1. The Short Answer: 2026 Thresholds
You qualify on income or savings — not both. Meet one and you have satisfied the financial test.
Peso amounts below are exact, derived from the official 2026 UMA. Dollar amounts are conversions at 18 pesos to the dollar and will move with the exchange rate, so treat the peso column as the real requirement and the dollar column as a planning estimate.
| Route | Temporary Resident | Permanent Resident |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly income after tax, last 6 months |
$79,771 MXN ≈ US$4,430 |
$133,733 MXN ≈ US$7,430 |
| Savings / investments average balance, last 12 months |
$1,344,373 MXN ≈ US$74,690 |
$5,378,664 MXN ≈ US$298,800 |
2. What Changed for 2026
Two separate changes landed on applicants at roughly the same time, which is why 2026 advice written before last autumn is unreliable.
The base of the calculation moved to the UMA
For years, most consulates calculated financial solvency as a multiple of Mexico's daily minimum wage. A notice published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación in late July 2025 directed consulates to compute solvency in UMAs instead. Because the minimum wage has been rising much faster than the UMA in recent years, this change generally works in an applicant's favour compared to where a minimum-wage calculation would have landed — but it also means every threshold table published before that notice is computed on the wrong base.
Government fees roughly doubled
A decree published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 7 November 2025 amended the Ley Federal de Derechos as part of Mexico's 2026 budget, raising immigration processing fees by approximately 109%. The new fees took effect 1 January 2026. These are the fees you pay to the INM inside Mexico, at the canje step — not to the consulate abroad. The full table is in section 5.
3. The UMA, and Why It Is Not the Minimum Wage
This is the most commonly muddled point in this entire subject, including on sites that otherwise get the numbers right — so it is worth being precise.
The UMA (Unidad de Medida y Actualización, "Unit of Measure and Update") is a reference unit published each year by INEGI, Mexico's national statistics institute. It was introduced by constitutional reform in 2016 for the express purpose of decoupling fines, fees, credit calculations and similar obligations from the minimum wage — so that raising workers' wages would not automatically raise everyone's fines and payments. It is indexed to inflation, not to wage policy.
So a page telling you the residency thresholds are "pegged to Mexico's minimum-wage index, the UMA" has it backwards. The UMA exists precisely because it is not the minimum wage, and the 2025 shift to UMA-based solvency calculations only makes sense in that light.
The official 2026 values
| UMA 2026 | Value |
|---|---|
| Daily | $117.31 MXN |
| Monthly | $3,566.22 MXN |
| Annual | $42,794.64 MXN |
INEGI published these in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 9 January 2026. The daily value rose 3.69% from the 2025 figure of $113.14 MXN, reflecting December 2025 inflation.
4. How the Thresholds Are Actually Calculated
Each consulate takes the daily UMA and multiplies it by a set number of days. Those multipliers are what almost no one publishes, and they are the reason two articles can quote different dollar figures and both be defensible.
| Requirement | Multiplier | Calculation | 2026 threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temporary — monthly income | 680 × UMA | 680 × $117.31 | $79,771 MXN |
| Temporary — savings | 11,460 × UMA | 11,460 × $117.31 | $1,344,373 MXN |
| Permanent — monthly income | 1,140 × UMA | 1,140 × $117.31 | $133,733 MXN |
| Permanent — savings | 45,850 × UMA | 45,850 × $117.31 | $5,378,664 MXN |
Do the multiplication yourself and you will get the same peso figures. That is the point of showing them: next January, when the UMA changes, you will not need to wait for anyone to publish a new table — you can recompute your own threshold in one line of arithmetic.
5. 2026 Government Fees, In Full
These are INM fees, paid in Mexico when you exchange your consular visa for a residency card (the canje). They are set in pesos by the Ley Federal de Derechos; dollar equivalents are at 18 pesos to the dollar.
Residency cards
| Card | Standard fee | ≈ USD | Reduced rate* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temporary resident — 1 year | $11,140.74 MXN | ≈ US$619 | $5,570.37 MXN |
| Temporary resident — 2 years | $16,693.36 MXN | ≈ US$927 | $8,346.68 MXN |
| Temporary resident — 3 years | $21,142.58 MXN | ≈ US$1,175 | $10,571.29 MXN |
| Temporary resident — 4 years | $25,057.82 MXN | ≈ US$1,392 | $12,528.91 MXN |
| Permanent resident | $13,578.96 MXN | ≈ US$754 | $6,789.48 MXN |
* A 50% reduction applies to certain categories under the 2026 Ley Federal de Derechos reform, including applicants under family-unit sponsorship and those with a formal employment contract. Eligibility is determined by the INM, not by the consulate.
Other fees you may meet
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Visa issuance at the consulate | US$56 |
| Change of immigration status | $1,847 MXN |
| Permission to work | $4,341 MXN |
| Replacement residency card | $1,780 MXN |
| Exit and re-entry permit | $591 MXN |
6. Why Your Consulate's Number Will Differ
The peso threshold is set nationally. The dollar figure you are quoted is not, and there are four reasons it drifts:
- Exchange rate. Each post converts using its own rate on the day it reviews your file. Between 17 and 19 pesos to the dollar, the temporary-residency income threshold moves by roughly US$250 a month.
- Statement window. Six months of income statements is standard; some posts ask for twelve. The savings test is twelve months almost everywhere, and it is an average balance, not a peak.
- Rounding and internal guidance. Posts round differently and some apply slightly different multipliers.
- Documentation standards. What one consulate accepts as proof of a pension, another will send you back to re-document.
Taken together, expect any published dollar figure — including the ones above — to land within about 5–10% of what you are actually quoted. If you are within that band of the threshold, do not book an appointment on the assumption you clear it. That is the single most common avoidable rejection we see.
7. What Counts as Income, and as Savings
Qualifying income
Social Security, pensions and annuities, W-2 wages, 1099 self-employment income supported by tax returns, and rental income with a lease and a deposit history. Consulates want a stream — regular, dated, traceable deposits from an identifiable source.
Generally not accepted as income
One-time capital gains, gifts from family, transfers between your own accounts, and crypto earnings with no fiat conversion trail. A large deposit that appears once does not read as income, and a pattern of round-number transfers between accounts you control reads as padding.
Qualifying savings
Checking, savings, money market, brokerage, CDs, and retirement accounts including IRAs and 401(k)s. Retirement accounts do count. Home equity and property value do not — the test is liquid or near-liquid holdings.
8. Frequently Asked Questions
What is the UMA and why does it set my residency income requirement?
The UMA (Unidad de Medida y Actualización) is a reference unit published annually by INEGI, Mexico's national statistics institute. It was created in 2016 specifically to decouple government obligations from the minimum wage. For 2026 it is $117.31 MXN per day. Mexican consulates multiply the UMA by a set number of days to arrive at your income and savings thresholds.
How much monthly income do I need for temporary residency in 2026?
The standard calculation is 680 times the daily UMA, which for 2026 is $79,771 MXN per month — roughly US$4,430 at 18 pesos to the dollar. Consulates generally want to see this level of income across the six months before your appointment.
How much in savings do I need for temporary residency in 2026?
The savings route is 11,460 times the daily UMA, which for 2026 is $1,344,373 MXN — roughly US$74,690. Consulates look at your average balance across the full twelve months before your appointment, not a single peak statement.
Do I have to meet both the income and the savings requirement?
No. You qualify under one or the other. Most working applicants and retirees with a pension or Social Security qualify on income; applicants with a large nest egg and little monthly cash flow qualify on savings.
Why does my consulate quote a different dollar amount?
The peso threshold is fixed nationally by the UMA, but each consulate converts it to dollars using its own exchange rate on the day it reviews your file. That alone moves the dollar figure by several hundred dollars. Posts also differ on rounding, on whether they want six or twelve months of statements, and on documentation standards. Expect any published dollar figure to be within about five to ten percent of what you are actually quoted.
How much did Mexican immigration fees increase for 2026?
Roughly double. A decree published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on 7 November 2025 amended the Ley Federal de Derechos as part of the 2026 budget. A one-year temporary resident card went from about $5,570 MXN to $11,140.74 MXN, and a permanent resident card from about $6,494 MXN to $13,578.96 MXN. The increases took effect 1 January 2026.
When will the 2027 requirements be published?
INEGI publishes the new UMA in the Diario Oficial de la Federación in early January, and the new value takes effect on 1 February. The 2026 value was published on 9 January 2026 and took effect 1 February 2026. Expect the 2027 figures on the same schedule — and this page updated to match.
Next Steps
If you have run your own numbers against the table above and you clear the threshold comfortably, you are in good shape — read the complete Arizona guide next for the documents, the interview, and the timeline.
If you are close to the line, or your income is a mix of sources rather than one clean pension deposit, that is worth a conversation before you book an appointment. We look at your actual statements and tell you plainly whether they will read as qualifying — and if they won't, what would fix it. Book a free consultation, or see what we charge.
Llave Group is an independent third-party document preparation and facilitation service based in Arizona. We are not a law firm and not affiliated with any government agency. The UMA values and government fees on this page are drawn from the Diario Oficial de la Federación and the Ley Federal de Derechos and are current as of July 2026; the multipliers and statement windows reflect consular practice as we observe it, and individual consulates apply them with some discretion. The consulate and the INM are the final authority on the requirements and fees that apply to your case. Verify with your consulate before making financial or travel commitments.