Mexico City — Mexico’s CURP Digital and CURP Biométrica are not two separate forms of identification, officials say, but a single document whose digital version serves as an electronic record backed by the holder’s biometric data. The only real difference between citizens is how current each person’s record is.
Unlike the traditional format overseen by the National Population Registry (Renapo), the CURP Biométrica is administered by the Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency. Although the legal framework states that registering biometric data is voluntary, in practice it is set to become an indispensable requirement for a range of procedures.
What the Document Contains
The updated CURP incorporates the holder’s full name, date of birth, sex or gender, place of birth, nationality, alphanumeric key, fingerprints and a photograph.
Officials say integrating biometric data is meant to establish a trusted mechanism for verifying identity remotely, a process expected to extend from dealings with public institutions such as the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) to the remote contracting of financial services.
Opening a Bank Account Online
Under a proposed Digital Economy Law for Digital and Electronic Payments, banks and financial institutions would be able to authenticate users’ identities without requiring them to visit a physical branch.
Pairing With the Digital Citizen File
To support that verification process, financial institutions would be able to connect with the Expediente Digital Ciudadano, or Digital Citizen File. Officials describe it not as a new form of identification but as a technological infrastructure designed to let existing documents — tax, identity and health records, among others — interoperate across government agencies.
How to Download your CURP
The Mexican government portal allows you to download your CURP at any time, although we have had problems completeing this in a chrome browser, so we include the workaround.
The standard route id to visit the governments online portal at www.gob.mx/curp. Here you can either enter your CURP number, or search by personal data if you do not know the number. When it is found there will be a download pdf button which should work.
For us it unfortunately did not, it just kept trying to load in an infinite loop.
The easy way around this was hard to find online, but here it is. If you go to the main government portal page at www.gov.mx, there is a help button in the bottom right hand corner – ¿Necesitas ayuda?
If you select this it will open a chat interface. Type in ‘download CURP’ and press enter. You will be asked for either your 18 character CURP number, or your personal details. Enter either and it will find your CURP, generate an up to date version and give you the option to download it.
We hope this helps.
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