Immigration Changes May 2012

“Over there everything is going to be different; life is
never going to be quite the same again after your passport
has been stamped… It is like starting over again.” - Graham
Greene in “Another Mexico”
Changes in visas for foreigners in Mexico:
1. Visitante: Visitors cannot change their status of residence
(except for humanitarian reasons or those who have links with
a Mexican or are a regular resident alien in Mexico) and they
will have to leave the country at the end of the period of stay
authorized.
The law requires minors traveling alone or without both
parents to carry a notarized letter authorizing their entry/exit
from Mexico.
2. Residente temporario .
3. Residente Permanente: Inmigrado. You cannot renew an
FM-2 or “inmigrante” visa after the fourth annual renewal.
You must apply for “inmigrado” status (which is permanent
residency) 6 months before the visa expires, or you will go back
to a different visa. “Inmigrado” is like a “green card” in the U.S.
by HARRIET MURRAY
Visas for foreigners in Mexico
What visa currently will enable a foreigner
to be exempt from all or partial capital gains?
4. Mexico is introducing a point system also for permanent
residency:
Permanent residency after 4 years of temporary residency
Permanent residency after 2 years of marriage or common law
relationship with Mexican citizen
Permanent residency without 4 years of residency if qualified
by point system
ISR capital income tax for Foreign Residents:
FM2 or inmigrante status, in addition to the visa, must be
demonstrated with proof of residency. This may be done by
showing 6 months or more of original land line phone bills,
Mexican bank account statements, and sometimes CFE electric
bills.
IUD’s determine the maximum value for the sales price of a
property which can be exempt. The current rate of 1,500,000
IUD’s is between 5 million and 6 million pesos for a sale price.
With current currency values, this price is approximately $450,000
USD.
If the seller has not lived in the property for 5 years after
acquiring an FM2, he can have an exemption of the first $450,000
USD of the sale price. He will then owe tax on the difference if his
sale price is higher.
Sellers who have lived in the real estate for 5 years and can
provide proper receipts as mentioned above, and have an RFC
or tax registration number, can be exempt from paying ISR tax.
They can only claim an exemption every 5 years.
This article is based upon legal opinions, current practices
and my personal experiences. I recommend that each
potential buyer or seller of real estate conduct his own due
diligence and review.
You can communicate with Harriet C. Murray at
harriet@casasandvillas.com

Mexico is introducing a point system also for permanent
residency:

La Islla,
The May 2011 "new" immigration law does have some specifics, like the 4 years of Residente Temporal leading to Residente Permanente. The May 2011 new law has a section on a points system (Article 57) with general descriptions of: " Points can be awarded based on level of education, work experience, skills in areas related to the development of science and technology, international surveys, and the skills to develop activities that are required by Mexico. " (Article 57, Item II: http://yucalandia.wordpress.com/...-mexico-the-article/).

Since these items have been reported in Mexico's Diario Oficial de la Federacíon as law in May, 2011 ( http://dof.gob.mx/...amp;fecha=25/05/2011 ) , they are official, but don't contain the specificity that we are all waiting for in the anticipated El Reglamento .
steve

People like myself and LaIsla (permanent residents, but without family members here) are most likely the ones who will be affected by the point system.

It appears the points will be weighted towards technology and specialized workers but, "aptitudes to perform activities that are needed by the country" will probably include people like us, who work here, have responsibilities and aren't causing (too much) trouble... and not just pro athletes and super-models. One hopes.

Sculptari quote: "The only potential problem spot I could see is that if a very nationalistic political power was elected (a Mexican Tea Party), they might require some level of Spanish fluency for the permanent resident category."

Is that a bad thing, or better for both a permanent resident and Mexico in general? (and I'm talking about speaking Spanish, not the Tea Party idea)

In Reply To

I think it would be a good idea if expats were given a reasonable amount of time to arrive at a reasonable level of fluency. Does the US have a language requirement for foreigners wanting to be permanent residents?

3. Residente Permanente: Inmigrado. You cannot renew an
FM-2 or “inmigrante” visa after the fourth annual renewal.
You must apply for “inmigrado” status (which is permanent
residency) 6 months before the visa expires, or you will go back
to a different visa. “Inmigrado” is like a “green card” in the U.S.