# Visa with permission to work



## Ryno87 (Aug 9, 2018)

Hey everyone, I’m an American citizen who’s temporarily ( ~1yr) moving to Mexico City to teach English at businesses and other places that i can get a job with the TEFL certificate. I sort of confused as to how to obtain the right visa when i arrive via plane. I know that i fill out form on plane for tourist visa 180 days but i intent to work. How do i get a visa de visitante con permiso para realizar actividades de remuneradas. If this is the right visa, i know i will need an authorization from INNM. Is this online on their website? I currently don’t have an employer at this time and will begin looking once i arrive. My next plan of action is to get RFC once I’m there. Thanks for reading. Ive read different versions and other places that seem outdated.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

Ryno87 said:


> Hey everyone, I’m an American citizen who’s temporarily ( ~1yr) moving to Mexico City to teach English at businesses and other places that i can get a job with the TEFL certificate. I sort of confused as to how to obtain the right visa when i arrive via plane. I know that i fill out form on plane for tourist visa 180 days but i intent to work. How do i get a visa de visitante con permiso para realizar actividades de remuneradas. If this is the right visa, i know i will need an authorization from INNM. Is this online on their website? I currently don’t have an employer at this time and will begin looking once i arrive. My next plan of action is to get RFC once I’m there. Thanks for reading. Ive read different versions and other places that seem outdated.


 Appears you are out of luck. INM doesn't allow foreigners into Mexico to work the way your described you situation. Best check your local Mexican Consulate website under visas. It will explain what you have to do at their consulate before you leave for Mexico. Minimum financial solvency proof will be required.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

Plus you can not get the RFC on an FMM, you need at least a Temp. Resident visa and get a CURP number then you can get the RFC #........


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

It is important to know that you MUST be approved for a residence visa before you enter Mexico. Then, if approved for a temporary residence visa, you may apply to INM in Mexico, in the prescribed timeframe, for permission to work at a specific job, for a specific approved employer with permission from INM to hire foreigners.
If approved for the more expensive Residente Permanente Visa, you may work, but still have to notify INM of any employment, or change of employment or address, etc.
You will need proofs of significant financial resources/assets to gain approval. See the nearest Mexican Consulate in your current country of residence before planning to go to Mexico.
A tourist, with up to 180 days on his non-renewable permit, is prohibited from any lucrative activity (work) in Mexico.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

It is important to know that you MUST be approved for a residence visa before you enter Mexico. Then, if approved for a temporary residence visa, you may apply to INM in Mexico, in the prescribed timeframe, for permission to work at a specific job, for a specific approved employer with permission from INM to hire foreigners.
If approved for the more expensive Residente Permanente Visa, you may work, but still have to notify INM of any employment, or change of employment or address, etc.
You will need proofs of significant financial resources/assets to gain approval. See the nearest Mexican Consulate in your current country of residence before planning to go to Mexico.
A tourist, with up to 180 days on his non-renewable permit, is prohibited from any lucrative activity (work) in Mexico.
So....Mexico likes tourists, but does not welcome you if you really need to work to live there, unless you actually don't really need to work, but just want to. So, you will have to show the consulate your bank records, etc.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

I don't know if this would work.
You could come here on a tourist visa, find an employer willing to assist in a request for permission to work. Then apply to INM with a letter of employment and salary. 

But I suspect there are several problems with this strategy.
- Language schools can get plenty of people without having to help them with visas.
- The salary from a language school probably would not qualify for even a visa temporal.
- I'm not sure about converting to a visa once here. You usually have to apply before coming and have to have a qualifying income. So I don't know how you could mix the job income with getting a visa.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

One could go to Mexico as a tourist, and search for emplloyment interviews. But, upon receiving an offer, would have to leave Mexico to go to a consulate and apply for a visa. Then, after re-entry with the approval stamped in his passport, and going through the 'tramite' process with INM (assuming the employer is qualified with INM, and willing to wait, he could probably get the 'lucrativa' endorsement and begin working......for peanuts. Any change of job status or location would have to be approved by INM if the expat is on a Residente Temporal visa (which prohibits having or driving a non-Mexican plated vehicle).
INM can provide the CURP, but the applicant will have to also get an RFC# on his own.

Has the inquirer been to Mexico yet? Speak Spanish? It seems that he knows little of the immigration and work requirements, and perhaps has no plans for health care, vehicle requirements, etc.

Tell us more, Rayno87.


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## garciajose (Sep 4, 2018)

RVGRINGO said:


> One could go to Mexico as a tourist, and search for emplloyment interviews. But, upon receiving an offer, would have to leave Mexico to go to a consulate and apply for a visa. Then, after re-entry with the approval stamped in his passport, and going through the 'tramite' process with INM (assuming the employer is qualified with INM, and willing to wait, he could probably get the 'lucrativa' endorsement and begin working......for peanuts. Any change of job status or location would have to be approved by INM if the expat is on a Residente Temporal visa (which prohibits having or driving a non-Mexican plated vehicle).
> INM can provide the CURP, but the applicant will have to also get an RFC# on his own.
> 
> Has the inquirer been to Mexico yet? Speak Spanish? It seems that he knows little of the immigration and work requirements, and perhaps has no plans for health care, vehicle requirements, etc.
> ...


Exactly.. I couldn't have said it better..


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

I’ve read blogs by foreigners who are teaching in Mexico. I think many of the schools who hire English teachers know the ropes about helping their new hires get the right visa. So the best route would be to find someone to hire you and initiate the paperwork. You will have to process the visa at a Consulate outside of Mexico, then enter Mexico with work visa in hand. So if you initially enter on a 180 day FMM, the most you will be able to do is find an employer willing and qualified to sponsor you for the work visa, then go back home to finalize the paperwork before returning to Mexico to work.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

ojosazules11 said:


> I’ve read blogs by foreigners who are teaching in Mexico. I think many of the schools who hire English teachers know the ropes about helping their new hires get the right visa. So the best route would be to find someone to hire you and initiate the paperwork. You will have to process the visa at a Consulate outside of Mexico, then enter Mexico with work visa in hand. So if you initially enter on a 180 day FMM, the most you will be able to do is find an employer willing and qualified to sponsor you for the work visa, then go back home to finalize the paperwork before returning to Mexico to work.


Before the current rules were put into place, it was possible to arrive in Mexico on a tourist visa, find a job, and with the help of your new employer deal with the trámites for getting a work visa in Mexico. Once the rules changed, the procedure that ojos outlines is what the current procedure entails. In fact, when the rules changed many of the language schools and less-prestigious private schools for children and universities were a bit flummoxed by them and didn't know how to handle hiring foreign teachers, whether they were already in the country or were still living abroad. A friend of mine started a successful business helping them to deal with the new situation.


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

Ojos, you should cite the very famous quote that is your signature (not a Mexican poet, BTW).

I haunt several Spanish-language Facebook groups, including for language schools in my area (not Mexico City though). The teachers of English (not Spanish) complain about some of the schools paying the equivalent of $2-3 an hour and the required extended hours at no pay.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

xolo said:


> Ojos, you should cite the very famous quote that is your signature (not a Mexican poet, BTW).


I'm sure that Ojos knows that the source of her signature quotation is the very famous (and wonderful) Spanish poet Antonio Machado. 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/po...ww.poetryfoundation.org/poets/antonio-machado


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## xolo (May 25, 2014)

I wasn't asking if she knew who the author was, I'm sure she does, I was suggesting she should cite the source.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

xolo said:


> I wasn't asking if she knew who the author was, I'm sure she does, I was suggesting she should cite the source.


The fact that you mentioned that the author not Mexican suggested to me that you thought she might not know who the author was.


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## Ryno87 (Aug 9, 2018)

Hi thanks for your everyone’s response and info. From what i had read online, many said that it wasn’t able to be done without having a employer in Mexico. Since I do not have a job yet, i was hoping and praying that that there was another way around that or an updated process that make things easier. Currently at the airport headed to CDMX and my first step is to get settled and in search of an English teaching job or other opportunities for worK. I already have a place to stay and resume in hand. I did do the TEFL cert. 

About me. 31 hispanic guy from Texas. I do speak some Spanish but id say its more Tex - mex. my decision to move came after 8 years of working as a nurse and looking for adventure, growth, culture and just simple something else.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Ryno87,
There is no other way. Do not attempt to work, no matter what the employer claims, until you have taken his job offer, along with his INM approval to hire foreigners, back to the USA and to a Mexican Consulate to apply for a residence visa. Then, you MUST return to Mexico, visit INM with the approval, and start the process of getting the actual Residente Temporal Visa with the lucrativa endorsement for the specific job offered. Then, you can start wolrking. Any change of job or work location will also require a visit to INM for their approval.
Many English teaching jobs may be offered for small pay under the table. Do not take that chance, as you can be deported. Such schools are also notorious folr having you teach just a few classes, but having you stay on campus all day, etc. Some will claim they can get you a visa, but they cannot. Insist on seeing their INM approval with the job offer and details.
Buena suerte.


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## mattoleriver (Oct 21, 2011)

Ryno87 said:


> ...About me. 31 hispanic guy from Texas....


If your hispanic roots lead back to Mexico (parents, grandparents) you may be eligile for Mexican citizenship which would be significant. I don't know any of the particulars but it might be something for you to check into if you qualify.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Very true.
If you are the offspring of a Mexican parent, *and can prove it*. You may take their birth certificates, etc., along with your own, to the Mexican consulate and apply for citizenship. If granted, you can then apply to them for your Mexican passport.
Once done, you will use your Mexican passport to enter Mexico, and your USA passport to re-enter the USA. In Mexico, you will need to get other documents, like CURP, RFC, INE, etc., and then you will be able to work to your heart's delight, and even vote.


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