From tougher financial thresholds to doubled government fees and stricter on-the-ground checks, Mexico’s once-accessible residency path is entering a new, more selective era in 2026.
A new era for residency
Mexico’s lawmakers have ushered in 2026 with reforms that make it both more difficult and more expensive for foreigners to obtain or renew legal residency. Demand for residency has surged in recent years, driven largely by retiring and near-retirement Americans, alongside mid-career professionals with portable skills who want to live and work in Mexico.
Why Mexico is tightening the rules
Mexico has long been attractive to people with modest retirement incomes thanks to relatively approachable financial thresholds and geographical proximity to the United States. Until now, residency fees and criteria tended to move broadly in step with inflation, preserving accessibility for many middle-income applicants. The recent legislative shifts signal a policy pivot toward higher economic requirements and closer scrutiny of applicants’ ties to the country.
Financial criteria: more income, more savings
In July 2025, the government updated its immigration guidelines, abandoning the use of the Minimum Daily Wage as a baseline and moving to the UMA unit for residency qualification calculations. At the same time, the multiples applied to these UMAs were raised, effectively rebasing the minimum required income and savings well above the thresholds set in the 2012 framework. Although the exact 2026 figures are still pending, the expectation is that they will increase at least in line with official inflation, estimated at around 4%, adding another layer of cost pressure for would-be residents.
Residency fees: the cost shock
In autumn 2025, Congress approved, and the Senate confirmed, a legal change that doubles government processing fees for foreign residency visas and cards from January 1, 2026. This breaks the long-standing pattern of modest, inflation-linked adjustments and pushes the typical government outlay for a five-year journey from Temporary to Permanent residency from about 25,000 pesos (roughly US$1,350) to over 50,000 pesos (about US$2,700) per applicant. Applicants using the Family Unit route or applying under a qualifying company job offer receive a 50% discount on the 2026 fees, but even with this reduction, the cost structure is markedly steeper than in prior years.
Procedures and proof: stricter on-the-ground checks
Alongside higher financial bars and fees, immigration offices have been tightening procedures, extending processing times, and lengthening appointment lead times through 2025. Family Unit applications that once wrapped up within a week are now often taking two to three months, with officers increasingly conducting home visits as part of case evaluations. In some states, officials now routinely require proof of a Mexican residential address, and some applicants are being asked to show at least two documents—such as a utility bill and a rental contract—to establish their physical presence.
What applicants should expect in 2026
From 2026 onward, applicants should plan for higher income or savings thresholds, more rigorous documentation demands, and significantly higher government charges on their path to legal residency. With the old “inflation only” pattern for residency fees broken, future increases have become harder to predict, adding uncertainty to long-term planning for both new and renewing residents.
Source: “Mexico Residency in 2026: Tighter Criteria, Higher Fees”, Mexperience
