Mexico Permanent Residency Requirements

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You qualify for a Mexican consular permanent-resident visa with either an average monthly balance of 5,378,663.50 pesos over the last 12 months, or a pension greater than 133,733.40 pesos in each of the last six months. As of November 2026 those peso figures are 45,850 and 1,140 days of the Unidad de Medida y Actualización (UMA), the official reference unit, at the daily value of 117.31 pesos in force since 1 February 2026.

A US Social Security letter does not win the file by itself. The consulate converts, or replaces, that peso rule with its own dollar sheet, and two large US consulates do not post the same dollars. Park the money for the wrong test and the interview ends before anyone discusses rent, clinics, or a monthly budget.

Do you qualify for Mexico permanent residency?

Yes, if you fit one of the paths in the Migration Law and the visa guidelines, and the office you apply to accepts the proof. The law grants permanent residence to pensioners who receive, from a foreign government, an international organization, or a private company for work done abroad, an income that lets them live in Mexico. It also grants it after four years with a temporary residence permit, and through close family ties.

The consular version of the pensioner path is Trámite 7 of the visa guidelines signed in Mexico City on 14 July 2025. Those guidelines, which the Houston consulate posts as the 25 July 2025 text, replaced the 10 October 2014 rules and took effect 15 days after publication in the Diario Oficial. On that form, a retiree shows either the savings average or the pension. A current paycheck is not the document they name.

Three routes, three offices

A tourist entry is the wrong document for this plan. The State Department says a passport book is required to fly into Mexico, a tourist visa is required for a visit of more than 180 days, and the National Migration Institute may grant a tourist as many as 180 days without a visa or a shorter stay. Use the consulate if you are still outside Mexico and you can show the large pension or the large balance. Use the National Migration Institute (INM) if you already hold a temporary resident card. Inside Mexico, a pensioner change of status uses a lower UMA count: an average balance of 25,000 UMA days (2,932,750 pesos) over 12 months, or pension or income free of liens equal to 500 UMA days (58,655 pesos a month) over six months. The four-year route at INM asks you to say, on the form, that you want the change because four years have passed. It does not repeat the savings test.

What pension or balance clears the test?

At a consulate, the savings figure in the July 2025 visa guidelines is an average monthly balance, equal to 45,850 UMA days, for the last 12 months. The pension figure must be greater than 1,140 UMA days, free of liens, for the last six months. With the INEGI UMA at 117.31 pesos, that is 5,378,663.50 pesos on average, or more than 133,733.40 pesos a month.

Las Vegas and San Diego then print dollars. Their May 2026 and 2026 retirement sheets are not the statute. They are that window's conversion, and they use the words "minimum balance," which is stricter than an average that dips in one month. Bring statements that satisfy the sheet you will actually hand over.

Path	Where you file	Money test, as of November 2026	What the clock is
Consular pension	Mexican consulate	More than 133,733.40 pesos a month for 6 months	Visa up to 180 days, one entry
Consular savings	Mexican consulate	12-month average balance of 5,378,663.50 pesos	Same visa
Las Vegas sheet, May 2026	That consulate only	Minimum balance of $312,169, or pension of $7,762 a month, per person	Fee $56. Processing 1 to 10 business days
San Diego retirement sheet, 2026	That consulate only	Minimum monthly balance of $303,880, or pension of $7,560 a month	Fee $56 cash, charged even if refused
Pensioner already in Mexico	INM	58,655 pesos a month for 6 months, or a 2,932,750-peso average for 12 months	Change of status, not a new consular visa
Four years already in Mexico	INM	No solvency figure. Say so on the application	Four continuous years on the temporary card

Say your pension letter and six monthly statements each show 150,000 pesos deposited, and nothing is pledged against that income. 150,000 is above 133,733.40, so the July 2025 pension line is met on the arithmetic. The officer can still ask for more, because issuance depends on the interview. Say instead the pension is 80,000 pesos. That file misses the pension line. The savings line then needs the 5,378,663.50-peso average for twelve months, and a consulate that prints a dollar floor wants every month at or above its poster. An average that looks fine on a spreadsheet and a March dip under the poster is how solid retirees get sent home.

Data note: UMA days come from the July 2025 visa guidelines. The peso conversion uses the INEGI daily UMA of 117.31 pesos effective 1 February 2026. Dollar posters are consulate sheets, not a second national rule.

How do you prove it at the consulate?

You prove the pension with original documents of pension income free of liens for six months, and you prove the balance with original investment or bank records, or an electronic document that carries a digital certificate, covering the twelve-month average. Book the appointment on the foreign ministry's citas portal. An appointment is a slot, not an approval. The guidelines give the office up to 10 business days and make the visa good for one entry during a maximum of 180 days, counted from issuance.

Two US windows, two dollar floors

Las Vegas tells retirees and pensioners, and only that category, to bring a letter or official document that proves the retirement. Its May 2026 sheet asks for a minimum balance of at least $312,169 per person for 12 months, or pension deposits of at least $7,762 a month for six months, plus a bank verification letter issued within the last 30 days. San Diego's 2026 retirement sheet asks for a minimum monthly balance of at least $303,880, or a pension of at least $7,560 a month, on original statements with a bank stamp or bank letter, your name, and a street address. A PO box does not satisfy that sheet.

If the balance sits at a US brokerage, print the official statements that office asked for. Charles Schwab is a common place Americans keep the dollar account that produces those statements after the move. The consulate still decides whether the format counts. Do not assume a screenshot will stand in for the stamp or the letter.

1. Pick pension or savings before you request the appointment. A salary letter is the wrong stack for Trámite 7.
2. Open the dollar sheet for the exact consulate you will visit. Las Vegas and San Diego do not match.
3. Keep the balance above that sheet's floor in every month it labels a minimum, even though the national text says "average."
4. For a pension, pair the award letter with six months of statements showing the deposit, unpledged.
5. Pay the visa fee in the form that office collects. San Diego's sheet is $56 cash, taken before review, approved or not. The statute's ordinary-visa amount is 990.79 pesos, collected in the currency the finance ministry authorizes.
6. Wait for the visa before you buy the ticket. San Diego says so in writing. The port-of-entry officer can still refuse entry.

Can a spouse get the same card?

No. A spouse, concubine, or equivalent partner of a Mexican citizen or of a permanent resident is not given a permanent-resident visa at the consulate. The guidelines send that person to a temporary-resident visa. After two years on that card, they may ask for permanent residence if the marriage or partnership still exists. The Migration Law says the same thing for the spouse of a permanent resident and for the spouse of a Mexican.

Children and some other relatives follow the family-unity list: parents, unmarried minor children, and unmarried minor siblings, with the documents the guidelines spell out. When the sponsor is a foreigner who holds a permanent-resident visa, the sponsor also shows support for each relative. The national figure is 220 UMA days, which is 25,808.20 pesos: either an average balance over 12 months, or employment or pension income greater than that amount over six months. Las Vegas prints this sponsor test as a monthly income or balance of $1,498 per person, and it limits that line to family unity with a foreigner who already holds the permanent-resident visa.

What do you pay, and what happens in the first 30 days?

Within 30 calendar days of entry you request the residence card from INM. The visa guidelines make that card the document that lets you stay. For 2026 the Federal Rights Law sets the permanent-resident document at 13,578.96 pesos. If you are already in Mexico and you are changing status, you also pay 1,847.13 pesos for INM to receive and study the change. That study fee does not replace the card fee.

Half of the card fee is 6,789.48 pesos, and the statute allows 50 percent only when you prove to INM that the stay is for family unity, a job offer from an employer with a current registration, or an unpaid invitation from a public or private organization. A savings or pension file, standing alone, is not one of those three.

Work permission, and the days that still matter

Article 52 of the Migration Law says permanent residence is an indefinite stay with permission to work for pay in Mexico. Article 54, which lists who receives the status, says people granted it will have the possibility of a work permission for pay tied to a job offer, and that they may enter and leave the country. A retiree who is not taking a Mexican job does not need an employer to clear the pension test. Someone who later wants a paycheck should expect the job-offer language in article 54 to be the sentence the local office uses.

Budget a private health plan with the card. Medicare says that in most situations it will not pay for health care or supplies outside the United States, and its foreign-hospital exceptions are narrow cases such as still living in the US when a foreign hospital is closer. Part D does not cover drugs bought outside the US. The card does not decide taxes. Time in the country can still make you a fiscal resident under Mexican rules, which is a separate question from this visa, covered in the 183-day Mexico tax explanation. A retirement visa somewhere else is a different test again. Thailand's retirement visa uses its own income and bank figures, not UMA days.

What to do with the numbers

Write down which path you are actually on, then collect only that path's paper. A consular retiree either clears more than 133,733.40 pesos a month for six months or holds a 5,378,663.50-peso average for twelve months, and then meets the dollar floor on the sheet for Las Vegas, San Diego, or whichever office issued the appointment. A person who already has four quiet years on a temporary card tells INM that, and pays the study fee plus the card fee. A spouse plans on two years, not on sharing the permanent visa sticker.

• Read the July 2025 Trámite 7 text, then the English sheet of the consulate you will visit.
• Recompute if you apply after the next UMA change. The daily value moves on 1 February, and the day counts do not.
• Keep the visa and the card on the calendar: one entry, 180 days to use the visa, 30 days after entry to obtain the card.

Keep the peso test next to the other pension-visa numbers in the retirement abroad guides, and keep the monthly spend, the brokerage statements, and the tax year as separate decisions.

Data notes / sources checked

• Visa guidelines, Trámite 7, signed 14 July 2025, as posted by the Consulate General in Houston.
• INEGI UMA table: 117.31 pesos a day from 1 February 2026.
• Ley Federal de Derechos, 2026 amounts for the card, the change-of-status study, and the ordinary visa.
• Ley de Migración, articles 52, 54, 55, 56, and 57.
• INM change-of-status sheet for people who already hold temporary residence.
• Las Vegas consulate, May 2026 permanent residence sheet.
• San Diego consulate, 2026 retirement permanent-resident sheet.

As of November 2026. Consulates can reprint dollar figures without a change in the UMA day counts. Check the sheet for the office on your appointment.