Americas · Move Kit
🇲🇽 The Mexico Move Kit
Pick your visa, price your city, and land without losing the 30-day residency window.
A step-by-step kit for moving to Mexico on the routes that actually exist: the Temporary Resident Visa (the one remote workers use, around $4,300/mo income), the Temporary Resident Visa on the retirement / financial-solvency basis, the Temporary Resident Student Visa, and the FMM tourist permit for people who are only testing the water. It prices five real cities from Oaxaca at $1,200/mo to Mexico City and Tulum at $1,850/mo, turns each visa's requirement list into a document checklist, and walks the first 30 days in the order they must happen. Every official link is printed so you can check us.
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What's inside
Which route is yours
All four routes on file, who each one is for, who should skip it, and the work rule stated up front.
Where to live on your budget
Five cities, real monthly totals, student totals, internet speed, and the trade-off each one makes.
The money, broken down
Rent, food, transport and coworking line by line, and which line you can actually move.
What you have to produce
The document checklist behind phrases like 'proof of income or savings'.
The first 30 days
Landing to residency card, in order, with what blocks what.
Tax, healthcare and safety
What we have verified, what we have not, and exactly which authority to ask.
Read before you buy
Free chapter: The first 30 days
The complete chapter, exactly as it appears in the Mexico Move Kit. Open it on its own page
The clock starts when you land. On the resident routes the rule on file is blunt: complete the exchange to a residency card in Mexico within 30 days of entry. Everything below is ordered by what blocks what.
Day 0 — the airport. Present the visa in your passport and make sure you are processed as someone entering to complete a residency exchange, not as a tourist. This single moment at the immigration desk is the most consequential five minutes of your move: the wrong entry category can invalidate the exchange and send you out of the country to start again. Say plainly why you are entering and check what you are given before you walk away from the desk. Pre-book an airport transfer (Welcome Pickups is the painless version) so you are not negotiating a taxi at midnight with three bags and a folder of originals.
Days 1-3 — book the INM appointment. This blocks everything else, so it is first. Find your local INM office, start the exchange process, and get the appointment on the calendar. If the first available slot is beyond day 30, you need to know that on day 2, not day 25. Bring your passport, the visa, and the documents you used at the consulate.
Days 1-7 — get an address that will survive the paperwork. You need somewhere to live and, probably, evidence of it. Take a short-term place first — a month, not a year — and only sign a longer lease once your card process is underway and you have seen the neighbourhood on a Tuesday as well as a Saturday. Rent ranges on our file from $520 in Oaxaca to $950 in Mexico City; anything far above that is expat pricing, and you can do better once you are on the ground and speaking to landlords directly.
Week 1 — the boring infrastructure. Local SIM and a phone number (many appointments and deliveries want one). Health cover in place from day one, not day thirty (see the next section). A Wise account funded so you can pay a deposit without a wire transfer drama. A coworking day pass before you buy a month — $100 to $140 depending on the city, and worth trying two places first.
Weeks 2-4 — the appointment itself, and what follows. Attend the INM appointment with originals plus copies of everything. Expect biometrics and a wait; expect to be sent back for one document you did not know you needed, which is why you started in week one. Ask two questions at the counter while you have a human in front of you: when will the card be ready, and may I leave the country before it is issued — we have not verified the travel rule during the exchange and you should hear it from INM, not from a forum.
The failure mode to avoid. Landing, taking a week to decompress, spending week two apartment hunting, and discovering in week three that INM has no appointments until week six. If the calendar is against you, act immediately: try a different INM office, ask at the counter in person rather than online, and get advice from a local immigration lawyer the same day. Thirty days is not long, and no one is going to remind you.
If you are on the FMM instead, none of this applies — but note what you were actually written on entry, count the days yourself, and plan your exit before the number runs out, since the length is discretionary and not always what you expected.
That's one of 7 chapters — get the full Move Kit.
Get the full kit — $49Still deciding? The free Mexico guide covers every visa route, living costs by city and safety.
Visa rules change often and official sources can conflict. This is AI-assembled research, not legal or immigration advice — always verify with the official link before you act. Full disclaimer
The full Mexico plan is locked
Unlock the visa playbook, taxes, healthcare, city picks, the first-30-days checklist and the templates.
Get set up for Mexico
The tools we use for every move — insurance, money, connectivity and more.
Bounce — luggage storage
Drop your bags at 15,000+ spots worldwide between check-out and your next move.
Solis (SIMO) Go Hotspot
Global 4G/5G pocket Wi‑Fi with pay‑as‑you‑go data in 140+ countries — the flagship "always connected" device.
Nomad travel gear
Passport holders, packing cubes, and the carry-on jacket that swallows a wardrobe.
SafetyWing — nomad insurance
Health + travel cover built for people who live abroad. Monthly, cancel anytime.
Insubuy
Compare travel-medical and expat health plans, including the long-stay policies visa applications ask you to prove. Useful before you file, not just before you fly.
AirHelp — delayed or cancelled flight?
Claims compensation for delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights. No win, no fee. Worth knowing when you fly as often as nomads do.
Travelex — trip insurance
Trip cancellation, interruption and baggage cover for the moving-day flights, where a missed connection costs real money.
Welcome Pickups — airport transfer
A local driver meets you at arrivals with your name on a sign, at a fixed price. The single easiest thing to get right on day one in a new country.
LuggageHero — luggage storage
Store bags by the hour or day in shops and cafes across Europe and North America — for the gap between one lease ending and the next starting.
Aviasales — flight search
Searches hundreds of airlines and agencies at once, including the budget carriers the big sites miss. Good for one-way and open-jaw routes.
Trip.com — flights & hotels
Particularly strong across Asia, where the Western booking sites are often more expensive or miss carriers entirely.
Travala — stays, pay your way
Hotels and apartments worldwide, with crypto accepted alongside cards — handy when your money lives in more than one place.
Travel Freely — track your points
Free tool that tracks credit-card sign-up bonuses and annual-fee dates across every card you hold, so points fund the flights.
Allianz Travel Insurance — trip protection
Trip cancellation, travel medical and baggage cover from Allianz, bought through a licensed travel agency's storefront. Check each plan's terms — plans are sold to US residents.
Medjet (medical evacuation)
Air‑medical transport + evacuation membership — if you're hospitalized 150+ mi from home, get moved to the hospital of YOUR choice. Not travel‑medical insurance; it pairs with it.
NEXT Insurance — business insurance for freelancers
Online small-business insurance — general and professional liability, errors & omissions, equipment — for US-based freelancers and one-person LLCs who keep working while they travel. Quotes in minutes; US businesses only.
NordVPN — stay secure
Public-wifi safety, and reach your home services from anywhere.
TravelFun.Biz — earn 25% sharing travel
Travel creators on TikTok, Instagram or a blog earn 25% on every sale they refer to the TravelFun host travel agency and agent training. Free to join, 365-day cookie, paid within 30 days of the sale. Earnings aren't guaranteed.
GetYourGuide
Tours, day trips and skip-the-line tickets in your new city.
Viator
Large tour and activity marketplace, useful for the first weeks of exploring.
Tours By Locals — private local guides
Private guides who actually live there — good for orientation in a city you have just moved to.
Tiqets — museums & attractions
Instant mobile tickets for museums and attractions.
EconomyBookings — car hire
Car rental comparison, for the stretch before you sort local transport.
BikesBooking — scooter & bike rental
Scooter and motorbike rental, the default way to get around much of Southeast Asia.
Busbud — intercity buses
Intercity bus tickets across 80+ countries — usually the cheapest way between nearby cities.
Project Expedition — tours & excursions
Curated tours and excursions worldwide.
Rocket Lawyer
On‑demand legal documents, business formation (LLC), and attorney Q&A — useful for nomads setting up a base or a business.
Booking.com
Hotels + apartments worldwide; the default lodging affiliate.
Some links are affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only list tools we'd use ourselves.
Questions
Can I apply for the Temporary Resident Visa while I'm already in Mexico on a tourist permit?
The route on file says you apply at a Mexican consulate abroad. Plan on leaving Mexico to start it, and budget the flight and the 2-6 week processing time into your move. This is the single most common and most expensive assumption people make.
What happens if I miss the 30-day window to exchange my visa for a residency card?
Do not find out. The requirement on file is to complete the exchange to a residency card in Mexico within 30 days of entry, and there is no version of missing it that is convenient. If the INM appointment calendar is against you, act on day 2 rather than day 25: try a different office, go in person, and get a local immigration lawyer involved the same week. We have not verified what remedies exist after the window closes — that is a question for INM, and one you want to avoid asking.
Can I work for a Mexican company on any of these visas?
Not on the four routes in this kit. The nomad Temporary Resident, the retirement / financial-solvency version, the Student Visa and the FMM tourist permit all carry no local work. They are for people earning outside Mexico, living off assets, or studying. If you want to work for a Mexican employer you are looking at a different permission entirely, and that is a conversation with the consulate and an immigration lawyer.
I'm retired but my income doesn't look like a salary. Does the retirement route have a number I need to hit?
There is one, but we deliberately do not print it, because our file flags it as unverified and tells you to check current thresholds at the consulate or INM. Guessing at that figure is exactly how people arrive at an appointment with the wrong folder. Email the consulate first with your actual mix of pension, investment and savings income and ask how they assess it — the answer varies more than people expect.
Is $1,200 a month in Oaxaca real, or a headline number?
It is the all-in figure on file, and it breaks down as $520 rent, $340 food, $40 transport and $100 coworking — which leaves roughly $200 for everything else: phone, laundry, insurance, going out. It is real if you live locally: market food, a normal apartment, no imported groceries. It is not real if you replicate your home-country lifestyle. And note the internet is around 50 Mbps, which matters more than the rent if your job is video calls.
Does this kit tell me what I'll owe in tax?
No, and we say so plainly rather than guessing. We have not verified Mexican tax residency rules or thresholds for this kit. The two authorities to ask are SAT in Mexico and your home country's revenue service — they are separate questions with separate answers. Buy one hour with a cross-border accountant before your first full tax year abroad; it will cost less than the mistake.
Which city should I choose if I only care about internet?
Mexico City at ~100 Mbps and $1,850/mo, then Playa del Carmen at ~80 Mbps and $1,670/mo. Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido and Tulum all sit around 50 Mbps. The comparison worth noticing is Tulum and Mexico City costing the same $1,850 while Tulum gives you half the speed, a 7/10 nomad score against 10/10, and the same 6/10 safety rating.
Instant access · lifetime updates · yours to keep.
Moving somewhere else too? The All-Access Vault unlocks every country kit.
Research & planning only — not legal, immigration or tax advice. Verify every step at its official source. All sales final.