Visiting
As a visitor you cannot stay longer than 180 days, and the immigration officer at entry decides how many days you get. The maximum is not automatic. The US State Department says a visa is required if you visit for more than 180 days. The visitor category does not allow paid activities in Mexico.
- No page we reviewed says remote work for a foreign employer is allowed as a visitor, so a year-long stay needs residence.
Sources: Diario Oficial de la Federación (Secretaría de Gobernación and Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores), US Department of State. Checked 16 October 2026.
Staying a year or longer
For a year or longer, the route is a temporary resident visa, applied for at a Mexican consulate before you travel. The status lasts more than 180 days and up to four years. Two consulates checked ask for about US$4,500 to US$4,600 a month in income, or about US$76,000 to US$78,000 in average savings. To be safe, have more than US$4,700 a month, or more than US$79,000 in savings.
- Mexico's rules set the income test at 680 days of the UMA, which is more than MX$80,000 a month after tax over the last six months.
- The alternative is an average monthly balance of 11,460 days of the UMA, more than MX$1,400,000, over the last twelve months.
- The visa itself is valid for 180 days and one entry. You must get the residence card from the National Migration Institute (INM) within 30 days of arriving.
- San Diego asks employees for a supervisor's letter that explicitly agrees to you living in Mexico and working remotely. Las Vegas accepts proof of self-employed income such as a business licence or 1099 forms.
More detail
Consulates publish their own dollar figures, so check which consulate serves your state and its current figure. The UMA is updated each February, so the peso amounts change each year.
Sources: Diario Oficial de la Federación (Secretaría de Gobernación and Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores), Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego, Consulate of Mexico in Las Vegas, Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), Banco de México. Checked 4 October 2026.
Documents, fees and timing
Employees need six months of bank statements showing the income, plus an employment letter on company letterhead with your position and salary. Freelancers need six months of statements plus a business licence or, in Las Vegas, 1099 forms, payslips or proof of direct deposits. The savings route needs twelve months of statements. The visa fee at both consulates checked is US$56.
- Statements must be originals with a bank stamp, or come with a bank verification letter. Requirements differ by consulate.
- The rules give consulates up to 10 working days to decide. Las Vegas says 1 to 10 working days from the appointment.
- San Diego books appointments through MiConsulado and Las Vegas by email. San Diego advises against buying flights before the visa is issued.
More detail
Once in Mexico, you have 30 days to get an appointment at INM for the residence card. We did not confirm its separate fee, so it is unknown here.
Sources: Diario Oficial de la Federación (Secretaría de Gobernación and Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores), Consulate General of Mexico in San Diego, Consulate of Mexico in Las Vegas. Checked 4 October 2026.
Tax
Mexico taxes residents on worldwide income, and you are resident there if you set up your home there. The US also keeps its claim: US citizens abroad generally file as they would at home, on worldwide income. The US-Mexico treaty settles dual residence by permanent home, then centre of vital interests, but its saving clause lets the US keep taxing its citizens.
- The 2026 foreign earned income exclusion limit is US$132,900. You can usually take Mexican tax as a credit, but not on income you exclude.
- Foreign accounts together above US$10,000 at any point in the year must be reported on an FBAR. A Mexican account counts toward that.
- The exclusion's physical presence test needs 330 full days abroad within 12 months.
- Mexico is not on the Social Security Administration's list of agreements in force. US self-employment tax applies to net self-employment profit even when that income is excluded from income tax.
More detail
If you also keep a home in the US, Mexico looks at your centre of vital interests, for example whether more than half your income comes from Mexican sources or your main professional activity is there.
Employees paid by an employer that does not withhold Mexican tax, including pay from abroad, work out monthly provisional payments themselves, pay them by the 17th of each month and file an annual return. Freelancers face their own registration, invoicing and payment rules. The law copies reviewed may predate later reforms.
We found no official source for Mexico's personal income tax rates or for how your US state treats you after you leave, so both are unknown here. An employee of a US company needs the employer's position on social security confirmed.
Sources: Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT), Internal Revenue Service, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), US Social Security Administration. Checked 4 October 2026.
Setting up
Foreign temporary and permanent residents get a CURP, the population registry number, automatically when INM issues their foreigner number. It should be printed on the residence card. With a CURP you can register for an RFC, the tax number, online with the tax authority (SAT). Registering with tax obligations means visiting a SAT office within 30 days for a password or e.firma.
- We found no official source for private health cover, public health cover fees, home internet or rents, so they are unknown here.
Sources: Secretaría de Gobernación, Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT), Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Checked 4 October 2026.
Living in Mérida
The US State Department gives Mexico Level 2, exercise increased caution, with Level 3 (reconsider travel) or Level 4 (do not travel) for parts of several states. It rates Yucatán state, where Mérida is, Level 1, exercise normal precautions. We found no official source for rents, bills, bus fares or other living costs in Mérida, so they are unknown here.
Sources: US Department of State. Checked 16 October 2026.
Other places we looked at
The research also looked at Querétaro and Oaxaca de Juárez, for contrast. The US State Department rates Querétaro state Level 2, exercise increased caution, with no specific travel restrictions for US government employees there. It rates Oaxaca state Level 2 as well, with no travel restrictions for US government employees in Oaxaca City or Monte Albán. We found no official source for rents in either city, so they are unknown here.
Sources: US Department of State. Checked 16 October 2026.
United States
Mexico