If you are afraid to return to your country, you can request protection as a refugee in Mexico through the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) The process is free and confidential.
Step 1. Submitting an Application
Go to a COMAR office (Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance) within 30 working days after you arrive.
If you couldn’t go in that time, talk to the authorities and explain why.
You can go to a COMAR office in:
- Mexico City
- Tapachula and Palenque (Chiapas)
- Tenosique (Tabasco)
- Oluta (Veracruz)
- Guadalajara (Jalisco)
- Tijuana (Baja California)
- Saltillo (Coahuila)
- Monterrey (Nuevo León)
You can also request to be contacted with COMAR from a migration station and submit your application there.
If there is no COMAR office in the state where you are located, approach the Migration Regulation Offices of the National Institute of Migration (INM).
Step 2. Fill out the form
- You will fill out a form.
In it, you will explain why you left your country and why you cannot go back.
If you are with your family, include them in your application.
If your family is still in your country, say so. - You will receive a CONSTANCIA.
It is a paper that shows you have started your process.
Keep your original CONSTANCIA safe! - As a refugee applicant, you have the right to get a temporary CURP.
This document helps you access services and do official paperwork. - With your CONSTANCIA, you can apply at INM for a Visitor Card for Humanitarian Reasons (TVRH).
This card lets you work while you wait for a decision. - You have the right to a public lawyer during the whole process.
⚠️ You have the right not to be sent back to your country while your application is being reviewed.
Step 3. Interview
COMAR will talk to you.
- They will ask why you left your country.
- Say why you cannot or do not want to go back.
- Give as many details as you can.
If you have documents or information about your case, present them.
But you do not need proof of what happened in your country.
The interview is one-on-one.
You can choose a man or a woman.
🗣️ If you do not speak Spanish, you have the right to an interpreter.
Step 4. Application Decision
✅ If your application is accepted:
- COMAR will tell you to go to the INM to process your permanent residence in Mexico as a recognized refugee.
- Your family will also be recognized as refugees if they are included in your application.
❌ If your application is rejected:
- You can appeal (ask for your case to be reviewed again).
- You have 15 business days to do so (Monday to Friday, excluding holidays).
- COMAR will review your case a second time.
- If you do not have a lawyer, you can go to an office of the Federal Institute of Public Defense (IFDP).
🛑 If COMAR rejects your case again:
You have the right to receive legal advice to continue your appeal before a judge.
🔁 If you do not want a second review:
You can return to your country if you decide to.
Your obligations during the refugee status recognition process:
- Go to sign on the days indicated at the COMAR or INM office, depending on where you started your process.
- Stay in the state where you submitted your application.
- If you need to move to another state, you must request authorization from COMAR.
- If you move without permission, your case will be considered abandoned.
- Attend all interviews requested by COMAR.
💡 Find all this information in the refugee application procedure booklet.
If you need more information, contact UNHCR from anywhere in Mexico:
📞 Toll-free numbers: 800 226 8769 or 800 283 2718.
📱 WhatsApp: +52 55 7005 5950 and +52 55 2535 2950
📧 e-mail: [email protected]
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