Your "Is Our FIRE Plan Working?" section resonates for me. Still hard to believe things actually do work like this in reality. That said, I'd have felt a lot better if 2022 hadn't delivered such a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad performance, and the 2025 markets performance to date had been better. Still waiting for some hockey stick graph line growth from the number I FIREd with. But the fact that we're not just doing fine but are ahead of where we started at the FIRE date is pretty incredible.
At a super high level, you make an appointment with a US based Mexican consulate (our choice was Orlando) to apply for either a Temporary or Permanent Residency visa. Appointment scheduling is wonky on their site. It also may require a bit of research as some consulates are more strict than others. Orlando accepted printed copies of our financial statements (rather than signed bank copies - which are hard to come by), and Orlando didn't worry that we weren't age 60 or whatever they consider as retired. It was strictly financial.
You show up with the needed documents (essentially an application, 12 months of financial solvency - this can be 401k/IRA as well, your passport, some consulates want a photo but Orlando took their own). If approved, they will put a VISA in your passport. You then have 6 months to travel to Mexico and exchange ("Canje") it for a residency card at an INM office. It's important that you don't enter Mexico as a "tourist" - so make it clear to immigration that you have a residency visa in your passport that needs to be exchanged for a card. They will give you 30 days to complete the exchange.
The INM office is its own set of paperwork, so we used a local facilitator in Mérida for a few hundred dollars and he did everything for us. The INM appointment took about 3-4 hours and out we walked with residency cards.
Woohoo!! Congratulations! Love this post!
Your "Is Our FIRE Plan Working?" section resonates for me. Still hard to believe things actually do work like this in reality. That said, I'd have felt a lot better if 2022 hadn't delivered such a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad performance, and the 2025 markets performance to date had been better. Still waiting for some hockey stick graph line growth from the number I FIREd with. But the fact that we're not just doing fine but are ahead of where we started at the FIRE date is pretty incredible.
It really is unbelievable
Love all this detail and thanks for sharing! Curious how you all were you all able to get Mexican residency?
Hi Maggie!
At a super high level, you make an appointment with a US based Mexican consulate (our choice was Orlando) to apply for either a Temporary or Permanent Residency visa. Appointment scheduling is wonky on their site. It also may require a bit of research as some consulates are more strict than others. Orlando accepted printed copies of our financial statements (rather than signed bank copies - which are hard to come by), and Orlando didn't worry that we weren't age 60 or whatever they consider as retired. It was strictly financial.
You show up with the needed documents (essentially an application, 12 months of financial solvency - this can be 401k/IRA as well, your passport, some consulates want a photo but Orlando took their own). If approved, they will put a VISA in your passport. You then have 6 months to travel to Mexico and exchange ("Canje") it for a residency card at an INM office. It's important that you don't enter Mexico as a "tourist" - so make it clear to immigration that you have a residency visa in your passport that needs to be exchanged for a card. They will give you 30 days to complete the exchange.
The INM office is its own set of paperwork, so we used a local facilitator in Mérida for a few hundred dollars and he did everything for us. The INM appointment took about 3-4 hours and out we walked with residency cards.
Here is a site I used for general guidance -> https://soniadiazmexico.com/permanent-residency/