Family unit residency (vínculo familiar) (Mexico): Requirements
Mexico residence route
Family unit residency (vínculo familiar)
Americans with a Mexican spouse, a Mexican child, or a parent, child or sibling who is a Mexican citizen or permanent resident.
- Income threshold
- No income test
- Minimum age
- None
- Validity
- Temporary residency for up to four years, then permanent. Spouses of Mexican citizens can generally reach permanent residency after two years.
- Permanent residence
- Two to four years depending on the relationship
- Processing
- 2 to 6 months
The financial test in detail
No solvency test on the applicant. The Mexican family member sponsors.
What the status gives you
- Work rights
- Yes, with work permission endorsed.
- Citizenship
- Two years of residence if married to a Mexican national.
- Government fees
- Visa: 54 USD.
Your document checklist for this route
5 documents in total, of which 2 need authentication: 0 through the U.S. Department of State and 2 through a Secretary of State. All authenticated documents also need certified translation into Spanish.
- U.S. passport Identity and the physical book the visa is placed in. Lead time: Routine renewal takes weeks; check current published times
- Passport-format photographs Every application. Specifications differ by country and are enforced strictly. Lead time: Same day
- National long-stay visa application form The core filing. Almost always country-specific and often only valid if printed from the consulate portal. Lead time: Same day
- Certified birth certificate Secretary of State for the issuing state Apostille Proves identity, nationality and, where relevant, family relationships for dependants. Lead time: 3 to 20 days depending on state
- Certified marriage certificate Secretary of State for the issuing state Apostille Required whenever a spouse is included as a dependant, and to prove joint income or joint savings. Lead time: 3 to 20 days
Why applications on this route fail
- Mexican civil registry documents and U.S. documents both need to be in order; U.S. marriage and birth certificates require apostille and translation for the Mexican registry.
Apply here
- Instituto Nacional de Migración Family unit procedures.
- 1 Obtain the record Order certified copies from the issuing authority. Do not use photocopies, scans or hospital souvenir certificates.
- 2 Notarise if required Letters and affidavits need a notary acknowledgement before any state can authenticate them. Government-issued vital records do not.
- 3 County clerk (some states) A handful of states require the county clerk to certify the notary commission before the Secretary of State will act.
- 4 Authenticate State-issued documents go to the Secretary of State of the issuing state. Federal documents go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
- 5 Apostille or legalise Hague Convention destination: an apostille finishes the chain. Non-Hague destination: the document then goes to that country embassy or consulate for legalisation. For Mexico the apostille ends the chain.
- 6 Certified translation Translate the document together with its apostille. Translating first means paying twice.
- 7 File with the consulate Book the appointment at the consulate with jurisdiction over your state of residence and bring originals plus copies.
The expensive mistake: translating before the document is authenticated. The apostille or legalisation certificate is itself part of what the receiving government reads, so it has to be inside the translation. Do it the other way round and you pay for the same translation twice.
Family unit residency (vínculo familiar): common questions
How much income do I need for the Family unit residency (vínculo familiar)?
There is no published income test on this route. No solvency test on the applicant. The Mexican family member sponsors.
Can I work on this visa?
Yes, with work permission endorsed. This is the field applicants most often misread, and in several countries remote work for a U.S. employer counts as work performed locally.
What documents need an apostille?
For this route we count 2 documents needing authentication: 0 federal, through the U.S. Department of State, and 2 state-issued, through the Secretary of State of the issuing state. Mexico is a Hague Convention country, so an apostille completes the chain.
How long does it take?
2 to 6 months Consulate appointment availability is the main variable and ranges from a week to several months.
Does it lead to permanent residence?
Permanent residence: Two to four years depending on the relationship. Citizenship: Two years of residence if married to a Mexican national..
Verified Sep 7, 2026
Email this to yourself
We will send your plan and document checklist as a plain-text email you can forward to a spouse or an attorney. No account, no drip sequence.
This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal, tax, immigration or financial advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Immigration rules, income thresholds, fees and processing times change frequently and often without notice, and consulates apply them differently. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific consulate that has jurisdiction over your U.S. state of residence before you act. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.
