Your Mexico Resident Card, Handled From Start to Finish

The Canje (Spanish for "exchange") is Mexico's two-step residency process. In Step 1, you visit a Mexican consulate in your home country (Canada or the US), provide financial proof, and receive a residency visa stamp in your passport. That stamp is not your residency; it is authorization to complete the next step. In Step 2, you travel to Mexico and within 30 days exchange (canje) that stamp for an actual physical resident card at an INM (Instituto Nacional de Migración) office. The card is what makes you an official Mexico resident.

Mexico's 2026 financial requirements (based on the UMA system) are:

• Temporary Residency: ~$4,400 USD/month average income, OR ~$74,000 USD in savings held over 12 months
• Permanent Residency: ~$7,400 USD/month income, OR ~$298,000 USD in savings

The funds must be liquid cash: savings accounts, chequing accounts, or verified investment accounts. Real estate equity, cryptocurrency, and precious metals are not accepted. If you're unsure, part of our intake process includes a qualification review before you book your consulate appointment.

Temporary Residency (Residente Temporal) is the most common starting point. Your initial card is issued for 1 year. Before it expires, you return to Mexico to renew it for up to 3 additional years. After 4 consecutive years of Temporary Residency, you return to Mexico one final time to convert it into a Permanent Resident card — which never expires and never needs to be renewed again.

Permanent Residency (Residente Permanente) can also be obtained directly from the consulate (skipping the temporary stage entirely) if you meet significantly higher financial thresholds (~$298,000 USD in savings or ~$7,400 USD/month income). This route is most common for retirees. Our service handles both pathways.

The timeline varies, but here's a realistic breakdown:

• Document prep & apostilles: 1–3 weeks
• Consulate appointment scheduling: Days to weeks (varies significantly by consulate)
• Consulate processing: Same-day in most cases
• Travel to Mexico: Your visa stamp is valid for 180 days
• Canje in Mexico: Must be completed within 30 days of arrival. The resident card is often issued same-day at smaller offices, or up to 20 business days at busier ones.

In total, from start to card in hand: typically 4–10 weeks depending on consulate wait times.

For most single applicants, apostilled documents are minimal. Common requirements include:

• Marriage certificate (if applying with a spouse)
• Birth certificates for minor children applying as dependents
• Official income/pension letters from government sources

Passports and bank statements do not require apostilles. You don't need to worry about any of this — sourcing, apostilling, translating, and shipping your complete document package is included in your Reloca fee. We handle every step and ship everything directly to your door, ready to hand over at your consulate appointment.

Yes. Spouses and minor children can apply as a "Family Unit" under the primary applicant's financial qualification. This means the primary applicant's income/savings covers the whole family. You don't each need to meet the threshold independently.

Important note: Family Unit applications in 2026 now take significantly longer (2 to 3 months is common vs. about 1 week in 2024), and require additional documentation including apostilled marriage/birth certificates. Select the appropriate number of people when purchasing so we can plan accordingly.

If you're in Mexico as a tourist, you cannot do the Canje from inside Mexico. You must first go to a Mexican consulate in your home country to get the visa stamp. The Canje process requires that specific stamp in your passport, which can only be obtained from a consulate outside of Mexico. You would need to leave Mexico, complete Phase 1 at a consulate in Canada or the US, and then re-enter Mexico to complete the Canje. We can absolutely help you with this; just note the timeline will be longer.

If you follow our process and do not receive your Mexico resident card, we will refund our $1,497 service fee in full. The guarantee has one condition: the applicant must have demonstrated meeting the 2026 financial solvency requirements at the consulate stage. If a consulate turns you away because your finances don't meet the threshold, that outcome is not covered. We cannot control Mexico's government requirements. That is exactly why we do a financial review first: we won't advance your booking if you don't qualify, saving everyone time.

We work with Mexican consulates across Canada and the United States, including major locations in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Miami, and more. During intake, we'll assess which consulate makes the most sense based on your location, travel flexibility, and current wait times. Some consulates move significantly faster than others.

No. Our on-the-ground team in Mexico handles all Spanish-language communication, paperwork, and interaction with INM. You do not need to speak Spanish at any point in this process. At the consulate in Canada or the US, appointments are conducted in English (or French in Quebec).

This is exactly why we do a financial review as the first step after purchase. If your finances don't meet the threshold, we'll tell you clearly: before you book a consulate appointment, before you take time off work, before you make any travel plans. In the rare case that a consulate turns someone away after we believed they qualified, we'll review what happened and determine the next steps together, which may include reapplying with additional documentation.