🇲🇽 Monterrey · Schools
Schooling and childcare in Monterrey
State places in Nuevo León are allocated in an online pre-registration round that opens roughly nine months before term, and only for the entry years.
The thing people get wrongYou cannot walk into a state school and enrol a child. Places in the entry years go through a preinscripción round that opens in early November of the preceding calendar year and, counting the late period that follows it, closes in mid-April — so a summer arrival has already missed it for that August, and a spring arrival is racing the late window.
The preinscripción round, and when it opens
Nuevo León allocates state basic-education places through an online pre-registration round rather than at the school gate. Only the entry years pre-register: first and second of preescolar, first of primaria and first of secundaria. The last published round, for 2026-27, ran 3 to 20 November 2025 with placement certificates downloadable 3 to 13 February 2026, then a late period from 21 November 2025 to 12 April 2026 with certificates from 13 to 17 April. Nothing had been published for 2027-28 by September 2026, so treat early November of the preceding year as the shape of the deadline rather than as a fixed date. Check nl.gob.mx/es/preinscripciones in October for the year you need.
What the form asks for, and the age rule
Registration is done at app-planeacion.uienl.edu.mx:8080/serviciosinscripciones/ and asks for surprisingly little: an internet-connected device, a personal email address, the child's CURP and a proof of address in digital form. Age is measured at 31 December of the entry year, not at the start of term. Queries go to dudas.inscripciones@uienl.edu.mx or to 81 2020 5083 and 81 2020 5084.
- First preescolar: three years old by 31 December.
- Second preescolar: four by 31 December.
- First primaria: six by 31 December.
- First secundaria: primaria completed, or currently in sixth grade.
- Have the child's CURP and a scanned proof of address ready before you open the form.
The international route has its own calendar
The American School Foundation of Monterrey is the main US-curriculum option, a private non-profit day school in Santa Catarina offering 24 Advanced Placement courses to students from fifteen countries. Its application windows sit a full year ahead and the youngest grades close first: for 2027-28 entry, Nursery and Pre-K applications run 4 September to 6 November 2026, while Kindergarten through eleventh grade opens from October 2026 and tenth grade from 4 September 2026. Fees are published on the school's tuition page: for 2026-27 annual tuition ran from MXN 297,990 for Nursery and Pre-K to MXN 443,630 for grades ten to twelve, payable in one instalment or eleven, on top of a registration fee and a one-off entrance fee of USD 9,550. Entrance testing and English-level requirements are not published, so ask admissions about the assessment early. Santa Catarina is a separate municipality, so check the drive from any flat you are considering before you commit to either.
Arriving with a school record from abroad
Moving a child into the Mexican system with schooling completed elsewhere normally requires revalidación, the official recognition of previous studies, with apostilled and translated transcripts. Get the apostille done in the country you are leaving, because arranging it afterwards is considerably harder.
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