Residence Through Marriage to a Mexican
Marrying a Mexican does not produce permanent residence, and the guidelines say so in the bluntest terms available: the spouse of a Mexican may in no case be issued a permanent residence visa. The route is two years of temporary residence first, and only then permanent residence, provided the marriage still exists. Unmarried partners in a recognised equivalent relationship are on exactly the same footing. Naturalisation, separately, needs two years of married life in a shared home in Mexico.
At a glance
- Permanent residence straight away
- Not available to a spouse of a Mexican
- Time as a temporary resident first
- 2 years
- When the two years start
- When the temporary residence is granted on the strength of the relationship, not on the wedding date
- Unmarried partners
- Treated the same, if the relationship is recognised by the competent authority where it was formed
- Naturalisation after marriage
- 2 years of living together in the marital home in Mexico
- Applications accepted inside Mexico
- Yes - family unity is one of only three grounds on which the Institute takes a visa application
- Change-of-status fee
- MXN 1,847.13
- Residence card fee discount
- 50% where the stay rests on family unityas of 2025-11-07
Added to article 8 of the Ley Federal de Derechos by the decree published 7 November 2025 and quoted in full under working in Mexico.
Requirements
- A marriage certificate, or a document proving concubinage or an equivalent relationship issued by the competent authority of the country where the relationship was formed
- Proof of the Mexican spouse's nationality under article 3 of the Ley de Nacionalidad
- A temporary residence visa first, applied for at a consulate or, by family unity, through the Institute
- Two years of lawful temporary residence in Mexico held on the strength of that relationship, with the relationship still subsisting
- A residence card collected within 30 calendar days of arriving, and renewed as required
- For naturalisation later: two years of living together in the marital home in Mexico immediately before the application
In detail
Two years, and the clock starts late
The two years run from the grant of temporary residence on the strength of the relationship - not from the wedding, and not from arrival in Mexico on some other basis. A couple who married five years ago and moved to Mexico last year is one year in, not six. The regulation also requires the stay to have been lawful throughout, so a gap between an expired card and its replacement is not neutral.
The same rule for partners who never married
Concubinage or an equivalent figure is treated identically, provided the relationship is evidenced by the competent authority of the country where it was formed. The 2025 guidelines define the equivalent figure as a relationship between two people free to marry who live together constantly and permanently for whatever period the relevant foreign law requires - and drop that period requirement entirely where the couple have had children. The 2014 text defined the same figure as a relationship 'between a man and a woman'; the 2025 text says 'between two people'.
Residence and nationality run on different two-year clocks
Permanent residence needs two years of temporary residence with the relationship intact. Naturalisation needs two years of having resided and lived together in a marital home in Mexico immediately before applying. They often coincide, but they are different tests with different evidence, and the nationality one is the harder of the two to prove.
Country-level policy
No Mexican immigration threshold is written in pesos. They are all multiples of the Unidad de Medida y Actualización, a unit the statistics institute recalculates each January by the previous year's inflation and publishes in the official gazette, in force from 1 February. The unit exists because a 2016 constitutional reform forbade using the minimum wage as a unit of account and converted every such reference into the UMA - which is why the 2014 visa guidelines, written in days of minimum wage, were replaced in 2025 by guidelines written in days of UMA at about 2.3 times the multiple.
Mexican consular practice runs on a single administrative instrument, the General Guidelines for the issue of visas, issued jointly by the interior and foreign ministries. The version that stood from 2014 to 2025 is the source of almost every figure still in circulation, and it was repealed outright on 9 August 2025. New guidelines took its place, restating every money threshold in UMA, adding an electronic visa, and dropping the photograph and photocopy requirements. An amendment in May 2026 added an unpaid high-specialisation expert route, rewrote what a job offer must say, and told consulates in terms that they may not ask for more than the rules require.
A Mexican residence visa is not a residence permit. It gets you to the border once, within 180 days of issue, and the entry form you receive there is valid for thirty calendar days. In those thirty days you must apply to the Institute, at the office covering your address in Mexico, for the card that actually evidences your status. Miss it and the visa is spent: what remains is a regularisation procedure with its own fee. The same thirty-day rule is in the migration law, in the procedural guidelines and in the user information of every residence visa procedure.
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«Cónyuge, al cual se le concederá la condición de estancia de residente temporal por dos años, transcurridos los cuales podrá obtener la condición de estancia de residente permanente, siempre y cuando subsista el vínculo matrimonial;»Our translation - not official
Spouse, who shall be granted temporary resident status for two years, after which he or she may obtain permanent resident status, provided the marriage bond subsists;
The two years are a condition of the status, not of the marriage. A couple married for twenty years abroad still starts at year zero on the day the temporary residence is granted.
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
«en ningún caso podrá ser documentado con la visa de residente permanente.»Our translation - not official
may in no case be documented with the permanent resident visa.
This closes the door that a reading of article 54 of the migration law might seem to leave open. The spouse of a Mexican or of a permanent resident gets the temporary residence visa and nothing else.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Mexico's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here, and the visa guidelines, the acuerdos that amend them and the annual UMA values all appear here first and sometimes only here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes instruments as enacted and never consolidates them. The 2025 visa guidelines and the 2026 acuerdo amending them are two separate documents with no merged text anywhere, so what the rule says today has to be assembled by hand. An article number inside an amending acuerdo - ARTÍCULO ÚNICO, Transitorio Tercero - is an instruction to amend, not an article of the resulting instrument. Its HTML conversion also drops the space at many line breaks, so stored text contains run-together words and, in preambles, whole paragraphs without spaces; a quotation carrying such a join is reproducing the publisher exactly and must say so. Note that www.dof.gob.mx fails TLS validation while dof.gob.mx works.
We re-read it every 30 days. More about this source
«Sea cónyuge, concubina o concubinario o figura equivalente de mexicano o de residente permanente, que acredite dos años de estancia regular en el territorio nacional como residente temporal y subsistencia del vínculo por el mismo período.»Our translation - not official
Is the spouse, partner or equivalent of a Mexican or of a permanent resident, and proves two years of lawful stay in national territory as a temporary resident and that the bond has subsisted for the same period.
The regulation adds what the law leaves implicit: the two years must be lawful stay in Mexican territory, and the relationship must have lasted the same two years.
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 mujer o el varón extranjeros que contraigan matrimonio con varón o mujer mexicanos, deberán acreditar que han residido y vivido de consuno en el domicilio conyugal establecido en territorio nacional, durante los dos años inmediatamente anteriores a la fecha de la solicitud.»Our translation - not official
The foreign woman or man who marries a Mexican man or woman must prove that they have resided and lived together in the marital home established in national territory during the two years immediately preceding the date of the application.
'Vivido de consuno' - lived together - is a stricter test than residence. Two people married and both resident in Mexico but living apart do not satisfy it.
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 autorización del cambio de condición de estancia se pagará el derecho conforme a la cuota de $1,847.13»Our translation - not official
for the authorisation of a change of migration status the fee of $1,847.13 shall be paid
Payable on top of the fee for the new status itself, which the article says in terms.
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
Family unity is one of only three grounds on which the Institute will take a visa application inside Mexico. That makes this one of the few routes where a person already in the country can be regularised without leaving.
The sponsor is asked to show means for the family member - 220 days of UMA a month, or the same in average savings - where the sponsor is a foreign resident rather than a Mexican.
The guidelines let a consulate document the spouse of a Mexican case by case even where the proof of lawful stay in the country of application is missing. That discretion is written into the criteria and is not a favour.
No consulate may ask for more than the law, the regulation and the guidelines require; the ministries wrote that into the guidelines in May 2026.
- 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
- issuesLineamientos Generales para la expedición de visas que emiten las secretarías de Gobernación y de Relaciones Exteriores, DOF 25/07/2025
Diario Oficial de la Federación
About this source
Mexico's official gazette. An instrument takes effect on publication here, and the visa guidelines, the acuerdos that amend them and the annual UMA values all appear here first and sometimes only here.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: It publishes instruments as enacted and never consolidates them. The 2025 visa guidelines and the 2026 acuerdo amending them are two separate documents with no merged text anywhere, so what the rule says today has to be assembled by hand. An article number inside an amending acuerdo - ARTÍCULO ÚNICO, Transitorio Tercero - is an instruction to amend, not an article of the resulting instrument. Its HTML conversion also drops the space at many line breaks, so stored text contains run-together words and, in preambles, whole paragraphs without spaces; a quotation carrying such a join is reproducing the publisher exactly and must say so. Note that www.dof.gob.mx fails TLS validation while dof.gob.mx works.
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 Nacionalidad (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