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.