Overview
- The IMSS published an agreement in the Diario Oficial de la Federación that took effect Thursday, October 22, 2026, and restricts new Modalidad 40 enrollments to the worker’s last registered salary plus up to one UMA with a floor of the general minimum wage.
- The rules bar retroactive high-value registrations, require new sign-ups to be processed only through digital systems, and prohibit certain independent workers under Article 13.I from holding Modalidad 40 at the same time.
- People already enrolled before the changes keep their contracted conditions and the IMSS will continue to recognize weeks and salaries already paid for pension calculations until those contracts end.
- The IMSS ordered the Direction of Finances to complete a six-month actuarial and fiscal analysis and gave the Dirección Jurídica up to six more months to prepare any normative reform proposals based on those results.
- The change sharply reduces a common strategy used by workers under the 1973 pension law to raise pension averages and will force many near-retirees to recalculate benefits and retirement plans while political and legal debate continues over longer-term reform.