October 2026 Los Cabos: Swapping Green TR for PR in 3 Days (One Adult, One Child)

Both the adult and child have held TR for 3 years. This year our income and bank statements qualified, so we went to Los Cabos and found Ms. Martha to do the card swap. I referenced a few threads on the forum, with special thanks to "Los Cabos Mexico Temporary Green Card to Permanent Green Card Trip - Travel / Trip Reports & Guides - US Card Forum" and "Mexico Green Card Hand-Holding Tutorial: How to Speed Up Los Cabos at the Lowest Cost - Law / Visas & Status (Outside the US) - US Card Forum."

Bottom line:

1. Card swap: INM processing times may not be fast (e.g., you think it'll be done by 11, but it might be 13:00; paying isn't as simple as arriving at 10 and getting it done—you have to wait for the window to call you). Leave plenty of buffer when buying flights and planning travel.

2. Travel: It rains and gets windy easily there, so beaches and boat trips can both be shut down, which made this budget trip waste a lot of money and we didn't even get to see the Arch, and the kid didn't even get to dig in the sand.

Earlier on, I sent Martha various documents to confirm whether it could be done, then in late September I scheduled a late-October card-swap time with her. INM seems to release appointment slots about half a month in advance, so on the day slots open, check whether Martha has booked it and sent you the appointment slip. The adult's appointment was for the card swap on day one, picking up the card on day two; the child's appointment was for day two via family reunion (this time we used an agent so I didn't review the documents myself; the agent said it was via reunion), picking up the card on day three. All other materials were copied from the tutorial thread in the first paragraph. One addition: the child's birth certificate notarization + Hague translation seemingly doesn't matter whether it's in English or Spanish, because Martha's side still has to get a local Mexican translation done again.

Card swap:

Day 0: Arrived at SJD in the afternoon, stopped by Martha's office to sign + photocopy various documents.

Day 1: Arrived at the office at 10 a.m., then went to INM, waited until after 11 for them to let us swipe the card to pay, then left (if on Day 0 you can give Martha a payment card + PIN + original ID documents, she says she can pay on your behalf and you don't need to show up in person on Day 1).

Day 2: Arrived at the office at 10, staff checked and said status ready, then went to INM and waited half an hour + when it was our turn, photo and fingerprints + got the card quickly, then waited another hour + when it was our turn, swiped the card to pay for the kid, then left. Afterwards went to the office to pay cash (pesos or USD both fine; I saw others using Wise there too).

Day 3: From 10 to 12 the kid's PR status still wasn't ready, only became ready just after 12, then waited half an hour for photos, after which the card came out quickly, then left to catch the flight.

Travel:

Day 0: Arrived at SJD, walked out of T2 and turned left a short way to the BUS stop; watch for the purple-yellow buses heading south and you can queue up—you don't necessarily need to walk to the T1 terminal to board; worst case you just don't get a seat. Fare seems to be 110 per person, same price for adults and children. That night there was a sudden heavy rainstorm and serious flooding on the roads.

Day 1: The sky looked great, so in the afternoon I naively took a taxi straight to Chileno Beach and found it blocked off; took a taxi to the marina and found all boat trips closed (I kept the numbers of a few touts who all wanted me to pay a deposit for the next day, but no need—just add them on WhatsApp and ask the next day whether the trip is open). Then walked to the beach next to Mango Deck; it wasn't closed but security said don't go in the water because the rain had filled the sea with trash (waves were okay, and I didn't actually see any trash). So after gazing at the sea from the beach for a while, went back to the hotel.

Day 2: The sky looked great, and INM kept us until the afternoon—at one point I worried we'd miss the trip, but in the end I needn't have worried, because I asked the marina guy on WhatsApp and he said the trip and beach were still closed. I naively thought that since Mango Deck wasn't closed yesterday, the nearby Wejulia Beach should also be open, so I naively took a taxi again, and in the end was stopped by the resort's gatekeeper (who said public beach no access from resort + the beach was closed that day because of high tide). Took a taxi back to Mango Deck and found the whole beach blocked off because the waves were much bigger than yesterday. To salvage the loss, ate and watched the sea at the bar next to the deck; the food was very expensive and they asked for a tip.

Day 3: Went to the marina early in the morning; the clear boat had already left on its first run, and we checked in for the second, but it started raining as we were boarding, so they had us go ashore and wait for the rain to stop. By nearly 10 the rain still hadn't stopped, so I asked the marina guy for a refund (check-in seems to be just one counter; the marina guy will bring people to this counter to settle + sign the waiver + queue to upload; it's not easy to get a refund directly at check-in). Back at Martha's office, the status wasn't ready, and even after the rain stopped I didn't dare do a boat trip while waiting for status (of course, waiting at INM doesn't help the status either), so I stayed at INM until 1, then took a taxi straight to the airport; afraid of traffic, we took the inland road, so we barely saw the sea.

We stayed at Seven Crown; because of the rain the elevator was out of service most of the time, and the WiFi was only fixed a bit on the second day (the kind where you can't connect a laptop in the room).

All told, this budget trip's travel costs were sky-high: we stayed at the downscale Seven Crown hotel and took the bus to INM, but wasted about 1,500 pesos in Uber fares driving around looking at the sea (and in the end never saw it), and food was also very expensive—doing conversions every day, I found McDonald's, seafood, and small-shop tacos were all almost more expensive than Canada - -|| In the end we came home with 2 new cards and a bunch of unused snorkeling gear.