Financial Criteria for Legal Residency in Mexico 2024

This guide describes the routes and amounts required to qualify for residency under Mexico’s immigration rules for economic solvency.

When you plan to apply for legal residency in Mexico, Mexican immigration law states that applicants for residency need to fulfill certain criteria.

Most applications for residency are granted on the basis of ‘economic solvency’ and these criteria intend to ensure that people applying for residency by this route have the economic means to sustain themselves in Mexico.

Financial qualification criteria for 2024

There are four principal routes to qualify for residency in Mexico using your financial means / assets.  They are:

• By demonstrating you have a minimum monthly net income; or
• By holding a minimum balance in personal savings/investments; or
• By owning a house in Mexico with a specified minimum value; or
• By making a specified capital investment in a Mexican company.

You must qualify financially with the minimum amount required under one of the above.  You cannot mix means/asset types; for example, you cannot mix income & savings, or savings & house value.

The financial account statements (or property title deed, if you use your Mexican house value) must be in the name of the applicant.

This section describes the monetary amounts Mexican Consulates typically ask for to qualify for Temporary or Permanent residency under each means/asset type mentioned in the previous section.

Residency in Mexico using your monthly income

When you intend to use your monthly income to apply for a residency visa at a Mexican Consulate abroad, you need to demonstrate monthly net income as described in the table below.

See also: Difference between temporary and permanent residency.

Residency in Mexico using your personal savings/investments

When you intend to use your personal savings/investment balances to apply for a residency visa at a Mexican Consulate abroad, you need to demonstrate savings and/or investment balances as described in the table below.

Residency in Mexico using the market value of your residential house

You can apply at a Mexican Consulate for Temporary Residency if you own a residential property in Mexico (not abroad) and you can demonstrate that:

• the property has a minimum market value of MXN$9,957,000 pesos (approximately $586,000 US dollars), and:
• the property must be situated in Mexico;
• the property value must be free of any liens (debts, charges, or mortgages);
• the value to demonstrate is that noted on the title deed/sales contract, or from a recent official valuation;
• the name(s) on the title deed/sales contract must match that of the applicant.

Residency in Mexico using a capital investment

You can qualify for Temporary Residency if you commit to investing in a private Mexican-owned company or a company or companies listed on the Mexican stock exchange.

• You must make a capital investment of at least MXN$4,978,600 pesos (approximately US$293,000); and
• the capital must be invested in one of a prescribed set of ways; and
• these applications are considerably more complex than applications made using the other three ‘economic solvency’ routes.

See also: FAQs: Obtaining Residency in Mexico via ‘Economic Solvency’.

Exchange rates

We used an exchange rate of 17 Mexican pesos (MXN) to 1 US dollar (USD) to calculate the USD-equivalent amounts in the illustrations.  Mexican Consulates abroad and immigration offices in Mexico may apply distinct exchange rates that might not reflect these illustrations, and/or the latest market rates.

Financial requirements vary by consulate

It’s common for ‘economic solvency’ requirements to vary between consulates. The differences usually arise due to the variation in the exchange rate applied by each consulate to calculate the figures in the local currency where the consulate is situated.  However, requirements quoted by Mexican Consulates are broadly aligned with Mexico’s 2024 Minimum Daily Wage multiples—see next section for more details.

Dependent spouse
(married couples/common law partners)

If you’re applying for residency as a couple, you do not need to demonstrate double the amounts expressed above.

Instead, one spouse/partner will need to demonstrate income or a savings balance in the amounts above (as the principal applicant) plus an additional sum of income or savings balance equivalent to 100x Minimum Daily Wage (MDW) or UMA for the dependent spouse/partner.

If you are legally married, you will need to show your marriage certificate.  Common-law partners need to consult with the consulate they apply at to ask about what proof of common-law partnership they ask for; requirements vary by consulate.

Read this if you are applying for Permanent Residency as a couple.

Also read these FAQs for more details about couples applying together.

Dependent minors

If you’re applying for residency with dependent children, note that only minor children (aged under 18 years) can be included on the application as your dependents.

For minor children dependents, you will need to demonstrate income or a savings balance in the amounts above for the principal applicant plus an additional sum of income or savings balance equivalent to 100x Minimum Daily Wage (MDW) or UMA for each dependent minor child. (See the next section in this guide about how figures are calculated regarding MDW and UMA.)

Also note: Both parents must be present at the interview to sign the application for the dependent child(ren), otherwise a notarized letter from the absent parent authorizing the application must be submitted alongside the application.

Family Unit applications

“Family Unit” applications are those where the applicant has specific family ties or roots in Mexico, for example, Mexican parentage or a Mexican spouse or common-law partner. Learn more about Family Unit residency applications.

Permanent residency

Mexican Consulates are requiring applicants ‘to be retired’ to grant applications for Permanent Residency right away—even when applicants meet the economic solvency requirements.

If the applicant has the economic means for permanent residency but does not otherwise qualify, the Consulate will usually offer to grant Temporary Residency instead.  Read this if you are applying for Permanent Residency as a couple.

Student residents

Financial qualification criteria for student residency permits are considerably lower (see the tables in the next section) but note that student residency permits carry restrictions that non-student residency permits don’t have.  Work permissions can optionally be sought with student residency permits.

All applications

Every application is dealt with on a per-case basis and the Mexican consulate abroad or immigration office in Mexico retain ultimate discretion to accept an application—and thereafter grant or deny that residency application.

Under Mexico’s immigration law, applicants seeking residency in Mexico via the route of ‘economic solvency’ need to demonstrate amounts of money based on “multiples” of either Mexico’s official Minimum Daily Wage (MDW) or Unidad de Medida y Actualización (UMA).

The values of MDW and UMA rise in January each year, and the value of these determine the financial criteria to qualify for residency in Mexico.

UMA 2024: $108.57 pesos; MDW 2024: $248.93 Mexican pesos

• Minimum Daily Wage for 2024 is $248.93 pesos
• UMA for 2024 is $108.57 pesos.
• Mexican consulates abroad continue to use Minimum Daily Wage (MDW) for their calculations, and do not appear to be adopting UMA in 2024 to calculate their residency qualification criteria.
• Immigration offices in Mexico are using UMA values for their calculations.

How qualifying ‘multiples’ work

Depending on the type of residency applied for, applicants must demonstrate varying (x) multiples of UMA or Minimum Daily Wage (MDW).

The table below illustrates the legally-stipulated multiples required for various residency types.

* Family Unit applications are those whereby the applicant has specific family ties or roots in Mexico.

UMA 2024: $108.57 pesos; MDW 2024: $248.93 Mexican pesos

‘Multiples’ table based on monthly income

This table illustrates the minimum monthly income that must be demonstrated in the 6 months preceding your application date (some consulates ask to see 12 months).

The amounts below are expressed in Mexican pesos (MXN) with an approximate equivalent in US dollars (USD), based on the legal multiples of UMA or Minimum Daily Wage (MDW) required for qualification.  See the section above to learn about how the ‘multiples’ are applied in these calculations.

US dollar amounts illustrated in these tables use an exchange rate of 17 Mexican pesos to 1 US dollar.

* Family Unit applications are those whereby the applicant has specific family ties or roots in Mexico.

UMA 2024: $108.57 pesos; MDW 2024: $248.93 Mexican pesos

‘Multiples’ table based on savings/investments

This table illustrates the minimum savings/investment balance (cash or investments) required, and this minimum balance must be demonstrated for at least a full 12 months preceding your application date.  For monthly income, see previous section.

The amounts below are expressed in Mexican pesos (MXN) with an approximate equivalent in US dollars (USD), based on the legal multiples of UMA or Minimum Daily Wage (MDW) required for qualification.  See the section above to learn about how the ‘multiples’ are applied in these calculations.

US dollar amounts illustrated in these tables use an exchange rate of 17 Mexican pesos to 1 US dollar.

* Family Unit applications are those whereby the applicant has specific family ties or roots in Mexico.

UMA 2024: $108.57 pesos; MDW 2024: $248.93 Mexican pesos

Learn more about residency in Mexico

Mexperience publishes information and resources to help you learn about how to apply for and obtain legal residency in Mexico: