Humanitarian Visa Allows Foreigners to Work While in Mexico
By Angel Marin Díaz
Historically, the arm of the Mexican government’s Immigration Services (INM) has always provided relief for any foreign national not able to leave the country due to emergency situations such as health reasons. This is done via an extension of time to remain in-country through the “humanitarian visa.” This was determined on a case-by-case basis, and time frames for the extension were determined the same way.
Recently though, through a focused effort to offer compassion and safety to the “guest-community,” the criteria for time frame as well as additional benefits have been offered in a “blanket format” to all foreign nationals who are within the Mexican territory.
Faced with the pandemic derived from COVID-19, which has a worldwide impact, the Mexican government, always warm and empathetic with foreign visitors, issued a decree for humanitarian reasons, which benefits the foreign community specifically in these aspects:
- Regularization of migratory stay for “humanitarian reasons” to foreigners as a “tourist,” renewing their multiple migratory form (FMM), without leaving the country, thus avoiding endangering contagion to the foreigner when leaving the border to renew their stay, coupled with collateral dangers and expenses.
- The authorization derived from regularization of the migratory stay also gives the authorization to foreigners so they can receive economic remuneration derived from the labor performance as they wish for a period of 180 days without the need to present or have a job offer to the INM for approval; this includes all the benefits of a work permit.
- In a second complementary decree, the Mexican government made the process of migratory regularization more flexible, exempting foreigners with the quality of “tourist” to “prove” their economic solvency through bank statements as well as waiving all government fees.
The current extract of the authorization issued by the National Institute of Migration for the regularization of a stay of “visitor for humanitarian reasons” is inserted in the letter:
“Based on Article 164, second paragraph of the Regulation of the Migration Law, the condition of the stay granted in this resolution implicitly authorizes the foreign holder of the same to carry out remunerated activities in national territory, the foregoing notwithstanding the document that is issued for this purpose, containing a section that expressly indicates the foreigner’s permission to work.”These actions are intended to provide the visitor with temporary “tranquility” and optimization of time, security, and certainty about their migratory stay.
We welcome Angel Marin Diaz to this weekly legal column. Marin Diaz has 20 years of experience as President and C.E.O of Inmtec Legal Services. Offices in Mexico include San Miguel Allende, CDMX, and currently under construction in Querétaro. For more specific questions or information on the matter, contact Angel Marin Díaz at info@inmtec.net.