Mexico's Tourist Visa Just Got Harder to Get

Are you living in Mexico on a tourist visa or planning to? Recent changes to mexican immigration policies mean six-month tourist visas are no longer being issued at the border. This video covers what's happening and the implications for those considering moving to Mexico or living in Mexico as an American. Your time is running out to secure your long term stay and residency in Mexico.

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Transcript

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Mexico is no longer handing out six-month tourist visas at the border. If you're living here in Mexico on a tourist visa or if you were planning to, your time is absolutely running out. In this video, we'll talk about what's actually happening at the border, including some very recent developments that you may not have heard of yet, why the old playbook for living in Mexico and just coming back and forth and getting your six months and going back and, and doing all that, why that whole thing is dead, and what you should do instead. Hi. If you're new to this channel, I'm Justin from Entrepreneur Expat, and here we help freedom-minded professionals and entrepreneurs build global lives without sacrificing comfort, income, or security. If that sounds like you, hit the like and subscribe button. And if you're moving to Mexico or thinking about it, grab our free Mexico guide at entrepreneurexpat.com/mexico. And if you have a million dollars or more in assets and you want help planning your move abroad, you can apply for a consultation at entrepreneurexpat.com/consult One of the things that has recently started to happen that's triggering all of this is that Mexico has digitized their FMM immigration system. It used to be that you just got that paper card, they would write 180 days in it without really looking or asking you too many questions. Now, though, officers can instantly pull your full entry and exit history at the port of entry. And lately, a lot of people, including stories that I've heard from friends as far back as a year or two ago when they, uh, began really enforcing this harder after COVID and all that, uh, they're saying things like, you know, we had friends that were coming to visit us from Europe. Uh, they said that they were gonna stay for six months. They didn't have a letter, and they were actually denied entry because they did not have hotel bookings or specific examples of what they were going to do and when. And in addition to that, uh, a lot of people are being flagged as perpetual tourists, which means that they're not just, uh, denied the full 180 days. In a lot of cases, they're even being refused entry and told to go the, quote, "proper route" instead, which means getting their actual residency instead of just coming here on a tourist visa. In fact, people have been receiving as little as five to 10 days, even in places like Mexico City, Cancun, and Guadalajara, unless they have hotel bookings and return flights. The overstay consequences have also changed as well. In a lot of cases, it's not just a small fine that you're paying. If you're stopped by the authorities, like on a bus or somewhere else while undocumented, it has a risk that you actually get deported, and in many cases, even jailed for as long as two months or more while you're in that process. This is being taken very, very seriously now. And in fact, that deportation is also being logged digitally, which is very likely to block future entry attempts into the country. Uh, Mexico is starting to really get its stuff together and, uh, like any country should, they're actually enforcing their immigration laws. They're enforcing what they already have had on the books for many, many years. So what should you really do? You know, my opinion, and it's been like this for a very long time, is you always wanna do things properly. You don't wanna think that you can just game the system. Gaming the system is over in Mexico, and there have been sweeping changes happening not just in this country, but also everywhere, including Thailand. Thailand just started really cracking down here, where they went completely away with that 90-day visa on arrival for most countries, and instead they just give people 30 days. It's happening globally. Countries are seeing that people are more mobile. They can do things like work online. Uh, they are becoming essentially perpetual tourists without the f- the proper financial qualifications or documentation, and they really want people properly registered in the system. It's not necessarily a crackdown, it's just an enforcement in many cases of existing rules. And global diversification, which is something that we talk about a lot on this channel, is simply getting harder and harder, especially for people who do not know the rules and who do not work with clients like we do every single day to do things the right way. So the real key here is you wanna work with an organization like Entrepreneur Expat. If you do have a million dollars or more in assets and you want help with this specific strategy, you can learn more about how to book a consultation at entrepreneurexpat.com/consult because we do this, like I said, every single week. We're getting people visas. We're getting people approved at the consulates. We're bringing them here to beautiful Lake Chapala, Mexico, and we're taking care of all of the different steps and all the different things that they need to live here legally and to have all of their paperwork in line. It's about doing this the right way, not trying to game the system. And why does this all really matter? Well, you cannot rely on tourist visas anymore to actually live here. In addition, if you have been doing this, your livelihood in Mexico is at stake. There's also a digital system now, and because the system is all digitized, you cannot just fly under the radar like historically you may have been able to do. Your history also follows you now, and your deportation risk is real and permanent. It doesn't mean that the door to Mexico is closed for Americans, but the old door that people had by trying to just fly in under the radar like they did before, it's totally gone, and it's not coming back anytime soon. It's definitely not getting easier. People say things like, you know, "I'll just get the six months automatically at the border." Uh, that really has not been true for a while, and it's especially not true now with all of these crackdowns and the d- digitization and everything else that we see happening What most people get wrong about this whole perpetual tourist resident in Mexico thing is that they can still get six months automatically at the border, and like I mentioned earlier, that just has not been true for a while, and it's especially not true now. You also need to realize that paying a fine is no longer a safe backup plan because there's some serious legal and immigration consequences that can happen if you're not on the up and up with all of these immigration policies. So here's my recommendation if you are looking at moving to Mexico or really any other country for that matter, because these rules apply universally and across the board. You absolutely wanna get proper residency, and don't delay doing that because it's just getting more and more difficult. You also wanna go through the correct channels, and again, you wanna act soon because fifty-three Mexican consulates in the US are currently under review. We just did another video about that. You'll probably see it here soon. But there's no better time than now to take that first step to contact us to get your paperwork in order if you actually are living in Mexico or if you're planning on living in Mexico because there's a very good chance that in the near future, a lot of these Mexican consulates in the US are going to close. There's also a really good chance that the ones that do remain open are going to be bogged down, especially with all the political instability right now in the United States, and so they're gonna be focusing on their main objective, which is, of course, processing different types of paperwork and support for their own citizens. So things like visas for foreigners are going to take a back seat, and they may not have time to even see you in a reasonable amount of time. So fewer consulates mean fewer options. You do not want to delay, and the process also takes a lot of time. That's why you always want to start sooner rather than later. You definitely wanna work with people such as ourselves who know the rules and do this every single week. We're getting a new visa or new residency approved or helping somebody with their different, you know, business and tax and other strategies, uh, for living in another country or their overall global diversification plan because it's not just about moving to Mexico. It's not just about putting your eggs in one basket and having plans for one particular country. It's about having a plan to really diversify globally And not just have your plan B passport, but also have plans C, D, and maybe E as well. That's the world we're living in today. You never really know where is going to be a good place to be, let's say, in five or ten years from now, and it's always good to have those things in your back pocket. So if you're living in Mexico or you're planning to move here, don't wait on this. Grab our Mexico guide at entrepreneurexpat.com/mexico And if you do have a million dollars or more in assets and you want personalized help with your move and your strategy, apply for a consultation at entrepreneurexpat.com/consult. Like and subscribe, and we're going to be giving you more information on this story as it develops. Thanks again, and see you again on this channel very, very soon. Bye for now.