Your Plan B / Countries / Central America and the Caribbean
Moving to Mexico: a home your family can use
Prepare a family home or contingency base in Mexico. Connect residence, a Mexico City property, school, healthcare and working payments with practical execution. EXOBASIS organises the agreed work, from documents and housing search to a prepared arrival.
Choose the life you want Mexico to support
Moving to Mexico works best as a household decision. Your income, children's education, health needs and tolerance for unfamiliar administration shape the place you choose. Someone retiring with a pension has a different starting point from a founder working across countries or a family keeping a second home ready while remaining in the UAE.
- A second baseA home for regular stays, with suitable rights, reliable access and care while you are away.
- A new place to liveBring housing, school, healthcare and income together into a workable family routine.
- A prepared alternativeArrange travel, accommodation and the necessary steps early enough to turn an idea into a usable plan.
What matters for your decision
For a UK-based household, record each person's passport and immigration position rather than assigning British citizenship to everyone. For a UAE-based household, separate nationality from the residence and sponsorship arrangements you currently rely on. Mexico's entry and residence requirements follow the actual people and proposed stay.
In the Mexico City area, named schools, hospital campuses and an established urban conveyancing process make the preparation concrete. The useful comparison is between homes and ordinary weeks: school runs, appointments, working hours and bills. That is a stronger basis for a decision than a national cost-of-living average or the appeal of a holiday destination. Decide who will handle Spanish-language conversations with the landlord, healthcare and utility providers and appointment offices, using your own language skills or support agreed in advance.
If war, political pressure or the fear of losing control over your money is making you consider leaving, a second home needs to offer more than distance. Your family must be able to enter Mexico, reach the house, continue school or treatment and pay for everyday life.
Mexico City provides a concrete place to work through those decisions. We connect the residence route with the neighbourhood, property, school and care your household needs. EXOBASIS can organise the work from an exploratory visit through a tenancy or purchase to a prepared arrival and the care of your home while you are elsewhere.
Prepare the arrival and preserve the way back
A contingency home needs to be usable before you need it urgently. We plan the journey from your present address through any transit country to the front door in Mexico: the documents for each traveller, a lawful alternative itinerary, onward transport, keys and money available on arrival. If war is driving the preparation, decide early what would trigger the move and who can make that decision if you are unreachable.
Travel and local preparedness in detail
Within Mexico City, the final journeys also matter. FCDO describes demonstrations in central areas as well as protests affecting areas popular with visitors. Check the streets you would actually use, access to your accommodation and another way to reach essential services. Its cash-access guidance also identifies ATM robberies and recommends daytime use of machines inside shops or malls.
The return plan has two distinct destinations. A future trip back to Mexico depends on the residence permission you hold, its validity and the stage of any application. Returning to Britain or the UAE depends on the rights you have retained there. The home in Mexico needs its own continuing arrangements for keys, utilities, payments and maintenance while it stands empty.
Use Leaving the UK with a prepared alternative for UK departure obligations and the return position of family members with immigration permission. For Leaving the UAE or preparing a second option, sponsorship, absence, cancellation and final employment payments have their own sequence. Preparing a Mexican home gives you another place to go; the arrangements you choose to keep are maintained separately.
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Give every family member a workable residence and daily life
Mexico's temporary residence category allows a stay of up to four years in total. Permanent residence is an indefinite category with its own qualifying grounds, including specified retirement and family cases and the route after four years of temporary residence. We match the intended family move to the route supported by your records, then organise the corresponding application work.
Residence and family life in detail
Under article 52, a temporary resident's family route includes a spouse, a legally evidenced equivalent partnership, the specified unmarried minor children or children under custody, and a parent. Family membership and the permission obtained are recorded person by person. A permanent resident's spouse or equivalent partner starts with a two-year temporary category under article 55; moving on to permanent residence depends on the relationship continuing.
For a child, the Mexican residence case sits alongside permission to relocate, custody arrangements, access to the passport and the next school's admissions process. UK jurisdictions and UAE family-law arrangements need their own treatment. Our guide Prepare to move abroad with children and family explains those departure questions.
For an older relative, the deciding issue may be who can provide the required daily help or continuing treatment. We put that requirement into the housing brief at the start. An accepted school place, a receiving care provider and the means to pay them give the family a realistic arrival date.
A school place in Humboldt's Lomas Verdes group sets up a different housing search from one at La Herradura or a southern campus; Edron brings its own school journey. Add the actual ABC campus needed for a relative's treatment, whether Observatorio or Santa Fe, before choosing between homes. Demonstrations can affect parts of Mexico City, so the comparison includes local conditions and a usable alternative route for the school run and care visits. A home that works for school but leaves essential treatment out of reach when its usual approach is disrupted is a poor fit for that household. We either adjust the search or arrange a clinically suitable care alternative with the treating team before you commit.
Mexico · AI illustration
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Use Mexico between other commitments
You may want to test the country, spend part of the year there or keep a second home ready. Those intentions call for different permissions. The visitor category without paid activities in Mexico allows up to 180 days, with the actual authorised stay governing your visit. Article 53 limits changes from ordinary visitor status, with specific family and humanitarian exceptions. Prepare the intended residence route rather than relying on an assumed conversion after arrival.
Temporary residents have the right to enter and leave during their valid status. Paid work remains connected to the appropriate permission and activity. Where you physically work, how you run a business and where you establish a home also matter for tax; a UK payer or UAE company is not a complete answer to those questions.
Before committing to a recurring stay, test the working day at the property: internet, a usable alternative connection, private calls and the hours you need with clients. Then plan the periods when the home is empty. Tenancy conditions, insurance, utility payments and maintenance need to fit the intended pattern. We can organise that preparation as a defined assignment alongside your existing home and advisers.
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Match the application route to your actual base
Financial means, joining a family member and a work case approved by Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM) lead to different applications. The consular route must fit your legal place of residence and personal circumstances. A British passport and residence in the UAE, for example, are different facts; the passport alone does not choose the office that will accept the case.
Applying through London
The Mexican consular service in London publishes separate temporary-residence routes for financial means, family unity, property and INM-authorised cases. Its financial-means procedure requires a personal appointment, passport, application form and photograph, with evidence of lawful UK residence for non-British applicants. It distinguishes twelve months of qualifying bank or investment records from six months of income evidence and the associated confirmation.
Requirements and procedures in detail
The official MiConsulado guide points to citas.sre.gob.mx and identifies the Consular Section at 16A St George St, London W1S 1FD. We organise the selected category's records and confirm its current financial and appointment requirements for the application. For a UAE-based applicant, the appropriate local filing arrangements are established against that person's legal residence before travel is committed.
For London's family procedure, a sponsor outside Mexico accompanies the applicant at the consular appointment. The file connects that person's passport and Mexican visa or residence status with the appropriate marriage, partnership or birth evidence. The visa-holder cases identified in the procedure also require financial support evidence. The intended household and the amount needed for a consular application are different from the cash needed to pay for life after arrival.
Three ways of using Mexico
Mexico: rights, requirements and practical work by intended use
Open the use that fits your plans. Each option brings together the legal requirements, your documents and the work to commission.
Intended use: A lasting family home
- Suitable legal basis
- Start with any Mexican residence permission already granted: whether it remains valid and which relatives hold their own permissions. Anyone without the required status needs a separate application through an appropriate temporary route based on financial means, family connection or authorised activity, or a permanent route where its conditions are met. A family relationship may establish grounds to apply; it is not the granted permission.
- What to prepare
- Each person has an identity and family file. Passport and legal place of residence help establish the application requirements, not an already granted right. Assign any missing permission to the proper consular or INM procedure; the consular first-entry route is followed by the residence-card process in Mexico. Existing permission instead calls for its applicable maintenance steps and dates.
- Consequences and limits
- Different relatives may start with different permissions. Education, treatment, work authorisation and renewal obligations need to support the intended household life.
- Work you can commission
- EXOBASIS organises documents, specialist input and appointments, then aligns housing, school, care and first payments with the move.
Intended use: Mobile or shared use
- Suitable legal basis
- Existing visitor permission covers the authorised exploratory stay; an already granted temporary residence covers the appropriate longer use while valid. Check that position separately for every accompanying relative. Where the planned stay lacks a suitable right, apply for the required visa or residence permission before relying on it. Passport and residence establish the starting circumstances; a family link may support an application, not replace its approval. Work requires its own activity-specific assessment.
- What to prepare
- Match the permitted stay, card/application stage, travel dates and actual work. Arrange any necessary exit-and-return permission before leaving during an INM procedure.
- Consequences and limits
- A pattern of visits does not extend permission beyond its validity. Work and tax follow the real circumstances; the property still needs funding and care between visits.
- Work you can commission
- EXOBASIS coordinates documents, accommodation, working arrangements, payment access and the agreed care of the home between stays.
Intended use: A prepared refuge with a return option
- Suitable legal basis
- Usable entry rights or granted and maintained residence for every traveller, fitting the possible length of stay. Confirm each relative's own right and its validity. If a traveller lacks permission for that stay, prepare the required individual visa or residence application before a crisis makes the journey urgent. Nationality and present residence inform that route; a family relationship is a possible basis to apply, not permission already held.
- What to prepare
- Prepare transit documents, an accessible home, essential care and funded arrival. Keep the separate rights and arrangements needed to return to the UK, UAE or other present base.
- Consequences and limits
- Property ownership does not preserve immigration status. Actual travel needs a current route and security assessment; the prepared home must remain accessible and serviced.
- Work you can commission
- EXOBASIS organises exploration, setup, handover and agreed maintenance, with the people, decisions and practical arrival steps connected.
Start with the country and the work you need, such as a family residence application, an exploratory stay or a home kept ready. That is enough to open the conversation. Personal records are collected later through the agreed protected exchange.
Find a home around the journeys you will actually make
The Mexico City metropolitan area is a location decision within the country. For a school-age family, choose the school and its admissions route alongside the search area. Humboldt's locations include Zona Esmeralda and Lomas Verdes in its northern group, Prado Norte and La Herradura in the west, and Pedregal, Tepepan and La Noria in the south. An English-curriculum household may be considering Edron instead. The school that can meet your child's needs, and the ABC campus or other provider required for care, help determine the housing search.
Property rules and preparation in detail
Addresses across this urban area fall under different jurisdictions. Establish whether the property is in Ciudad de México or Estado de México before appointing the relevant registry and legal work. On an exploratory visit, connect property viewings with school and care appointments, everyday journeys and a check of water, power and building condition. Mexico City's risk atlas supports the location investigation; a building assessment remains work on the actual property.
Demonstrations can also affect central parts of Mexico City. For each prospective home, trace school drop-offs and collections, treatment visits, pharmacy trips and a carer's access, then examine an alternative approach that avoids the affected area and suits the transport required. If the usual access becomes unusable and there is no workable way to keep those essential journeys going, remove that home from the shortlist. This matters especially when school commitments and a relative's regular care have to work on the same day.
Mexico · AI illustration
Rent first if the location still needs testing
A furnished initial home gives the family somewhere to arrive while you make the longer decision. Before paying, establish the landlord's or agent's authority, permitted use, term, deposit, accepted security and notice arrangements. Separate the rent from utilities, management charges and other recurring costs. Record the condition, defects, inventory and meters at handover. The landlord's acceptance of your particular evidence is part of the transaction preparation.
Buying a private urban property in CDMX
Involve the notary before making the binding contractual commitment. The CDMX notaries' guidance identifies title, the parties' identity and, where relevant, marriage records; five years of property-tax and water records; and condominium documentation with a certificate confirming there are no outstanding management charges. The notary requests the registry certificate, checks authority to sell, encumbrances, use and arrears, and prepares the notarised deed, the escritura. Independent advice for the buyer complements that role.
Completion includes the relevant tax payments and registration of the new owner in the local Registro Público. Acquisition tax, registry charges, certificates, valuation and notarial fees are separate from the price. Predial property tax, water, management and insurance continue after ownership changes. A property in Estado de México receives the applicable local procedure rather than the CDMX process copied across.
Check agrarian history and the restricted zone separately
Where land has an ejido history, establish the completed move into private title: the relevant assembly decision, cancellation at the Registro Agrario Nacional, the issued ownership title and its local public registration. A parcel-rights certificate alone leaves that question unresolved. The statutory rights of first refusal also matter on the first sale after conversion.
The restricted zone extends 100 kilometres along borders and 50 kilometres along beaches. Foreign residential use of a property within that zone calls for the applicable bank-held fideicomiso with SRE permission, including its setup and recurring cost. Acquisition outside that zone follows a different route. A CDMX transaction is not turned into a coastal trust case simply because the buyer is foreign. Residence permission and property rights are prepared as separate parts of your move.
Take the search through to a usable home
Secure school and care before fixing the move date
A school place that fits the child's education
Edron describes an expanded UK National Curriculum and age grouping based on the period from 1 September to 31 August. Its admissions sequence runs from initial interest and a visit through application, assessment and enrolment. For a child moving from Britain or a UAE school, compare the actual curriculum, stage, learning support and start date with that process. English as a teaching language is only one part of the match.
School, health and family in detail
Humboldt offers a different educational route. Its application involves an information meeting, paid evaluation and personal diagnostic or observation appointments before enrolment is completed. Kindergarten entry does not require German; later entry conditions depend on campus and year group, with Lomas Verdes describing entry without German up to the fourth primary year. Confirm the specific campus, fees and any transport route before choosing a house around it.
Our guide Prepare to move abroad with children and family connects school records and relocation permissions with the first ordinary week: who takes the child, who can collect them and what support the family needs.
Arrange the treatment and its payment, not just the policy
For ABC's Observatorio and Santa Fe campuses, admission arrangements include identification, an advance payment and a payment guarantee. Agreed direct billing requires the relevant insurance evidence and authorisation. Doctors' fees are separate from the hospital bill. The receiving department, appointment or treatment needs and means of payment therefore belong in the same preparation.
School, health and family in detail
Emergency care starts with triage. ABC describes reimbursement for outpatient emergency treatment without admission. Where hospitalisation exceeds 24 hours and the insurer has the relevant arrangement, coverage is requested; an advance may still be required. Keep accessible money for that exposure rather than assuming a policy will pay every charge immediately.
Health cover and care abroad helps you connect the insurer's accepted terms with the provider who will treat you. For continuing therapy or an older relative's daily care, EXOBASIS organises the agreed provider coordination, records, transport and housing requirements. The treating professionals specify the clinical needs; the arrangements bring those needs into the arrival plan. Accessible housing, medication continuity and the person taking over care can decide the location.
Suppose a relative needs regular treatment at ABC Observatorio. Being able to reach Santa Fe would not by itself preserve that treatment plan. A disrupted approach to the required campus could mean a missed session, failed patient transport, delayed medication or no relief for the person providing care. Compare homes on whether another usable route can support those needs; where it cannot, EXOBASIS coordinates the arrangements for an accessible care alternative. The treating team decides clinical suitability and the receiving provider confirms acceptance. If neither access nor an accepted alternative can be arranged, change the housing choice before moving.
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Keep income, bank access and first payments working
What work will you actually do in Mexico?
A temporary residence based on financial means is distinct from permission for remunerated work. Local employment is connected to the employer offer and applicable INM procedure. Independent work needs the appropriate process, including the described activity and place and, where required, RFC tax registration. We organise the professional assessment around the work you will really carry out.
Work, income and payments in detail
For Mexican tax residence, article 9 of the Federal Fiscal Code looks at the home you establish. With homes in two countries, the centre of vital interests matters, including the main place of professional activity or more than half of income from Mexican sources. It is not a general 183-day residence test. Mexican residents are generally taxed on worldwide income. For non-residents, employment or independent services physically performed in Mexico can create a Mexican source; the foreign-payer and short-stay exceptions have their own conditions and exclusions.
A UK salary, a UAE company or an account elsewhere must therefore be considered alongside your Mexican home and activity. The departure-country analysis remains separate. We coordinate the required specialist work before those assumptions are built into the household budget.
For the London financial-means case described above, connect the twelve-month bank or investment record, or six-month income record with its supporting confirmation, to the money you can actually use on arrival. We align the required statements and income evidence with withdrawal restrictions, continuing household costs and the dates rent, school fees and a hospital advance could fall due. That shows whether a separate accessible reserve is needed. A UAE-based case follows its own consulate's evidence requirements; neither consular proof nor a qualifying balance amounts to acceptance by a Mexican bank.
Coordinate a Mexican account with the residence-card process
BBVA's Libretón Básico requirements include adulthood, living in Mexico and a national telephone number. For foreign residents, the published requirements include a passport, valid migration evidence, CURP where needed and address evidence no more than three months old, which may be in another person's name. Confirm with the chosen branch and product which current residence card or document it will accept for your case.
Work, income and payments in detail
The sequence is practical: prepare the immigration steps, establish the real address, assemble accepted identification, complete the bank's intake and, after acceptance, activate and test the payment functions. A rent deposit, school fee or hospital advance may fall due before the account works. Keep an independently usable, lawful arrival reserve until the Mexican payment route is ready.
For UK-based clients, confirm whether the existing account remains suitable at the new Mexican address. For UAE-based clients, separate final salary or gratuity treatment, residence cancellation, a change of bank product and an actual legal freeze. These can affect different funds and dates. Prepare the source-of-funds records and receiving arrangements before a substantial transfer, then confirm the arrival of a small permitted test payment.
Also test recovery when the main phone is unavailable and a representative's own permitted access. The powers of attorney, representation and succession guide connects legal authority with the bank's acceptance and a practical way to act. That matters when someone else must pay the school or keep the business running.
Sequence the consulate, INM and the first weeks
- Prepare the right consular file. Identify the route, legal application location and each person's documents. Procure the required civil records, authentication and translations for that procedure, then align personal attendance with the appointment.
- Enter on the intended residence basis. After entry with a residence visa, article 59 requires the application for the residence card at INM within 30 calendar days. This canje is linked to the actual accommodation, address evidence and appointments in Mexico.
- Arrange an early departure before travelling. During a timely filed but unfinished procedure, a separate Permiso de salida y regreso may be obtained under the applicable status and procedure conditions. It has a 60-calendar-day period from issue. Apply before departure through the responsible procedure office and obtain the required exit and re-entry stamps. This is a separate permission, not an extension of the 30-day canje application deadline.
- Connect the recorded status to daily life. Retain the card and procedure records with the next deadlines. The bank's accepted identification, school entry, treatment and initial bills are coordinated with the stage actually reached.
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Keep the permission and the home usable while life changes
Article 63 requires residents to report changes in marital status, nationality, address and workplace within 90 days. This reporting duty is separate from the initial residence-card application, card renewal and the bank's customer-record updates. A changed address may require several connected actions.
The property has its own continuing work: rent or Predial property tax, water, management, insurance, inspections and repairs. A relevant fideicomiso adds its contractual dates and charges. Before you return, keys, services and the agreed arrival arrangements are checked. Spending authority is set in advance so that someone can deal with the defined tasks while you are away.
Maintain the arrangements in the country you keep as well. For a UAE household, permit expiry, an absence condition and cancellation are different events. For a family member returning to the UK on immigration permission, the actual status and usable travel records matter. A new phone, passport or representative also needs to reach the relevant records and access procedures.
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Commission the Mexico preparation you need
You can ask EXOBASIS to coordinate the family move or take on a defined part of it. That may be choosing the area, organising an exploratory visit, finding a tenancy, preparing a purchase or connecting school and healthcare to an already selected home. Property work can include independent title and purchase checks, contract and completion coordination, handover and subsequent care.
We agree the result, responsibilities and costs before the work begins. Search and coordination, local professional services and your own payments for property, travel, authorities and providers are distinct items. Auranex LLC is the operator and contracting company. A known task can be commissioned directly; an orientation call or personal initial assessment is a separate way to start when you first need to decide the direction.
Compare Mexico with Costa Rica and Panama
Costa Rica as a personal alternative gives you a useful comparison if a pension or other stable income is central to the family plan. Its Pensionado and Rentista routes are distinct from the time-limited digital-nomad estancia. Compare those conditions with the Mexican residence case and with the actual school, treatment and housing arrangements each location could support.
Panama as a personal alternative raises a different comparison: a home for the family, an international-services location and a contingency destination may serve different purposes. Its transit role and local travel dependencies belong beside any banking or business attraction. Compare the household's location and arrival route with your Mexico plan rather than letting the address of a service provider choose where the family lives.
For the first contact, a broad Mexico-related task and a reply route are enough. The enquiry category and optional public page context can be changed. Passports, detailed finances and access credentials belong in the later protected exchange, not in the public enquiry.
Can I use the requirements of any Mexican consulate?
Use the procedure that accepts your actual legal residence, intended stay and personal category. London publishes its own routes and evidence requirements; a British passport alone does not settle the application location for someone living in the UAE. We organise the applicable file and appointment rather than transferring financial figures from another consulate.