By-Pass Temporary and Get Permanent Resident Visa

[Kurbie]

I'm a little confused.  I've been told two different scenarios (we're building and then moving to Lakeside).

1.  Don't bother getting a Temporary Visa and just get the Permanent Resident

2.  You CAN'T get a Permanent until you have received a Temporary.

Anyone have good clarification on this?  Thanks!

[RVGRINGO]

If you have sufficient financial resources/provable retirement income, etc., you can be approved for Residente Permanente.  Go to your nearest Mexican consulate, in your home country, to apply.

[zerbit]

In the process of getting our permanente right now. As RV stated, look up current requirements online. It will explain the needs. Either a cash balance / investment over a certain amount ( it was 77k USD when we applied in February) or an amount like $2100 usd a month in retirement/ pension funds. They would not take income from a business or investments, if had to be a pension. 

We did not have temporal status, we applied for permanente. The Mexican Consulate website spells out what you need and the process. We are currently waiting to get our fingerprints done here and then will wait for the cards to be completed. 

[Sonia]

About 25% of my clients with a pre-approved visa obtain a PR pre-approval. The latest being today. Some do not want it as they want to keep a foreign plated car. More here: http://www.soniadiaz.mx/immigration---visas.html

 

 

[earlyretirement]

New poster here as I just found this website.  For all you experts, is there any downside or negative aspects to applying for permanent residency there?  I don't plan on moving there permanently but wouldn't mind moving my family abroad for a year to practice their Spanish.   I just bought an apartment in a new construction that will be completed next year in April 2018.   

From what I've been reading, it helps to have purchased a property there.  The property is 6 million pesos.   I wouldn't have any issues with the minimum cash balance as well as income stream as I own several properties that spin off cashflow and can show it.

But I'd be curious if there are any downsides to getting permanent residency there? Thanks in advance.

[Mainecoons]

The downside as Sonia noted is that you can NOT drive a U.S. plated vehicle here if you have a Permanente Visa.

If you're just talking a year, you can go for a Temporal, easier to get and you can drive the U.S. plated vehicle.  Since your situation is a bit out of the ordinary it would probably be worth your while to consult an immigration specialist like Spencer or Sonia.

[earlyretirement]

Thanks Mainecoons.  Yes, I'll contact Sonia once I get closer to taking possession of the property.  

[Karyn]

Just joined this web board, starting to consider retirement opportunities in Mexico. We currently live in California. How long can we come into Mexico just on our regular passports? What's the duration that would require a temporary Visa? For the temporary residency Visa would we have to give up our US passports?

[RVGRINGO]

You may enter Mexico as a tourist and stay for up to 180 days. You will need your US Passport, of course.

To become a temporary resident, with a visa, you will need to apply at the nearest Mexican consulate and meet financial qualifications. If approved, you will have 180 days to enter Mexico; then, 30 days to report to Immigration (INM) serving your area of residence, to effect the exchange (canje) of your approval for the actual visa; a process than may take a month or two.   With a Residente Temporal visa, you may renew for a total of 4 years and may drive your US car for that period.  Then, you will apply for Residente Permanente, but must remove your car from Mexico, and only be able to drive a Mexican car.

No, you never have to give up your passport, even if you eventually applied for naturalization as a Mexican citizen. Dual citizenship is perfectly OK.