# Mexico's Temporary Resident Visa - Documents Required for Interview - Please List (UK to Mex).



## Jet-Ex (Nov 16, 2021)

Main Question: 
Please can i request information that can list all documents required for a Temporary Resident Visa for Mexico?
If anyone can confirm the list i have or add on to this list with "must have" documents for what i am likely to need for an interview with Mexico's Consulate

Simple list of documents required would be a great help.

1. Visa application form (Original)

2. Valid Passport - (Original and Copy)

3. Passport Photos (Original) - Are these the standard UK sized passport size or a different set of dimensions? 

4. Document proving your economic solvency (Original) - Please expand as does this mean it's just Bank Statements for a period of time, Payslips do they count, or do i need a letter from my Employment to say i work there and earn this amount, or even a letter from the Bank to say i have held an account with them since whenever and i am the holder of the account number ******

Side Questions: 
- Can anyone tell me why it's so difficult to get an appointment using CITAS, London has never got any appointments, i read on the website they only release appointments on the last day of each month! - Why??

Also, my UK passport has only a year left on it, currently it's very difficult to get a new passport, because of a backlog and so once again all the appointments are taken by people quickly or been removed due to the backlog.

Advice required: 
Should i try to renew now before i get an interview with the Mexico Consulate or Renew at a later date?
I'm basically trying to find out if the Temporary Resident visa is put in my passport or is it a card and what happens to it (if it is in my passport) and i need replace/renew my UK passport?

many thanks in advance.
Regards,
Jet-Ex.


----------



## 255 (Sep 8, 2018)

@Jet-Ex -- I just went through the process (but not in the UK.) The first thing I did was just walk into our local Mexican Consulate, we picked a number and was seen at a window, after about 30 minutes. After reading different articles on the internet, it was clear that different consulates have the discretion to deviate from National guidelines. The consulate person explained what our consulate required and set us an appointment with a Consular Officer, about a month in the future (no problem, this gave us an opportunity to gather documents.)

In my case, as a retiree, I needed my pension award letter and six months of bank statements showing, my monthly pension deposits (at a minimum of $3K USD in our case.) I gave them my monthly bank statements, which were about 6 pages each. The Consular Officer ripped them apart and only kept the title page and the page showing my monthly deposits and gave me back the rest.

For my wife, the visa information sheet said 6 months of "pay stubs (and bank statements,") also totaling at least $3K USD or $45,000.00 deposits for 12 months. My wife is self-employed, so we just showed 6 months of bank statements and she was denied. So yes, I think pay statements are important. Fortunately, they processed a temp. visa for her based on being my family member. Originally, they told us we both had to qualify separately!

We have to go to Mexico to validate our temporary residency, at a local Immigration Office, where we will receive our cards. The visa is good for 6 months and the initial residency card will be good for 1 year (renewable.) The visas were whole page "stickers," in our passports. We were advised that we can not leave Mexico, until we receive our Residency Cards. I've got different estimates on immigration processing times from 1 to 3 weeks. We plan on staying for a month.

We did not need the visa application form, the Consular Officer filled it out for us. There is also a special size for the pictures (32mm x 26mm.) Our photo lab already had this information in their computer and printed what we needed. These pictures were "glued" to our visa application. The Consular Officer actually "took" the digital pictures needed for the visas.

One other item they asked for was an ID, other than our passport, showing our address. We had driver's licenses, but with an old address, but they didn't have any issues -- we just told them our current address.

As I said before, the visa is put in your passport -- so if you have more than 6 months left from the date of your scheduled travel, just use your current passport and apply for a new passport whenever you can. You'll be issued the Residency Card, after you visit immigration in Mexico. Everything depends on your personal timeline. Passports are usually good for travel with 6 months left and if the residency permit is placed in your passport (not Mexico,) you just need to have both old & new passports for future residency permit processing.) If your travel timeframe is far in the future, you can renew your passport and then get your Mexican visa afterwards -- your choice. Cheers, 255


----------



## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

A clarification, maybe I’m being picky about terms – the thing that is put in your passport at the consulate is technically a *pre-authorization* for a resident visa. When you get to Mexico, you take it (along with ID and anything else required) and present it at the appropriate INM (immigration) office within the required time limit and *then* you get your definitive visa in the form of a card.


----------



## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

maesonna said:


> A clarification, maybe I’m being picky about terms – the thing that is put in your passport at the consulate is technically a *pre-authorization* for a resident visa. When you get to Mexico, you take it (along with ID and anything else required) and present it at the appropriate INM (immigration) office within the required time limit and *then* you get your definitive visa in the form of a card.


And perhaps this comment is unwarranted - I had a very rough time with the woman at my local INM office. Near the end of the process there was (as I recall) a verification moment - where I was asked - where did you live in the US - and I politely answered Florida. Well that was the wrong answer. She wanted to know the little town I lived in. Next she had issue with my signature on the paperwork. It was not at all similar to that on my passport. When I signed my US passport I had an external fixator on my right wrist. That is one of those devices which, if you have ever seen one, you would say to yourself - gosh, I hope that never happens to me. I might as well have been trying to write my signature with my nose in attempting to duplicate my passport's signature. She handed me a pile of blank paper and a pen and said - practice your signature. Well somehow we got past that.

My point in mentioning all this is - I believe I really did not have a Permanent Redidency Visa until that woman said I did.


----------



## 255 (Sep 8, 2018)

@maesonna -- "maybe I’m being picky about terms," maybe you are! The sticker in my passport is titled "MEXICO Visa." I haven't authenticated it yet with INM, so I can't definitively say my new Card will say "Temporary Resident Permit," of course in Spanish. I will say that I've had visas in many other countries and the visa was considered the "entry" document, subsequently replaced with a residency permit, of some kind, in country. I assumed Mexico was the same (as that was also how the Consular Officer explained it to me.) Of course, I may of misunderstood and Mexico certainly can do things differently than that of other countries I've lived. If so, I apologize -- I was only trying to help, by answering the OP's question based on my recent experience at my local Mexican Consulate. Cheers, 255.


----------



## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

> I will say that I've had visas in many other countries and the visa was considered the "entry" document, subsequently replaced with a residency permit, of some kind, in country. I assumed Mexico was the same…


No, you assumed right. They may call the sticker a “visa” but strictly speaking it’s not the definitive visa – that would more accurately describe the residency card you will get in Mexico when you present your pre-authorization.


----------



## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Maesonna, I don't agree. The one page sticker is the visa, a permission to enter the country (once), to be used within six months of issue. The card you get in mexico is a residency permit. It's not a visa, it's a permission-to-stay. But with it you don't need a visa to enter on subsequent trips out and back in, because you have residency.


----------



## dvinton (Mar 8, 2019)

JetEx, once you have arrived in Mexico, there are immigration attorney’s that specialize in navigating you through the process of obtaining your temporary (or permanent) residency card. 

You can search out a Facebook group in your destination region and ask for an immigration attorney recommendation.

Good luck!


----------

