Mexico Investor Temporary Residence

Mexico's investor route is a temporary resident visa for investors granted under Article 107 of the Regulations to the Migration Law (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración), which implements the temporary-residence visa of Article 40 fraction IV of the Ley de Migración for stays longer than 180 days and up to four years. Article 107 lists the qualifying investor grounds: fraction V — ownership of real estate whose value exceeds the amount fixed in administrative rules published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación; and fraction VI — (a) participation in the share capital of Mexican companies, (b) ownership of movable property or fixed assets used for economic or business activities, and (c) economic or business activities that generate formal employment (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración, Article 107).

Thresholds are indexed to the UMA (Unidad de Medida y Actualización) rather than fixed in pesos. Consular criteria set the company-capital/business-assets test at a value exceeding 45,850 days of UMA — a Mexican consular page renders this as approximately MXN 5,187,469 — and permit an alternative qualification where the applicant is an investor in a Mexican company that employs at least three workers, evidenced by an IMSS certificate (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium — Temporary Resident Visa for Investors). The real-estate route under Article 107 fraction V is set at a property value exceeding 91,710 days of UMA, rendered by the Mexican Embassy in Spain as approximately MXN 10,376,069 (Embassy of Mexico in Spain).

INEGI has set the UMA effective 1 February 2026 at MXN 117.31 per day (MXN 3,566.22 monthly; MXN 42,794.64 annually) (INEGI — UMA 2026). Applying that value: 45,850 UMA-days ≈ MXN 5,378,000, which at the ECB cross rate of EUR/MXN 19.7653 and EUR/USD 1.1645 (USD/MXN ≈ 16.97) is approximately USD 317,000; the 91,710 UMA-day real-estate test ≈ MXN 10,757,000 ≈ USD 634,000 (INEGI; ECB).

Process-wise this is a consular product. The investor visa is applied for at a Mexican consulate — appointments are booked through the national appointments portal — and the visa itself is valid for 180 days for a single entry; the holder must then enter Mexico and apply to the Instituto Nacional de Migración for the residence card within 30 days of entry (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración; Embassy of Mexico in Belgium). Importantly, the investor visa does not authorise paid employment in Mexico, and the temporary-resident card is issued for one, two, three or four years according to the applicant's request (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium; Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).

This program is distinct from the Mexico Legal Residency Visa, which is the independent-means (savings/income) route. Here the qualifying basis is invested capital, business assets, real estate, or job creation (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración, Article 107).

Core eligibility

• Apply as a foreign national intending to remain in Mexico for more than 180 days and up to four years under Article 40 fraction IV of the Ley de Migración, as implemented by Article 107 of its Regulations (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).

• Choose one of the Article 107 investor grounds: real estate (fraction V); shares in a Mexican company, business movable property/fixed assets, or job-generating economic activity (fraction VI (a)–(c)) (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).

Financial thresholds (2026 consular criteria)

• Company capital or business assets: value exceeding 45,850 UMA-days — approximately MXN 5,187,469 per the published consular figure, or approximately MXN 5,378,000 at the 2026 UMA value of MXN 117.31/day (≈USD 317,000) (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium; INEGI).

• Real estate: property value exceeding 91,710 UMA-days — approximately MXN 10,376,069 per the consular figure, or approximately MXN 10,757,000 at the 2026 UMA (≈USD 634,000) (Embassy of Mexico in Spain; INEGI).

• Employment alternative: instead of the capital test, evidence via an IMSS certificate that the Mexican company in which you invest employs at least three workers (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium).

Documentation and consular procedure

• Book a consular appointment through Mexico's appointments system (citas.sre.gob.mx) and appear in person at the consulate with the visa application form, passport, photograph and the investment evidence (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium).

• Provide title deeds, notarised share documentation, company incorporation documents, asset valuations or IMSS records as applicable to the chosen ground (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium; Embassy of Mexico in Spain).

• Real-estate applicants must show the property's value against the DOF-published administrative criteria referenced by Article 107 fraction V (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).

Entry and card issuance

• The visa is valid 180 days, single entry; travel to Mexico within that window (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).

• Apply to the Instituto Nacional de Migración for the temporary-resident card within 30 days of entry (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).

• The card is issued for one, two, three or four years as requested, and the status does not authorise paid employment unless a work permission is separately obtained (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium).

Maintenance and transition

• Maintain the qualifying investment and renew within the four-year temporary-residence envelope (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).

• After four years as a temporary resident, apply for permanent residence under Article 54 fraction V of the Ley de Migración (Ley de Migración, Article 54).

• Multiple qualifying routes — company shares, business assets, real estate, or job creation — let applicants use the asset class they already hold (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).
• A three-employee IMSS alternative can substitute for the capital test, which is unusually accommodating for small operating businesses (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium).
• Residence cards can be requested for up to four years at once, reducing renewal friction (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium).
• Permanent residence after four years of temporary residence is a statutory entitlement rather than a discretionary grant (Ley de Migración, Article 54).
• Permanent residents may obtain permission to work for remuneration in Mexico (Ley de Migración).
• Naturalisation is possible after just five years of residence, counting time as either temporary or permanent resident (SRE).
• Thresholds are UMA-indexed and published, so the qualifying figure is verifiable rather than negotiated (INEGI).
• The Mexican passport gives visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 157 countries and territories, ranked 22nd in 2026 (Wikipedia — Visa requirements for Mexican citizens).

Mexican naturalisation by residence is comparatively fast. SRE issues the carta de naturalización por residencia to foreigners who evidence residence in Mexico — with a card issued by the Secretaría de Gobernación showing temporary resident or permanent resident status — for at least the five years immediately preceding the application, under Article 20 of the Ley de Nacionalidad and Article 14 of its Regulations (SRE). Critically, time on a temporary resident student card does not count (SRE).

The documentary requirements include being of legal age and in use of civil rights; the DNN-3 application form obtained on pre-registration; the original and two copies of the Gobernación residence card evidencing five years of legal stay and showing the CURP, with at least six months' validity remaining at filing; and a legalised or apostilled foreign birth certificate (SRE).

For an investor, the practical sequence is: temporary residence on the Article 107 investor basis → permanent residence after four years under Article 54 fraction V → naturalisation at the five-year mark, since both temporary and permanent residence count toward the five years (Ley de Migración, Article 54; SRE).

Because the qualifying period is measured by residence cards and requires genuine residence, tax residency in Mexico is effectively required in practice. Mexico does not require renunciation of a prior nationality for naturalisation, and dual nationality is permitted. Note that the investor status itself carries no right to paid employment, so income during the qualifying years must come from the investment or from outside Mexico (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium).

The statute is the Ley de Migración, whose Article 40 fraction IV creates the temporary-residence visa and whose Article 54 governs the transition to permanent residence, including fraction V's rule that permanent residence is granted where four years have elapsed since the foreigner obtained a temporary residence permit (Ley de Migración). The operative detail sits in Article 107 of the Reglamento de la Ley de Migración, which enumerates the investor grounds and sets the 180-day/30-day visa-to-card mechanics (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).

Two federal bodies share administration: the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE) through its consular network issues the investor visa and publishes the UMA-denominated criteria (Embassy of Mexico in Belgium), and the Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM), under the Secretaría de Gobernación, issues and renews the residence card after entry (Reglamento de la Ley de Migración).

Monetary thresholds are indexed by INEGI, which publishes the UMA annually — MXN 117.31 per day with effect from 1 February 2026 (INEGI). Naturalisation is separate: the Ley de Nacionalidad (Article 20) and its Regulations (Article 14) are administered by SRE's Dirección General de Asuntos Jurídicos, which issues the carta de naturalización (SRE — Carta de naturalización por residencia).