I am currently in the U.S. on a non-immigrant visa. Can I renew my U.S. visa in Mexico?

Many of our clients are in the U.S. on some sort of a non-immigrant visa. We often get asked the following question from our clients: Can I renew my visa in Mexico?

Applying for initial non-immigrant visa in Mexico

If you are a Third Country National (TCN), meaning that you are not a citizen of Mexico, you can apply for an initial non-immigrant visa only in certain circumstances such as: 

• You are residing in Mexico with immigration status (FM2 or FM3), or
• You normally reside in a Visa Waiver Program country and you lost your passport/had your passport stolen. In this case, you may only apply for a B1/B2 visa or transit (C) visa, so you can return to your home country.

As you can see, there are only limited circumstances in which you may apply for initial U.S. visa (meaning the first visa in a particular visa category) in Mexico.

Renewing your non-immigrant visa in Mexico

If you are a TCN, you could renew your non-immigrant visa in Mexico if: 

• You are renewing a visa in any non-immigrant category except B1/B2 or H2;
• You are residing in the U.S.;
• You are renewing in the same visa category (for example if you currently have O-1 visa, you could renew your O-1 visa at a U.S. Consulate in Mexico but you could not apply for example for a B1 visa).

This blog post was written during the Covid-19 global pandemic. Please note that you should contact the particular Consulate in Mexico where you want to renew your visa to see if they are currently processing renewal applications for TCN as many Consulates have limited staff and may not process third country nationals’ applications.

Please click here to find out where you can apply for a visa other than your home county.

Please click here to find out more about the B visa.

Please click here to read our blog post “What you should know before coming to the U.S.”