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John Shrall

Dec 12, 2011, 6:52 AM

Post #1 of 4 (2057 views)

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Status of Visa after FM2 Expires and before Inmigrado

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Understainding that with the changes to the immigration law this question may have a different answer, I'm curious how it would work now. My FM2 refrendo 4 ends next year marking 5 years of being an inmigrante. It is my understanding that you cannot apply for Inmigrado status until the day after the FM2 expires and that you have some amount of time to make the decision as to applying for inmigrado or returning to FM3.

Since the FM2 would be both expired and not really expired, how is travel outside Mexico treated once the refrendo 4 expiration date passes? Would you need special letters to travel or is it understood that the real expiration date of a refrendo 4 FM2 is some date past the expiration date printed on the card?

Depending on the actual implementation date of the new immigration law this may or may not become an issue. It could also get interesting if we apply for Inmigrado and then the new rules for permanent resident take effect.

Maesonna

Dec 12, 2011, 11:10 AM

Post #2 of 4 (2010 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Status of Visa after FM2 Expires and before Inmigrado

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With the proviso that things aren't always the same in every office, and this may no longer apply by the time your deadline approaches, given the coming changes, here's how it happened to me (this was about 8 years ago):

You are supposed to put in your application for your new inmigrado status about 6 months before the final expiry of your FM2, because it takes about 6 months to grant (i.e. much longer than the refrendos of the previous 4 years), but I didn't know that. So I submitted it only a few weeks before expiry. I was without a physical visa for those 6 months. For trips outside the country, I had to get a Permiso de salida y regreso al país from Migración. It cost a little over $200 pesos*, and to get it, I needed to submit the usual ID documents, the details of my travel, and the receipt I had received when I submitted my application for inmigrado status, with which I would later pick up my processed FM2 when it was ready with the new status.

Even now, it may be different, because back then the internet wasn’t involved in visa renewals the way it has been since 2010.

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*According to the IMN website, it's currently $287 as I write this.
Also, there is something you can get called the "Certificado de legal internación y legal estancia" at the same price, which I'm guessing might be a proof of your immigration status (in the absence of your physical visa) for any other purpose than travel.

(This post was edited by Maesonna on Dec 12, 2011, 11:16 AM)

Vichil

Dec 12, 2011, 1:19 PM

Post #3 of 4 (1984 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Status of Visa after FM2 Expires and before Inmigrado

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I took us a month to get Inmirado afer we applied and that is because we had problems with my name. I know many people who went through in 2 weeks.

surebought

Dec 13, 2011, 11:35 AM

Post #4 of 4 (1922 views)

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Re: [John Shrall] Status of Visa after FM2 Expires and before Inmigrado

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Things may have changed, but with me it was a lot of stress and drama. When I finished the FM2, the Immigration Lady said I was a pretty good candidate to complete the process to become an imigrado. As soon as the last refrendo expired we both put the package together to send, at my expense, to Mexico City to the Gobernacion Secretariat . Meanwhile, I was without papers. Oh, I will just get a tourist visa(NOT) That would be some kind of deleto so I was with out papers and it may take as long as a year to approve my Cambio de Caractoristica . Meanwhile, I had my final child and in order to register her at the US consul, I had to have the Mexican Birth certificate and they would not give me one with out my documento. They didn't care who I was or who I knew.
I went down to immigration and started to complain and the meanest guy there said the following very quietly. He said, if I came back tomorrow and didn't say anything, he would write me up a permit so I could get the birth certificate for my final daughter. So I went back the next day. Everyone was acting kind of strangely. They ignored me for what seemed like a pretty long time. Then the Immigration Lady(She ran the office), said I think something came for you. She went into the back and came back carrying something like it was a birthday cake. It was a formal letter signed by a Sub-Secretary welcoming me to Mexico and wishing me luck. And a technical letter saying that I had complied with all the requisitos for being an imigrado. And they handed back the FM2 booklet and I burst into tears. It was over. I found that during the time with no papers, I could get through the airports and checkpoints by demonstrating the the Mexican Immigrations work visa stamps in my current US Passport. Don't let them forget to put those stamps your passport. Good Luck.