Opening a Bank Account in Mexico
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Brazil on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
81 exceptions recorded across 33 countries · none match Brazil to Mexico · Opening a bank account
Mexican law is unusually explicit that a foreigner may bank here. The migration law says a foreigner may make bank deposits and buy securities whatever their migration status and without any permission from the Institute; its regulation says a foreigner with lawful status may open bank accounts. What the law does not settle is what a bank will accept as identity, because that is set by anti-money-laundering rules the finance ministry issues for credit institutions, and those are published as a stream of amending resolutions rather than as a consolidated text. In practice the gate is the population registry number, which follows from a residence card.
At a glance
- Migration permission needed
- None
Article 60 of the Ley de Migracion, quoted here, says so in terms: a foreigner may do these things sin que para ello requieran permiso del Instituto, whatever their condicion de estancia.
- Deposits and securities
- Open to a foreigner whatever their migration status
- Opening an account
- Stated in the regulation as available to a foreigner with lawful migration status
- What decides the documents
- Anti-money-laundering rules issued by the finance ministry for credit institutions
- The practical gate
- A population registry number, which follows from the residence card
- Buying property
- Also open whatever the status, subject to the constitutional restriction near coasts and borders
Requirements
- No permission from the migration authority of any kind - the law says so expressly
- Identity documents the bank accepts under the rules the finance ministry issues for credit institutions
- In practice, a population registry number (CURP), which a foreigner obtains after receiving a residence card
- Proof of address of the kind the bank asks for
- A tax registration number where the account or the product requires one
In detail
The law is permissive and says so twice
Mexico wrote the answer into its migration law rather than leaving it to banks. A foreigner may buy securities and make bank deposits whatever their status, in person or through an attorney, and needs no permission from the migration authority to do it. The regulation adds that a foreigner with lawful status may open bank accounts and approach any authority for any permit, right, service or product. Few countries in this reference put the point so directly; most leave it to be inferred from the absence of a prohibition.
The documents are decided somewhere else
What a bank will actually accept comes from the general provisions the finance ministry issues under article 115 of the banking law, with the banking commission's opinion. Those provisions carry the client-identification rules, and they are amended by resolutions published one at a time in the official gazette - there is no consolidated text the regulator keeps current. That is why a flat statement of 'the documents a foreigner needs' cannot be sourced reliably, and why we do not make one.
The registry number is the real threshold
A temporary or permanent resident has the right to a population registry number once the residence card is in hand. Almost everything administrative in Mexico, financial products included, is keyed to that number. So the honest description is that the right to bank does not depend on status, while the convenience of banking very much does.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Brazil
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«Los extranjeros independientemente de su condición de estancia, por sí o mediante apoderado, podrán, sin que para ello requieran permiso del Instituto, adquirir valores de renta fija o variable y realizar depósitos bancarios, así como adquirir bienes inmuebles urbanos y derechos reales sobre los mismos»Our translation - not official
Foreigners, whatever their migration status, may, in person or through an attorney and without needing permission from the Institute, acquire fixed or variable income securities and make bank deposits, as well as acquire urban real estate and rights in rem over it
'Independientemente de su condición de estancia' is the phrase to hold on to. The migration authority has no say, and the status does not matter for the right itself.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Chamber of Deputies' law library, which maintains the texto vigente of every federal statute together with a reform history for each. It is where the Ley de Migración, the Ley de Nacionalidad, the Código Fiscal and the Ley Aduanera can be read as amended rather than reconstructed from the decrees that amended them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Nothing below statute level is here. The Lineamientos, acuerdos and administrative instruments are where almost all Mexican immigration practice actually changes, and none of them is published by this body - the Reglamento de la Ley de Migración it does carry has not been reformed since 2014 and is in places overtaken by instruments it cannot show you. It is also not an authority on when a reform took effect: the transitional articles of the amending decree live in the Diario Oficial, not here. And its standard pdf/ edition is not safe to extract: a reading of the Ley de Migración from it silently dropped 21 of 162 articles, including article 52, the one listing every migration status. Use the pdf_mov/ edition and check article numbering for gaps after any fetch.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Las personas extranjeras con situación migratoria regular podrán participar en el capital social de sociedades mexicanas; desarrollar actividades económicas o empresariales; adquirir bienes inmuebles; ocurrir ante la autoridad competente para solicitar cualquier permiso, derecho, servicio o producto, y abrir cuentas bancarias en el territorio nacional, de conformidad con las leyes y demás disposiciones jurídicas aplicables.»Our translation - not official
Foreigners with lawful migration status may participate in the share capital of Mexican companies; carry on economic or business activities; acquire real estate; approach the competent authority to request any permit, right, service or product; and open bank accounts in national territory, in accordance with the laws and other applicable legal provisions.
The regulation narrows the law's wording to 'situación migratoria regular'. Read with article 60 of the law, the better reading is that deposits are open to anyone and an account relationship is a service of the kind this article addresses - but the two texts are not identical and the difference is worth seeing.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Chamber of Deputies' law library, which maintains the texto vigente of every federal statute together with a reform history for each. It is where the Ley de Migración, the Ley de Nacionalidad, the Código Fiscal and the Ley Aduanera can be read as amended rather than reconstructed from the decrees that amended them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Nothing below statute level is here. The Lineamientos, acuerdos and administrative instruments are where almost all Mexican immigration practice actually changes, and none of them is published by this body - the Reglamento de la Ley de Migración it does carry has not been reformed since 2014 and is in places overtaken by instruments it cannot show you. It is also not an authority on when a reform took effect: the transitional articles of the amending decree live in the Diario Oficial, not here. And its standard pdf/ edition is not safe to extract: a reading of the Ley de Migración from it silently dropped 21 of 162 articles, including article 52, the one listing every migration status. Use the pdf_mov/ edition and check article numbering for gaps after any fetch.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«La información y documentación que dichas instituciones deban recabar para la apertura de cuentas o celebración de contratos relativos a las operaciones y servicios que ellas presten y que acredite plenamente la identidad de sus clientes;»Our translation - not official
The information and documentation those institutions must collect for the opening of accounts or the conclusion of contracts relating to the operations and services they provide, and which fully evidences the identity of their clients;
This is the delegation. The actual list of acceptable documents is not in the statute - it is in general provisions the finance ministry issues after hearing the banking commission, and those are amended by resolution rather than republished.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Chamber of Deputies' law library, which maintains the texto vigente of every federal statute together with a reform history for each. It is where the Ley de Migración, the Ley de Nacionalidad, the Código Fiscal and the Ley Aduanera can be read as amended rather than reconstructed from the decrees that amended them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Nothing below statute level is here. The Lineamientos, acuerdos and administrative instruments are where almost all Mexican immigration practice actually changes, and none of them is published by this body - the Reglamento de la Ley de Migración it does carry has not been reformed since 2014 and is in places overtaken by instruments it cannot show you. It is also not an authority on when a reform took effect: the transitional articles of the amending decree live in the Diario Oficial, not here. And its standard pdf/ edition is not safe to extract: a reading of the Ley de Migración from it silently dropped 21 of 162 articles, including article 52, the one listing every migration status. Use the pdf_mov/ edition and check article numbering for gaps after any fetch.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Obtenida la tarjeta de residencia, los residentes temporales y permanentes tendrán derecho a obtener de la Secretaría la Clave Única de Registro de Población.»Our translation - not official
Once the residence card has been obtained, temporary and permanent residents shall have the right to obtain the Unique Population Registry Code from the Ministry.
Why the residence card matters in practice even though the banking right does not depend on it: almost every Mexican financial product is keyed to the registry number, and the number arrives with the card.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Chamber of Deputies' law library, which maintains the texto vigente of every federal statute together with a reform history for each. It is where the Ley de Migración, the Ley de Nacionalidad, the Código Fiscal and the Ley Aduanera can be read as amended rather than reconstructed from the decrees that amended them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Nothing below statute level is here. The Lineamientos, acuerdos and administrative instruments are where almost all Mexican immigration practice actually changes, and none of them is published by this body - the Reglamento de la Ley de Migración it does carry has not been reformed since 2014 and is in places overtaken by instruments it cannot show you. It is also not an authority on when a reform took effect: the transitional articles of the amending decree live in the Diario Oficial, not here. And its standard pdf/ edition is not safe to extract: a reading of the Ley de Migración from it silently dropped 21 of 162 articles, including article 52, the one listing every migration status. Use the pdf_mov/ edition and check article numbering for gaps after any fetch.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
Practical notes
We did not read the current text of the general provisions under article 115 of the banking law. They have been amended repeatedly, most recently in 2024 as far as we could tell, and the regulator does not publish a consolidated version at a stable address. Anything we wrote about acceptable documents would be a reading of a superseded text.
The regulation says 'situación migratoria regular' where the law says 'independientemente de su condición de estancia'. Where they differ the law prevails, but a bank officer working from a compliance manual may apply the narrower one.
A bank's own account-opening conditions are a fact about that bank and not about Mexican law. We cite none here.
The constitutional restriction on foreign ownership of land within 100 km of a border or 50 km of the coast is untouched by any of this; we did not read the instruments that govern it.
- consolidatesLey de Migración (texto vigente, última reforma DOF 15-01-2026)
Cámara de Diputados del H. Congreso de la Unión
About this source
The Chamber of Deputies' law library, which maintains the texto vigente of every federal statute together with a reform history for each. It is where the Ley de Migración, the Ley de Nacionalidad, the Código Fiscal and the Ley Aduanera can be read as amended rather than reconstructed from the decrees that amended them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Nothing below statute level is here. The Lineamientos, acuerdos and administrative instruments are where almost all Mexican immigration practice actually changes, and none of them is published by this body - the Reglamento de la Ley de Migración it does carry has not been reformed since 2014 and is in places overtaken by instruments it cannot show you. It is also not an authority on when a reform took effect: the transitional articles of the amending decree live in the Diario Oficial, not here. And its standard pdf/ edition is not safe to extract: a reading of the Ley de Migración from it silently dropped 21 of 162 articles, including article 52, the one listing every migration status. Use the pdf_mov/ edition and check article numbering for gaps after any fetch.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- consolidatesReglamento de la Ley de Migración (texto vigente, última reforma DOF 23-05-2014)
Cámara de Diputados del H. Congreso de la Unión
About this source
The Chamber of Deputies' law library, which maintains the texto vigente of every federal statute together with a reform history for each. It is where the Ley de Migración, the Ley de Nacionalidad, the Código Fiscal and the Ley Aduanera can be read as amended rather than reconstructed from the decrees that amended them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Nothing below statute level is here. The Lineamientos, acuerdos and administrative instruments are where almost all Mexican immigration practice actually changes, and none of them is published by this body - the Reglamento de la Ley de Migración it does carry has not been reformed since 2014 and is in places overtaken by instruments it cannot show you. It is also not an authority on when a reform took effect: the transitional articles of the amending decree live in the Diario Oficial, not here. And its standard pdf/ edition is not safe to extract: a reading of the Ley de Migración from it silently dropped 21 of 162 articles, including article 52, the one listing every migration status. Use the pdf_mov/ edition and check article numbering for gaps after any fetch.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
- consolidatesLey de Instituciones de Crédito (texto vigente)
Cámara de Diputados del H. Congreso de la Unión
About this source
The Chamber of Deputies' law library, which maintains the texto vigente of every federal statute together with a reform history for each. It is where the Ley de Migración, the Ley de Nacionalidad, the Código Fiscal and the Ley Aduanera can be read as amended rather than reconstructed from the decrees that amended them.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: Nothing below statute level is here. The Lineamientos, acuerdos and administrative instruments are where almost all Mexican immigration practice actually changes, and none of them is published by this body - the Reglamento de la Ley de Migración it does carry has not been reformed since 2014 and is in places overtaken by instruments it cannot show you. It is also not an authority on when a reform took effect: the transitional articles of the amending decree live in the Diario Oficial, not here. And its standard pdf/ edition is not safe to extract: a reading of the Ley de Migración from it silently dropped 21 of 162 articles, including article 52, the one listing every migration status. Use the pdf_mov/ edition and check article numbering for gaps after any fetch.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source