When the world lost their damn minds during Covid, Mexico kept their cool and became, albeit briefly, one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world. This of course was largely because of the fact that they were one of a handful of countries that was actually allowing tourism at the time but during that period they got a rather massive influx of cash that they hadn't really experienced before. Also, it is worth noting that they did NOT experience a medical disaster killing tens of thousands of people like the rest of the world predicted and attempted to shame Mexico over. Funny how that part of it never got reported in the news isn't it?
Well anyway, that conversational horse is well and truly dead but there is something interesting that most countries' citizens will qualify if you went to Mexico, even for just one day, between 2015 and 2021.
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The path to permanent residency, meaning that you will NEVER have to bother for a visa ever again as long as you are alive, has never been easier than it is now in Mexico. As someone that has traveled to all the continents other than the really cold one to the far south, I know of no other sort of offer that is being done by any country in the world. There are residency programs that exist in other countries but often these come with extremely difficult application processes or are only available to the ultra-wealthy. Previously, Mexico had a residency program but applicants had to show they had a certain amount of money in the bank somewhere. I don't recall exactly how much it was but something like 20-50 thousand dollars. With this new residency permit, applicants don't have to show proof of having any money at all, you just need to show that you visited the country at some point, even for a brief time, between 2015 and 2021.
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What has inspired Mexico to enact this sort of thing isn't exactly clear nor is the choice of years that one would have had to have visited in order to be eligible but apparently it is as easy as just turning up in Mexico on a tourist visa, going to an official office in Mexico at a wide variety of locations and indicating that you want the residency. Then a bit later, something like a couple of weeks, you will be awarded a 4-year temporary residency card and after the 4 years are up, provided you didn't do anything egregiously illegal in that time-frame, you will get permanent residency. Unlike other countries the permanent residency is truly permanent. You will never have to renew this residency nor will you ever have to get a visa to enter.
To sweeten the pot you also are not required to actually be in Mexico for any minimum amount of time each year to maintain your residency. There are a number of other countries that have conditions on their residency and most of them are that you have to spend 30 days a year there. Others have conditions where you have to purchase a property to maintain your residency and this is out the financial grasp of the average person.
Mexico is the first country to truly open the doors to the public though and for someone that would like to at least have the option of coming and going from the country as they please, this is a wonderful option indeed.
For a lot of people, perhaps this isn't very necessary though. For most western nations, travelers are offered 6 month visas upon arrival free of charge anyway, so for someone that is just looking to visit a few months a year the residency isn't actually needed. I tend to look at this as an option for the future though. While I don't want to live permanently in Mexico right now, I might want to in the future, so I am going to apply for this and find out how much it costs and what not. I'll report back about that but from what I am hearing the process isn't scammy and most people just pay an agent or lawyer some pittance like $25 to do it for them. This is the route I will go.
Who knows how long this will stay on offer, so if you are at all interested, you should probably get moving in case they get a rush on this and end up changing their minds.