Visas and residency

• Visitor / tourist stamp: issued on arrival for a period set by the officer, commonly up to 180 days. No work for a Mexican employer, no residency rights. You can still buy property on this status.
• Temporary residency (Residente Temporal): one year initially, renewable up to four years total. Requires proof of economic solvency, or family ties, or a job offer with a work permit.
• Permanent residency (Residente Permanente): indefinite. Reached through four years of temporary residency, retirement-level solvency, or family ties. Higher financial thresholds than temporary.

Residency does not start in Mexico. You book an appointment at a Mexican consulate in your own country through the official appointment portal, attend in person with your documents, and if approved you receive a visa sticker in your passport. That sticker is not the residency card.

You then enter Mexico, tell the officer you are entering to exchange a residency visa, and within 30 calendar days present yourself at an INM office to complete the canje — the exchange for your actual residency card. Missing that 30-day window is the most common expensive mistake.

The income route means six consecutive months of bank or investment statements showing stable deposits at or above the threshold. The savings route means twelve months of statements showing an average balance at or above the threshold. Consulates typically want original statements, not screenshots, and they look at consistency rather than a single good month.

Because the thresholds are calculated from Mexican minimum wage and UMA values, they move each year, and individual consulates interpret document requirements differently. Read your consulate's own published requirement sheet before booking.

Guanajuato has INM offices serving the state, and León's airport makes the consular round trip straightforward. Residency is national — it is granted by Mexico, not by a state — so nothing about the process is specific to Guanajuato. What is local is address proof: you will generally need a utility bill or lease in the state where you register.