Mexico Permanent Residency: Why Every Consulate Quotes a Different Number

How do Mexican consulates calculate the solvency threshold?

Mexican consulates calculate the permanent residency threshold by multiplying a fixed number of UMA days, set in the federal visa Lineamientos of 25 July 2025, by the UMA value in force, so at the 2026 daily UMA of MXN 117.31 the savings test is MXN 5,378,663.50 and the pension test MXN 133,733.40 a month.

The instrument is the Lineamientos Generales para la expedición de visas of the Secretaría de Gobernación and the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores (SRE), published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF) on 25 July 2025 and in force fifteen calendar days later. It abrogated the 2014 Lineamientos, which expressed the same tests in days of minimum wage (20,000 days of savings or a pension of 500 days). It also states that the consular offices process, authorise and issue visas under it. No consulate sets its own number.

The UMA (Unidad de Medida y Actualización) is the reference unit Mexican law now uses in place of the minimum wage. INEGI publishes its value, and the 2026 daily figure is MXN 117.31.

As an illustration only, at the Banco de México FIX rate of MXN 17.6425 per US dollar on 24 September 2026, the savings test is roughly US$305,000 and the pension test roughly US$7,580 a month. The peso figures are the requirement; the dollar figures are not.

One point of honesty. Both tests sit under the heading for retirees and pensioners (“Jubilados o pensionados”). The savings test does not itself mention a pension, but no government source we have read says whether a consulate will accept an applicant who is not retired on savings alone. We confirm the consulate's practice before any application is prepared. Our Mexico permanent residency guide covers the full route, from eligibility to the card.

Why does one consulate ask for more than another?

One Mexican consulate appears to ask for more than another because consulates publish the single federal peso rule in local currency, on different dates and at different exchange rates, and because some consular pages still online predate the 2025 rules. The underlying requirement is identical at every Mexican consulate.

Four things explain nearly every discrepancy you will find online.

• Currency and date. The Calexico consulate's 2025 sheet asks for an average balance of US$271,868 or a pension above US$6,797 a month. That is the same federal rule, converted at the 2025 UMA and that year's exchange rate. When the peso strengthens against your currency, the local figure rises, although the rule has not changed.
• Stale pages. A Yuma consulate sheet from 2019 is still online quoting US$80,000 in savings and US$2,000 a month in pension. Documents from the embassy in Colombia (2019) and the Saint Paul consulate (2013) still express the test in days of minimum wage. All of them describe rules the 2025 Lineamientos abrogated.
• Interview discretion. Issuance of the visa is “subject to the result of the consular interview”, and the consulate may gather the evidence it considers appropriate, check authenticity or ask you for information. The same provision adds that this does not permit requirements beyond those in the law, its regulation and the Lineamientos. A consulate can look harder at your evidence; it cannot raise the bar.
• Local document habits. Calexico, for example, asks for an original bank stamp on every page of each statement and says the interview is held only in Spanish or English. Practices like these are consulate-specific.

We have found no government source that sets a percentage band of variation between consulates, so treat any such claim with caution. The visa fee varies in the same way: it is MXN 990.79 in 2026 under the Ley Federal de Derechos, collected in local currency at the rate the Mexican Treasury authorises, which is why Calexico's 2025 sheet shows US$54.

What counts as income or savings, and what does not?

For direct permanent residency, Mexican consulates count only two kinds of means, balances in bank or investment accounts averaged month by month over the last twelve months or pension income received over the last six months, and salary or other employment income does not count toward the permanent threshold.

• Savings are an average, not a snapshot. The rule asks for statements of investments or bank accounts showing an average monthly balance of 45,850 UMA across twelve months. A large deposit made shortly before the appointment lifts the average only in proportion to the months it was held, so the planning starts a year ahead.
• Only “investments or bank accounts” are named. The Lineamientos do not list other asset classes. Property, shares in a private company or digital assets should be treated as uncertain until the consulate confirms its view. Real estate belongs to a separate route that leads to temporary residency only.
• Pension means pension. The permanent test requires monthly pension income “libres de gravámenes”, free of liens, above 1,140 UMA. Calexico's sheet renders this as income free of tax, so the safe assumption is that your net monthly payment must clear the threshold.
• Employment income points to temporary residency. The temporary test accepts employment or pension income above 680 UMA a month (MXN 79,770.80 in 2026). Our guide to Mexico temporary vs permanent residency compares the two routes side by side.

Evidence must be original; for account statements, an electronic document with a digital certificate is also accepted. Plan for monthly statements covering the whole look-back period. The Lineamientos require foreign public documents presented to the Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM) to be apostilled or legalised and translated into Spanish, but they say nothing specific about apostilles or translations of bank statements at the consulate. Practice differs, so we confirm it with the consulate before you order anything.

Family members add 220 UMA each (MXN 25,808.20), shown either as an average balance or as employment or pension income. A spouse or partner is treated differently: the rules never issue them a permanent residence visa, and they receive temporary residency for two years first.

Which consulate can you use if you are not a resident of that country?

The federal Lineamientos let you apply in person at any Mexican consular office, but if you are not a national of the country where you apply you must present an original document proving your legal stay there, and consulates' own sheets describe applying at the office nearest your place of residence.

The Lineamientos define legal stay as the situation of a foreign national in a third country who holds an immigration document or visa, in force, showing that their entry and stay comply with that country's law. In practice, you apply where your status is documented. A US citizen can apply at a Mexican consulate in the United States; a national of another country living there shows the immigration document that covers the stay. Calexico's sheet asks for exactly that from applicants who are not US citizens, and describes applying in person at the consular office nearest where you live.

Two consequences follow.

• Consulate shopping is limited. Every consulate applies the same UMA thresholds, so no office offers a lower requirement. Those lower dollar figures you may find online are stale pages or old conversions. What genuinely differs is appointment availability, interview language and local document practice.
• The route starts abroad. For this visa, the Lineamientos name Mexican consular offices as the place of application, and the INM receives visa applications only for family unity, job offers and humanitarian reasons. The solvency route therefore begins at a consulate outside Mexico, not at an INM office.

If you are travelling rather than resident, ask the consulate before booking whether your entry document satisfies the legal-stay definition. For the difference between a visa and a residence card, see our explainer on what a residence permit is; if you are still weighing destinations, our guide to the easiest countries to move to from the USA sets Mexico in context.

How do you book, and what happens at the interview?

You book by contacting the Mexican consulate directly to request a consular interview, then attend in person with your passport, any legal-stay document and your solvency evidence, and the consulate takes biometrics, reviews your file and decides within a maximum of 10 working days of the interview.

1. Request the appointment. The Lineamientos tell applicants to contact the consular office and request an interview appointment. Each consulate sets its own channel; Calexico, for instance, takes bookings by telephone at set hours. We have found no official source that publishes appointment waiting times, so we plan around the consulate's current availability.
2. Complete the application form. The consular visa application form is available on the SRE website and at consulates, and the consulate generates the application with your digital signature.
3. Attend the interview. You give your personal details and the purpose of your stay, and the consulate reviews your documents. Biometrics are taken: a photograph of your face, your iris and your fingerprints.
4. Fix any gaps. If a requirement is missing, the consulate tells you what to supply. If you do not provide it, the application is closed, although you may apply again once you can. Altered or fraudulent documents can lead to registration on Mexico's migration control lists.
5. Receive the decision. The consulate resolves within up to 10 working days of the interview. Consular non-working days, which the SRE sets each year according to local public holidays, do not count, and the visa fee is paid before issuance.
6. Travel and exchange. The visa is valid for 180 days from issuance, for one entry, and does not by itself guarantee admission. At the border you present it with the Forma Migratoria Múltiple (FMM), and within 30 calendar days of entry you apply to the Instituto Nacional de Migración for your card. The 2026 permanent resident card fee is MXN 13,578.96.

Each family member needs their own visa. A family application at a consulate works only when the principal is outside Mexico and accompanies the family member at the appointment, so families usually attend together.

What changes when the UMA is updated each February?

When INEGI updates the UMA, the peso value of every Mexican residency threshold moves with it while the UMA multiples stay fixed, and the 2026 daily UMA of MXN 117.31, 3.69 per cent above 2025, took effect on 1 February 2026, so any peso figure calculated earlier is out of date.

INEGI announced the 2026 value on 8 January 2026, and January 2026 still used the 2025 value. Three practical consequences follow.

• Consular sheets lag. A local-currency figure is only as current as the day the consulate last republished it, and the exchange rate moves daily. Ask for the peso figure and the UMA year, not just a dollar amount.
• Keep a margin. An average balance that clears the threshold by a few pesos in December may fall short after 1 February. Holding comfortably above the figure removes that risk.
• Appointments near the changeover need care. The Lineamientos do not say how a twelve-month average that straddles 1 February is measured, so we confirm with the consulate which year's value it applies.

Government fees follow their own calendar. The fee reform published in the DOF on 7 November 2025 set the 2026 amounts from 1 January 2026, and INM publishes them in its 2026 tariff table. The retiree route is proof of funds, not an investment, so it is not a golden visa; if you are weighing it against residency programmes that do require capital, compare them on our golden visa and residency hub.

Sources

Thresholds, legal-stay rule, interview and decision period: Lineamientos Generales para la expedición de visas, DOF 25 July 2025 (Trámite 7 and Lineamientos Octavo, Noveno and Décimo Quinto). UMA 2026: INEGI press release 1/26, 8 January 2026. Fees: Ley Federal de Derechos reform, DOF 7 November 2025 and INM Tarifas de Derechos Migratorios 2026. Consular practice example: Consulado de México en Calexico, Visa de Residente Permanente 2025. Exchange rate for the illustration: Banco de México FIX, 24 September 2026. Read 24 September 2026.