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Res. perm. application experience in Phoenix


phxfunguy

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I just assisted a friend apply for RP in Phoenix last week on a trip up here. He has lived Lakeside now for 5 months and decided to go right from tourist FMM to RP since things have worked out well for him in his new living adventure and he wants to avoid the need of leaving every six months if he doesn't want to. After I waited 5 months for my own RP card in Chapala, this process seemed like it was occurring on a different planet!

We arrived at the consulate on McDowell Road at 11 AM last Tuesday. The waiting room was teeming with Mexican nationals waiting for various appointments, but "Window 4" where we needed to go had only one person waiting. The guards ask what you're there for but assume most white folks are applying for RT or RP and direct you to #4. Everyone spoke English whom we dealt with and were surprised when I addressed them in Spanish. They handed us a one page form to fill out and we were called to the window before even finishing it, so we completed the form there. She paged through the 6 months of English language bank statements only highlighting the name and the total of deposits on the first page, returning all the pages with the individual deposits listed to us without glancing at them. This means that the source of the money (pension, IRA, SS, etc.) was not evaluated which is reportedly being scrutinized in Mexico on applications done there. She told us they were looking for $2000 per month for temporal and $2600 for permanente. She sent us across the street to get a single passport photo for the application and she took a photo at the desk for the visa. We returned 15 minutes later with the photo and the 6 month visa had already been affixed onto a page of his passport. He paid the $36 US fee with a credit card and we were done in 25 minutes total...including the photo trip! She gave him an instruction sheet on how to fill out the final application online and print it out to take into INM in Chapala within 30 days of his return, pay $3815 pesos, and then wait the usual 4-6 weeks for the RP card to arrive there. The web application is all in Spanish but the instruction sheet nicely had each line translated into English with clear instructions on which buttons to click on for each step so that even the most language challenged individual could follow it.

It would seem from our experience that folks with income shortfall could churn deposits into their account for 6 months like was done in the past and qualify when applying NOB...at least in Phoenix. It would be interesting to find out if this is the case at other consulates. With the "no financial qualification" for those moving to RP after 4 or 5 years on FM2/3/RT and this easy financial qualification experience for newbies, it would appear that no retiree would be excluded from moving to Mexico and that all the fears of having to leave due to lower income or not being able to manifest one's retirement dream Lakeside were unfounded. I would think that the goal of controlling Central American migrant workers gaining RT for work purposes would still be effective, however.

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I just assisted a friend apply for RP in Phoenix last week on a trip up here. He has lived Lakeside now for 5 months and decided to go right from tourist FMM to RP since things have worked out well for him in his new living adventure and he wants to avoid the need of leaving every six months if he doesn't want to. After I waited 5 months for my own RP card in Chapala, this process seemed like it was occurring on a different planet! ...

... It would seem from our experience that folks with income shortfall could churn deposits into their account for 6 months like was done in the past and qualify when applying NOB...at least in Phoenix. It would be interesting to find out if this is the case at other consulates. With the "no financial qualification" for those moving to RP after 4 or 5 years on FM2/3/RT and this easy financial qualification experience for newbies, it would appear that no retiree would be excluded from moving to Mexico and that all the fears of having to leave due to lower income or not being able to manifest one's retirement dream Lakeside were unfounded. ...

Boston and San Francisco Consulates have required retirement savings or retirement income deposits from pensions or SSI. Chicago was accepting any income. One unspecified Mexican consulate in Canada was accepting only retirement deposits.

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I thought I'd read that many consulates were more stingent. I suppose that someone who has below borderline income could travel to one of the cities where it's been reported that they process the financials like we experienced in Phoenix just to do the application as it's a one shot deal and you're done.

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Detroit requires retiree income and valid statements along with all the bells and whistles paperwork. Washington DC the embassy didnt know the requirement for temporal and chose to give one spouse the permanente and another with even more income only a temporal. Go figure.

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We're trying to deal with the Dallas consulate and running into really silly problems. They can't seem to understand the difference between a Marriage LICENSE versus a Marriage CERTIFICATE. They showed $1500 income requirement for my spouse but when we went there, suddenly they claim it is $2100 even though she has $2000.

I'm sure glad they're trying to work with expats on this. Can't imagine what it would be like if they weren't. (sarcasm)

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We're trying to deal with the Dallas consulate and running into really silly problems. They can't seem to understand the difference between a Marriage LICENSE versus a Marriage CERTIFICATE. They showed $1500 income requirement for my spouse but when we went there, suddenly they claim it is $2100 even though she has $2000.

I'm sure glad they're trying to work with expats on this. Can't imagine what it would be like if they weren't. (sarcasm)

Due to the USA having 50 states, each with their own rights over legal things, there is no single standard for marriage documents in the USA. Our marriage documents are called Marriage Licenses in Colorado. There is no such thing as a "Marriage Certificate" in many states. The Texas Department of Health Services describes the official marriage document as a "certified Marriage License". If you need further proof in Texas, the state government can issue a "Verification Letter".

You applied for Mexican residency in a state with no such thing as a "Marriage Certificate". Both USA and Mexico have similar confusing variations, with no uniform standard policies as you go from state to state.

Getting back to the income requirement variations between different Mexican Consulates, did the Dallas Mexican Consulate accept only retirement income?

As your wife, when you have Residente Permanente, she can qualify for Permanente as your spouse.

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We're trying to deal with the Dallas consulate and running into really silly problems. They can't seem to understand the difference between a Marriage LICENSE versus a Marriage CERTIFICATE. They showed $1500 income requirement for my spouse but when we went there, suddenly they claim it is $2100 even though she has $2000.

I'm sure glad they're trying to work with expats on this. Can't imagine what it would be like if they weren't. (sarcasm)

The official INM rules say we need $32,380 pesos a month of regular deposits for one Residente Permanente. At the current 13.12 exchange rate, it means you need $2,467 US dollars a month in deposits.

By reducing the income requirements by almost $400 dollars, they seem to have been working with you by offering you a 20% reduction.

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You are confusing permanente with temporal. My wife is trying to get a temporal. Thanks to being blindsided by the changes in the immigration law relative to cars, we couldn't just dump what we had and buy something new on a month's notice. So she let her FM3 go.

Did you also miss the part about them not understanding what a marriage certificate looks like? I'll tell what was as plain as the noses on our faces, the consul we dealt with was clearly not equipped to handle this job and they sure don't like having it, either.

I realize you consider yourself an expert in everything immigration and no matter what hassle the government heaps on expats it is OK with you. But you are a minority view, sir, particularly when we start counting all the folks that have said screw this and have left the country for good, taking jobs for more than a few Mexicans with them.

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You are confusing permanente with temporal. My wife is trying to get a temporal. Thanks to being blindsided by the changes in the immigration law relative to cars, we couldn't just dump what we had and buy something new on a month's notice. So she let her FM3 go.

Did you also miss the part about them not understanding what a marriage certificate looks like? I'll tell what was as plain as the noses on our faces, the consul we dealt with was clearly not equipped to handle this job and they sure don't like having it, either.

I realize you consider yourself an expert in everything immigration and no matter what hassle the government heaps on expats it is OK with you. But you are a minority view, sir, particularly when we start counting all the folks that have said screw this and have left the country for good, taking jobs for more than a few Mexicans with them.

I did not miss anything. I read how you thought consulate clerks should know some difference between "Marriage Licenses" and "Marriage Certificates". Under the Mexican laws, we are supposed to go to our home's consulate (so they can check our police records). In Texas, there is no such thing as a "marriage certificate", so by going to a consulate in a different state from where you got married, they weren't familiar with that other states peculiarities. I did not expect bureaucrats in Texas to automatically know what are the correct certified documents from other states, just as I do not expect Jalisco bureaucrats to know the pecadillos of Tamaulipas bureaucracy.

I do not consider myself "an expert in everything immigration". I do know from living in more than one place in the USA, that some locales use "wedding licenses" while others use "wedding certificates" while others use :"certified wedding licenses". I also prefer to try to work with government officials when I need an application approved, and do not expect government clerks to ignore what their bosses have told them to defer to my personal understandings. Government clerks are humans too, and they generally do their best with the limited training they are given.

By explaining the likely root of your problems with the Consulate, maybe it would help you to get them to recognize your wedding document.

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You are confusing permanente with temporal. My wife is trying to get a temporal. Thanks to being blindsided by the changes in the immigration law relative to cars, we couldn't just dump what we had and buy something new on a month's notice. So she let her FM3 go.

From reading your post, I could not see that she is applying for temporal. My apologies.

In the continuing vein of trying to help you get out of your mess, you could describe to the Dallas Consulate that the INM income deposit requirement for temporal is $25,904 pesos, which means that your wife currently qualifies, because current exchange rates convert the deposit income to just $1,968 US dollars a month, meaning she now qualifies with her $2,000 of monthly deposits. Keep trying, and best of luck!

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