Article 107

Article 107 in the regulations refer to how article 40 (IV) of the law will be implemented. This is for the temporary residence visas that are available for those who want to stay for 180 days to 4 years, without the right to work. It roughly replaces the FM-3 or “non immigrant” rentista permit.

To get a Temporary Resident visa, you have to meet only one of the conditions listed. They include, among others, (I) enough money for “accommodation and meals during stay”, (V) ownership of Mexican real estate above a certain value, (VI) investments including Mexican stocks and commercial property, or job creation. The amounts for the real estate and investments are to be announced later (presumably during October 2012).

Article 138

Article 138 is for temporary residents who may work, whether for pay or not (article 52 VII in the law). As well as the conditions listed above, other options are (II) have a job offer from a genuine employer or (III) have registered with the tax office for work that doesn't involve pay (I can't quite see the logic in that, but that's what it states).

Proof of knowledge and experience for the job is required if applying under II or III. It appears from reading this that ownership of property is an option that actually allows work with no job offer, experience, or existing business needed, but maybe there's some other condition somewhere.

Article 109

This article covers Permanent Resident visas from article 52 VII of the law, which are without the right to work. Conditions for granting this include one of (among others): (II) pensioned or retired with sufficient income to live in the country (amount not stated yet, but likely similar to the existing FM3 or FM2 rules), or (III) qualify under a points system to be defined (this will be mainly for highly qualified skilled workers, similar to the points-based immigration to Australia, Canada, New Zealand etc).

This is worth repeating: with a sufficient retirement income, the rules state that a permanent resident visa is immediately available. No requirement for temporary visas first.

Article 139

This covers the law article 52 IX, which is Permanent Resident visas with the right to work. Like article 109, a pension income is enough (III). So it probably makes sense to apply under this category rather than article 109, to have the right to work and keep your options open. There is also a points-based qualification option for skilled workers (IV).

In addition (V), anybody who has been a temporary resident for four years, working or not, is eligible for this permanent resident visa with the right to work (two years if you have a Mexican spouse/partner).

Article 141

Article 141 VI reiterates the conditions under which a temporary resident can change to permanent resident. These are a) qualify under the points system (for work), b) retired or receive a pension with sufficient income (amount not stated), or c) have been a temporary resident for four consecutive years.

It's unclear whether an existing FM3 or FM2 counts towards the temporary resident time, this is probably the most important question for many people! If anybody can point me to some written statements on how existing temporary visas will be treated it would be very helpful.

Article 156

The temporary resident card can be issued for 1, 2, 3 or 4 years. If you're under 3 years of age (well done for reading this far!) you can only get a one year visa, which implies that 4 year visas should be available to others. Hopefully no more annual renewals! For a working visa, it is restricted to one employer and also to the length of the contract, which may be where the other lengths come in.

Article 157

The permanent resident card is valid indefinitely. Again if you meet one of the conditions for granting it, such as having retirement income, you should be able to get this straight away, no stepping through FM3 then FM2, which is a really major change.

There doesn't appear to be any requirement to spend any specific amount of time in the country each year before or after you have this (there are separate rules if you plan to become a citizen later).

Article 167

If you have either the temporary or permanent resident card you must notify a change of residence (in Mexico), workplace (for work visas), marital status or nationality within 90 days.

Article 111

Temporary and permanent residents can apply to bring in their parents, spouse or partner, and minor children.

Transition rules

The new regulations are intended to come into force 30 days after they were published (29 Sept), so this will be around Nov 12th (thanks Solomon for the update).

Any applications submitted before that date will continue to be processed under the old rules. Existing cards remain valid until their expiry dates.

Updates

I'll update this post when the monetary amounts have been announced (such as how much real estate is needed, as one of the ways to qualify for the temporary visa). I'll also post general updates and news about how the law works out in practice at my other site, San Felipe News.

New Immigration Visa Fees

Here are the proposed fees for the new temporary and permanent visas. As with all fees, they may be revised at any time but especially at the end of each year.

Residente Temporal:
The "Temporary Resident" (=FM2/3) visa is available for up to four years. Some sources say it's up to Immigration to decide how many years to give you, although it could also be your choice as the fee increases for more years.

• 1 year: 3130 pesos (about US$ 240)
• 2 year: 4690 pesos (about US$ 360 or $180/yr)
• 3 year: 5940 pesos (about US$ 456 or $152/yr)
• 4 year: 7040 pesos (about US$ 540 or $135/yr)

The one year visa is significantly more than the existing FM3 visa. It makes sense to get the maximum number of years possible in most cases, especially as that'll avoid having to get renewals each year.

Residente Permanente:
Under the new rules it appears far easier to get the "Permanent Resident" (=Inmigrado) visa than before. And it will save money! This is the best option for all that are eligible.

Once only: 3185 pesos (about US$ 245)

Update: however, it's currently unclear if permanent residents will be allowed to keep foreign-plated vehicles in Mexico - the new Customs rules don't exist yet. If this affects your decision on which type of visa to go for, wait and see.

Other fees:
There may be an additional 1000 peso (US $77) fee for a change of status, it's not entirely clear which types of applications it applies to.

Source:
This information comes from //www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/107.pdf (articles 8 and 9)

Without a doubt, there will be much discussion on this law in the next few months and everyone’s understanding of the rules will change as we actually get a chance to interact with the new system. Stay tuned.

To contact Robert Hoare of San Felipe Life, "An owner's manual for life in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, for English-speaking property owners and renters", click here.