Few words make an expat's head spin faster than visa. After this video, you will have
a better understanding of the requirements for Mexico's temporary residency visa, and
my tips for how to apply successfully. For the best advice about moving to Mexico, subscribe
to my channel and hit the bell to be notified. When I upload a new episode every Thursday.
Hi, I'm Alex. And while I moved to Queretaro, Mexico in October 2017, I didn't apply for
temporary residency until July 2020. When I was living in Spain, I had some really stressful
and really time consuming visa experiences. So I was not in a hurry to do that again.
Thanks to Mexico's generous 180 day tourist visa, I didn't have to. But while the tourist
visa is really generous, there are still certain things you can't do with it, like registering
a vehicle and opening a bank account. As I near my three year anniversary of living in
Mexico, it felt important to established something more permanent there. And while permanent
and temporary, usually don't go together. The temporary residency visa was the appropriate
next step for me.
We are on the road. [Taylor 00:01:19] and I just left Southwest Michigan. And we are
driving to the East side of the state. We're driving to Detroit. We have our appointments
tomorrow morning at the consulate. And I don't know, I think both of us are feeling nervous.
But excited.
Nervous but excited. That's a good way to put it. There was just...
What is a temporary residency visa? The temporary residency visa is for anyone planning on staying
more than 180 days, but less than four years. In most cases, it's the unskippable first
step to applying for permanent residency. In this video, I'm detailing the first step
of the application process, which you need to do at a Mexican consulate outside of the
United States. Now, before we dive in, I just wanted to remind you that I am not an immigration
lawyer. This video, and the information in it is based on my experience at the Mexican
consulate in Detroit.
Step one, make your appointment. When I was looking online to book an appointment at the
Mexico consulate in Detroit, I could only see time slots for a few weeks in advance
and everything after that was blacked out. So you can't book too far in advance, but
you also don't want to book too close to the date that you need your visa, because there
aren't a lot of time slots available. When I was looking, there were only time slots
available specifically for visa appointments, I think on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And there
were only two times lets each day at 10:00 and 11:00 AM. So as soon as you know that
you want to apply for a visa, get in there and grab an appointment.
You can book an appointment over the phone, but I really recommend to doing so online
because it is super easy and super convenient. You'll just need to create a little login
and then select your time slot. That's it. They'll send you a confirmation email and
go ahead and print that copy information email out or at the very least save it to your desktop
because I always recommend bringing in a copy of that with you to your visa appointment
in case there's any confusion, any mix up, you have proof that you made an appointment
for that day and that you need to get in. If you're having trouble figuring out where
to book your appointment, then just Google the name of your state plus Mexico consulate
and in the search results, you'll see which consulate is closest to you.
Step two, gather your documents. For the temporary residency visa, they only wanted the visa
form, which is just barely two pages, a photograph, a passport photograph, your actual passport
and then proof of economic solvency. That last one is where things got a little hairy
because even though the requirements seemed straightforward and clear on the website,
in reality, especially for a freelancer, it wasn't quite the case. Now, unless you have
a job lined up in Mexico, an organization or an institution is sponsoring your move
there, then this economic solvency portion is really, really important. The country of
Mexico wants to know that you are not going to be a burden to them.
According to the official that I spoke to at the consulate, according to the consulate
website itself, there are two ways to prove economic solvency. The first way is to bring
your bank statements for the last 12 months, month by month statements showing that you
have a balance of at least 27,213 U.S. dollars in those accounts over the past 12 months.
The second way is to show that you are earning at least 1,634 U.S. dollars per month. That's
after taxes. So you will need to bring in your pay stubs for the last six months showing
that you are earning at least that plus a letter from your employer stating your position.
If you are retired, then you will need to bring in proof of the money that you're getting
from Social Security.
While I still maintain that Mexico is a great country for digital nomads. There's no denying
that the temporary residency visa process is pretty tricky for freelancers. If you are
a freelancer who has multiple clients, you are changing out, working on different projects,
then it can be a bit difficult to prove that economic solvency with the $1,634 per month,
even if you are earning that. Because if you're getting it from multiple sources, the consulate
isn't really a fan of that. They want to see that you have one solid client who you've
worked with for at least six months, who is paying you that $1,634 per month.
Are you a freelancer? If you are a digital nomad who earns their money freelancing, I
would love to know what countries in the world you think are best for freelancing digital
nomads. Leave me a comment and let me know.
Step three. The initial review. My visa appointment was scheduled for July 28th at the Mexican
consulate in Detroit. Well, it's actually in Madison Heights, which is about 20 minutes
from Downtown Detroit. Make sure that you get there on time because my visa appointment
started promptly at 10:00 AM. I went into the consulate, which in Detroit at least was
actually pretty small. And at one end of the long counter, there was a table and I sat
down and an official came out and sat down across from me. The woman was really nice
and very professional. She asked what kind of visa I was applying for, collected my form,
collected my photograph, and then it started going through my financial statements. She
knew exactly what she was looking for. So there's really no wiggle room with the economic
solvency. Either you meet the requirements or not.
If you have any questions about whether or not your paperwork, your financial statements,
meet the requirements to prove economic solvency. Then just go ahead and shoot your consulate
and email. Consulates aren't always great about answering their phones, but usually
they are pretty good about getting back via email. So this is especially important if
you are coming a long way to get to your appointment. You don't want to waste a trip. Just check
in advance to make sure that you have everything you need.
Step four, pay for your visa. Once she determined that I was eligible, she sent me to a different
official, further down the counter, where I paid for my visa. I paid the $40 fee with
my credit card.
Step five, get fingerprinted. I did my left hand. I did my right hand and I did both thumbs.
She also asked me to stand in front of a white background and get my picture taken. That
was the picture that ended up being used on my visa. So, I'm not really sure what the
little passport photograph that they asked me for was used for, maybe just for their
records, but just know that you might be asked to take another picture at the consulate.
The interview. After I got fingerprinted, I sat around in the waiting room for a little
while, but then the official that I was initially working with, and then another official called
me over to a computer where they asked me some questions. The guy asked me questions
like, where I planned on living in Mexico, what kind of work that I did online, how
long I planned to live in Mexico. And while I was answering these questions, he was typing
in my responses into a computer. I really think that by that point they had already
decided to give me the visa. I'm not 100% sure though, but that's the way that it seems.
I think that while I was answering this guy's questions, I would have had to say something
pretty extreme, pretty whack in order for him to stop the visa process and telling me
that I was not going to get it.
Wait for your visa. I really had no idea that I was going to get back my passport with the
visa in it, the exact same day. Actually, after I finished answering the questions,
there was no moment, there was no statement from the officials saying that I had gotten
the visa. They just asked me to go sit down. So while I was waiting, I really had no idea
what I was waiting for. And then the official that had done my initial review called me
up again, handed me my passport and the visa was in it. I was so excited. In all, my appointment
took about two hours.
Celebrate your visa. After getting my passport back with the visa in it, I left the consulate
and met up with my friend in Detroit, who I had stayed the night with the night before.
We got cerveza of course, and walked along the riverfront. And I was just really happy
to be done with this part of the application process. Of course, this is only part one.
And the official at the consulate told me that I had six months to use this one time
entrance into Mexico. And upon using that one time visa entrance, I would need to start
the next part of the application process within 30 days of arriving to Mexico. I promised
to document the rest of the visa process, both on my blog, BackpackingBrunette.com as
well as here on YouTube. So be sure to subscribe to my channel and hit the bell to be notified
when I upload a new episode, because you are not going to want to miss part two of the
visa application process.
Now you know the first step in applying for a temporary residency in Mexico, but what
about finding an apartment once you get there? Head to the link in the description and grab
the completely free, 25 page Move To Mexico Quickstart Guide. It has my top tips for
apartment hunting in Mexico, plus a really handy renting in Spanish cheat sheet. If you
have any questions about applying for Mexico's temporary residency visa, or just moving to
Mexico in general, go ahead and leave those in the comments. And I will be sure to answer
them. I'm Alex from BackpackingBrunette.com. Thanks for watching. Watch these videos next
for even more advice about moving to Mexico. If you found this video helpful, give it a
thumbs up, subscribe and share it with someone who dreams of moving to Mexico.