Getting your one-time entry visa is only the first part of applying for temporary residency
in Mexico. After this video, you'll know what you need to finalize the process and get your
temporary residency card once you're in Mexico. 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. I'm an American expat living
in Queretaro, Mexico. I started the process of applying for temporary residency in July,
2020. Now, unless you're married to a Mexican citizen or have other close family ties to
Mexico, you have to begin the process of applying for temporary residency at a Mexican consulate
outside of Mexico. You can check out this video for part one of the process, which details
my entire experience applying for temporary residency at the Mexican consulate in Detroit.
Before we dive into the good stuff, and I tell you exactly what you need to finalize
your temporary residency permit in Mexico, I want to make it clear that I am not an immigration
lawyer. This video and the information in it is based on my own experiences.
Now, the very first thing that you are going to want to do as soon as you're settled in,
I mean, pretty much the day after you get to Mexico, because remember you only have
30 days. The very first thing that you're going to want to do is fill out the form for
your tramite. Now, this isn't an appointment per se, you can't make appointments for immigration,
but it does state your purpose of why you want to go into the INM building, what you
need there, and basically just registers you in the system. So, I'm going to go ahead and
walk you through these different documents, these different parts of the process, and
I will link in the description everything that I am showing you here. So the first thing
that you're going to want to do is fill out this [foreign language 00:02:11]. It will
take you to another webpage and it's asking you, what do you desire to do? You are exchanging
your migratory document. You are exchanging your FMM, that migratory
form that you filled out on the airplane and had the 30 days written on it by the immigration
official for your residency card. Now, down here, you don't need to fill out anything
that doesn't have an asterisk next to it. So, for names, you want to fill out your first
and your middle name. So, if you have a middle name in your passport, on your official documents,
put your middle name under [foreign language 00:03:07] that's your last name, so just if
you have one last name, put that there. If you have two, do that. The rest of these are
pretty straight forward. Now, this part here where it says, Domicilio, it's asking for
your address in Mexico. And if you don't have an apartment yet, just know that you will
have to do an address change at INM at a later date.
If you need help or are worried about finding an apartment in Mexico, head to the description
and download the totally free Move to Mexico Quickstart Guide. It has apartment hunting
tips or renting in Spanish cheat sheet. This guide that I put together will be a total
lifesaver for helping you find a place to live in Mexico. After you filled out your
address, you're going to scroll down and fill out your email address. From there, you will
select [foreign language 00:04:03] and it will give you your tramite. You'll have a
PDF to save or to print out. And you're going to want to make sure you do that because you
need to sign your copy and present it at INM. I'm going to go right down this list of necessary
documents explaining what each one is, and also highlighting the discrepancies. Because
while this list seems very complete, very convenient, there are a few differences between
what this list says and what you actually need to bring to immigration.
You'll need to bring your passport as well as a color copy of that front page with your
signature. Next, you'll need to bring your visa which is just in your passport, as well
as a color copy of that. And you'll also need to bring your FMM. Now, this is a copy of
mine because I had to hand in the original. You'll needed to bring the original, a copy,
and I suggest making another copy for your records since it is something that you are
handing over. Next, we have this formato basico and you have to fill it out completely. Now,
there's a link on this page here, and it will take you to a PDF. Now, this application is
pretty straight forward. And if you speak Spanish, if you have an intermediate level
of Spanish, honestly, even if you have access to Google translate, this is pretty easy to
fill out. There were just a few things that I wanted
to highlight on this formato basico that kind of threw me for a loop. Now, down here, this
is section that says [foreign language 00:05:45] this part of the form is asking you to detail
what you did for work, what you do to earn money in your home country. The [foreign language
00:05:55] in Mexico is a bit of a trick question. Now, remember, a temporary residency permit
is not a work permit. So while it is okay to work online, to earn money from clients
in your home country or other parts of the world, you are not supposed to be working
in Mexico. So, your principle activity should not reflect work whatsoever. If you put down
here anything about working online, it could potentially confuse the immigration official
and create a longer process for you. So this is what I ended up doing, after talking
to a few different people I decided in the section that says [foreign language 00:06:44]
to put, Hogar. And that just means being at home. I also wrote, [foreign language 00:06:52]
and just stating that I was in Mexico to learn Spanish, experience the culture. And that's
the same type of thing that I told the immigration official at INM when she asked me why I was
applying for temporary residency. That's it for the formato basico. Now, let's move on
to the pago de derechos. Now, the link for this is not found under the necessary documents,
but I will go ahead and put the link in the description of this video. So what is the
pago de derechos? Well, you have to pay for your temporary residency permit before you
even go to INM. You will need to do it at a bank. But first,
before you go to the bank, in order for the bank to know what to do once you're there,
you have to fill out this little form online and print it out. So, first things first,
it's asking the type of person you are, you are [foreign language 00:07:50] because you
are one person. [foreign language 00:07:53] would be if you were doing this for a group
of people. So, you're going to fill out your last name, your first and your middle name
over here, and that is it. So, I will go ahead and do that now, just to show you what it
looks like. Now, on this next page, it's asking you the
type of tramite that you have. And remember, you're paying for your temporary resident
permit. So, [foreign language 00:08:23]. And down here you're going to select for one year.
You usually can't do more than a year at a time for your temporary residency visa. Down
here, you'll select the state where you're going. I went in, I just can't find it, Queretaro.
And over here, the city. Select, continue. On this next page you can see that it's given
me a reference number as well the amount, how much you'll need to pay for your temporary
residency visa. It costs 4,271 pesos. You can print. And it'll give you this sheet here,
which you will then take to the bank. I went to Santander. I went to Santander in Queretaro
and paid for my visa in cash. The bank employee typed all of this information here in, and
then printed out a receipt. I signed the receipt affirming that all the
information on it was correct. And then you need to make sure that with that receipt from
the bank, you make two copies of it. So, you will bring the original plus two copies to
INM. Make sure you have those two copies because the immigration official does use them at
INM and will turn you away if you don't have them. The last thing that you will need to
prepare in advance and bring to INM are these three photographs, tipo infantil. Now, these
are very specific photographs that INM, that immigration wants. And they want two photos
of the front of your face, and one photo of your right side profile. Now, you need to
follow certain requirements for these photos. It needs to be a white background. You must
have your forehead completely exposed, no earrings and no glasses.
Your hair needs to be tucked behind your ears. And of course, the photos need to be in color.
Now, about two weeks after I got back to Mexico, I had all my documents ready, all of those
copies, and I went to INM on a Thursday. So, I arrived to the immigration office a little
after 6:00 AM. I know what you're thinking, that is very, very early. And you're right.
The immigration office doesn't open until 9:00 AM, but lining up outside just seems
like the thing to do. And I had heard that because of COVID the immigration office was
only letting in 50 people per day. So, I wanted to make sure since I was making the trip out
there, that I was going to be able to get in. Got our chairs, a little cooler, [inaudible
00:11:30] shows and a movie. When I got here, we were like 11 in line, but people have been
holding places, lawyers have been holding places. So, it's changed a little bit, but
not too much. I think I'm definitely going to get in today.
When the immigration official at the front gate looked at my tramite and saw my reason
for wanting to go into the INM building, saw that I was there for my temporary residency,
she gave me a green ticket. And when I went inside, I was only sitting down for maybe
a minute in the waiting area before all the green tickets were called upstairs. There,
we were asked to take a number, and when our number was called, we would meet with an immigration
official. Everything was happening very quickly. And I was probably sitting down for less than
a minute before my number was called. I went up to a table and sat across from an immigration
official. There was a partition between us. I'm not sure if that's always there or if
that was just for COVID. And she asked why I was there, and I slid all of my documents
under the partition. She started to go through them. And really,
the only question she asked me the entire time was why I wanted to live in Mexico. I
explained that my grandparents had both been from Mexico and that I wanted to live here,
learn Spanish and travel, get to know the culture. She seemed satisfied with that answer,
and we didn't really speak again until she was asking me to sign a form agreeing that
all the information that I had submitted was true and accurate, and that I was going to
be receiving confirmation via email about updates to my immigration status. How long
does it take to get your temporary residency permit? Well, I have heard from some people
that it can take as little as two weeks to as long as two months. My friend Riley, who
helped me so much with this process told me that it took her two months to get her temporary
residency permit from INM here in Queretaro. So, that is what I'm thinking will happen.
What do you do if you need to leave Mexico while your temporary residency permit is pending?
Well, if you have to leave Mexico, you need to apply for an exit permit. And this is actually,
I have heard, more complicated than the residency process itself. So, if you can avoid applying
for an exit permit, I highly recommend doing that. So my advice to you would be, to plan
this process around a time that you will be able to be in Mexico for at least two months
while you wait to get your card back. When I do receive an update from INM, whether that
be an email or a notification on the website with my NUT number, I will go back to INM,
wait in line again, get fingerprinted, and then in that visit receive my temporary residency
card. Even though I don't have my temporary residency
card officially yet, I wanted to create a video updating you about this process because
I know some of you are doing it simultaneously. And I wanted to make sure that you had this
information. When I have my temporary residency card in my hot little hand, I will be sure
to make a third video in this temporary residency in Mexico series so you can know what that
last visit to INM was like. And I will reflect on this entire process in that video. If you
have any questions about applying for temporary residency in Mexico, or just moving to Mexico
in general, be sure to leave those in the comments and I will definitely 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.