Intercasa Posted November 25, 2013 Report Share Posted November 25, 2013 Mexico Changes Regulations to its Nationality Law By Lic. Spencer Richard McMullen, attorney and official Jalisco State Court translator Today (November 25, 2013) Mexico published in the Official Federal Gazette (D.O.F) changes to correspond with the changes in the new immigration law. The new immigration law was published May 25, 2011, but did not take effect until after the regulations to the law were published on September 28, 2012 (both to take effect November 9, 2012, per the regulations). The changes affected other laws such as the Nationality Law, and repealed certain portions of the Population Law, such as requiring foreigners to pay for permission to marry or divorce. The changes in the new immigration law eliminated the immigration statuses of No Inmigrante, Inmigrante, and Inmigrado, and replaced them with Visitante, Residente Temporal, and Residente Permanente conditions of stay. For people who seek to become citizens of Mexico, these changes are important as they clarify uncertainty in the relationship between the two laws, although it will be interesting to see how it is implemented. The changes state that the Secretary of Exterior Relations will start to count the time on the new documents from the date the new immigration law took effect. So, most people with existing immigration documents will already have one year under their belt to count toward citizenship. Under the prior regulations to the Nationality Law and the current law, in order for time to count toward citizenship requirements, one must have resided in Mexico for a period of two to five years, as well as held a specific type of immigration document during that time period. The time period is 5 years for those who wish to acquire citizenship by virtue of residence in Mexico, and as little as two years for those with a Mexican spouse (same sex couples included) or those who were born in a Latin American country. The key here is the specific type of immigration document needed in order to count the two or five year period. Up to and until today, the document was Inmigrante (FM2) or Inmigrado. Many years ago this was not an issue, and people could count time on an FM2 or FM3 as well as inmigrado to be able to meet the requirement. The confusion began with the implementation of the new immigration law where the FM2 (Inmigrante) and FM3 (No Inmigrante) were made equivalent to the new Residente Temporal, and the old Inmigrado was made equivalent to the new Residente Permanente. More doubt existed when the rules to become a citizen referred to documents that no longer existed: and if the FM2 and FM3 were equivalent to Residente Temporal, and time on FM2 counted but FM3 did not, how would they handle that? The changes now clarify the position of the SRE (Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores), and, in my opinion, makes it easier for certain people to become citizens, as some people may only qualify to be Temporary Residents due to income or by choice (in order to be able to drive their foreign plated cars). Now (well, starting November 2012), their time as Residente Temporal will count toward the two or five years necessary to become citizens. Lic. Spencer Richard McMullen, Cédula Federal # 7928026, Perito Traductor Folio 641 Original publication in the DOF http://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5323146&fecha=25/11/2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Shrall Posted November 26, 2013 Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 So you're saying that now SRE will allow people with 5 years on any sort of immigration status to apply for citizenship? When we applied a couple of months ago having been FM2/No Inmigrante for 5 years the people at SRE didn't know how the new law was going to affect that requirement. If true that will open the door for a lot of people to apply for citizenship. It also seems like SRE will now have more difficulty enforcing the 180 day travel limit over 2 year period. When people fly out their passports are stamped and so can be monitored. Those who drive in and out no longer have to stop as they did under FM2 and so can hide travel out of the country. It's probably a small percentage of people overall but it still weakens the travel restriction requirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intercasa Posted November 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 People still need to be inmigrante or inmigrado prior to November 2012 for the time to count, after that they can be temporal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecoons Posted November 26, 2013 Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 However we don't know exactly how they might implement this at this time, correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rony Posted November 26, 2013 Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 I wonder how they deal with the same sex couples (Mexican + foreigner), since they can not get married, but stil 2 years in a non married relationship is accepted than ( for the foreigner to become Mexican ) ?? Rony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intercasa Posted November 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 Some same sex couples have been married in Mexico City or Canada or the US. We use the marriage license or certificate from those places (with apostille if in the US or legalized if Canada) and have obtained spousal residency documents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRPJR Posted November 28, 2013 Report Share Posted November 28, 2013 So you're saying that now SRE will allow people with 5 years on any sort of immigration status to apply for citizenship? When we applied a couple of months ago having been FM2/No Inmigrante for 5 years the people at SRE didn't know how the new law was going to affect that requirement. If true that will open the door for a lot of people to apply for citizenship. It also seems like SRE will now have more difficulty enforcing the 180 day travel limit over 2 year period. When people fly out their passports are stamped and so can be monitored. Those who drive in and out no longer have to stop as they did under FM2 and so can hide travel out of the country. It's probably a small percentage of people overall but it still weakens the travel restriction requirement. John, Could you please explain the 180 travel restriction to which you are referring? I thought the 180 restriction for FM2/Residente Permanente had been eliminated. Is this referring to a different restriction or am I incorrect in my understanding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RVGRINGO Posted November 28, 2013 Report Share Posted November 28, 2013 FM2 does not exist any longer. Residente Permanente has no travel restrictions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Shrall Posted November 28, 2013 Report Share Posted November 28, 2013 John, Could you please explain the 180 travel restriction to which you are referring? I thought the 180 restriction for FM2/Residente Permanente had been eliminated. Is this referring to a different restriction or am I incorrect in my understanding? The 180 day travel limit over the prior 24 months is for those seeking citizenship. There are no longer any travel restrictions for the new visas. They eliminated the 18 month over 5 year restriction for those on FM2/non-inmigrante. In the past and perhaps now, those carrying inmigrado status could apply for citizenship having fulfilled the 5 year residency requirements in order to attain inmigrado status. The permanente status is supposed to be the equivalent of inmigrado with the FM2/FM3 visas folded into temporal. There are no residency requirements to acquire permanente status so it would appear in this case permanente is not quite the same as inmigrado. If it were, someone with permanente status could apply for citizenship the same as those currently inmigrado. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Studio del Sol Posted November 29, 2013 Report Share Posted November 29, 2013 Are you saying there are no travel restrictions for Visitante? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRPJR Posted November 29, 2013 Report Share Posted November 29, 2013 The 180 day travel limit over the prior 24 months is for those seeking citizenship. There are no longer any travel restrictions for the new visas. They eliminated the 18 month over 5 year restriction for those on FM2/non-inmigrante. In the past and perhaps now, those carrying inmigrado status could apply for citizenship having fulfilled the 5 year residency requirements in order to attain inmigrado status. The permanente status is supposed to be the equivalent of inmigrado with the FM2/FM3 visas folded into temporal. There are no residency requirements to acquire permanente status so it would appear in this case permanente is not quite the same as inmigrado. If it were, someone with permanente status could apply for citizenship the same as those currently inmigrado. Thank you for clarifying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.