Foreign Affairs opens 80 Foreign Service positions for indigenous languages

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the General Public Competition for Entry into the Technical-Administrative branch of the Mexican Foreign Service 2026, with up to 80 positions: 40 for administrative attaché “D” (female) and 40 for administrative attaché “D” (male). The corresponding Agreement, signed by Secretary Roberto Velasco Álvarez, was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on Tuesday, October 20, 2026 (publication 287/2026, p. 4), coming into effect the day after its publication.

Eighty positions with mandatory parity

The call for applications was issued based on Article 34 of the Regulations of the Mexican Foreign Service Law and upon the recommendation of the Personnel Commission of the Mexican Foreign Service, through its Entry Subcommission. The positions are distributed by specialty and gender:

• Administration: 22 for women and 22 for men (44 in total).
• Consular Affairs, Communities, and Protection: 10 and 10 (20).
• Information Technologies and Digitalization: 8 and 8 (16).

The parity distribution is based on the constitutional reform regarding substantive equality published on November 15, 2024, and the principles of the Feminist Foreign Policy, formalized through an agreement published on March 23, 2026. If the positions for one gender remain vacant, they may be reassigned to the other gender with the highest scores for the same profile.

Indigenous languages as accreditable languages

For the first time, the language requirement allows national indigenous languages instead of a foreign language. The options are:

• Maya of the Yucatán Peninsula (includes Quintana Roo and Campeche).
• High and low Mixtec of Guerrero; high and low Mixtec of Oaxaca.
• Náhuatl of the Huastecas of Veracruz and Hidalgo; Náhuatl of the Sierra Norte of Puebla.
• Isthmus Zapotec (Juchitán, Oaxaca).

The official languages of the United Nations—preferably English—as well as German or Japanese, are also accepted. The Agreement specifies that it is not necessary to prove indigenous status to take the indigenous language exam, and that indigenous people may accredit a second language with any of those listed. The official text cites 68 indigenous languages and 364 variants spoken by more than 7.3 million people, according to the 2020 Population and Housing Census of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, and 2026 records from the Institute for Mexicans Abroad regarding speakers of Mixtec (130,238), Zapotec (110,781), Náhuatl (78,061), and Maya (31,740) in the United States.

Calendar: from October 2026 to May 2027

The process consists of two eliminatory stages with final results. The key dates are:

• Registration: from Monday, October 26, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. to Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 1:00 p.m.
• List of accepted folios: Friday, November 6, 2026.
• Submission of PDF documents: from Monday, November 9, to Tuesday, November 17, 2026.
• Those accepted for the first stage: Wednesday, December 16, 2026.
• Exams: January 21, 2027 (general knowledge, afternoon shift) and January 22, 2027 (Spanish and language).
• First stage results: Friday, February 12, 2027.
• Second stage: medical exam on March 4 and 5, and courses at the Matías Romero Institute from March 8 to May 6, 2027.

The venues are Mexico City, at the Tlatelolco Building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Plaza Juárez 20, Centro), and, if the number of applicants justifies it, Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Mérida, Monterrey, Oaxaca, and Tijuana. 120 women and 120 men will proceed to the second stage: 66 for the Administration specialty, 30 for Consular Affairs, and 24 for Information Technologies.

Requirements and scholarship for the second stage

Mexican nationality by birth without any other nationality, a minimum degree of higher university technician, and the absence of administrative or criminal sanctions are required. Areas of training range from Public Administration, Accounting, and Finance to Social Work, International Relations, Law, Informatics, and Telecommunications. During the second stage, participants will receive a scholarship of 16,292.31 net pesos per month, equivalent to the salary of the administrative attaché rank “D” in Mexico, with a minimum attendance of 90%. Inquiries are handled at ingresorta2026@sre.gob.mx and by telephone at (55) 3686-5100, extensions 6814, 6822, and 6889.

The call for applications expands the recruitment base for the technical-administrative branch, responsible for the consular tripod—protection, documentation, and assistance to Mexican communities abroad—and turns linguistic diversity into a selection criterion: bilingual graduates from indigenous peoples may compete for a diplomatic career without renouncing their mother tongue.

Source: Official Gazette of the Federation, publication 287/2026, October 20, 2026, Executive Branch Section, p. 4 (official reference: Agreement by which the Call for the General Public Competition for Entry into the Technical-Administrative branch of the Mexican Foreign Service 2026 is announced).