Naturalization through marriage to a Mexican national.

What the law says

Article 20, fracción II of the Ley de Nacionalidad: a foreign national who marries a Mexican must show that they have resided and lived together in the marital home established in Mexican territory during the two years immediately before the application.

years of residency

2

exams, both of them

2

marital home, in Mexico

1

MXN, the same fee

9,500

Three parts, and all three matter: two years, in Mexico, living together. Two years of marriage with the two of you in different countries does not satisfy it. There is one carve-out in the law: the marital home does not have to be in Mexico when the Mexican spouse is abroad on a Mexican government posting or commission.

You still take both exams

This is the correction worth making loudly. Marriage changes the years of residency and nothing else about the exams. You take the history and culture exam — 10 questions in Spanish, 10 minutes, 8 to pass — and the Spanish test, exactly like a five-year residency applicant.

Article 15 of the Reglamento exempts refugees, minors and people over sixty from the history exam. Spouses are not on that list. Who is exempt

What you file on top

Everything in the standard file, plus the documents that prove the marriage and the shared home:

• The marriage certificate. If it was issued abroad, apostilled or legalized and translated by a perito traductor. How that works
• Your spouse’s proof of Mexican nationality.
• Proof that the marital home has been in Mexico for the two years — the kind of everyday evidence that ties you both to one address.
• Your resident card, valid at least six months past the filing date, covering the two years.

The standard document list

If the marriage ends

Article 22 of the Ley is direct about this: someone who acquired Mexican nationality under the marriage route keeps it even after the marriage is dissolved, except where the marriage is annulled and the annulment is attributable to the naturalized spouse.

It answers the question people are too uncomfortable to ask. Divorce afterwards does not take your nationality away.

Two related situations

Married to each other, one of you naturalizes first

The Ley covers this: where two foreign nationals are married and one acquires Mexican nationality after the marriage, that lets the other obtain it too, provided they meet the requirements of this same fracción.

You have a Mexican child rather than a Mexican spouse

That is a different route with the same two-year period: a foreign national with Mexican children by birth proves filiation with the child’s Mexican birth certificate. See all the routes