Which visa is the best for me?

Which visa is the best for me?

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I am an American citizen married to a Mexican national. Currently, I am a stay at home mom here in Mexico on her tourist visa. I would like to go back to work eventually. I have my B.S. in English Education. I want to work, but would like to have the opportunity to possibly continue my studies. I'd like to work towards some kind of permanent visa without losing my U.S. citizenship obviously. Is there an FM2 work visa and does that sound like my best option? Is there a website where I can download the checklist?

TIA

Rolly

Oct 5, 2009, 1:03 PM

Post #2 of 23 (6628 views)

Re: [babycakes] Which visa is the best for me?

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You can become a Mexican citizen without giving up your USA citizenship. An FM2 is the correct path. You can get a work permit with an FM2.

Rolly Pirate

E-visit me http://Rollybrook.com
On Facebook as Rolly Brook

(This post was edited by Rolly on Oct 5, 2009, 1:04 PM)

gpkgto

Oct 5, 2009, 4:21 PM

Post #3 of 23 (6586 views)

Re: [babycakes] Which visa is the best for me?

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You should be able to get an FM3 easily--your husband has to show he is supporting you. When you find a job, "actividad lucrativa" can be added to your FM3. There are steps involved in all of this--you need to go to an INM office since a tourist visa is really not a good way for the wife of a Mexican/mother of a Mexican child to live in Mexico. Go to: http://www.inm.gob.mx/

santiagostan

Oct 6, 2009, 6:30 AM

Post #4 of 23 (6524 views)

Re: [gpkisner] Which visa is the best for me?

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That is true, but if you read the post she wants to attain citizenship. FM-3 is not a path to citizenship.

gpkgto

Oct 6, 2009, 7:36 AM

Post #5 of 23 (6510 views)

Re: [santiagostan] Which visa is the best for me?

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It may be different for those married to Mexican citizens (there are some shortcuts), but for the rest of us (at least here in Guanajuato) you have to go through the 5 years of FM3 before you can obtain an FM2. I did all this and got my Mexican citizenship last March.

Papirex

Oct 6, 2009, 9:46 AM

Post #6 of 23 (6471 views)

Re: [gpkisner] Which visa is the best for me?

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Unless the laws have changed in the past 3 or 4 years, a foreign national married to a Mexican citizen may apply for Mexican citizenship after living in México with their Mexican spouse for two years. The type of visa held by the foreign spouse is irreverent. For anyone else not married to a Mexican, five years with an FM3 visa, then a FM2 visa is required before applying for Mexican citizenship.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

Oct 6, 2009, 10:09 AM

Post #7 of 23 (6465 views)

Re: [Papirex] Which visa is the best for me?

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In Reply To

Yesterday I spent some time investigating this very issue for a USA-citizen friend who has been married for many years to a Mexican national. Because this couple does not live full-time in Mexico, he comes and goes using an FM-T (tourist card). He wants to apply for Mexican citizenship.

Here's the latest from the SRE (Secretary of External Relations). The SRE handles all applications for Mexican citizenship.
http://www.sre.gob.mx/...ionalidad/tema1h.htm

Unfortunately for my friend, the SRE requires the foreign applicant to have had an FM-2 for two years prior to making the application. On the other hand, two years isn't long.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Ustlach

Oct 6, 2009, 12:45 PM

Post #8 of 23 (6432 views)

Re: [gpkisner] Which visa is the best for me?

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My experience has been different.

I did not have to go through five years with an FM3 before getting an FM2. I did start with an FM3 and by the second renewal I had enough. I asked at renewal time if I could switch to an FM2, and they (local INS) said I could. And I did.

It is my understanding that with the FM2 I will have to get renewals for another four years, but no more after that and then I can begin whatever the process is to gain Mexican citizenship, if that is what I want to do.

In that I barely have the skills and patience to get a visa renewal I am sure there is little or no possibility of me ever gaining Mexican citizenship.

With the FM3 visa, renewals would have gone on indefinitely, as long as I lived and wanted to remain legally in Mexico, and I am already too old to go through the renewals any longer than absolutely necessary.

Anyway, I think if you want an FM2 visa now you can get one. You do not need to wait through more FM3 renewals.

TlxcalaClaudia

Oct 6, 2009, 2:23 PM

Post #9 of 23 (6417 views)

Re: [Papirex] Which visa is the best for me?

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Rex-
Doesn't the Mexican national have to show proof of income to support the foreign spouse (and kids if any) as well?

Claudia

Papirex

Oct 6, 2009, 3:04 PM

Post #10 of 23 (6402 views)

Re: [TlxcalaClaudia] Which visa is the best for me?

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I don't have an answer to that. I do know that I, an American, had to prove enough income to support my Mexican wife so that she could live in her own country when I got my first, and every renewal for my FM3 visa.

The requirements are whatever the person in front of you at any immigration office say they are. That's a fact.

You can't outsmart them, they will outdumb you every time.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

TlxcalaClaudia

Oct 6, 2009, 3:44 PM

Post #11 of 23 (6392 views)

Re: [Papirex] Which visa is the best for me?

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Quote

The requirements are whatever the person in front of you at any immigration office say they are. That's a fact.

Quote

Boy is that the truth. One immigration officer wanted hubby's bank account info back 3 months to prove he can support me...in Mexico. Hubby is Mexican. They wanted his USA bank accounts. I left.

C

(This post was edited by TlxcalaClaudia on Oct 6, 2009, 3:45 PM)

santiagostan

Oct 7, 2009, 6:48 AM

Post #12 of 23 (6336 views)

Re: [TlxcalaClaudia] Which visa is the best for me?

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In Manzanillo I was able to switch to an FM-2 without having 5 years of an FM-3. I had 3. I am currently on my second year of the FM-2 and according to a lawyer here in Manzanillo you can apply for citizenship after 5 yers in the country and 2 years on an FM-2. I complete 5 years in November and I will apply for citizenship when I renew in March (5 years on fm-2/3 as I entered the coutnry on a Tourist Visa)

As always your mileage may vary and we will see if it works, though I am not completely convinced it will.

La Isla

Oct 7, 2009, 9:37 AM

Post #13 of 23 (6308 views)

Re: [santiagostan] Which visa is the best for me?

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This is second-hand information but from a very reliable American friend here in Mexico City. He recently spoke to my very reliable immigration lawyer here about getting an FM2 (he's currently on an FM3) on the road to becoming a Mexican citizen. He was told that with legal help, after just 3 years on an FM3, he could get an FM2, and then after only 3 more years on the FM2, he could apply for citizenship. But that's just here, in the D.F.

Oct 7, 2009, 10:16 AM

Post #14 of 23 (6300 views)

Re: [santiagostan] Which visa is the best for me?

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My partner has had an FM-3 for a little over four years. At the end of year three, she asked at INM in Morelia if she could switch to an FM-2. No, she had to wait till it was time to apply for a new visa, at the end of five years.

At the end of year four, she asked again if she could apply for the FM-2. No, she had to wait till the end of five years with an FM-3.

This is INM in Morelia, as I mentioned. Other jurisdictions have other rules.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

rockydog85251

Oct 7, 2009, 11:49 AM

Post #15 of 23 (6281 views)

Re: [esperanza] Which visa is the best for me?

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My husband was told he could switch from his FM3 to an FM2 any time now & would only have to have it for only 2 yrs. before he applies for citizenship.....thi is in Mazatlan.
Willie

Oct 7, 2009, 11:58 AM

Post #16 of 23 (6279 views)

Re: [rockydog85251] Which visa is the best for me?

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Immigration has nothing to do with the rules or regulations of naturalization.I have a friend that recently retired from a top bureaucratic position in Relaciones Exteriores. That is the secretariat that governs naturalization. He was in charge of the passport division in Guadalajara.

According to him, aside from certain exemptions such as a Mexican spouse or parent of Mexican children, applicants must have 5 years with an FM2. This was changed several years ago from 2 years.

And the information is also on the SRE website.

(This post was edited by Manuel Dexterity on Oct 7, 2009, 12:01 PM)

Oct 7, 2009, 1:08 PM

Post #17 of 23 (6266 views)

Re: [Manuel Dexterity] Which visa is the best for me?

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In Reply To

Yes, I posted the link to the SRE website yesterday, making the same point you make in this post. INM is immigration, SRE is naturalization.

Posters on this thread are also discussing the different INM rules that exist in different cities. Some INM offices allow an FM-3 visa holder to switch to an FM-2 visa after two or three years; other INM offices insist that the FM-3 holder must wait to switch until the five-year period of the initial FM-3 is completed. Many years ago, it was possible to bypass the FM-3 altogether and apply for the FM-2 from the beginning.

INM offices operate under different rules depending on location.

SRE operates under one rule which, as you mentioned, was changed in 2007. I was supposed to have been a key speaker at a certain state's swearing-in of a group of newly naturalized Mexican citizens on Sept 15, 2007. That event was canceled and the swearing in was postponed for quite some time due to that change.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Oct 7, 2009, 1:18 PM

Post #18 of 23 (6260 views)

Re: [esperanza] Which visa is the best for me?

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In Reply To

SRE operates under one rule which, as you mentioned, was changed in 2007. I was supposed to have been a key speaker at a certain state's swearing-in of a group of newly naturalized Mexican citizens on Sept 15, 2007. That event was canceled and the swearing in was postponed for quite some time due to that change.

Why would they pull the rug out from people who had applied under the previous rule? Could they legally pull the rug out from under these people?

And there were NO applicants that had 5 years or more qualifying residency?

Or no applicants that only needed 2 years with an FM2? Such as spouses or parents of Mexican children?

I find that difficult to believe.

Oct 7, 2009, 2:09 PM

Post #19 of 23 (6244 views)

Re: [Manuel Dexterity] Which visa is the best for me?

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Reasons beyond SRE's control caused the problems. Yes, it was completely legal. The jurídico at that state's SRE told me what the circumstances were, but I am not at liberty to say here on the forums. And yes, this situation created huge problems for all of the people who were to have been naturalized that day. Some waited for as much as two more years for their citizenship papers to be granted. Some of those people may not yet have been naturalized.

And every single person whose applications were already in the pipeline but were not yet approved experienced long delays as well as other difficulties in finalizing their ultimate naturalization.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Oct 7, 2009, 5:22 PM

Post #20 of 23 (6213 views)

Re: [esperanza] Which visa is the best for me?

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In Reply To

The jurídico at that state's SRE told me what the circumstances were, but I am not at liberty to say here on the forums.

You are in that tight with the SRE's legal department that they shared confidential info of this nature?

Oct 7, 2009, 6:58 PM

Post #21 of 23 (6202 views)

Re: [Manuel Dexterity] Which visa is the best for me?

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At that time, yes, I was.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Oct 7, 2009, 7:22 PM

Post #22 of 23 (6195 views)

Re: [esperanza] Which visa is the best for me?

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In Reply To

At that time, yes, I was.

My oldest daughter, who has a law degree from ITESO, worked for SRE in the Consulate in Miami. They rarely confide in outsiders. Even within it is usually a "need to know ".

If they give something they want something in return.

(This post was edited by Manuel Dexterity on Oct 7, 2009, 7:23 PM)

Oct 7, 2009, 9:21 PM

Post #23 of 23 (6176 views)