News brief · Residency
Mexico: temporary residency still popular with nomads
Mexico has not created a dedicated nomad visa: remote workers there use ordinary temporary residency. This route works, but it leaves the holder in a blind spot regarding the right to work.
By Editorial team · on July 2, 2026
A scheme used for another purpose
Unlike some fifteen states that have created a specific permit for remote workers, Mexico has none. Digital nomads therefore use standard temporary residency, based on economic solvency.
The reference amounts are around about $4,3001 in monthly income, or around about $73,0002 in account or investment balances.
The maximum duration of this residency is up to 4 years3, which is longer than most nomad visas, generally limited to one or two years.
This is a real advantage: the Mexican scheme allows a lasting move, whereas a nomad permit forces you to leave or renegotiate after a year.
A second advantage lies in the exit from the scheme. At the end of temporary residency, permanent residency can be applied for, which opens the way to settling with no time limit. Most nomad permits, by contrast, are administrative dead ends that lead to no lasting status.
The blind spot on the right to work
Temporary residency obtained through the economic solvency route does not, in itself, confer the right to engage in paid work in Mexico. A separate work authorisation must be applied for.
Yet remote work for a foreign client, from Mexican territory, occupies an ill-defined position. It is not an activity on the local labour market, but it is carried out on Mexican soil.
We do not publish any official Mexican position on the treatment of remote work for a foreign employer in terms of the right to work and tax law: we have found no clear, up-to-date administrative source on this point. It must be dealt with by a local adviser.
This uncertainty is precisely what dedicated nomad visas are designed to remove. The states that have created one have, in doing so, given the situation a legal status; Mexico has not.
In practice, the scheme works and remote workers are present there in large numbers. But working in practice and being clearly defined in law are two different things, and it is the second that matters in the event of an inspection.
Taxation, with nothing advantageous about it
Mexican tax residency follows its own criteria, independent of the residence permit: it follows the location of the home, then that of the centre of vital interests.
A Mexican tax resident is taxed on their worldwide income. The scale runs from 1.92%4 to 35%5, and gains on the sale of securities by resident individuals are taxed at 10%6.
Corporate income tax stands at 30%7. Mexico is therefore in no respect a low-tax jurisdiction.
A remote worker who settles there for the long term therefore becomes, in law, a Mexican taxpayer taxed on a scale comparable to that of many European states. That is the reality the cost-of-living narrative glosses over.
Key points
- There is no Mexican nomad visa: the route is ordinary temporary residency.
- Its duration of up to 4 years3 exceeds that of most nomad permits.
- The application is filed at a consulate, from abroad, not in Mexico.
- The permit does not confer the right to engage in paid work in Mexico.
- Mexican tax residency means taxation of worldwide income, at up to 35%5.
The mass arrival of remote workers has also fuelled a local public debate on the gentrification of certain neighbourhoods in Mexico City. It does not translate into hostility, but it is real and influences municipal decisions. A newcomer settles in a city where their presence is the subject of public discussion — something worth knowing beforehand rather than afterwards.
Please note
Sources and verification dates
- 1.
Mexico: reference monthly income for proof of economic solvency : $4,300
« Visa de Residencia Temporal — Requisitos […] a. Solvencia económica: 1. […] comprobante de inversiones o cuentas bancarias con saldo promedio mensual equivalente a once mil cuatrocientos sesenta días en UMA, durante los últimos doce meses; o 2. […] empleo o pensión con ingresos mensuales libres de gravámenes mayores al equivalente de seiscientos ochenta días en UMA durante los últimos seis meses. — Lineamientos Generales para la expedición de visas, DOF, 14 de julio de 2025. 680 × UMA 2025 (113,14 MXN) = 76 935 MXN par mois. »
dof.gob.mxVerified on Nov 2, 2026Verified source
- 2.
Mexico: reference account or investment balance for proof of economic solvency : $73,000
« Solvencia económica: 1. Original o documento electrónico con certificado digital de comprobante de inversiones o cuentas bancarias con saldo promedio mensual equivalente a once mil cuatrocientos sesenta días en UMA, durante los últimos doce meses — Lineamientos Generales para la expedición de visas, DOF, 14 de julio de 2025. 11 460 × UMA 2025 (113,14 MXN) = 1 296 584 MXN. »
dof.gob.mxVerified on Nov 2, 2026Verified source
- 3.
Mexico: maximum duration of temporary residency : 4 years
« Visa de Residencia Temporal — Caso en el que se presenta: Aplicable a personas extranjeras que pretendan internarse a México en la condición de estancia de residente temporal con el objeto de permanecer por un tiempo mayor a 180 días y no mayor que 4 años. — Lineamientos Generales para la expedición de visas que emiten las secretarías de Gobernación y de Relaciones Exteriores, Diario Oficial de la Federación, 14 de julio de 2025 (en vigueur quinze jours après publication). »
dof.gob.mxVerified on Nov 2, 2026Verified source
- 4.
Mexico: rate of the first bracket of the annual income tax scale : 1.92%
« Artículo 152. […] A la cantidad que se obtenga se le aplicará la siguiente: Tarifa anual — LISR, art. 152 : première tranche imposée à 1,92 % dès le premier peso (aucune tranche à 0 %). »
ordenjuridico.gob.mxVerified on Nov 2, 2026Verified source
- 5.
Mexico: top marginal rate of the annual scale : 35%
« Artículo 152. Las personas físicas calcularán el impuesto del ejercicio sumando, a los ingresos obtenidos conforme a los Capítulos I, III, IV, V, VI, VIII y IX de este Título, después de efectuar las deducciones autorizadas en dichos Capítulos, la utilidad gravable […] A la cantidad que se obtenga se le aplicará la siguiente: Tarifa anual […] — LISR, art. 152 : dernière tranche (« En adelante ») au taux de 35,00 %, première tranche à 1,92 %. »
ordenjuridico.gob.mxVerified on Nov 2, 2026Verified source
- 6.
Mexico: tax rate on gains from disposals of securities by individuals : 10%
« Las personas físicas estarán obligadas a pagar el impuesto sobre la renta, cuyo pago se considerará como definitivo, aplicando la tasa del 10% a las ganancias obtenidas en el ejercicio derivadas de: I. La enajenación de acciones emitidas por sociedades mexicanas o de títulos que representen exclusivamente a dichas acciones, cuando su enajenación se realice en las bolsas de valores concesionadas o mercados de derivados reconocidos »
ordenjuridico.gob.mxVerified on Nov 2, 2026Verified source
- 7.
Mexico: income tax rate for legal entities : 30%
« Artículo 9. Las personas morales deberán calcular el impuesto sobre la renta, aplicando al resultado fiscal obtenido en el ejercicio la tasa del 30%. »
ordenjuridico.gob.mxVerified on Nov 2, 2026Verified source