The residence routes to Mexico: two cards, thresholds in UMA and thirty days after landing

Most Dutch-language pages on Mexico start at the beach and end at "180 days visa-free". That last part is correct, and it is exactly why people get stuck: 180 days is a tourist stay, not a right of residence, and it can't be converted. Whoever wants to stay starts in The Hague.

Two cards, one gate

Mexico has two cards for whoever stays, and both start with a visa at a consulate outside Mexico.

The residente temporal is the route of almost everyone. You get the visa on proof of your means; in Mexico you exchange it within thirty days for the card. The first card is valid one year, after that you renew at the INM with one, two or three years up to four in total — and after those four years you apply for the permanent card, without a new means test.

The residente permanente is the same gate, but for good at once. The Lineamientos open that door for one group: jubilados o pensionados. Whoever has a pension and clears the higher bar never has to renew.

What the brochure doesn't mention with that second card: a residente permanente may not have a car on foreign plates in the country, and the card no longer makes you "temporary" in the eyes of the Mexican tax office. Whoever clears the bar but wants to trial a year first starts temporary and goes permanent later.

The thresholds, in UMA and in pesos

The Lineamientos of 25 July 2025 set the thresholds not in pesos but in UMA days — the Unidad de Medida y Actualización, a unit of account that INEGI adjusts every year in February. In 2026 the UMA stands at 117.31 pesos a day. That makes old consulate pages with dollar amounts quietly untrue; do the sum yourself, with the UMA of the year in which you apply.

For the temporary card on own means:

• income of more than 680 UMA days a month, six months long — in 2026 a good 79,771 pesos, at a rate around twenty-one pesos to the euro roughly 3,800 euros a month; or
• an average balance of 11,460 UMA days over the last twelve months — a good 1,344,373 pesos, some 64,000 euros.

For the permanent card as a pensioner:

• a pension of more than 1,140 UMA days a month, six months long — 133,733 pesos, a good 6,300 euros; or
• a balance of 45,850 UMA days over twelve months — 5,378,664 pesos, a quarter of a million euros.

AOW and occupational pension count together. Net means free of charges: the consulate looks at what arrives on your account. And the statements have to be per month, with a declaration or stamp from the bank — a printout from the app isn't enough. That bank declaration is the slowest item of the whole file; request it first.

The application in The Hague

You make an appointment at the consulate, come in person with your passport, the proof of your means and a passport photo, and pay the fees: 913.15 pesos according to article 22 of the Ley Federal de Derechos, converted in the Netherlands to euros or dollars. The consulate decides within ten working days.

The visa is valid 180 days, for one entry. So count back from your departure date: applied for too early it expires before you fly, too late and you leave without. Three months before the flight is a good moment.

On documents: Mexico is party to the apostille convention, and the consulate asks for an apostille or legalisation and an ordinary Spanish translation — not a sworn one — for non-Dutch or non-Mexican documents. The exact list changes per consulate and per year; ask for it before you have apostilles put on.

The thirty days after landing

On entry you get an entry record that states "canje". From that day thirty days run: within that period you lodge the exchange for the tarjeta de residente at the INM office of your place of residence, with your passport, the visa, the entry record, the form and the proof of payment of the fees. You hand in photos and fingerprints and get the card — sometimes the same day, usually within weeks.

Miss the deadline and the visa lapses and you start again in The Hague. And don't leave the country while the application is pending, unless you have obtained an exit and return permit from the INM.

The fees for the card you pay only here, according to article 8 of the Ley Federal de Derechos: 11,140.74 pesos for a temporary card of one year, 16,693.36 for two, 21,142.58 for three, 25,057.82 for four — and 13,578.96 for the permanent card. Whoever loses the card pays 1,640.45 for a new one.

Partner and children: unidad familiar

Whoever comes along doesn't do the means test themselves but rides along on the card of the main applicant. The proof is the bond: a marriage certificate or the proof of cohabitation, the birth certificates of the children. On top an own, lower means test per family member: 220 UMA days a month — a good 25,808 pesos — over six months, from the income of the main applicant.

Have the certificates apostilled in the Netherlands before departure; in Mexico that can no longer be arranged. And know that the card of a family member has the same validity as that of the main applicant: if the one lapses, so does the other.

What comes after the card

The card is the beginning of a chain, not the end. With the card you get your CURP, the personal number the bank, the tax office, the driving licence and the health policy hang on. After that proof of address, a bank account, and the tax number at the SAT. That order is in the step-by-step plan; the rest of this knowledge base is about what then happens to your income and your healthcare — and with Mexico that is the real story.