Mexico’s INM (National Institute of Immigration) introduced an online appointments system in 2021, which was suspended in August 2022 for maintenance and improvement work and reintroduced in September 2024.
Smaller regional INM Offices don’t offer online appointments
Not all INM offices are using the online system. Smaller regional offices, known as Oficinas de Representación Locales, are still using manual booking systems and if you go to one of these smaller offices to file, you will need to attend in person to ask for an appointment date or a service token for that day.
Lead times for appointments at Mexico’s immigration offices
Our immigration assistance associates are reporting that the online appointment system is working well. Here are some notes about typical lead times for appointments:
- Appointment dates are currently being offered with a lead time of approximately ~one week from the date they are requested.
- The system is currently allowing appointments to be made up to three weeks in advance and no further forward than that. Our associates tell us that new dates are opened on a rolling basis.
- Therefore, applicants should expect to have to wait approximately one week for an appointment date, and appointments cannot currently be booked further than ~three weeks in advance.
- Lead times and available appointment dates may vary by location and are subject to change anytime without notice.
Procedures that can be booked online
Many, but not all, immigration filing procedures can be booked online. The INM lists specific procedures that can be booked online, which cover the following types of procedures:
- Exchange of a Residency Visa sticker issued in your passport at a Mexican consulate to a Residency Card.
- Applications for residency via Family Unit.
- Applications for residency based of Humanitarian grounds.
- Change of status from Temporary Student to Temporary Resident.
- Change of status from Temporary to Permanent residency.
- Renewals of existing residency cards.
- Replacement of lost/damaged residency cards.
- Notifications of changes to personal circumstances. (You must attend an appointment in person to file the Notifications; they cannot be filed solely online.)
- Request for work permissions on existing Temporary Residency cards.
Appointments for Regularization procedures CANNOT be booked online
Note that you cannot use the online booking system for matters related to ‘regularization’—that includes the RNE special procedure. For Regularization procedures, you must instead visit your local immigration office in Mexico in person to ask for an appointment or a service token.
Process for booking your online appointment at an immigration office in Mexico
The booking process is done in stages. To book an appointment to file your procedure at an immigration office in Mexico you need an account; you need to create a “Pieza;” and then you must use the Pieza’s reference number to book the appointment.
- If you don’t have an account with the immigration institute, you must create one.
- When you have an account, you login to request appointments.
- You must create a “Pieza“—a procedural filing that has a unique reference number. The filing form varies depending on what type of procedure is being filed.
- The appointment-making process will ask you for the Pieza’s reference number and the INM office location in Mexico where you want to file the procedure.
- The system will show you an online calendar for the location you choose, showing available appointment dates and times there.
- When your appointment is booked you will receive confirmation of this by email.
- See the section above about typical lead times for appointment dates.
You can go online yourself to create the account and work your way through the application forms and appointment process, or you can hire our immigration assistance associates to do all this work for you.
Get assistance with your residency application or renewal
When you need assistance with your Mexico residency application, renewals, or regularization procedures, our Mexico Immigration Assistance Associates provide consulting, advice and practical support that assists you through the entire residency application or renewal process—including visa exchanges, renewals, regularization procedures, and troubleshooting.
