Visa requirements for ourselves and restriction for our dog

Hello vikfe,

Welcome to Expat.com

Thank you for asking your question here.

You should start by reading the Living in Mexico guide for expats > Visas for Mexico.

Also, do not forget to check the article on Moving with your pets to Mexico.

All the best,

Cheryl

Expat.com team

My husband is self employed, works from home on a computer. We want to visit Mexico on an extended visit with my 20 year old son and our dog with a view to settling there. What are the visa requirements for ourselves and the restrictions for our dog please?
-@vikfe

There are two ways you can try this.

normal tourist visa

temporary resident visa

Each Mexican embassy in the USA had different requirements for how they look at your financial situation for the residents visa. So just go to the embassy web page for the local Mexican embassy near you.

And as of 2 years ago takeing 1 pet was super easy. We had our cat in a carrier and they just look to make sure she looked healthy as we crossed into Mexico with our car packed to the gills with a roof rack. She even gave a small hiss at the poor boarder gua d who laughed and let us thru.

The new free trade agreement made it so you don't need the animal paperwork from a vet if your coming from USA or Canada. Other countries I am not sure.

Other thing i am not sure about is your son is a adult so he might have to meet requirements for a residency visa on his own. That would be best found out from a good visa facilitator. We used one for the Mexican part of our full time residence. Because the USA side for full time retirement visa is super easy if you meet the financial requirements.

No visa requirement for dogs or cats or birds going into Mexico but coming back to the U.S. birds are NOT allowed and will be placed in a long quarantine at your expense or take the bird back into Mexico and give it away or set it free. The U.S. is really nasty about this. It doesn't even matter if your bird was born in the U.S. and is chipped etc.

Dogs and cats coming back in, no problem although it depends on what side of the bed the border agent got up on this morning.. They may or may not ask for vaccination certs. etc. .... but very rarely.