The National Migration Institute (INM) issued 239,667 residency permits — both permanent and temporary — in Mexico City between 2018 and 2024. The city’s new residents ranged in age from under one year old to 98.
Official data to which the newspaper La Jornada had access showed that the number of new residency permits issued in Mexico City increased 134.9% throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, rising from 20,293 in 2020 to 47,669 in 2023.
These new residents come from over 50 countries, including the United States, Canada, Spain, France, China, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, Brazil, Italy, Hungary, Panama, Chile, Peru, Australia, Germany, Barbados, New Zealand, Poland, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Pakistan, Lithuania, Ireland, Egypt, India, Democratic Republic of Congo, Korea and Russia, among others. Some of these foreign residents are students with a temporary student residency permit.
The highest number of applicants that received authorized visitor status was recorded between 2022 and 2023. Many of these applications were granted based on humanitarian reasons. These applications came from nationals of Nicaragua, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, Haiti, Iran, Guinea, Mauritania, Afghanistan, Bulgaria and Indonesia.
Residency permits issued in Mexico City in numbers (2018-2024)
Between January and November of 2024, the INM granted 27,878 residency permits, down 41.5% from the 2023 figure of 47,669.
Here’s the breakdown of new residency permits issued in Mexico City per year:
| 2018 | 58,175 |
| 2019 | 31,804 |
| 2020 | 20,293 |
| 2021 | 23,236 |
| 2022 | 30,612 |
| 2023 | 47,669 |
| 2024 | 27,878 |
The institute did not share the number of temporary, permanent or visitor resident cards, nor whether any of them had changed status since being issued.
According to La Jornada, one of the reasons foreigners applied for residency permits included to “maintain the family unity of a Mexican citizen,” meaning the permit allows the family member to reside in Mexico but does not allow them to carry out remunerated activities in the country.
According to the Expat Insider report by InterNations, Mexico was the second-best place to live in 2024, after Panama. Mexico held the No. 1 position for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023.
With reports from La Jornada
