How to become a Mexican citizen, step by step.

The process at a glance

Naturalization is how a foreign national acquires Mexican nationality. It is a single SRE trámite as of June 2026, it costs one federal fee, and it turns on two things: enough residency for your situation, and passing two exams in Spanish.

years, or 2, or 1

5

MXN federal fee

9,500

exams, in Spanish

2

business days to resolve

40

1. Check you are not already Mexican. Born in Mexico, or born abroad to a Mexican parent, and this is the wrong page. Declaratoria or naturalization
2. Work out your residency period. Five years by default; two or one in specific situations. The routes
3. Pre-register in SINNA and book an appointment. Free, and desktop only. How SINNA works
4. Pay the fee and build the file. Start the apostille and translation first. Documents
5. Take both exams at your appointment. How the exam works · The Spanish test
6. Wait up to 40 business days for the resolution, then collect the carta de naturalización.
7. Use it. Mexican CURP, passport, and the rights that come with them.

Step 1 — Do you qualify, and for how long

Article 20 of the Ley de Nacionalidad sets the residency period. Five years is the default. Two years applies if you are a direct-line descendant of a Mexican by birth, have Mexican children by birth, are from a Latin American country or the Iberian Peninsula, or have done outstanding work benefiting Mexico. Two years also applies to marriage, with the condition that you lived together in a marital home in Mexico. One year applies to adoptees and minor descendants to the second degree in a Mexican’s care.

Residency means legal stay on a temporary or permanent resident card. And absences matter: Article 21 says temporary absences do not interrupt residency unless they fall in the two years before you file and add up to more than six months.

• All the routes and years
• Citizenship by marriage
• Citizenship by Latin American or Iberian origin

Step 2 — SINNA and the appointment

Everything starts in SINNA, SRE’s pre-registration system. You enter your details, pick between the Oficina Central in Mexico City and a Módulo de Atención al Público, and choose a day and time. It only works on a computer, and it is free — SRE grants no appointments through gestores or outside websites, so anyone charging for one is selling you something the government gives away.

Pre-registering with SINNA · Where the exam is given

Step 3 — The fee, and the costs nobody itemises

The federal fee is MXN 9,500 for 2026, the same for every route, paid at a certified bank before you file. The original receipt goes in the file.

What the fee does not cover is the apostille on your birth certificate, the perito traductor translation, two criminal-record certificates, and travel to an in-person exam. Nor does it cover the cost of failing twice, which is the fee again plus a year of waiting.

What it actually costs

Step 4 — The file

Article 16 of the Reglamento lists ten items for the residency route. Most are straightforward. Three are worth planning around: your resident card has to be valid at least six months past the filing date; you need criminal-record certificates from both the federal authority and your state; and your birth certificate has to be apostilled in the country that issued it and then translated by a perito traductor, in that order.

The document list, item by item · Apostille and perito traductor · What the 2026 reform removed

Step 5 — The two exams

Both are in person, both are in Spanish, both happen at your appointment.

History and culture

Ten questions in ten minutes, eight correct to pass. The syllabus is public: history from the pre-Hispanic period to today, geography, civics, symbols, and culture. Refugees, minors and applicants over sixty are excused this one.

Spanish

An interview, a reading and a piece of writing, worth 6 points, with 5 to pass and a satisfactory interview. Nobody is exempt from this one.

You get two attempts at each. A second appointment comes about 15 business days after a fail. Fail both and you wait a year and pay again.

• How the exam works
• Try ten practice questions
• The Spanish test
• Who is exempt
• If you fail
• How to use the SRE study guide

Step 6 — The wait, and the carta

SRE resolves a naturalization application in up to 40 business days, down from 90 natural days before the June 2026 acuerdo. SRE also takes the Secretaría de Gobernación’s opinion into account, which is why a clean file matters beyond the exams.

The carta de naturalización takes effect the day after it is issued. It is the document that proves the grant, and it is what you then use to get your Mexican CURP and passport.

What changes, and what does not

You become Mexican by naturalization, which is not the same status as Mexican by birth: a handful of offices and functions are reserved by the Constitution to Mexicans by birth. Everything else — living, working, voting rights as they apply, a Mexican passport — follows from the nationality.

Whether you keep your original nationality is decided by your own country, not by Mexico. Ask your consulate before you file, not after.

And if you naturalized through marriage, Article 22 says you keep the nationality even after the marriage is dissolved, except where the marriage is annulled and the annulment is attributable to you.