On May 17, 2016, the Mexican government announced amendments to the country's immigration regulations (“Lineamientos para trámites y procedimiento migratorios”), allowing residents of Colombia, Chile and Peru to be admitted into Mexico for tourism or business purposes without a visa. The visa exemption will be effective as of July 1, 2016.

Prior to these recent amendments, this visa exemption applied only to citizens of member countries of the Pacific Alliance (“Alianza del Pacífico”) – i.e., Colombia, Chile and Peru.  The new regulations now extend the benefit to regular permanent residents of these member countries, which means the traveler may be a citizen or national from any other country, so long as they are permanent residents of the Pacific Alliance nations. 

At the point of entry (i.e., border, airports, seaports, etc.), the traveler will be required to demonstrate that he or she is a permanent resident of any of these member countries; the visit is for tourism or business activities; and the stay will not exceed 180 continuous days.  Activities permitted without a visa include, but are not limited to, tourism, business meetings, market research, and generally any activity for which a person is not remunerated (in cash or in kind) directly from a Mexican source. 

Mexico adopted this modification in accordance with goal "V" of the National Development Plan 2013 – 2018, known as “Mexico with Global Responsibility,” which reaffirms the country's commitment to free trade, capital mobility, productive integration and safe mobility of individuals.