# When to start RT renewal



## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

My first one-year RT expires in a little over a month - I'm wondering how far ahead of that date I should start the renewal process. I'm thinking maybe next Tuesday, exactly one month before expiration.

I still haven't decided what residency card to try to get, I qualify for RP but I'm thinking I may only stay one more year due to the deteriorating crime situation here in Cancun. OTOH, the cost difference between the options is not as significant as the hassle involved, so I may go for RP anyway, and if they won't give me that for some reason then fall back to 3 year RT.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

eastwind said:


> My first one-year RT expires in a little over a month - I'm wondering how far ahead of that date I should start the renewal process. I'm thinking maybe next Tuesday, exactly one month before expiration.
> 
> I still haven't decided what residency card to try to get, I qualify for RP but I'm thinking I may only stay one more year due to the deteriorating crime situation here in Cancun. OTOH, the cost difference between the options is not as significant as the hassle involved, so I may go for RP anyway, and if they won't give me that for some reason then fall back to 3 year RT.


Or you could move to another part of Mexico.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

Once you are RP, it actually is permanent, with no need to worry about renewals.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

eastwind said:


> My first one-year RT expires in a little over a month - I'm wondering how far ahead of that date I should start the renewal process. I'm thinking maybe next Tuesday, exactly one month before expiration.
> 
> I still haven't decided what residency card to try to get, I qualify for RP but I'm thinking I may only stay one more year due to the deteriorating crime situation here in Cancun. OTOH, the cost difference between the options is not as significant as the hassle involved, so I may go for RP anyway, and if they won't give me that for some reason then fall back to 3 year RT.


I would agree that switching to an RP is worthwhile just to avoid future hassle if you do decide to stay in Mexico. 

You cannot start the renewal process until a specified time before the expiration date. I think it is around a month so you are probably good to start now. There is not much advantage either way in starting early or waiting. I believe the expiration date on the new visa will be set by when it is issued, not when the old one expires, so conceivably you lose a little time by starting a month early every year. Waiting until near the end might give you 13 month on each visa. I may be wrong about that though.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Isla Verde said:


> Or you could move to another part of Mexico.





RVGRINGO said:


> Once you are RP, it actually is permanent, with no need to worry about renewals.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

TundraGreen said:


> I would agree that switching to an RP is worthwhile just to avoid future hassle if you do decide to stay in Mexico.
> 
> You cannot start the renewal process until a specified time before the expiration date. I think it is around a month so you are probably good to start now. There is not much advantage either way in starting early or waiting. I believe the expiration date on the new visa will be set by when it is issued, not when the old one expires, so conceivably you lose a little time by starting a month early every year. Waiting until near the end might give you 13 month on each visa. I may be wrong about that though.



Thanks! That was helpful. I noticed on the first one-year RT that they backdated the start of the one-year to the date I entered the country, not the date I finally got the card or something in between, so I was figuring they might be consistent (Ha!) and make any multi-year RT start on the day of expiry of the one year RT. 

I'll try to get over there next week. The first trip likely won't be the real start, they'll just set me up with a list of things to gather and instructions for submitting the "tramite". Probably the actual start is the date I submit that.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

I think it will be interesting to see if they even offer you the option of RP at the present time - considering ...


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

eastwind said:


> Thanks! That was helpful. I noticed on the first one-year RT that they backdated the start of the one-year to the date I entered the country, not the date I finally got the card or something in between, so I was figuring they might be consistent (Ha!) and make any multi-year RT start on the day of expiry of the one year RT.
> 
> I'll try to get over there next week. The first trip likely won't be the real start, they'll just set me up with a list of things to gather and instructions for submitting the "tramite". Probably the actual start is the date I submit that.


I am not sure if things are the same, but when I switched from RT to RP (it was actually FM-3 to FM-2 in those days), changing status was actually a separate process. I thought I was getting a new visa and after a few weeks of effort I discovered that I was just getting permission to switch. And there were separate fees for switching and for the new visa. They may have changed that when they changed to the RT/RP nomenclature.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

If he wants to switch to a RP he will need to meet the financial solvency requirements inside Mexico which are higher than at a Mexican Consulate.

"VISA REQUIREMENTS AT MEXICAN CONSULATES OUTSIDE MEXICO:

To qualify for the permanent visa they must show a monthly income of 500 times the minimum wage (for 2016 it is 80.04 pesos) or 40,020 pesos or $2,117 US dollars using an exchange rate of 20.73 to 1 (using December 28, 2016 exchange rate). This must be documented with 6 months bank statements. People who have liquid assets may qualify showing that they have maintained an average balance of 20,000 times the minimum wage (for 2017 it is 80.04 pesos) or 1,600,800 pesos or $77,221 US dollars using an exchange rate of 20.73 to 1 (using December 28, 2016 exchange rate).



VISA REQUIREMENTS AT THE NATIONAL IMMIGRATION INSTITUTE INSIDE MEXICO:

To qualify for the permanent visa they must show a monthly income of 500 times the minimum wage (for 2017 it is 80.04 pesos) or 40,020 pesos or $1,931 US dollars using an exchange rate of 20.73 to 1 (using December 28, 2016 exchange rate). This must be documented with 6 months bank statements. People who have liquid assets may qualify showing that they have maintained an average balance of 25,000 times the minimum wage (for 2017 it is 80.04 pesos) or 2,001,000 pesos or $96,526 US dollars using an exchange rate of 20.73 to 1 (using December 28, 2016 exchange rate)."

Immigration | Chapala Law - Spencer's Office S.C. Abogados


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Thanks, it's good to know the specific limits and time frames, it saves me the trouble of trying to get more statements than I really need.


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