Residency & Immigration

Temporary residency almost always starts outside Mexico. You apply at a Mexican consulate in your home country, show economic solvency, and if approved you get a visa sticker in your passport. That sticker is not residency — it is permission to enter and finish the process.

Once you cross, you have a limited window to begin the exchange (canje) at an immigration office, which turns the sticker into an actual residency card. Miss that window and you generally start over at a consulate.

San Felipe has its own INM sub-representation, so this does not require a trip to Mexicali:

Instituto Nacional de Migración — San Felipe Av. Mar Amarillo y Calzada Chetumal No. 455, Zona Centro, C.P. 21850 Monday to Friday, 09:00–15:00 (686) 577 1083

Temporary residency runs a year at first and can be renewed; after several years permanent residency becomes available.

The income and savings thresholds are set by each consulate and change regularly. Confirm the current figures with the consulate you will actually apply at — not with a neighbour who did this four years ago, and not with a forum post. Many people here use a local facilitator or immigration attorney, and for most it is money well spent: the paperwork is unforgiving about small details.