CURP for people born abroad: what the NE code is and how to get it
If you were born outside Mexico, your CURP does not carry any state code. Positions 12 and 13 show the letters NE, for Nacido en el Extranjero — born abroad. It is the thirty-third code in the catalogue, and the one that applies to hundreds of thousands of people born in the United States to a Mexican mother or father.
It is also the worst-explained case online. General guides assume you were born in Mexico and send you to a state Civil Registry that, in your case, does not exist. Here we set out the real path: what has to happen before your CURP exists at all, what the consulate does, and what it cannot do for you. For handling the key itself, see our CURP guide.
Contents
What the NE code means
Positions 12 and 13 of any CURP indicate the state where the birth was registered. For someone born in Jalisco they read JC; for someone born in Nuevo León, NL. And for someone born outside the country, NE.
It does not indicate which country you were born in: there is no separate code for the United States, Canada or Spain. NE covers everyone born outside Mexico, without distinguishing the specific place.
If you want to see your key broken down character by character, use the decoder in our main guide.
Who has a CURP with NE
- Children of Mexicans born abroad whose birth was registered with the Mexican authorities. This is the largest group in the United States.
- Naturalised Mexican citizens who were born in another country.
- Foreign nationals residing in Mexico, who are also assigned a CURP.
Where it comes from: registration first, CURP second
This is the step almost everyone skips, and the source of the confusion. You do not apply for a CURP: it is generated. It comes automatically from a birth record that already exists in the Mexican system.
So if you were born outside Mexico, the order is always this:
- The birth is registered with the Mexican authorities. From the United States, the natural route is registering the birth at the consulate that covers your area.
- That registration produces the Mexican birth certificate. It is the document that establishes the link with Mexico.
- The CURP is generated from that certificate, with the NE code in positions 12 and 13.
- All that is left is to look it up and download it free at gob.mx, like any other.
If you search for your CURP at gob.mx and nothing comes up, the likeliest explanation is not that it was lost: it is that step 1 never happened. With no birth registered before a Mexican authority, there is no CURP to find.
US-born children of Mexican parents
This is the most common situation among readers of this page: a child born in the US, with a US birth certificate, to a Mexican mother or father.
Mexican law recognises Mexican nationality by birth for those born abroad to a Mexican parent. But having the right is one thing and having it documented is another: for a Mexican birth certificate to exist — and with it the CURP — the birth must be registered.
That registration happens at the consulate and has a practical consequence worth understanding: it is the gateway to everything else. Without it there is no Mexican passport, no documented dual nationality, and no CURP.
The specific requirements — parents' documents, translations, apostille of the US certificate, number of copies — vary by consulate and are updated frequently, so we do not reproduce them here rather than give you information that has gone stale. Check them directly with the consulate that covers you before booking:
What the consulate does and does not do
Worth spelling out, because it is a constant source of wasted trips:
- It does register births of children of Mexicans that occurred abroad. This is the key procedure on this page.
- It does issue certified copies of the certificate once the registration is done.
- It does not issue the CURP. No consular office prints or hands it over. You look it up at gob.mx, free, from home.
- It does not process the biometric CURP, which today is only handled in person in Mexico.
In short: the consulate solves step 1 for you, and steps 3 and 4 you do yourself online in five minutes, at no cost.
Frequently asked questions
What does NE mean in the CURP?
It is the state code standing for Nacido en el Extranjero — born abroad. It occupies positions 12 and 13 instead of a Mexican state code, and does not distinguish the specific country of birth.
My child was born in the United States. Do they have a CURP?
They will once their birth is registered with the Mexican authorities. The usual route is to register it at the consulate covering your area: that produces the Mexican certificate, and the CURP with the NE code is generated from it.
Will the consulate give me my child's CURP?
No. Consulates do not issue the CURP. They do register the birth, which is the essential first step. You look the key up afterwards, free, at gob.mx.
Does being born in the US to Mexican parents grant Mexican nationality?
Mexican law recognises nationality by birth for those born abroad to a Mexican mother or father. For it to be documented, the birth has to be registered. We cover this in our dual nationality guide.
How much does it cost?
The CURP is free, wherever you were born. Consular birth registration and certified copies of the certificate do carry a consular fee; confirm it with your consulate.