Mexico Long-stay visa

Who the RT is for

Mexico has no dedicated digital nomad visa. What remote workers actually use is the Residente Temporal (RT) — a temporary resident visa granted on economic solvency. You qualify with money, not with a Mexican job offer or sponsor. Under the visa rules published in July 2025, that means either monthly income from employment or a pension above MXN 79,770.80 (about EUR 3,955) over the past six months, or bank and investment accounts averaging at least MXN 1,344,372.60 (about EUR 66,656) over the past twelve months. Both figures are formulas — 680 and 11,460 daily UMA units respectively — so the peso amounts shift when the UMA is updated, most recently on February 1, 2026. Each consulate converts them to local currency at its own rate: the 2026 US checklists work out to roughly USD 4,510-4,630 per month depending on the post.

The visa suits employees of foreign companies, freelancers, and retirees alike. Self-employed applicants are accepted with a business license or evidence of clients and income (1099 forms, for example). Family can come along: each dependent adds 220 UMA-days — MXN 25,808.20, about EUR 1,280 — to the monthly income requirement, or the equivalent as extra savings, while spouses of Mexican nationals skip the solvency test entirely.

What the RT is not: permission to work in Mexico. Remote income from abroad is accepted, but employment with a Mexican company or paid work for Mexican clients requires a separate INM work permit (MXN 4,341 in 2026). If a local job is the plan, the job-offer route is the correct one instead.

How to apply, step by step

1. Book an appointment at a Mexican consulate through citas.sre.gob.mx and read that post’s own checklist. Posts vary in the details — San Diego, for example, wants an employer letter explicitly agreeing to you working remotely from Mexico — though since May 2026 consulates are expressly barred from demanding requirements beyond the published rules.
2. Attend with six months of income statements or twelve months of account statements, plus the documents on your post’s checklist, and pay the USD 56 consular fee (about EUR 48.50).
3. Wait for the decision: up to 10 business days under the rules — Las Vegas, for example, quotes 1-10 business days.
4. Enter Mexico while the visa is valid — it is issued for 180 days and a single entry.
5. Within 30 calendar days of arriving, exchange the visa (the “canje”) at an INM office for your temporary resident card. The first card runs one year from your entry date and can be issued the same day if your file is complete; the 2026 fee for the one-year card is MXN 11,141 (about EUR 552).
6. Renew in-country with the INM for up to four years in total as a temporary resident; after four years you can change to permanent residence.

Taxes

The RT comes with no tax sweeteners — Mexico has no special regime for remote workers. Whether you become a Mexican tax resident is a facts-based test, not a day count: you are resident once you establish your home (casa habitación) in Mexico, and if you also keep a home abroad, you are Mexican-resident only when your center of vital interests is in Mexico — meaning more than half of your calendar-year income comes from Mexican sources, or Mexico is the main base of your professional activity. Residents are taxed on worldwide income under Mexican income tax law. Since May 2026, the rules for the separate job-offer route also carry an express notice that foreigners working for pay in Mexico have Mexican tax obligations. As always, outcomes depend on personal circumstances, so take individual advice.

Health insurance

There is no insurance requirement for this visa. The gazette text of the governing rules contains no health-insurance clause, and the 2026 consulate checklists do not list a policy among the documents. The flip side: a temporary resident card gives you no automatic public healthcare. Temporary residents can in practice enroll voluntarily in IMSS (paid), but the official terms of that voluntary enrollment are not clearly confirmed in primary sources, so verify directly with IMSS before counting on it. The other option is simply to carry private international cover for the stay — see our health insurance comparison for options that work in Mexico.