Mexico
Mexico City · North America
A large, geographically varied country with a generous visitor allowance, no dedicated remote-worker visa, and a temporary residence route that many remote workers use instead. Financial requirements are set by each consulate and vary more than in most countries.
- USMCA
- OECD
- Pacific Alliance
- Capital
- Mexico City
- Currency
- MXN $
- Language
- Spanish
- Population
- 130.0M
- Long-stay routes
- 3
- Route to permanent residence
- Yes
- Unemployment
- 2.8%
- Drives on the
- Right
Mexican peso
2 recognised
2024 estimate
Soonest, 4 years
2025, indicative
+52
Entry and short stays
What your passport allows before any long-stay permission is involved.
Reading your passport selection…
Can I live here?
Every long-stay route this country publishes, checked against what you tell us. The checking happens in your browser.
About you
Stored in this browser only. Never sent anywhere.
Before tax, in the currency you earn.
Reading your answers…
Nothing here is an approval, and nothing here is advice. Only the authority deciding your application can tell you the answer, and it will weigh things this tool does not model.
Long-stay routes
Stored as structured records, so the same data drives the checks above, the comparison view and the checklists.
Temporary resident (economic solvency)
Retirement and passive incomeThe route most long-stay arrivals use, including remote workers, since Mexico has no dedicated remote-work visa. Qualify on either documented monthly income or an average bank balance. Four years of temporary residence leads to permanent residence.
- Income needed
- US$4,300 a month
- Leads to settlement
- After 4 years
Permanent resident
Permanent residenceAvailable directly on higher financial thresholds or a qualifying pension, through family ties, or by converting after four years of temporary residence. Carries the right to work without further permission.
- Income needed
- US$7,200 a month
- Leads to settlement
- No
Temporary resident with work permission
EmploymentEmployer-initiated: a Mexican employer registered with INM files the job offer, and the applicant collects the visa at a consulate before travelling.
- Income needed
- Not stated
- Leads to settlement
- After 4 years
Cost of living
An estimate you can shape. It is not survey data and it is not a quote.
| Category | Monthly range |
|---|---|
| Housing | US$400 – US$1,000 |
| Food | US$220 – US$450 |
| Utilities | US$50 – US$140 |
| Internet | US$20 – US$40 |
| Transport | US$25 – US$120 |
| Healthcare | US$60 – US$200 |
| Everything else | US$150 – US$400 |
| Total | US$925 – US$2,350 |
| Suggested monthly buffer | US$2,820 |
Modelled from a baseline for one adult and scaled, not sampled from households. Figures are shown as ranges because that is the honest shape of the data.
Worth knowing. Modelled estimate in US dollars because that is the currency most residence thresholds are quoted in. Peso costs move with the exchange rate.
Housing
Foreign nationals may own property directly across most of the country. Within the restricted zone — 50 km of the coast and 100 km of a land border — ownership is held through a bank trust (fideicomiso) or a Mexican company.
What landlords usually ask for
- A Mexican guarantor (fiador) with local property, or a policy from a rental bond company instead
- Proof of income
- Identification and immigration document
Inmuebles24 (opens in a new tab)Vivanuncios (opens in a new tab)
Worth knowing. The restricted-zone rule is constitutional; the rest are market conventions.
Healthcare
A public system split between social security institutes for formal workers and a separate public scheme for everyone else, alongside a large and comparatively affordable private sector that most foreign residents use.
- If you live there
- Residents can enrol voluntarily in IMSS for an annual premium, subject to waiting periods and exclusions for pre-existing conditions.
- If you are visiting
- Private clinics treat visitors on a fee-paying basis at costs well below the United States. Travel insurance is strongly advisable.
Tax
- Tax residency threshold
- No day test
- Taxes worldwide income
- Yes, for residents
- Income tax range
- 1.92% – 35%
- VAT or sales tax
- 16%
Mexico determines tax residency by where your home and centre of vital interests are, not by counting days. Holding a residence card does not automatically make you tax resident, and not holding one does not exempt you.
Remote workers. There is no remote-worker status and therefore no special tax treatment. If Mexico becomes your centre of vital interests you are taxable there on worldwide income regardless of where your clients are.
Social insurance. Formal employees contribute to IMSS with the employer paying the larger share. Voluntary IMSS enrolment for residents is a separate, much cheaper annual scheme.
Capital gains. Gains are generally taxed as ordinary income, with a separate regime for listed share disposals and relief on a principal residence.
Worth knowing. Orientation only; confirm with the SAT and an adviser.
Work and the labour market
Conditions in the labour market, which is a different claim from how many jobs are open right now. This product does not pretend to know the second from static data.
- Unemployment
- 2.8%
- Youth unemployment
- 6%
- Average earnings
- MX$17K / mo
- Minimum wage
- MX$8,364 / mo
Worth knowing. Headline unemployment is low partly because a large share of employment is informal, which the rate does not capture.
Sectors
- Manufacturing and nearshoringgrowingSubstantial investment in northern and central industrial corridors as supply chains have relocated.
- Technology and shared servicesgrowingGuadalajara, Monterrey and Mexico City host most international technology employers.
- TourismstableA major employer along both coasts and in the Yucatán.
Cities
A country-wide average hides a lot. Where we have city data, use it instead.
Mexico City
One of the largest cities in the Americas, at 2,240 metres altitude. Deep job market, extensive transit, and neighbourhoods where a rapid influx of foreign remote workers has driven visible rent increases and local friction.
One adult, monthly: US$1,200 – US$2,200
Guadalajara
The country’s technology centre, with a substantial electronics and software industry and costs below Mexico City.
One adult, monthly: US$1,000 – US$1,800
Mérida
A colonial city in the Yucatán with a reputation for safety and a growing foreign resident population. Hot and humid for much of the year.
One adult, monthly: US$950 – US$1,700
Sources
Every claim on this page traces to one of these. If something here matters to a decision you are making, read it there.
Authorities for Mexico
- INM — temporary and permanent resident cards and in-country procedures (opens in a new tab)Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) · National immigration authority
- Consular visa requirements and the residence visa interview (opens in a new tab)Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores · Foreign ministry
- Ley de Migración and its Reglamento — resident categories and economic solvency (opens in a new tab)Cámara de Diputados · Government department