Mexico Temporary Residence With a Work Permit: The Work Visa

The Temporary Resident Work Visa is the status for anyone taking up paid work in Mexico itself: a permanent job with a Mexican or international employer in the country, for example in the industrial hubs with many international manufacturers, or other work paid locally. Eligibility depends on your nationality, and we check it before you order. The decisive difference from the solvency route: your future employer files the application directly with the National Migration Institute (INM), and you do not need your own proof of solvency. If, on the other hand, you work remotely for a foreign employer and your salary is paid into a foreign account, you do not need this product: temporary residence through proof of solvency is enough.

The requirement is a specific employment relationship with salary paid from Mexico: your future employer initiates the application directly with the INM, and your own proof of solvency is then not needed. On your side are the formalities: a valid passport, a passport photo and documents on your identity and qualifications; what your case specifically needs depends on the employer, the position and the consulate and is checked for your case before you apply. Regulated professions such as medicine, law or architecture are a special case: there a Cédula Profesional from the Mexican professional licensing authority may also be required; if you work for an international company, in practice the employer's permit is usually sufficient. After entry you have 30 calendar days to apply for the physical residence card at the INM.

The overall timeframe depends on three stages: the INM pre-approval, the consular appointment and the card procedure after entry. How quickly the first stage moves is largely determined by the employer's application; there is no guaranteed date, and no one can honestly give you one. We set the timetable together with you and your employer and keep you updated in English.

For the consular appointment you are in your country of residence; then you enter Mexico to start your job and complete the card procedure at the INM within 30 days. Because you work in Mexico, the presence question arises differently than with a Plan B setup: you live in the country anyway. You keep the status by holding a valid card; Mexico has no formal minimum presence for keeping residence.

Your spouse or partner, children and parents can join you as dependents on your case through Mexico's simplified procedure for family members of residents, each receiving their own Residente Temporal with much lower solvency thresholds. Each family member goes through their own procedure with their own document pack; we handle the coordination so the family can arrive in the same window if possible. For children and teenagers who will go to school in Mexico, the student visa may also fit.

The Mexican ladder applies with the Work Visa too: after four years of Residente Temporal you switch, with no new proof of solvency, to permanent residence with no expiry, which we support as Mexico permanent residence. The years also count towards the five years to naturalisation. For the full picture of the country, see the Mexico country page.