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Residente Permanente - A One Time Deal?


pedro malo

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In reading some of the posts here regarding immigration especially one from Maincoons stating that the new Residente Permanente process is a "one time deal" like citizenship, do I understand correctly that once you apply for and receive Permanente status, you no longer have the yearly renewals of the card and status like with the FM3 or FM2?

Would greatly appreciate clarification on this.

pm

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I had an fm3. In January, of this year, I applied for a permanent resident card. I

received this card several weeks ago. There is no expiration date. I was told that

the only reason I would need to deal with immigration again was if I changed addresses

etc. etc. I do not have to go for yearly renewals again. The only date on the card

is the date that it was approved in Mexico City. Hope this helps answer your question.

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I had an fm3. In January, of this year, I applied for a permanent resident card. I

received this card several weeks ago. There is no expiration date. I was told that

the only reason I would need to deal with immigration again was if I changed addresses

etc. etc. I do not have to go for yearly renewals again. The only date on the card

is the date that it was approved in Mexico City. Hope this helps answer your question.

Thank you for clarifying this for me. I had not been aware of this and just assumed it was also yearly renewal like the old visas. This is great news!

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With a Permanente visa you no longer have to do renewals until they decide you have to. Who knows what they will do in the future.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have an FM2, I am married to a Mexican and my son is a mexican born in the US. I am coming up on my 2nd renewal in July marking my 2 full years here in mexico where I qualify to apply for citizenship. Given the comments here, any 'guess' on what I might receive during this renewal?

I do plan on applying for citizenship but would like to wait as I want to have another child and would not be able to use consular services to register that birth while in mexico once I become a MX citizen.

As I said above, I am just looking for a best guess :)

Thanks in advance!

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No need to wait. I think that you can apply for Residente Permanente after your second year and I would be surprised if you could not register another child, as you would retain your US citizenship and upon setting foot in the consulate, you would be on US soil.

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I have an FM2, I am married to a Mexican and my son is a mexican born in the US. I am coming up on my 2nd renewal in July marking my 2 full years here in mexico where I qualify to apply for citizenship. Given the comments here, any 'guess' on what I might receive during this renewal?

I do plan on applying for citizenship but would like to wait as I want to have another child and would not be able to use consular services to register that birth while in mexico once I become a MX citizen.

As I said above, I am just looking for a best guess :)

Thanks in advance!

No guessing needed. Under the INM 2011 Law: If your marriage to a Mexican citizen is formally accepted or registered with a Mexican Registro Civil office, then you qualify for Residente Permanente, after finishing 2 years of an FM2/Inmigrante. If your son is officially registered as a Mexican citizen, then you also qualify for Residente Permanente as his mother.

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Rumors are going around in government indicating that changes may come soon to the immigration laws, good for poor foreigners as they could be able to qualify easier with their lower incomes but bad for those who aren't yet permanente, get permanente ASAP as once you have it they would need to honor it.

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Some are saying it is too easy to jump ahead to permanente with all the rights that come along with it. In the old days people had to be on an FM3 for a few years then FM2 for 5 years to be inmigrado and now people can go to the consulate and get a preauthorization and within 2 months of stepping foot in Mexico have their residente permanente and can work freely.

Also the government is aware of the steep financial requirements and may relax them as many people are not coming to Mexico.

Lesson: If you are of modest means, you might get lucky, if you have $$$, get your permanente soon.

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Some are saying it is too easy to jump ahead to permanente with all the rights that come along with it.

I was wondering if or when they would notice that. Interesting, even if it is only a rumor at this point. That's exactly why I decided to "jump" this year, despite having the "car situation".

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The fix to this entire problem is easy. Give people the option of Temporal or Permanente and make either available through INS offices in-country. And recognize the income limits are too high and not reflective of what retirees have and need to live here.

I'm glad we tossed my wife's FM3, got the car sticker pulled from my name, got her a Tourist visa and new car sticker at the border and we'll just keep doing the same on our bi-annual trips north until someone comes to their senses. That solution sure beats taking a five figure bath on a perfectly good car we own now (including the inflated cost of buying a new one that isn't as good as the old one.)

In the mean time, I'll have a permanente if we need to sell the house, not that we have a snowball's chance in hell of having capital gains on a property that was registered at the full price paid 6 years ago. That was at the peak of the market and we're all a long way from that now.

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... In the old days people had to be on an FM3 for a few years then FM2 for 5 years to be inmigrado and now people can go to the consulate and get a preauthorization and within 2 months of stepping foot in Mexico have their residente permanente and can work freely.

It is a little disheartening to have gone through 5 years of being FM2 and dealing with fees twice those of FM3's as well as travel restrictions to end up at the same level - if you want to call it that - as someone 2 months in Mexico can get. It seems like they've cheapened the status of what was inmigrado, now permanente.

I have my permanente card now so it's all water under the bridge but I figure I spent an extra $15,000 pesos for both of us over those 5 years to end up with a status that right now is not all that hard to attain. Since we planned to be inmigrado, we disposed of the US plated car last summer and bought another one in Guadalajara. Again, those were the rules understood by all to become inmigrado which would have solidified our status as a full time resident of Mexico.

The implementation of the immigration law seems to have shifted the definition of what is a permanent resident from one who actually lives in Mexico all the time to a person who may only spend a few months in Mexico, but has enough money to satisfy the requirements of the law. Since the government is no longer getting recurring income from these permanent people who may in fact not be permanent at all, my guess is that they'll eventually re-think what they've done and create yet another new program to fix it.

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I feel some of your pain, John Shrall, because I switched to FM2/Inmigrante a few years back precisely because at that time it was the path to Inmigrado. (Had I simply stayed FM3/Non-Inmigrante, I'd qualify for Permanente right now without doing the financial thing simply because I would have had the magic number 4 on the back of my visa.) So I lost some money with that decision via application and renewal fees. But oh well, like you say, water under the bridge. That was then and this is now.

I also found it really surprising that under the new rules people could "pre-qualify" for Residente Permanente outside of Mexico, without having ever set foot here, then simply enter Mexico, visit INM, finish the process and pick up their card. I bet that aspect gets changed soon. (I think there are already some anecdotal stories about INM dialing that back...)

Right now, I think what's important is for people to look at what the rules are TODAY. What's being offered TODAY? What's the best choice for me TODAY? Because I'd place a big fat bet it's going to be different "tomorrow".

That's why I decided to jettison the car early rather than get my Temporal for a couple of years and then go Permanente. If Mexico is going to offer a window of opportunity to go Permanente early, I'm not going to give them time to slam that window shut.

Good luck everyone!

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Rumors are going around in government indicating that changes may come soon to the immigration laws, good for poor foreigners as they could be able to qualify easier with their lower incomes but bad for those who aren't yet permanente, get permanente ASAP as once you have it they would need to honor it.

Intercasa .... I didn't get that at all. Easier to become permanent .... but harder for whom.

New applicants, Temporals, FM2/3 .... please explain

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Some are saying it is too easy to jump ahead to permanente with all the rights that come along with it. In the old days people had to be on an FM3 for a few years then FM2 for 5 years to be inmigrado and now people can go to the consulate and get a preauthorization and within 2 months of stepping foot in Mexico have their residente permanente and can work freely.

Also the government is aware of the steep financial requirements and may relax them as many people are not coming to Mexico.

Lesson: If you are of modest means, you might get lucky, if you have $$$, get your permanente soon.

I think you have to be familiar with what the requirements are, to become a permanent resident, in most countires,,,, to understand what an opportunity this is. I could not qualify, with my current income, to become a permanent resident of Canada, the United States or the European Union. Many people are focused on their cars, to the point where they will give up the opportunity to be come a permanent resident of Mexico. If people realized how many people, thoughtout the world, would risk their lives to move to Mexico,,,, they would appreciate this opportunity. I can live like a queen here, but struggle in my home county. I am greatful I could apply for and obtain my permenente visa. It is more valuable to me than my US Green Card was I know that seems weird, but it makes sense for a retired person.

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Now that we have our permanente visas, when we leave Mexico do we still have to fill out the paper form, save half of it upon reententering Mexico?

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It is a little disheartening to have gone through 5 years of being FM2 and dealing with fees twice those of FM3's as well as travel restrictions to end up at the same level - if you want to call it that - as someone 2 months in Mexico can get. It seems like they've cheapened the status of what was inmigrado, now permanente.

I have my permanente card now so it's all water under the bridge but I figure I spent an extra $15,000 pesos for both of us over those 5 years to end up with a status that right now is not all that hard to attain. Since we planned to be inmigrado, we disposed of the US plated car last summer and bought another one in Guadalajara. Again, those were the rules understood by all to become inmigrado which would have solidified our status as a full time resident of Mexico.

The implementation of the immigration law seems to have shifted the definition of what is a permanent resident from one who actually lives in Mexico all the time to a person who may only spend a few months in Mexico, but has enough money to satisfy the requirements of the law. Since the government is no longer getting recurring income from these permanent people who may in fact not be permanent at all, my guess is that they'll eventually re-think what they've done and create yet another new program to fix it.

I agree, we were suppose to go imigrado this year and were told nope. We paid all that extra all those years also.

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Intercasa .... I didn't get that at all. Easier to become permanent .... but harder for whom.

New applicants, Temporals, FM2/3 .... please explain

The guess is that INM may raise the requirements for years in country to qualify for Residente Permanente. Under the old system, we had to prove that we were residing in Mexico, with an intent to stay, by requiring 5 years of FM2, with less than 18 months total outside of Mexico. So, easier by lowering personal fiscal solvency requirements, more difficult by requiring the person to actually reside here to qualify for residency. This sounds like just another rumor, like the bill in the Camara de Diputados that allows all gringos to nationalize their foreign plated cars that are already here?

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I believe the issue of cars and the uproar of their legality for Permanent Residents etc brought with it a review of how easy it has become to obtain Permanent Resident status. Before, obtaining Inmigrado status was much more difficult. And, as others noted, to gain the equivalent status in Canada or the US and most countries it is significantly harder to live permanently.

One can be pre-approved for a Permanent Resident visa without ever stepping foot in Mexico. And, at many consulates do so by proving investments, home ownership etc. The intent, until a point system was to be implemented was one had to prove purely pension income to become a PR. Pending changes helps to explain the lack of implementation of a point system. It also may explain why consulates are being directed to consider only proven pension incomes and not investments, etc.

As well, as I noted at other times, a person with a pre-approved PR visa, if you believed some posts, would enter Mexico with their car to get here and their car would be illegal as soon as they enter Mexico. Yet, Aduana gave them a car permit.

A review is likely underway and changes coming to become a Permanent Resident. This also explains Aduana's lack of new laws regarding cars for those who are Permanent Residents. There are no assurances Spencer is right but I agree and if you want to become a PR and can now, my advice is to do so.

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And, being in agreement with Spencer that PR rules may change, with a PR visa being so easy to obtain, compared to most any where in the world, one can work. I do not think Mexico wants a lot of people coming here and in effect buying the right to work and then competing in the job market. Here in SMA they have tightened up the ability to be a temporary resident and then have "lucrative" designation allowing one to work.

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My comments on easier were for temporal or those who would have fallen under or qualified for FM3s before where now they could not qualify or do not qualify and will be harder for permanente.

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