Immigration to Mexico

The Constitution also states: "Every man has the right to enter the Republic, leave it, travel through its territory and change residence, without the need for a security letter, passport, safe-conduct or other similar requirements.

Article 33 empowers the executive to make someone leave the national territory immediately and without the need for a prior trial of any foreigner whose permanence it deems inconvenient.

In moments of civil strife, such as the Mexican Revolution (1910–1917) and the Cristero Revolt (1926–1929)[1] According to the 2020 National Census, there are 1,212,252 foreign-born people registered with the government as living in Mexico.

Mesoamerica—that is, Central and southern Mexico—, already had a large indigenous population at European contact in the early sixteenth century, which shaped migration patterns to the colony of New Spain.

The Spanish crown restricted immigration to its overseas possessions to Catholics with "pure" ancestry (limpieza de sangre), that is, without the taint of Jewish or Muslim ancestors.

The Mexican Inquisition was established in 1571 and arrested, tried, and then turned those convicted over to civil authorities for corporal, sometimes capital, punishment in autos de fe.

Spaniards preferred living in cities and with immigrant artisans present from an early period, Spanish material culture was replicated in Mexico by tailors, leatherworkers, bakers, makers of weapons, construction workers, booksellers, and medical specialists (barber-surgeons).

[10] Seventeenth-century English Dominican friar Thomas Gage spent a few years in central Mexico and Guatemala and wrote a colorful memoir of his time there, but returned to England and renounced Catholicism.

The Mexican government gave a license to Stephen F. Austin to colonize areas in Texas, with the proviso that they be or become Catholics and learn Spanish, largely honored in the breach as more and more settlers arrived.

In the General Law of Population, the two categories incorporate over 30 different types of foreigners, i.e., distinguished visitor, religious minister, etc., each with its own stipulations and requirements to qualify for entry and remain in the country.

For granting permanent residency, the law proposes using a point system based on factors such as level of education, employment experience, and scientific and technological knowledge.

Verification procedures cannot be conducted in migrant shelters run by civil society organizations or by individuals that engage in providing humanitarian assistance to immigrants.

[25] Overview of Mexican immigration policy in regards to ethnicity or nationality: The Programa Temporal de Regularización Migratoria (PTRM) published on 12 January 2015 in the Diario Oficial de la Federación, is directed at those foreigners who have made their permanent residence in Mexico but due to 'diverse circumstances' did not regularize their stay in the country and find themselves turning to 'third parties' to perform various procedures, including finding employment.

[29] Most foreigners in Mexico counted in the Census come from the United States or other Hispanophone countries, with smaller numbers from Europe, East Asia, and the non-Hispanophone Americas.

[32]On the other hand, the Permanent Resident Card (TRP), in terms of Article 52, Section IX establishes: Authorizes the foreigner to remain in the national territory indefinitely, with permission to work in exchange for remuneration in the country.

[40] With the advent of remote work after the COVID-19 pandemic and the soaring cost of living in the United States, many "digital nomads" have migrated to Mexico, roughly doubling the number of immigrants since 2010.

[50] However, the measures have been widely attributed to pressure from the United States, who does not want a repeat of 2014, when a surge of tens of thousands of women and children clogged up American immigration courts and resulted in a severe lack of space in detention centers at the US-Mexico border.

The most recent influx of immigrants has resulted from the Venezuelan diaspora, occurring due to the adverse effects of the Hugo Chávez and his Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.

The Argentine community has participated in the opening of establishments such as restaurants, bars, boutiques, modeling consultants, foreign exchange interbank markets, among other lines of business.

Sebastian de Piñeda, the captain of the galleon Espiritu Santo complained to the king in 1619 that of the 75 Filipino crewmen aboard the ship, only 5 remained for the return voyage.

They also settled the regions of Colima and Jalisco before the 17th century, which were seriously depopulated of Native American settlements during that period due to the Cocoliztli epidemics and Spanish forced labor.

[87] The Arab Mexican population consists of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians, whose families arrived in Mexico after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

During the second French intervention (1860s) many parts of the country, including Mexico City, effectively fell under the control of France under the administration of the Austrian puppet-Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg.

Other strong German communities lie in Coahuila and Zacatecas (notably the Mennonites), Chiapas (Tapachula) and other parts of Nuevo León (esp.

[93] Although in general these immigrants were well received by the hosting society, and the Imperial government honored to the extent of its capabilities the contract it offered to these farmers, the colonies collapsed in 1867.

Many Irish then sided with Catholic Mexico against Protestant pro-US elements, forming the Batallón de San Patricio, a battalion of U.S. troops who deserted and fought alongside the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican–American War (1846–48).

The first Spaniards (and the first Europeans) on record who arrived to the current territory of Mexico are Gonzalo Guerrero and Gerónimo de Aguilar, shipwrecked sailors originally sent from the Dominican Republic to Panamá.

The expedition of Hernán Cortés included people from Extremadura, Andalusia, Galicia and La Mancha, as well as Muslim converts from Córdoba and Granada.

They sailed from Cuba and around the Yucatán Peninsula, the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and then made landfall on Veracruz leading to the conquest of the Aztec Empire and the beginning of New Spain.

Fewer immigrants came from Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Cyprus, Greece (see Greek Mexican), Albania, Croatia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Malta, Portugal and Cape Verde.

Immigrants at a naturalization ceremony in Los Pinos
Traditional china poblana attire for women, attributed to Mirra (Catarina de San Juan), a slave brought to Mexico from Kochi, India in the 17th century.
18th century Casta painting , depicting a West African-Spanish family in colonial Mexico
Japanese immigrant workers at the mine of Cananea , Sonora in the 1910s. The Japanese, unlike other Asian immigrants, came from a politically strong nation and were seen as industrious, so they were exempt from the discriminatory immigration policies.
Second generation Armenian Mexican children in 1911
Orphaned Polish children in Guanajuato that arrived with a larger group of refugees during the Second World War
Juan Gelman Argentine poet and political activist who sought refuge in Mexico during Argentina's Dirty War
Jacobo Árbenz , 25th President of Guatemala, was exiled following the CIA -backed 1954 coup d'état and died in Mexico City in 1971.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, last Shah of Iran, took refuge in Cuernavaca, Mexico after the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Foreign-born population of Mexico in 2020, by country of birth
>500,000
50,000–100,000
20,000–50,000
5,000–20,000
1,000–5,000
100–1,000
American turned-Mexican composer Conlon Nancarrow , who escaped political persecution during McCarthyism and made most of his career in Mexico City
Thousands of Guatemalan indigenous people and farmers fled to the camps of Chiapas , Tabasco and Campeche during the Guatemalan Civil War.
Transient migrants from Central America making their way to the U.S.-Mexico border. These migrants use a rail network known as La Bestia to traverse Mexican territory.
Many of the popular musical genres ( bolero , cha cha cha , mambo ) of Mexico and the rest of Hispanic America emerged in the Caribbean .
Haitian dancers at the 2011 Friend Cultures Fair in Mexico City
Graph of Mexicans born in Venezuela
Broken line represents simulated data (Source: INEGI ). [ 57 ] [ 58 ]
Display of the Colombian flag at the Friend Cultures Fair of Mexico City
Amanda Miguel was married to Diego Verdaguer , another Argentine-Mexican singer, until his death January 28, 2022.
Monument in Merida, Yucatan commemorating 100 years of Korean immigration
Chinese-Mexican family expelled from Mexico to Macau during WWII . Anti-Chinese sentiment in Mexico started in the 1920s and lasted until the 1960s. [ 70 ]
The mantón de Manila were originally inspired by the Filipino pañuelo , [ 73 ] [ 74 ] [ 75 ] both also influenced the later designs of the rebozo [ 76 ]
The Manila-Acapulco Galleon Memorial at Plaza Mexico in Intramuros , Manila
Rice was introduced very early into Mexican cuisine due to contact with East Asia from the Manilla Galleon .
Carlos Kasuga prominent businessman and president of Yakult Mexico.
Salma Hayek, Mexican actress of Lebanese descent
Synagogue of Mexico City
Immigrant registration form of a Jewish Lithuanian woman that emigrated to Mexico in 1934. The restrictions applied to Eastern Europeans did not eliminate migration of affected groups.
Palacio de Hierro at Orizaba , Veracruz. Designed by Gustave Eiffel .
French influence is notable in Mexican pastries and cheese production.
Students of the Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt , which was founded by German immigrants in 1894
German influence in northern Mexico boosted beer production in the region. Big breweries such as Cuauhtemoc-Moctezuma originated with German immigrants.
Commemorative plaque placed at the San Jacinto Square in the district of San Ángel , Mexico City in 1959: "In memory of the Irish soldiers of the heroic St. Patrick's Battalion , martyrs who gave their lives to the Mexican cause in the United States' unjust invasion of 1847"
Italian community at Chipilo , Puebla celebrating a football match
Leon Trotsky arriving with his wife Natalia to Mexico, welcomed by Frida Kahlo
Statue in Veracruz, Veracruz commemorating the Spanish immigrants that arrived as a result of the Spanish Civil War
Niños de Morelia (the children of Morelia ), originally a group of 456 minors, children of Spanish Republicans who were sent to Mexico in 1937
The traditional music of Northern Mexico is heavily influenced by polkas and the music of Central Europe .